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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Plebe 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 Plebe Year at High School
+       The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls
+
+Author: Jessie Graham Flower
+
+Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20472]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Newman, Sigal Alon, Mary Meehan and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School
+
+                                   OR
+
+              The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls
+
+                      By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.
+
+Author of Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School, Grace Harlowe's
+Junior Year at High School, Etc.
+
+
+
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY
+Copyright, 1910
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A Troop of Black-Robed Figures Were Stealthily
+Approaching.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+       I. The Accident of Friendships
+
+      II. The Sponsor of the Freshman Class
+
+     III. Mrs. Gray Engages a Secretary
+
+      IV. The Black Monks of Asia
+
+       V. Anne Has a Secret
+
+      VI. The Sophomore Ball
+
+     VII. All Hallowe'en
+
+    VIII. Miss Leece
+
+      IX. Thanksgiving Day
+
+       X. Grace Keeps Her Secret
+
+      XI. Mrs. Gray's Adopted Daughters
+
+     XII. Miriam Plans a Revenge
+
+    XIII. Christmas Holidays
+
+     XIV. A Midnight Alarm
+
+      XV. Tom Gray
+
+     XVI. The Marionette Show
+
+    XVII. After the Ball
+
+   XVIII. A Winter Picnic
+
+     XIX. Wolves!
+
+      XX. The Gray Brothers
+
+     XXI. The Lost Letter
+
+    XXII. Danger Ahead
+
+   XXIII. In the Thick of the Night
+
+    XXIV. The Freshman Prize
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+A Troop of Black-Robed Figures Were Stealthily Approaching.
+
+"Miss Pierson, Do You Recognize This Figure?"
+
+"Give That Back! It Is Not Yours."
+
+Tom Gray Escapes from the Wolves
+
+
+
+
+Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ACCIDENT OF FRIENDSHIPS
+
+
+"Who is the new girl in the class?" asked Miriam Nesbit, flashing her
+black eyes from one schoolmate to another, as the girls assembled in the
+locker room of the Oakdale High School.
+
+"Her name is Pierson; that is all I know about her," replied Nora
+O'Malley, gazing at her pretty Irish face in the looking glass with
+secret satisfaction. "She's very quiet and shy and looks as if she would
+weep aloud when her turn comes to recite, but I'm sure she's all right,"
+she added good naturedly. For Nora had a charming, sunny nature, and
+always saw the best if there was any best to see.
+
+"She is very bright," broke in Grace Harlowe decisively. "She went
+through her Latin lesson without a mistake, which is certainly more than
+I could do."
+
+"Well, I don't like her," pouted Miriam. "I never trust those quiet
+little things. And, besides, she is the worst-dressed girl in----"
+
+"Hush!" interrupted Jessica Bright, touching a finger to her lips. "Here
+she is."
+
+A little, brown figure entered the room just as Miriam finished
+speaking. But Jessica was too late with her warning. The young girl had,
+without doubt, heard the cruel speech and her face flushed painfully as
+she pinned on a shabby old hat, slipped her arms into a thin black
+jacket and stepped out again without looking at the crowd of schoolmates
+who watched her silently.
+
+"Miriam, I should think you'd learn to be more careful," exclaimed
+hot-tempered Nora, her soft heart touched by the appealing little
+stranger.
+
+"Well, what difference does it make?" replied Miriam. "If Miss Pierson
+doesn't know already that she's the shabbiest girl in school, it's high
+time she found it out. I have a suspicion her mother takes in washing or
+something, and I mean to find it out right now. We can't invite a girl
+like that to our class parties and entertainments. She would disgrace
+us."
+
+"Miriam," said Grace quietly, "I believe we are all privileged to invite
+whom we please to our homes. I intend to give a class tea next Saturday,
+and I mean to follow Miss Pierson right now and ask her to help me
+receive."
+
+The two girls looked into each other's faces for a moment without
+speaking. Grace was quiet and contained, Miriam flushed and furiously
+angry. They had been rival leaders always at the Grammar School, but the
+rivalry had never come to open battle until now.
+
+Miriam was the first to drop her eyes. She did not reply, but from that
+moment she was the sworn enemy of Grace Harlowe and her two friends,
+Nora and Jessica.
+
+"Well, we had better hurry," said Jessica, trying to calm the troubled
+scene. "Nobody knows exactly where Miss Pierson lives and she will be
+out of sight before we can catch her."
+
+The three girls ran lightly out of the basement of the fine old building
+that was the pride of Oakdale. It was large and imposing, built of
+smooth, gray stone, with four huge columns supporting the front portico.
+A hundred yards away stood the companion building, the Boys' High
+School, exactly like the first in every respect except that a wing had
+been added for a gymnasium which the girls had the privilege of using on
+certain days. A wide campus surrounded the two buildings, shaded by elm
+and oak trees. Certainly no other town in the state could boast of twin
+high schools as fine as these; and especially did the situation appeal
+to the people of Oakdale, for the ten level acres surrounding the two
+buildings gave ample space for the various athletic fields, and the
+doings of the high schools formed the very life of the place.
+
+But we must return to our three girls who were hurrying down the shady
+street, followed in a more leisurely and dignified fashion by Miriam and
+her friends. The shabby figure of the little stranger had just turned
+the corner as the girls left the High School grounds.
+
+"Come on," cried Grace breathlessly, leading the way. Having once made
+up her mind, she always pursued her point with a fine obstinacy
+regardless of opinion.
+
+When they had come to the cross street they saw their quarry again, now
+making her way slowly toward the street next the river. This was the
+shabbiest street in Oakdale, though no one knew exactly why, since the
+river bank might have been the chosen site for all the handsomest
+buildings; but towns are as incorrigible as people, sometimes, and
+insist on growing one way when they should grow another, without the
+slightest regard for future appearances.
+
+And so, when little Miss Pierson stopped in front of one of the smallest
+and meanest cottages on River Street, the girls knew she must, indeed,
+be very poor. The house, small and forlorn, presented a sad countenance
+streaked with tear stains from a leaky gutter. An uneven pavement led to
+the front door, which bore a painted sign: "Plain Sewing."
+
+They paused irresolutely at the gate, and were taking counsel together
+when Miriam Nesbit passed with her friends. She pointed at the door and
+laughed.
+
+"Really, that girl's conduct is contemptible!" exclaimed Grace, giving
+the wooden gate a vigorous push. "I simply won't tolerate her rudeness.
+She is an unmitigated snob!" Grace knocked on the door rather sharply to
+emphasize her feelings. It was opened almost immediately by Miss Pierson
+herself, still in her hat and coat; and in her surprise and
+embarrassment she almost shut the door in their faces. But Jessica's
+gentle smile reassured her, and Grace, who was a born leader, took her
+hand kindly and plunged at once into the subject.
+
+"You left school so quickly this afternoon, Miss Pierson, that I didn't
+have a chance to see you. I have something very particular I want to ask
+you to-day."
+
+"Won't you come in?" said the other, opening the door into the parlor,
+which had an air of refinement about it in spite of its utter poorness.
+
+"Anne!" called a querulous voice down the passage.
+
+"Yes, mother, I'm coming," answered the girl, hurrying out of the room
+with a frightened look in her eyes. In a few moments she was back again.
+
+"Please excuse me for leaving you," she said. "My mother is an invalid
+and needs my sister or me with her constantly."
+
+"Her name is Anne, then," thought Grace. "I shall call her so at once
+and break the ice."
+
+"Anne," she said aloud, "I think you know my friends, don't you--Jessica
+Bright and Nora O'Malley? And I am Grace Harlowe."
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Anne, brightening at the friendly advances of the
+others. "I remember your names from the roll call."
+
+"Of course," replied Grace. "But I think we should all be more to each
+other than roll-call acquaintances, we freshmen. I am very ambitious for
+our class. I want it to be the best that ever graduated from Oakdale
+High School, and for that reason, I think all the girls in it should try
+to be friends and work together to advance the cause. I'm going to start
+the ball rolling by giving a tea to our class next Saturday afternoon.
+Will you come and receive with Jessica and Nora and me?"
+
+Anne clasped her hands delightedly for a moment. Then her eyes filled
+with tears and her lips trembled so that the girls were afraid she might
+be going to cry. Tender-hearted Jessica turned her face away for fear of
+showing too much sympathy.
+
+"I'm sorry," said Anne at last, rather unsteadily, "but I am afraid I
+can't accept your delightful invitation. I----"
+
+"I beg your pardon," said a voice at the door, "I didn't mean to intrude
+on your visitors, Anne, but I couldn't help overhearing Miss Harlowe's
+invitation."
+
+A small woman, much older than Anne, but very like her in face and
+figure, appeared at the door.
+
+"This is my sister," said Anne, taking the other's hand affectionately.
+
+"Anne imagines she can't go, but she certainly can," went on the older
+Miss Pierson, calmly, not in the least embarrassed by the strange young
+girls. "Of course, she must go. I can arrange it easily."
+
+"But, Mary----" protested Anne.
+
+"Never mind, little sister," interrupted Mary, "it will be all right.
+Miss Harlowe, what time must she be there?"
+
+"At four o'clock," answered Grace, rising to go, "and I am delighted
+that she can come. Remember, Anne, I'm counting on you to pour the
+lemonade. The other girls are going to help with the sandwiches and ice
+cream. By the way," she added, as they went down the steps, "be sure and
+come to the basketball meeting at the gym this afternoon."
+
+And so it was arranged that Anne Pierson, the shabbiest and poorest girl
+in Oakdale High School, was to help receive at one of the prettiest and
+most charming houses in town. Miriam Nesbit's rudeness was to bring
+about a friendship between Anne Pierson and her three schoolmates that
+lasted a lifetime.
+
+After the half-past two o'clock dinner, which was the universal custom
+in Oakdale, the chums met again at the gymnasium in the Boys' High
+School. Wednesdays and Saturdays were nicknamed "ladies' days" by the
+High School boys, for on these afternoons the girls were permitted free
+use of the gymnasium.
+
+The meeting to-day was not for gymnastic exercises, however, but an
+important subject was to be discussed--the Freshman Basketball Team.
+Also the captain of the team was to be elected.
+
+Other club meetings were in full force when the girls arrived, and the
+great room vibrated with the hum of voices. The three freshmen, who knew
+better than to interrupt sophomores and juniors at their pow-wows, made
+their way quietly across the hall to the appointed place of rendezvous.
+Of course, the entire Freshman Class did not assemble to discuss this
+subject. Many members were not interested in basketball, except to look
+on. Girls who were overstudious, and not physically strong, could not at
+any rate play on the team, and therefore they seldom attended such
+meetings. Jessica Bright was one of these, nevertheless, she followed
+her two friends, who had always been foremost in athletics at the
+Central Grammar School.
+
+The election of a captain was the first business of the meeting. That
+over, the captain, after due and serious consultation with a friendly
+cabinet, chose the players and their substitutes.
+
+Undoubtedly Grace Harlowe had the coolest head in the class, and was the
+most to be relied upon at critical moments; yet Miriam Nesbit exerted a
+strange influence over her followers, who were almost her slaves. She
+was the richest of all the girls and wore the costliest clothes. The
+parties she gave, from time to time, in her mother's large and handsome
+home were the talk of the place. She was also the cleverest girl in the
+class, and had taken undisputed first place since she was a child. She
+was not a close student, but seemed to absorb her lessons in half the
+time that it took her friends to master them. Popular she certainly was,
+or rather she was feared by her schoolmates. Her masterful, overpowering
+spirit seemed to sweep everything before it.
+
+Grace Harlowe was quite as powerful in her way, but she had a noble,
+unselfish disposition and was much beloved by her friends. She stood
+well in her studies, but had never taken first place. Perhaps this was
+because she had interested herself so much in outdoor sports that she
+had not given enough time to study.
+
+Both girls were handsome--Miriam tall, dark and oriental-looking, with
+flashing eyes and an imperious curve to her lips; Grace was also tall,
+with wavy, chestnut hair, fine gray eyes, regular features, a full,
+generous chin and cheeks glowing with health.
+
+Miriam Nesbit had already done a good deal of lobbying when the three
+girls arrived on the scene. She wished to be elected captain of the team
+at any cost; but Grace's adherents were holding off, quietly waiting for
+her arrival.
+
+"Well, here you are at last!" said Marian Barber, who had been preparing
+the ballots for the coming election.
+
+Marian was the busy girl of the class, and always made herself useful.
+
+"Is everyone here?" demanded Nora, scanning the crowd of freshmen with a
+view to ascertaining what her chum's chances were.
+
+"All that intend coming," replied Miriam. "The softies stayed away, as
+usual."
+
+"Suppose we wait five minutes," said Grace, looking at her watch, "and
+then, if no one comes, we will cast the votes."
+
+"No, no," exclaimed Miriam impatiently. "I have an engagement and can't
+spare any more time. I vote that we have the election at once, without
+waiting another moment."
+
+"Very well," assented Grace. "I only suggested waiting because Anne
+Pierson promised to come, and, of course, every girl in the class has a
+right to vote at the class elections."
+
+"Anne Pierson?" cried Miriam, turning crimson with suppressed rage.
+
+"Yes," answered Grace calmly; "but, if everybody is agreeable, suppose
+we go ahead."
+
+"Agreed!" cried the others and the ballots were cast.
+
+There was not much parliamentary practice in these class elections. Each
+girl wrote the name of her choice on a slip of paper and dropped it in a
+hat. Four of the girls then counted the votes, and the one receiving the
+most slips was declared elected.
+
+The slips were dropped into the hat, amid the silence of the company.
+Some of the sophomores and juniors, perched on parallel bars, watched
+the scene with superior amusement, but no notice was taken of their
+half-whispered jeers.
+
+The four girls then retired to count the votes.
+
+"It's a tie," announced Marian Barber, returning presently; "a tie
+between Grace and Miriam. I wish some of the others would come and
+settle the matter."
+
+"Here's some one," cried Nora. "Here's Anne Pierson. Let her cast the
+decisive vote."
+
+Miriam's eyes blazed, but she held her peace. There was nothing to do
+but submit with an uneasy grace. But who could doubt what the outcome
+would be? However, she felt somewhat relieved when Grace said:
+
+"I think we should cast the votes over again, and, according to the
+rules we made last year, Miriam and I should not vote, since the
+election rests between us."
+
+The votes were cast again, Anne timidly dropping her slip in the hat
+with the others, and, as might have been expected, Grace was elected
+captain of the Freshman Basketball Team of the Oakdale High School.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE SPONSOR OF THE FRESHMAN CLASS
+
+
+"Grace," asked Mrs. Harlowe, the day of the famous freshman tea, "have
+you asked some of the girls to help this afternoon? Bridget can attend
+to the sandwiches, but some one ought to pour the lemonade and generally
+look after the wants of the others."
+
+Grace was arranging a bowl of China asters on the piano in her mother's
+charming drawing room. The shining mahogany chairs and tables reflected
+the glow of the wood fire, for the day was chilly, and bright chintz
+curtains at the windows gave a cheerful note of color to the scene.
+
+"Oh, yes, mother," replied Grace. "Nora and Jessica, of course, and Anne
+Pierson."
+
+"And who is Anne Pierson?"
+
+"I don't know who she is," answered Grace. "I never knew her until she
+entered the High School. But she is terribly poor. Her mother is an
+invalid and her sister takes in plain sewing. I really asked her at
+first because Miriam Nesbit was rude to her one day. But I'm beginning
+to like her so much, now, that I'm glad I did it. She's as quiet as a
+little mouse, but she is fast taking first place in class. I believe she
+will outstrip Miriam before the end of the year. Don't ask me who she
+is, though. I haven't the least idea, but she's all right, I can promise
+you that. I'm sorry for her because she is poor. They live in a little
+broken-down cottage on River Street."
+
+Mrs. Harlowe looked dubious. Grace was always bringing home stray people
+and animals, and the mother was accustomed to her daughter's whims. The
+young girl was familiar to all the ragamuffins of the town slum, and
+when she sometimes found one gazing wistfully through the fence palings
+of her mother's old-fashioned garden, she promptly led him around to the
+kitchen, gave him a plate of food on the back steps, picked him a small
+bouquet and sent him off half-dazed with her gracious and impetuous
+kindness.
+
+"Well, my dear, I shall be prepared for anything," exclaimed Mrs.
+Harlowe; "but remember that feeding people on the back steps and asking
+them into the parlor to meet your friends and acquaintances are two
+different matters altogether."
+
+"Don't be afraid, mother," replied Grace. "You will like Anne as well as
+I do, once you get to know her. You must be careful not to frighten her
+at first. She is the most timid little soul I ever met."
+
+Just then the front gate clicked and two girls strolled up the red-brick
+walk, their light organdie dresses peeping out from the folds of their
+long capes.
+
+"Here come Nora and Jessica," cried Grace excitedly, running to the door
+to meet her friends.
+
+Mrs. Harlowe smiled. In spite of Grace's sixteen years she was still her
+little girl.
+
+There was another click at the gate and Mrs. Harlowe saw through the
+parlor window a little, dark figure, pathetically plain in its shabby
+coat and hat.
+
+"Poor little soul," thought the good woman. "How I wish I could put her
+into one of Grace's muslins, but, of course, I couldn't think of
+offering to do such a thing."
+
+"Mother," said Grace some minutes later, when the girls had laid aside
+their wraps and descended into the drawing room, "this is Anne Pierson,
+our new friend."
+
+Anne Pierson, small and shrinking, was dressed in a queer, old-fashioned
+black silk that had evidently been taken up and made short for the
+occasion. Mrs. Harlowe's heart was touched to the quick and she bent and
+kissed the young girl gently.
+
+"How do you do, my dear?" she said kindly. "I am always glad to meet
+Grace's friends, and you are most welcome."
+
+Anne was too frightened almost to speak. This was the first party she
+had ever attended, and the beautiful room, the girls in their light,
+pretty dresses, the bowls of flowers and the cheery firelight nearly
+stupefied her.
+
+Mrs. Harlowe disappeared into the little conservatory off the dining
+room, returning in a moment with two big red roses which she pinned to
+Anne's dress.
+
+"These red roses have been waiting for you all morning," she said, "and
+they're just in their prime now."
+
+More guests began to arrive, and soon the room was full of young girls
+talking gayly together in groups or walking about, their arms around
+each other's waists after the manner of fifteen and sixteen.
+
+Grace had seated Anne at the dining room table behind a large cut glass
+bowl which almost hid her small figure. Grace knew from experience that
+this would be the most popular spot in the room, and she cautioned many
+of her friends to be kind to the timid little stranger. She knew also
+that giving Anne something to keep her occupied would relieve her
+embarrassment. Anne conscientiously filled and refilled the glasses, and
+in the intervals answered the questions put to her; but never asked any
+herself.
+
+Miriam Nesbit came in late with her two most intimate friends. She wore
+a resplendent dress of old rose crepe and a big black hat. Anne forgot
+her resentment when she caught sight of the vision and was lost in
+admiration. But she was brought sharply to her senses by a rude,
+sneering laugh from the ill-bred girl, who was staring insolently at the
+old black silk gown.
+
+Anne flushed and hung her head.
+
+"I am glad Mrs. Harlowe gave me the flowers," she thought. "They hide it
+a little, I think."
+
+Meantime there was the bustle of a new and important arrival. Grace and
+her mother ushered in a charming little old lady and seated her in the
+place of honor, a big leather chair between the windows. She wore a gray
+silk dress and a lavender bonnet daintily trimmed in lace and white
+ostrich tips.
+
+"Girls," said Grace, as a hush fell over the room, "there is no need for
+me to introduce any of you to Mrs. Gray, who is the sponsor for the
+freshman class."
+
+There was a buzz of laughter and conversation again, and through the
+double doors Anne caught sight of the little old lady, talking gayly to
+her subjects, seated, like a diminutive queen, on a large throne.
+
+"Why is she the sponsor of the class?" Anne asked of Jessica, who was
+hovering near by.
+
+"Oh, have you never heard?" returned Jessica. "Mrs. Gray's daughter died
+during her freshman year at High School, long ago, and ever since then,
+Mrs. Gray has offered a prize of twenty-five dollars for the girl who
+makes the highest average in her examinations at the end of the freshman
+year. She was made sponsor of the freshman class about ten years ago, so
+each year, soon after school opens, some one of the freshmen gives a tea
+and invites her to meet the new girls. You must come in and be
+introduced, too, as soon as you are through here."
+
+"A prize of twenty-five dollars," repeated Anne. "How I wish I might win
+it!"
+
+"It's even more than that," said Jessica. "For a perfect examination she
+offers one hundred dollars. But, needless to say, no one has ever won
+the hundred. It is considered impossible to pass a perfect examination
+in every subject."
+
+"One hundred dollars!" exclaimed Anne. "Oh, if I only could!"
+
+"Well, you may win the twenty-five dollars, anyway, Anne," said Jessica.
+"I suppose the one hundred dollar prize is beyond the reach of human
+beings."
+
+"And now, young ladies," Mrs. Gray was saying, smiling at the group of
+girls who surrounded her, as she examined them through her lorgnette,
+"most of you I have known since you were little tots, and your fathers
+and mothers before you; but I don't know which of you excels in her
+studies. Is it you, Grace, my dear?"
+
+Grace shook her head vigorously.
+
+"No, indeed, Mrs. Gray," she replied. "I could never be accused of
+overstudy. I suppose I'm too fond of basketball."
+
+"It won't hurt you, my dear," said the old lady, tapping the girl
+indulgently with her lorgnette; "the open air is much better than that
+of the schoolroom, and so long as you keep up an average, I daresay you
+won't disappoint your mother. But none of you have told me yet who leads
+the freshman class in her studies."
+
+"Miriam Nesbit," said several voices in unison.
+
+"Ah!" said Mrs. Gray, looking intently at Miriam. "So you are the gold
+medal girl, Miriam? Dear me, what a young lady you are growing to be!
+But you must not study too hard. Don't overdo it."
+
+Mrs. Gray had gone through this same conversation every year since any
+of the girls could remember, and never failed to caution the head girl
+not to overstudy.
+
+"There's no fear of that, Mrs. Gray," replied Miriam boastfully. "My
+lessons give me very little trouble."
+
+"Mrs. Gray," broke in Nora O'Malley mischievously, "Miriam Nesbit has a
+close second in the class. The first girl who has ever been known to
+come up to her."
+
+Miriam flushed, half-angry and half-pleased at the adroit compliment.
+
+"And who may that be, my dear?" queried Mrs. Gray, searching about the
+room with her nearsighted blue eyes.
+
+"It's Anne Pierson" replied Nora.
+
+"Pierson, Pierson?" repeated the little old lady. "Why have I not met
+her? I do not seem to remember the name in Oakdale. But where is this
+wonderful young woman who is outstripping our brilliant Miriam? I feel a
+great curiosity to see her."
+
+"Anne Pierson, Anne Pierson!" called several voices, while Grace began
+to search through the rooms and hall.
+
+At the first mention of her name Anne had darted from her seat behind
+the lemonade bowl, and rushed to the nearest shelter, which was the
+conservatory.
+
+Grace found her, at last, in the conservatory crouched behind a palm.
+
+"Come here, you foolish child!" exclaimed Grace. "You are wanted at
+once. Why did you run and hide? Mrs. Gray--the great Mrs. Gray--wishes
+to meet you. Think of that!"
+
+Anne clasped the girl's strong hand with her two small ones.
+
+"Oh, Grace," she whispered, "won't you excuse me? I--I----"
+
+"You what? Silly, come right along!"
+
+Grace fairly dragged the trembling little figure into the drawing room,
+where a silence had fallen over the group of young girls who watched the
+scene.
+
+"Tut, tut, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Gray gently. "You mustn't be afraid
+of me. I'm the most harmless old woman in the world."
+
+Then she tried to get a glimpse of Anne's downcast, crimson face.
+
+"I wanted particularly to meet you, child," went on Mrs. Gray, "because
+I hear you are a formidable rival of the best pupil in the freshman
+class. That is a great boast for your friends to make for you, my dear.
+Miriam Nesbit is a famously smart girl, I'm told. But I wanted to meet
+you, too, because you bear the name I love best in the world."
+
+Here the old lady's voice became very soft, and the girls suddenly
+remembered that the young daughter had been called Anne. Was there not a
+memorial window, in the chapel of the High School, of an angel carrying
+a lily and underneath an inscription familiar to them all: "In Memory of
+Anne Gray, died in her freshman year, aged sixteen"?
+
+The girls moved off quietly, conversing in low voices, leaving Anne
+alone with her new friend.
+
+"You are a very little girl to be so clever," said Mrs. Gray, patting
+one of Anne's small wrists as she looked into the dark eyes. "Where do
+you live, dear?"
+
+"On River Street," replied Anne undergoing the scrutiny calmly, now she
+found herself alone.
+
+"River Street?" repeated Mrs. Gray, trying to recall whom she had ever
+known living in that strange quarter of the town. "Have you been long in
+Oakdale?" she went on.
+
+"A few years, ma'am," replied Anne.
+
+"And what is your father's business, my child?" continued the old lady
+remorselessly.
+
+Anne blushed and hung her head, and for a moment there was no reply to
+the question. Presently she drew a sharp breath as if it hurt her to
+make the confession.
+
+"My father does not live here," was what she said. "My mother is an
+invalid. My sister supports us with sewing. As soon as I finish in the
+High School, I shall teach."
+
+Mrs. Gray put an arm around the girl's waist and drew her down beside
+her.
+
+"I'm a stupid old woman, child. You must forgive me. Old people forget
+their manners sometimes. Will you come and see me very soon? Perhaps
+to-morrow after church you will take luncheon with me? I want to know
+you better."
+
+She drew a card from the beaded reticule that hung at her side.
+
+"Remember, at half-past twelve," she said, giving the girl's hand an
+extra squeeze as she rose to go.
+
+After Mrs. Gray had taken her departure a free and easy atmosphere was
+restored and the girls began talking and laughing without the
+restriction of an older person's presence. Mrs. Harlowe shortly after
+this also left them to themselves.
+
+"Let's do some stunts," proposed Grace. "Nora, will you give us your
+imitations?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Nora, "if Miriam will promise to sing, and Jessica
+will do her Greek dance, and Georgie will play for us."
+
+"All right!" came a chorus of voices.
+
+"We've done it oft before, but we'll do it o'er again if the company so
+wishes," said Georgie Pine, one of the brightest and gayest girls in the
+class.
+
+The others seated themselves in a semicircle, while each girl gave her
+little performance, and, at the conclusion, was applauded
+enthusiastically. Nora had a real talent for mimicry; she convulsed her
+audience with imitations of some of the High School teachers. When it
+came Miriam's turn she sat down at the piano with a queer look on her
+face.
+
+"I believe she means mischief," thought Grace to herself, as she watched
+the girl curiously.
+
+Miriam ran a brilliant scale up the piano, for music was another of her
+many accomplishments. Then she paused and turned to the others.
+
+"I won't sing," she said, "unless Miss Pierson promises to recite us
+something first, Poe's 'Raven,' for instance."
+
+Grace flushed angrily and was about to interfere when, to her surprise,
+Anne herself replied:
+
+"I shall be glad to if that is the poem you like best. I always
+preferred 'Annabel Lee.'"
+
+Miriam was too amazed to answer. She could never form an idea of what it
+cost Anne in self-control to acquiesce; but the young girl had gained a
+new strength that day. So many people had been kind to her, and what is
+more, interested in her welfare. She rose quietly and walked to the
+middle of the semicircle.
+
+Grace and her chums were in an agony of fear lest poor Anne should break
+down, and so distress them all except the unkind Miriam. However, they
+need not have troubled themselves. Anne fixed her eyes on the far wall
+of the dining room and commenced to recite "The Raven" in a clear,
+musical voice that deepened as she repeated the stanzas. The girls
+forgot the shabby little figure in its ill-fitting black silk and saw
+only Anne's small, white face and glowing eyes. Not Miss Tebbs, herself,
+teacher of English and elocution at the High School, could have improved
+upon the performance.
+
+"It was perfectly done," said Grace afterwards, telling the story to her
+mother. "It was almost uncanny and quite creepy toward the last."
+
+When the performance was over the girls crowded around little Anne with
+eager congratulations; but, strange to say, everyone forgot that Miriam
+had given her promise to sing.
+
+What the crestfallen Miriam kept wondering was: "Wherever did she learn
+to do it?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+MRS. GRAY ENGAGES A SECRETARY
+
+
+Grace and her two friends, Jessica and Nora, were also invited to Mrs.
+Gray's luncheon the next day, after church. Grace had often taken meals
+in the beautiful house on Chapel Hill, but the other girls had never
+been privileged to do more than sit in the large, shady parlors while
+their mothers paid an afternoon call.
+
+It was with some excitement, therefore, that the three girls met in
+front of the Catholic Church, of which Nora was a member, and strolled
+up the broad street together. As they passed the little Episcopal
+Chapel, which had given the hill its name, Anne Pierson joined them. She
+looked grave and excited, and there was a feverish glow in her eyes.
+
+"Anne, my child," exclaimed Grace, who always seemed much older than the
+others, "how late do you study at night? I believe you are working too
+hard. You look tired out."
+
+"I'm not tired," replied Anne. "I don't mind studying. Only so much has
+happened in the last few days! And now we're going to luncheon with Mrs.
+Gray. I've seen her house. It's very beautiful from the outside, more
+beautiful than the Nesbits', I think, because it is older and there is
+such a pretty garden at the side."
+
+"Anne," said Jessica, "we're counting on you to win the prize. There is
+no reason why a rich girl like Miriam Nesbit should get it. She doesn't
+need the money, in the first place; and, in the second, she's already
+had enough glory to turn her head. Being beaten won't hurt her at all."
+
+"I would rather win it," answered Anne, with passionate fervor, "than
+almost anything in the world. And think of the big prize of $100! If I
+could win that----" Words failed to express her enthusiasm and she
+paused and clasped her hands.
+
+"Oh, well, we won't expect that of you," replied Grace, "Nobody could be
+expected to pass a perfect examination. That's an impossible
+achievement."
+
+"_I_ shall try, anyway," said Anne in a low voice.
+
+Just then they were joined by a young man of about eighteen, who lifted
+his hat politely to them.
+
+"May I walk with you?" he asked of Grace. "You seem to be going my way
+this morning."
+
+"Certainly, David, we are going your way. We are lunching with your next
+door neighbor, Mrs. Gray. But you must let me introduce you to Miss
+Pierson. Anne, this is Mr. Nesbit, Miriam's brother."
+
+Anne flushed at the mention of Miriam's name and bowed distantly to the
+newcomer, who was a junior at the High School and quite grown-up to the
+young freshmen.
+
+David Nesbit, like his sister, was tall, dark and handsome; but unlike
+her, he was quiet and unassuming. He, too, stood at the head of his
+classes, but he was not athletic, as Miriam was, and spent most of his
+time in the school laboratory, experimenting, or working at home on
+engines and machinery of his own contriving.
+
+However, there was nothing snobbish in David's attitude. He greeted Anne
+as cordially as he had the others.
+
+"We never see you now, David," continued Grace. "You are always so busy
+with your inventions and contrivances. What is the latest? A flying
+machine?"
+
+"You guessed right the very first time," replied David. "It is just
+that."
+
+"Really?" laughed the girls, incredulously, while Anne's eyes grew large
+with interest.
+
+"Shall you fly around Oakdale in it?" asked Jessica.
+
+"Oh, we are not building big ones yet," answered David. "These are
+little fellows. Models, you know. The big ones may come later. Six of
+the junior and senior fellows have been working on them all summer. We
+started it in the manual training course. After we had learned to hammer
+things out of silver, and do wood carving and a few other little useful
+accomplishments, I suggested a flying machine to Professor Blitz and he
+fell to it like a ripe peach. It was too late to do anything last spring
+except talk, however. But we are almost ready now, after our labors this
+summer."
+
+"Ready for what?" demanded Grace. "If you are not going to fly
+yourselves."
+
+"For our exhibition. Why don't you come and see it at the gym. next
+Friday night?"
+
+"We can't. We aren't invited," answered Nora, tossing back her saucy
+little curls.
+
+"I'll invite you," said David. "This will admit four young ladies to the
+High School gym.," he continued, taking out a card and writing on it,
+"At 7.30 Thursday evening."
+
+"Then everybody isn't invited?" demanded Jessica.
+
+"No, not everybody," replied David. "Just a chosen few. And you must be
+sure to come, too, Miss Pierson," he added, turning to Anne, who, all
+this time, had been silently listening to the conversation.
+
+"I should love to," she answered, giving him a grateful glance.
+
+"I'll leave you here," said David, turning in at a graveled driveway
+that led to the Nesbit house, a very large and ornate building standing
+far back from the street in the midst of a well-kept lawn.
+
+"I wish Miriam would take a few lessons in manners from her brother,"
+murmured Grace, when they were out of hearing distance.
+
+"He is certainly one of the nicest boys in High School," said Jessica.
+
+"If he only played football!" said Grace, with a sigh.
+
+"And danced," added Nora.
+
+"I don't know how to dance, nor did I ever see a game of football," said
+Anne.
+
+"Meaning that Mr. David suits you, Miss Anne," said Grace teasingly.
+
+"It was nice of him to ask me, too," was all Anne said in reply.
+
+"How do you do, my dears?" said Mrs. Gray, a few moments later, when
+John, the aged butler, ushered the girls into the long, old-fashioned
+parlor. "You are most kind to come and cheer up a lonely old woman. I
+shall expect you to be very gay and tell me all the gossip of the
+Oakdale High School, the four of you."
+
+"Luncheon is served, ma'am," announced John, whereat the sprightly old
+lady led the way to the dining room.
+
+Over the delicious broiled chicken and other good things they discussed
+the affairs of the school, the new teacher in mathematics, Miss Leece,
+who was so unpopular; the girls' principal, Miss Thompson, beloved by
+all the pupils; the merits of the Freshman Basketball Team and a dozen
+other schoolgirl topics that seemed to delight the ears of Mrs. Gray.
+
+"The truth is," she said, "I believe this freshman class is going to be
+one of the finest Oakdale High School has ever turned out. I have a
+feeling that I shall be very proud of my new girls, and at Christmas
+time I mean to do something I have never done before, if all goes well."
+
+"Oh, do tell us what it is, Mrs. Gray," cried the girls in great
+excitement.
+
+"I mean to celebrate with the largest Christmas party that's been given
+in Oakdale for many a long year. Grace, you shall manage it for me, and
+all of you shall help me decorate the tree and the house. We'll invite
+the freshmen boys and have a real dance with Ohlson's band for the
+music."
+
+"Oh, oh!" cried the girls ecstatically, even quiet Anne joining in the
+chorus.
+
+"By the way," went on Mrs. Gray, "do you know any girl who would like to
+come up and read to me twice a week, and write my notes for me? I'm
+getting to be an old woman. My eyesight is growing dim. Is there any
+girl who would like to earn a little pocket money? But she must have a
+sweet, soft voice, like Anne's here."
+
+"Anne would be the very girl herself, Mrs. Gray," suggested Grace. "She
+reads and recites beautifully."
+
+"You are not sure it would trespass on your time too much, Anne?"
+observed the wily old lady. "I don't want to impose on you."
+
+Anne's face fairly radiated with happiness. Could those girls possibly
+guess how much it meant to her to earn a little money! Five dollars was
+to her an enormous sum, and perhaps she might earn as much as that in
+time.
+
+"Might I do it?" she exclaimed, beside herself with joy.
+
+Grace turned her face away a moment. She felt almost ashamed of her own
+comfortable prosperity. And how like Mrs. Gray it was to do a kind thing
+in that way, as if Anne would be conferring a favor by accepting the
+position.
+
+"Indeed, you might, my dear. And I feel myself lucky to get the
+brightest girl in her class, and maybe in Oakdale High School, to come
+and entertain me twice a week."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE BLACK MONKS OF ASIA
+
+
+"Who wants to go nutting?" demanded Grace Harlowe in the basement
+cloakroom a few afternoons later.
+
+"We do," came a chorus of voices.
+
+"I don't," answered one.
+
+"Don't you like nutting parties, Miriam?" asked Grace.
+
+"She's too old," put in a sophomore. "This is a young people's party, I
+presume?"
+
+"Well, it's not a sophomore party, at any rate," retorted Nora.
+
+"Ma-ma, ma-ma," cried a number of other sophomores, imitating the cries
+of a baby.
+
+The freshmen were nettled by the superior attitude of the older class,
+but they knew better than to say anything more just then.
+
+"Never mind, girls," said Grace in a low voice, after the sophomores had
+strolled away, "we'll be sophomores ourselves next year. Now, all who
+want to join the party, meet Nora and Jessica and me at the old Omnibus
+House at three-thirty. And, above all, don't give the meeting place
+away."
+
+"Not in a thousand years," said Marian Barber.
+
+It was evident that Miriam Nesbit had hoped to break up the party by
+declining to go herself. But she was not quite strong enough in the
+class to divide it utterly, and she went off in a huff, with the secret
+wish to take revenge on somebody. As she started up Chapel Hill to her
+home she was joined by one of the sophomore girls, who lived across the
+street.
+
+"Your plebes are getting away from you, Miriam," exclaimed the older
+girl in a bantering tone. "You haven't got them well in hand yet.
+Nutting parties should be left behind for the Grammar School pupils."
+
+"They certainly should," replied Miriam in a disgusted tone. "It's Grace
+Harlowe who gets up all these foolish children's games. She's nothing
+but a tomboy, anyhow."
+
+"She's the captain of the basketball team, isn't she?" asked the other
+dryly.
+
+"Yes," admitted Miriam reluctantly, "but she never would have been if
+she hadn't brought along all her friends to vote for her."
+
+"Whew-w-w!" whistled the sophomore. "You don't mean to say it wasn't a
+fair election?"
+
+"Oh, fair enough," said Miriam, "except that I didn't bother to bring
+any of my special friends, and she did. I don't call that exactly fair."
+
+"Oh, well," consoled the other, "you have a few things coming to you
+anyway, Miriam. You're at the head of your class, as usual, I suppose?"
+
+Miriam nodded her head without answering. She was thinking of little
+Anne Pierson and what a close race they were running together. Even
+studying harder than she had ever had to do before, Miriam found it
+difficult to keep up with Anne.
+
+"Where are they going?" asked the other girl suddenly, after they had
+walked along a few minutes in silence.
+
+"Where are who going?" asked Miriam.
+
+"Why, the nutting party, of course."
+
+Here was Miriam's chance for revenge. The sophomores were a famously
+mischievous class, and this girl was one of its ringleaders. Back in
+Grammar School days they had played many pranks on their school fellows,
+and even in their freshman year they had dared to turn off all lights,
+one night at a dance of older schoolmates.
+
+"If I tell, you won't give me away, will you?" asked Miriam.
+
+"I promise," said the older girl.
+
+"Very well, then. They meet at three-thirty at the Omnibus House on the
+River road."
+
+"Good," said the sophomore. "Don't you want to come along and see the
+fun?"
+
+"Don't count on me," answered Miriam, turning in at her gate, with mixed
+feelings of shame and triumph.
+
+The Omnibus House, which had been chosen by Grace as the class meeting
+place, was an old stone building standing in the middle of an orchard.
+It was now in ruins, but tradition set it down as a former inn and stage
+coach station built before the days of railroads, and finally burned by
+the Indians. There was a curious hieroglyphic sign cut in a stone slab
+in the front wall which one of the High School professors interested in
+archæology had deciphered as follows: "Peace and Justice Reign Over
+Mount Asia Tavern."
+
+Here the crowd of High School "plebes," as the sophomores scornfully
+dubbed them, met in conclave, partly to gather nuts in the woods near
+by, partly to discuss class matters, but chiefly to enjoy the crisp
+autumn weather. The woods were still gorgeous in russets and reds, in
+spite of the recent heavy frosts, and there was a smell of burning
+leaves and dry bracken in the air. The girls skipped about like young
+ponies.
+
+"If this is childish," cried Grace, "then I'd like to be a child always,
+for I shall play in the woods when the notion strikes me, even if I'm a
+grandmother."
+
+There was a smothered snicker at this from the inside of the old stone
+house, but the girls were too intent on their enjoyment to notice it.
+
+"Young ladies," exclaimed Nora O'Malley, trailing her cape after her to
+make her skirts look longer, and twisting her mouth down to give her
+face a severe expression, "you are not in your usual form to-day. I must
+ask for better preparation hereafter."
+
+There was a peal of joyous laughter from the other girls.
+
+"Miss Leece to a dot," cried Jessica.
+
+"Miss Bright," went on Nora, "you will please pay attention to the
+lesson. If you do not, young woman, I shall have to punish you in the
+old-fashioned way."
+
+"You will, will you?" cried Jessica, rushing gayly upon her friend.
+"Come on and try it then!"
+
+The other girls followed, and there was a tussle to pull Nora down from
+the stone upon which she had clambered to protect herself.
+
+Shrieks, struggles and wild laughter followed, while Nora fought
+desperately to hold her position. So absorbed were they in friendly
+battle that they had not noticed a troop of black-robed figures leaving
+the ruined Omnibus House and stealthily approaching.
+
+Nora was the first to see the ominous circle. She stopped short, and
+pointed with unmistakable terror at the masked and hooded persons, who
+were watching them silently. There was a moment of frozen horror when
+the girls turned around. This was a lonely spot, too remote from any
+dwelling to call for help. Besides, the freshmen were outnumbered by
+these weird figures, who appeared not unlike monks in their somber
+cowls, although their faces were absolutely hidden by black masks.
+
+The girls clustered together around the rock like a group of frightened
+chickens. Jessica had turned pale. She was not very robust and often
+overtaxed her strength to keep up with her two devoted friends.
+
+The tallest of the masked figures then spoke in a queer, deep voice.
+
+"Young women, are you not aware that this is a sacred spot, devoted for
+generations past to the Black Monks of Asia, whose home this building
+was before it became a roadhouse for stage coaches? Never invade this
+spot again with your hilarity. And now we will permit you to go,
+marching out single file, without looking back. But first, through your
+leader you must give your word never to mention this meeting to anyone.
+If you refuse this promise we shall punish you as only the Black Monks
+of Asia know how to punish persons who have offended the order. The
+leader will please step forward."
+
+There was a moment's whispered conversation among the freshmen. Then
+Grace, urged by her friends, said:
+
+"We promise."
+
+"Now march out, single file, as agreed," resumed the Black Monk of Asia,
+his voice trembling a little with suppressed emotion of some sort.
+
+The girls started to move out of the enclosure single file, Grace
+leading the procession, when a gust of wind blew the robe of the leading
+monk apart, disclosing a navy blue serge walking-skirt. Grace's quick
+eye caught sight of the skirt at once, and breaking from the line, she
+charged straight into the group of black monks, crying:
+
+"Sophomores! Sophomores!"
+
+The other girls ran after her, screaming at the tops of their voices;
+and there might have been almost a free fight between the two classes
+had not the Black Monks of Asia scattered in every direction, running at
+utmost speed.
+
+"Come on back, girls," cried Grace in a disgusted tone.
+
+She had chased a monk half-way across the orchard; then stopped to
+wonder what she would do if she caught the tall, black-robed individual
+who had indecorously caught up her skirts and was flying well ahead over
+the rough ground.
+
+One by one the plebes returned to their meeting place.
+
+"Well, that was a sell!" uttered Nora disgustedly. "How shall we ever
+manage to get even with those mean sophomores!"
+
+"If we don't," exclaimed Grace, "we shall never hear the last of it in
+Oakdale."
+
+"But who gave us away?" demanded Jessica. "Did anyone drop a hint to the
+sophomores of our secret meeting place?"
+
+"I didn't," said one girl after another.
+
+"Perhaps they followed us," suggested Marian Barber.
+
+"No one followed me," asserted Grace. "I was careful to look behind and
+see."
+
+"Nor me."
+
+"Nor me," exclaimed several of her classmates.
+
+"No," said Nora. "Somebody must have overheard and given the secret
+away."
+
+"Not Mi----" but Grace stopped before she had finished the name.
+
+The girls looked at each other.
+
+Could Miriam Nesbit have been so false to her class?
+
+No one replied, but each made a secret resolution to ferret out Miriam's
+suspected treachery if it were the last act of her life.
+
+"Let's start home, now," said Grace. "It's too late to go nutting
+anyhow, and these foolish sophomores have spoiled the afternoon, for me
+at least. If we don't cook up something to pay them back, the name of
+freshman will be disgraced forever more."
+
+However, the afternoon adventures were not at an end.
+
+As the group of girls started toward the road, some distance away,
+trying not to look crestfallen, a gruff voice from the far side of the
+Omnibus House called:
+
+"Hold up there!"
+
+The girls took no notice, thinking it was more upper-class tricks.
+
+Five rough-looking men emerged from a grove of alders which grew about
+the building.
+
+The young girls were really frightened this time. No sophomore could
+disguise herself like this. These were undoubtedly genuine ruffians of
+the worst type, hungry, blear-eyed and ragged.
+
+"What shall we do?" whispered Jessica, clinging to Grace desperately.
+
+"Everybody run," answered her friend, trying to be calm as the five men
+advanced on them. But when they broke away to run toward the distant
+road they found their retreat cut off by the tramps, who were active
+enough as soon as the girls showed signs of flight. Back of them lay the
+dense woods into which the sophomores must have plunged and departed for
+town by another road. Seeing that escape was impossible, since, if some
+got away, others would be caught--and no girl was willing to desert her
+friends--the frightened plebes paused again and clustered about their
+leader.
+
+"What do you want?" asked Grace of one of the men.
+
+"First your money, then your jewelry," answered the tramp, insolently
+leering at her.
+
+"But suppose we haven't any money or jewelry," replied Grace.
+
+"So much the worse for you, then," answered the tramp in a threatening
+tone.
+
+"He can have this gold bracelet," exclaimed Jessica, slipping the band
+from her arm.
+
+But Grace was not listening. Her attention was absorbed by a group of
+people passing in a straggling line on the road. Lifting up her voice
+she gave the High School yell, which had been familiar to every High
+School boy and girl for the last twenty years:
+
+"Hi-hi-hi; hi-hi-hi; Oakdale, Oakdale, HIGH SCHOOL!"
+
+As she expected, the call was answered immediately, and some of the
+loiterers along the highway vaulted the fence at one bound.
+
+"Help!" cried all the girls in chorus. "Help! Help!"
+
+"It's some of the High School boys!" exclaimed Nora, in a relieved voice
+as the rescuers came bounding through the orchard.
+
+The tramps looked irresolute for a moment, but when they saw that the
+newcomers were five boys they held their ground.
+
+"What do you want?" said the tallest boy, with a flaming head of red
+hair, as he confronted one of the tramps.
+
+"Thank heaven it's Reddy Brooks, pitcher on the sophomore baseball
+team!" whispered Grace, unable to conceal her joy.
+
+"Is that any of your business, young man?" demanded the tramp, showing
+his teeth like an angry dog.
+
+"It's my business to protect these young ladies," answered Reddy Brooks,
+"and I'll do it if I have to shed somebody's blood in the attempt."
+
+"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the big tramp, clapping his hands to his sides and
+almost dancing a jig in his amusement.
+
+In the meantime Reddy had cast his eyes about for some kind of a weapon.
+There was not a stick nor stone in sight. The only thing he could find
+was a pile of winter apples that had evidently been collected by the
+owner of the orchard to be barreled next day.
+
+Reddy made a rush for the pile, to the amazement of his fellow-students,
+who imagined for a moment that he was running away. They soon found out
+his purpose, however, when the apples came whizzing through the air with
+well-aimed precision.
+
+The first one hit the biggest tramp squarely on the chin and almost
+stunned him. Each boy then chose his man and the five ruffians were soon
+running across the orchard to the wood, the boys after them, their
+pockets bulging with apples. Laughing and yelling like wild Indians,
+they pelted their victims until the men disappeared in the forest.
+
+The girls, who had forgotten their fright in the excitement of the
+chase, were laughing, too, and urging on the attacks exactly as they
+would have done at one of the college football games. Perhaps they had
+had a narrow escape, but it was great fun, now, especially when Reddy
+Brooks threw one of his famous curved balls and hit a tramp plump on the
+back of the head.
+
+"Oh," cried Nora, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, "I never had
+such a good time in all my life! Wasn't it great?"
+
+"Wasn't it though?" grinned Reddy, as the boys returned from the field
+of victory. "Lots more fun than throwing balls at dummies at the county
+fair, wasn't it, fellows?"
+
+"You girls ought to be careful how you walk out here alone at this time
+of the year," said Jimmie Burke. "There are a great many tramps around
+now, going south in bunches to spend the winter in Palm Beach, no
+doubt."
+
+"We'll never do it again," answered Grace.
+
+"Never again!" exclaimed Nora, raising her right hand to heaven.
+
+"I suppose Farmer Smithson will wonder what became of his apples,"
+observed Reddy.
+
+"Oh, well, he has so many acres of orchards, I don't suppose he'll miss
+this one little pile."
+
+And the crowd started gayly off to town.
+
+But the girls of the freshman class had not forgotten--or forgiven--the
+Black Monks of Asia.
+
+All along the walk Grace was turning over and over in her mind some
+scheme of revenge. Nothing seemed feasible, however. The sophomores were
+so well up in tricks that it would be difficult to deceive them.
+
+"Suppose," Grace proposed suddenly, aloud, "we ask David Nesbit's advice
+to-morrow night, when we go to the flying machine exhibition."
+
+After that she dismissed the subject from her mind for the time being.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+ANNE HAS A SECRET
+
+
+On the night of the flying machine exhibition, the four chums, for Anne
+had now been formally adopted by Grace and her friends, arrived somewhat
+early at the great arched doorway leading into the gymnasium.
+
+They were all somewhat excited over this new experience. There had been
+many balloon ascensions at the State Fair, and once a dirigible airship
+had sailed over the town of Oakdale. But to see a real flying machine
+with all its grace and elegance and lightness was like stepping onto
+another planet where progress had advanced much faster than it had on
+this.
+
+At least, so thought Anne as she followed her friends into the building.
+There was a sound of puffing and churning, during which David arrived in
+a cloud of smoke on his motor cycle.
+
+"I mean to learn to ride one of those queer machines," exclaimed Grace
+from the doorway, never dreaming what an important part that very
+machine was one day to play in the history of Oakdale.
+
+"All right, you're welcome to," replied David, jumping off as he stopped
+the motor. "Come over to the campus to-morrow afternoon, and I'll give
+you your first lesson."
+
+"Is that really an invitation?" asked Grace. "For I shall accept it, if
+it is."
+
+"It certainly is," answered the young man, "and I shall expect you to
+make a very excellent prize pupil, not like Reddy Brooks, who tumbled
+off and smashed his nose because he suddenly forgot how to manage the
+brakes."
+
+A few other people gathered in the roomy gymnasium to see the
+exhibition, but the girls could see that it was a very exclusive company
+they had been invited to join. There were, in fact, no other girls,
+except Miriam Nesbit, who came late with her mother, a handsome, quiet
+woman to whom her son David bore a marked resemblance.
+
+Grace and her friends spoke to Mrs. Nesbit cordially, while Miriam bowed
+coldly and confined all her attentions to Miss Leece, the unpopular
+teacher of mathematics. Miriam ignored Anne entirely.
+
+"And now, ladies, if you will all be seated, the show will begin,"
+announced David, leading them to the spectators' benches ranged against
+the wall. "Don't expect anything wonderful of mine," he added. "It's
+only in the first stages so far. I'm afraid she'll break down, but she's
+a great little machine, just the same. Isn't she, mother?"
+
+"She is wonderful, I think, David," replied Mrs. Nesbit, who was a very
+shy, quiet woman, almost entirely wrapped up in her only son. Miriam had
+always been too much for her, and she had long since given up attempting
+to rule or direct her brilliant, willful daughter.
+
+"Mrs. Nesbit," said Grace, "this is Anne Pierson, one of the brightest
+girls in the freshman class."
+
+"How do you do?" said Mrs. Nesbit cordially, giving the girl her hand.
+"You are a newcomer, are you not? I haven't heard Miriam speak of you."
+
+"She is a newcomer, mother, but I hear she's giving your daughter Miriam
+a stiff pull for first place," said David teasingly.
+
+"I wish you'd keep quiet, David," exclaimed his sister angrily. "You
+always talk too much."
+
+"Miriam!" remonstrated her mother.
+
+"Miss Nesbit," said Miss Leece in a disagreeable, harsh voice, "will
+have no trouble, I think, in holding her own."
+
+The teacher gave Anne such a glare from her pale blue eyes that the poor
+child shrank behind Grace in embarrassment.
+
+"Dear, dear," murmured Mrs. Nesbit helplessly. She disliked exceedingly
+the scenes to which her daughter often subjected the family.
+
+David only laughed good-naturedly.
+
+"The exhibition is about to begin," he said, and disappeared into the
+room where the ships were to be put through their performances.
+
+In a few moments six young airship builders appeared, each carrying in
+his arms the result of his summer's labors. There was vigorous applause
+from everybody except Miriam, who was too angry with her brother to
+enjoy the spectacle.
+
+The aeroplanes were all copies of well-known models, except David's,
+which was of an entirely new and original design of his own invention.
+It looked something like a flying fish, the girls thought, with its
+slender, oblong body, gauzy fins at the sides and a funny little forked
+tail at the stern.
+
+The models were too light for machinery, so rubber bands, secured
+cris-cross in the bows, when suddenly released with a snap gave the
+little ships the impetus they needed to fly the length of the gymnasium.
+
+Only four of the six, however, were destined to fly that evening. They
+soared straight down the big room, as easily and gracefully as great
+white birds, and dropped gently when they hit the curtain at the other
+end, their builders running after them as eagerly as boys sailing kites.
+One of the models fluttered and settled down before it reached the other
+side, and David's machine, which had commanded most attention because it
+was different, started out bravely enough, its little propeller making a
+busy humming as it skimmed along. But it had gone hardly ten yards
+before it collapsed and ignominiously crashed to the floor.
+
+"I'm glad of it," said Miriam above the din, for everyone had gathered
+about the young man to offer sympathy and congratulations at the same
+time.
+
+"It's very, very clever, my boy," said Professor Blitz, "and you'll
+succeed yet, if you keep at it."
+
+"She wouldn't go far, David," said Grace, stroking the little model, as
+if it had been a pet dog, "but she's the prettiest of all, just the
+same."
+
+"Did it hurt it when it fell?" Anne asked him.
+
+"I think it broke one of its little fins," laughed David. "It hurt me
+much more than itself, because it wouldn't be good and fly all the way."
+
+"Anne," called Grace, "here is some one looking for you. It's a boy with
+a note."
+
+Anne looked frightened as she opened a soiled looking envelope the boy
+handed her.
+
+"Is anything the matter?" asked Jessica, seeing the expression of fear
+on her face.
+
+"No--yes----," answered poor little Anne, undecidedly. "I must go home,
+or rather I mustn't go the way I came. Don't you think I could leave at
+a side entrance? I don't want to see the person who is waiting for me in
+front."
+
+"Of course, child," spoke up Grace. "We'll see you home ourselves. Won't
+we, girls!"
+
+"Wait until I lock up my motor cycle and I'll go along," called David.
+"We'll all protect Miss Anne."
+
+"Tell him," said Anne to the boy, putting the note back in the envelope
+and giving it to him, "that what he asks is impossible."
+
+"Couldn't you squeeze us into the carriage, mother?" asked David,
+returning presently with his hat.
+
+"I have invited Miss Leece to drive home with us, mother," interrupted
+Miriam, giving her brother a blighting glance. "There is room for only
+one more person. Perhaps Jessica will take it."
+
+"You are very kind," said Jessica coldly, "but I prefer to walk with the
+girls."
+
+"_You'd_ better walk, too, cross-patch, and learn a few manners from
+your friends," was David's parting advice to his sister.
+
+"Children, children!" exclaimed Mrs. Nesbit, "don't, I beg of you,
+quarrel in public."
+
+Presently the five young people had slipped out of a side door of the
+gymnasium and started down a back street in the direction of Anne's
+house. They had not gone far, however, before they became aware that
+they were being followed. Grace was the first to call the attention of
+Nora and Jessica to a long, slim figure stealing after them in the
+shadows.
+
+"Here he comes," whispered Jessica. "What in the world do you suppose he
+wants with our poor little Anne?"
+
+"I believe he's going to stop us," returned Grace. "He is coming nearer
+and nearer."
+
+"Anne, I command you to wait!" called a voice from behind them.
+
+They all stopped suddenly and Anne jumped as though she had received a
+shock.
+
+A tall, theatrical-looking individual had come up to them. He wore a
+shabby frock coat and a black slouch hat, which he raised with an
+elaborate flourish when he saw the young girls.
+
+"Pardon me, ladies," he said, "but I wish to speak with my daughter."
+
+Anne controlled herself with an effort.
+
+"I cannot see you now, father," she said. "It is quite late and I must
+get back."
+
+"You shall not only speak to me but you shall come with me," exclaimed
+the man, with a sudden flare of anger. "I will not submit to
+disobedience again. Come at once!"
+
+"Father, I cannot go with you," cried Anne, clinging to her friends. "I
+would rather be with mother and Mary. They need me more than you do and
+I want to go to school and study to be a teacher."
+
+The man was now beside himself with theatrical rage.
+
+"Miserable child!" he cried, waving his arms wildly. "I shall take you
+if I must by force." Breaking through the group, he seized the hand of
+his daughter and dragged her after him.
+
+"Oh, save me!" cried the poor girl, struggling to release herself.
+
+"I can't stand this! If she doesn't want to go with him, she shan't,
+father or no father," growled David, dashing after the pair.
+
+"Stop, sir!" he cried, seizing Anne's other hand. "I must ask you to
+release this young lady at once."
+
+"Insolent boy!" cried the other, giving each word an oratorical
+flourish, "are you not aware that this young lady, as you call her, is
+merely a child, and that she happens to be my daughter? I cannot see
+that you have a right to interfere in a family matter."
+
+"But I have no proof that Miss Pierson is your daughter," retorted
+David. "It is enough that she doesn't want to go with you. I undertook
+to see her safely to her own home, this evening, and I mean to do it.
+After that you may settle your difficulties as you please."
+
+"Miserable upstart!" cried the man, now so thoroughly angry that he let
+go Anne's hand, "I have a good mind to give you what you deserve. As for
+you, undutiful, wretched girl," he added, his voice rising to an
+emotional tremolo, "you shall be well punished for this!"
+
+"Don't wait," whispered Anne. "If we run, we can get away, now, while he
+is so angry." At that they all took to their heels, David following
+after them, much relieved to have given Anne's father the slip without
+further disagreeable argument.
+
+No one spoke until they had reached the Pierson cottage and had seen
+Anne safely to the front door.
+
+"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed at last, trying not to cry. "I wouldn't
+for anything have had it happen, and just when you were all beginning to
+like me a little. Will you forgive me?"
+
+"Forgive you, Anne!" cried Grace. "It wasn't your fault. We are only
+awfully sorry for you."
+
+"We will just forget all about it, and never speak of it to anyone,"
+promised Jessica, taking the girl's hand kindly.
+
+"But I want you to understand that I was right in not going," protested
+Anne. "Some day I will explain."
+
+"Of course you were right," said David, "and I hope you will never be
+persuaded to go."
+
+"Thank you, all, a thousand times!" came gratefully from Anne; "and good
+night." Then she disappeared into the cottage.
+
+"Well, this was a night's adventure," observed Grace, as they started
+homeward.
+
+"I am afraid Anne's father is a night's adventurer," muttered David. "He
+looks mightily like one of those strolling actors who go barnstorming
+through country towns."
+
+"Poor Anne! Do you suppose he wants her to barnstorm?" asked Nora.
+
+"I haven't a doubt of it," replied the young man. "I think you girls had
+better adopt that poor child and look after her."
+
+"We have already," answered Grace. "Didn't Miriam tell you about it?"
+
+"Miriam? No; she never tells me anything. Besides, what has she to do
+with it?"
+
+The girls were silent.
+
+"By the way," continued Grace, "speaking of barnstorming, we want to ask
+your advice, David. The sophomores played a mean trick on us the other
+day at the old Omnibus House."
+
+"I heard something about the Black Monks of Asia," answered David,
+laughing.
+
+"Can't your inventive brain devise a scheme of revenge?" went on Grace.
+"If we don't get even with them soon, the story will be all over town."
+
+"Well," replied David, "I can tell you a secret I happened to have
+overheard when one of the sophomores was calling on Miriam. I was an
+eavesdropper entirely by accident, but what I heard might help some. The
+sophomores are going to give an initiation mask ball a week from
+Saturday night. Only the class and a few outsiders, among them Miriam,
+are to be present. Everybody is to be in fancy dress, and disguised out
+of all recognition. Can't you work up a scheme with that to go upon,
+girls?"
+
+"We certainly can," cried Nora. "It's the chance of a lifetime."
+
+"Just wait and see!" exclaimed Grace.
+
+"By the way, David, you didn't happen to overhear the password, did
+you?" asked Jessica.
+
+"I did," he replied. "Nothing escaped me, for I was caught in a trap.
+You know I don't care for that large, husky young damsel who leads the
+sophomores, and if I had made my presence behind the screen known, I
+should have had to speak to her. So I just sat still and said nothing.
+The password is 'Asia.'"
+
+"They are trying to rub it in, I suppose," cried Grace. "But I think
+they won't be so ready to use that word after their old ball is over."
+
+"If you want any help," offered David as he left Grace at her front
+door, "you know where to come for it, don't you?"
+
+"You're a true brick, David!" said Grace. "Good night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SOPHOMORE BALL
+
+
+There was an undercurrent of excitement in the air on the day of the
+sophomore ball.
+
+The sophomores themselves were full of secrets, whispering around in
+groups, their faces grave with self-important expressions. This was to
+be their annual Initiation Ball, and many new members, after receiving
+initiation into the various sophomore societies, were to be invited to
+the gymnasium, which had been turned over to the class for the evening.
+
+There was no end to the fun of these balls, according to feminine
+gossip, for no male was ever admitted and only three invitations were
+issued to girls of other classes. It was, in fact, to be nothing but fun
+and frolic, and every costume had been planned weeks ahead.
+
+One teacher was asked to be present to keep order in case of intrusion,
+for the gymnasium door, on that famous night, was always besieged by
+youths from the Boys' High School, who roared and jeered as each cloaked
+and masked figure rushed under the archway and disappeared.
+
+The freshmen, all through the day, were unusually quiet. They kept to
+themselves and had little to say. Miriam and her three particular
+friends were carefully avoided by their classmates. Miriam, herself,
+felt the snub at once. Had she, after all, made a mistake, and was she
+losing ground in the class? But her vanity was like a life buoy to her
+sinking hopes. She refused to see that the other girls regarded her with
+growing dislike.
+
+When school was over, that afternoon, six girls strolled down the High
+School walk arm in arm. They were Grace and her three chums and two
+other girls who were popular in the freshman class.
+
+Anne's small figure seemed almost dwarfed next to Grace, who towered
+half a foot above her. Ever since Anne's trying scene with her father,
+Grace had been doubly tender and kind to her, until the young girl
+seemed to expand under the happy influence.
+
+"Well, girlies, dear, we are the chosen six. I hope we shall be a credit
+to the class."
+
+"Don't talk so loudly, Nora. I feel as if we were surrounded by spies
+to-day. Everybody has been so mysterious and queer."
+
+"One thing is practically certain," whispered Grace: "I believe it was
+Miriam who told the sophomores about the Omnibus House. Why else did
+they invite her to their ball?"
+
+"We can never prove it, though," said one of the others, "unless we get
+her up a tree some day and make her admit it."
+
+"Remember, Anne," cautioned Grace, when they came to the cross street
+leading to the Pierson cottage, "eight o'clock sharp at my house! And
+don't bother about things. We shall have more than enough among us."
+
+At half-past eight that night the sound of a stringed orchestra floated
+out on the breeze as the door of the gymnasium swung back and forth to
+admit disguised sophomores, who each whispered the countersign to the
+doorkeeper, after running the gauntlet of the waiting crowd, and slipped
+in.
+
+The music was furnished by a troupe of women players especially engaged
+to play in this Adamless Eden. What would not the crowd of waiting boys
+have given for one glimpse of the ball room, where ballet girls, clowns
+and courtiers, Egyptian snake charmers, Mephistopholeses and
+Marguerites, priests and priestesses of the Orient, all whirled madly
+together?
+
+Every door had been locked and bolted and every downstairs window
+securely closed. Ventilation was obtained through the half-open windows
+opening on the upper gallery, which ran around the four sides of the
+gymnasium. The doors to this gallery had also been locked and the only
+way to reach it was by steps leading up from the gymnasium.
+
+Six masked and hooded figures swung down High School Street together,
+talking and laughing in low voices. The smallest of the six appeared to
+stumble over her feet, and once tumbled in the road. Her friends gayly
+helped her up, when it was disclosed that she wore a pair of boy's shoes
+much too large for her.
+
+"If we don't break our necks stumbling over these brogans," whispered
+the tallest girl, "we'll be lucky."
+
+As a matter of fact, each one of the six maskers was wearing a pair of
+men's shoes.
+
+"I stuffed my toes with cotton," laughed another, "but even now they are
+hard to manage."
+
+Just then a motor cycle shot past them, slowed down and stopped
+altogether.
+
+The rider rested it against a tree and came back.
+
+"I recognized you by your big feet," he said in a whisper. "Grace,
+here's the duplicate key to the laboratory. I had some trouble getting
+it, but no one knows, and you'll be safe enough. I'll let myself in with
+the other duplicate key and lock the door. They will be sure to try it
+at intervals. If you get into any trouble, early in the evening, make a
+dash for the steps and blow your horn loud. Now, that's all, I think.
+I'll be hidden in the laboratory until my turn comes. Good-bye and good
+luck!"
+
+In another instant he was off on his motor cycle.
+
+Six figures, well disguised in dominoes of as many hues, presently
+appeared on the ball room floor, just in time for the grand march. It
+was a pity no one, except the lone teacher, was permitted to look at the
+brilliant picture. But such was the tradition of the class. After the
+march, ten ballet girls in tarlatan skirts, their faces concealed by
+little black satin masks, gave a performance. Following this, a Spanish
+dancer, whom the six dominoes recognized at once as the treacherous
+Miriam Nesbit, gave an exhibition of her skill.
+
+"I'm going to have some fun with her," whispered the blue domino to the
+red one. "Just follow me and see."
+
+The last speaker joined the dancer as the music struck up a waltz.
+
+"That was a good day's work you did for our class, not long ago," she
+whispered as they danced off together.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked the Spanish dancer.
+
+"I mean the Black Monks of Asia. Now, do you understand?"
+
+"But I thought it was not to be told," exclaimed the dancer, flushing
+under her mask.
+
+"Only to the committee so that you might be rewarded with an
+invitation," whispered the domino, as she slipped away.
+
+"_She_ did confess it, and every freshman in the class shall know it
+to-morrow!" the emissary exclaimed privately to her friend, the red
+domino.
+
+"In spite of what her brother is doing for us to-night?" returned the
+red domino.
+
+"You are quite right, child. I never thought of that. Perhaps that is
+the very reason he is helping us get even to-night."
+
+"I think it is," added the other, quietly.
+
+"Girls, we must hurry up and begin," whispered another of the six
+dominoes. "They are all going to unmask at half-past ten."
+
+So the unrecognized intruders slipped away, stationing themselves about
+the room.
+
+Pretty soon a rumor began to spread among the dancers that there were
+young men present. No one knew exactly how it started, but it grew and
+spread with such persistency that it finally reached the ears of the
+chaperon.
+
+"Some of the girls saw their feet," said her informant, "and not only
+their feet but their trousers, too."
+
+The teacher rose and rapped sharply for order.
+
+"Young ladies," she called in a loud voice, "I am sorry to disturb the
+dancers, but we have every reason to believe there are some men in the
+room. Since it is not yet time for you to unmask, it will be simple to
+find out who does not belong here by having you file past me. I will
+lift each mask myself."
+
+The dancers accordingly arranged themselves in a long line and walked
+single file past the teacher. She saw only girl's faces, however, as she
+peeped under the masks, and the dance proceeded.
+
+The next disturbance came when the maskers had all taken their stand at
+one end of the room at the request of the six dominoes, who managed to
+whisper to each sophomore that there was presently to be a surprise.
+
+An expectant hush fell over the company as the six dominoes filed out of
+a side room and stood, for a moment, in full view of the sophomores.
+Then the six deliberately lifted their dominoes, disclosing trouser legs
+and men's shoes. Instantly the place was in pandemonium; yet before the
+sophomores could rush upon the intruders six long horns were blown in
+unison, and immediately the lights went out. In the darkness the six
+dominoes made for the stairs, rushed along the gallery, and were
+admitted to the laboratory by the duplicate key. But, just before the
+blue domino disappeared, she called out in a loud voice from the
+gallery:
+
+"The freshmen are avenged!"
+
+When the doors were safely closed the lights were turned on again,
+disclosing the sophomores blinking foolishly at each other after the
+sudden startling change from darkness to light.
+
+"They are in the laboratory!" cried one. "Let's cut off their escape!"
+
+The angry sophomores made a rush for the door.
+
+"Hurry girls!" urged David, who had just returned to the laboratory
+after manipulating the lights. "They'll catch us before we know it."
+
+But the young fugitives were too late. Just then there was the sound of
+many feet running up the stairs from the other door.
+
+"How about one of the gallery doors?" asked Grace.
+
+"They are all locked," answered David. "There only remain the skylight
+trap-door and the roof. Do you think you could manage it if I helped
+you?"
+
+"Of course; we could manage anything," protested the freshmen girls.
+
+It was an easy matter to climb up the ladder, and clamber through the
+trap-door on to the roof.
+
+"We're just in time," whispered David. "They have found the right key to
+the gallery door, and they'll be coming in both ways. Crawl carefully
+now, girls, for heaven's sake, and don't slip!"
+
+The seven young people began slowly to draw themselves along the
+gymnasium roof on their hands and knees. Fortunately, it was not a very
+sloping roof, and their only danger lay in their movements being heard
+from below. Meanwhile the gymnasium had emptied itself, and parties of
+enraged sophomores were engaged in searching the adjoining class rooms
+and passages.
+
+"Let's surround the building on the outside," cried one of the class
+leaders. "They can't escape, then, by any of the fire escapes, and we
+are sure to catch them!"
+
+In a few moments, David peeping over the edge of the roof, saw figures
+stationed at every possible exit, waiting patiently.
+
+"Lie low," he whispered, "and crawl on your stomachs, or you're surely
+caught."
+
+Soon after the seven had reached the end of the hundred feet of
+gymnasium, where their flight was stopped short by a blank wall where
+the gymnasium joined the High School building.
+
+"Here's a pretty pass," whispered David. "I forgot about this old school
+wall. The only thing to do, now, is to hide behind this chimney and wait
+for the row to quiet down."
+
+There they lay, as flat as possible, listening with bated breath to the
+sophomores below. Presently there was a sound of footsteps on the
+gymnasium roof and they heard Miriam's voice saying:
+
+"They must have escaped through the trap-door in the laboratory and come
+along here. Wait a minute, girls, and I'll see."
+
+"O Grace, we're caught!" groaned Jessica. "What shall we do?"
+
+"No we aren't yet," answered Grace. "Especially if she is coming alone,
+and that is what I am praying for."
+
+"I'll come with you, Miriam," called the voice of the sophomore leader.
+
+"Why don't you take the other side?" proposed Miriam. "And I'll go
+around and meet you."
+
+"Very well," came the answer.
+
+The freshmen clutched each other and waited.
+
+Miriam ran lightly along the roof, and came upon the seven prostrate
+figures so suddenly that she almost lost her balance.
+
+"Don't speak," said Grace, in a distinct whisper, "and don't give us
+away. If you do, you will regret it. Remember the blue domino who
+waltzed with you!"
+
+She hoped Miriam would understand what she meant and so save her from
+further explanation. In this Grace was right. Miriam was trapped at
+last. She deliberately turned and walked away without a word.
+
+"Come on, girls," they heard her call to the others, "let's waste no
+more time on them." When all was quiet the seven intriguers slipped down
+the fire escape and disappeared in the darkness--safely escaping
+discovery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ALL HALLOWE'EN
+
+
+"Anne," called a chorus of boys' and girls' voices, "come out and have
+some fun. Have you forgotten it's Hallowe'en?"
+
+The door of the Pierson cottage opened and Anne appeared on the
+threshhold.
+
+"I can't," she answered; "I must study to-night."
+
+"Oh, bother lessons!" exclaimed Grace Harlowe. "Skip them, for once, and
+join the crowd. We are going Hallowe'ening. Mother allowed it because
+David Nesbit and Reddy Brooks are along to look after us."
+
+Anne looked longingly at the little company.
+
+"I'll come," she sighed, "although it was my algebra I was working on.
+You know Miss Leece hates me, and, if I slip up, she'll be much harder
+than any of the other teachers."
+
+"Hang Miss Leece!" said David promptly.
+
+"Well, let's hang her, then," exclaimed Nora. "Let's dress her up and
+hang her on a limb of a tree."
+
+"What do you mean by 'hang' her?" asked Grace, while Anne went in to put
+on her hat and coat.
+
+"Don't you know?" replied Nora. "You stuff an old dress full of hay and
+paper, make a head out of any old thing, put a hat on it, and there you
+have her mighty fine."
+
+"That's an old stunt, Nora," observed David. "Let's have something more
+improved and up-to-date. Suppose, for instance, we use Marian's
+Jack-o'-lantern for the head. I'll put some little electric bulbs in the
+eye holes and attach them to a battery so that we can turn her eyes off
+and on. And we'll ride her on a broomstick in good style."
+
+"Only, nobody must know it's Miss Leece whose being effigied," urged
+Grace. "This must be merely for our own private satisfaction. Everybody
+promise not to tell."
+
+Everybody promised; so, with Anne safely in tow, they started for
+Jessica's house to make the figure. Here they were not likely to be
+interrupted. Jessica's mother was dead and her father spent most of his
+evenings in his library.
+
+Half a broomstick, with a small pumpkin attached to one end, formed the
+framework of Miss Leece's effigy. A cross beam gave a human touch to the
+shoulders and with the skeleton ready, the business of stuffing an old
+ulster and hanging it over the figure was simple. Tiny electric bulbs
+were placed in the eyes and a bonnet tied on the head with a green veil
+floating behind. Miss Leece, Nora insisted, always wore one growing out
+of her left ear. There was nothing left to do now, but to place the
+figure in a legless chair that had been nailed to two poles, and the
+procession was ready.
+
+"She's a very fine lady," cried Grace, running ahead to get the effect
+of the absurd lopsided figure whose eyes glared and went out
+alternately. "I wish the real Miss L. could see herself now. She would
+know exactly what she looks like when she glares at poor little Anne in
+class."
+
+"Yes, Anne," said David, "this shall be your party. We are going to give
+you satisfaction for your wrongs in the only way that lies in our
+power."
+
+"Oh, I don't really mind her," replied Anne, "only I'm afraid she'll
+catch me unprepared, some day, and then I _will_ get it in earnest."
+
+"It's a perfect outrage," exclaimed Grace. "Miss Leece is so cruel to
+little Anne, David, that it makes my blood boil. I sometimes think she
+is trying to make Anne lose the freshman prize."
+
+"The old Hessian!" cried David, who was on a sort of rampage that
+evening. "What shall I do to her, Anne? Give her an electric shock?" and
+he pressed the electric button rapidly up and down, which made the eyes
+glare hideously and go out several times in succession.
+
+In a town the size of Oakdale strolling parties of boys and girls, on
+Hallowe'en night, made a not unusual sight, so when our young people
+paraded boldly down the main street, singing and blowing horns, nothing
+was thought of it. What they were doing might be considered exceedingly
+out of place by a few straightlaced persons, but boys and girls will
+have their fun, even if it must sometimes be at the expense of other
+people.
+
+Certainly Miss Leece was the most unpopular teacher ever employed in the
+High School as far back as memory could reach. She was cruel, strict and
+sharp-tongued. Often her violent, unrestrained temper got the better of
+her in the class room; then she gave an exhibition that was not good for
+young girls to see. Anne, especially, was the victim of her rages--poor
+little Anne who never missed a lesson and studied twice as hard as the
+other girls. Miss Leece had but one weakness, apparently, and that was
+Miriam Nesbit.
+
+Twice had the faculty convened in secret session to consider Miss
+Leece's case, but it had been decided to keep her through the year at
+least, since she was engaged by contract and was moreover an excellent
+instructor in mathematics.
+
+So, it was no wonder that even this early in the school year, she was
+the object of dislike to the High School girls. But could our girls have
+foreseen what the evening's fun would bring forth, they would never have
+been so reckless in carrying the effigy about town.
+
+"Suppose we take her across the square," cried Reddy; "then over the
+bridge to the old graveyard and hang her on the limb of the apple tree
+just outside the wall?"
+
+Off they started, singing at the tops of their voices:
+
+    Hang a mean teacher on a sour apple tree,
+    Hang a mean teacher on a sour apple tree.
+
+When they reached the center of the public square, where a big electric
+light shed its rays, who should spring out of the shadows, from nowhere
+apparently, but Miss Leece herself? Nothing escaped her sharp ears and
+her cold blue eyes; neither words of the song nor the figure in detail,
+green veil and all; nor Anne Pierson, who happened to be standing quite
+near the effigy at the moment.
+
+And what was worse, and still more incriminating to the guilty
+merrymakers, the moment they caught sight of her they stopped singing.
+The eyes in the pumpkin suddenly lost their glare, and a silent
+procession wound its way hurriedly from the square.
+
+"Good heavens!" cried Grace. "Why did we stop the song? If we had only
+gone right ahead, it wouldn't have looked half as bad."
+
+"It was a mistake," admitted David, gravely, "especially as she seemed
+to have seen Anne first of all. Anne, if she walks into you to-morrow
+morning, you can just lay the blame on me, do you hear? I got up the
+whole party and I'm willing to stand for it."
+
+"No, no," cried Anne. "That wouldn't be fair, David. I couldn't think of
+doing that."
+
+"Well, you are not to get the blame, at any rate," said David, "if I
+have to go up and make a confession to the principal herself."
+
+"Let's go and hang her now, anyhow," cried Reddy. "We'll take no
+half-way measures with old Queen Bess."
+
+But somehow the spice of the adventure seemed to have gone out of it.
+
+"It really would be dangerous now," said Grace. "She would be certain to
+hear of it and make it worse for all of us."
+
+"Why not burn her," put in Nora, who was afraid of nothing and had often
+looked at the scolding teacher with such cold, laughing eyes, that even
+Miss Leece was disconcerted.
+
+"Good!" cried several of the others. "We will take her down below the
+bridge and burn her as a witch."
+
+No one objected to this, since the ashes of the effigy would tell no
+tales. Once more they started singing: "Merrily we roll along!" as they
+marched out of the village, crossed the bridge over the little river and
+finally paused on the bank below.
+
+"Plant the pole in deep," said David, "so she won't topple, and fix her
+up to suit yourselves, girls, while we get the fagots."
+
+The boys began to search about for dried sticks and twigs, while the
+girls were arranging the figure for her funeral pyre.
+
+Suddenly, there was a wild war whoop. A crowd of boys dashed out of a
+thicket near by, each one carrying a lighted Jack-o'-lantern on top of a
+pole, and surrounded the effigy of the teacher.
+
+"Help!" cried the girls, trying to defend the absurd thing from the
+attack, but they were too late. One of the boys seized the pole and
+rushed off in the darkness.
+
+Miss Leece, in effigy, had been kidnapped in an instant, before David
+and his friends had had time to realize what had happened.
+
+"Which way did they go?" he asked breathlessly.
+
+"Through the thicket," cried Grace.
+
+And the whole crowd dashed after the kidnappers. It was great fun for
+everybody except Anne, who was too tired to keep up the chase for long,
+and was soon lagging behind the others. David saw her and turned back.
+
+"You are too little for all this junketing, Anne," he said kindly.
+"Suppose I take you home? Shall I?"
+
+"I wish you would, David," answered the girl. "I'm just about ready to
+drop, I'm so tired."
+
+Taking her arm, he helped her over the ruts and rough places, until they
+finally emerged from the wood and started on the road to town.
+
+There were many other Hallowe'en parties out that night; singing and
+laughing was heard in every direction.
+
+"It's like a play," said Anne, "only everything is behind the scenes.
+Don't think I haven't enjoyed it, David, just because I got tired. I
+never played with boys and girls of my own age before. What fun it is!"
+
+"Isn't it?" replied the young man, "I love to get out, once in a while,
+and have a good time like this. I find I can work all the better after
+it's over."
+
+Presently the others caught up with them, breathless and laughing.
+
+"Miss Leece is stolen," cried Grace, "before ever she was hanged or
+burned. I do wonder what they'll do with her."
+
+"Oh, leave her in the woods," responded Reddy, "to scare the birds
+away."
+
+"Good night, Anne," continued Grace. "David will take you home. We go
+this way. Don't be frightened about to-morrow. I doubt if she says
+anything; and if she does, we are all implicated."
+
+The young people separated, still singing and laughing; never dreaming
+of the storm brewing from their evening's prank.
+
+"Anne," pursued David, as they strolled down River Street together,
+"when I make my flying machine will you be afraid to take a sail with
+me?"
+
+"Never," replied Anne, "but I wish it had been made in time to carry me
+away from Miss Leece to-morrow morning."
+
+And Anne's words had more meaning than either of them realized at the
+time.
+
+Imagine the surprise and horror of the Hallowe'en party when, next
+morning, they discovered the effigy of Miss Leece planted right in front
+of the Girls' High School!
+
+And the teacher herself was the first to see the impious outrage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+MISS LEECE
+
+
+Yes, there stood the hideous, grotesque effigy just where her abductors
+had left her the night before, her green veil floating in the breezes.
+As a figure of fun and an object of ridicule, she might not have created
+more than a ripple with the faculty. But it was evident that Miss
+Leece's function, even in effigy, was to make trouble.
+
+And trouble was certainly brewing that memorable morning. The figure
+itself might never have been recognized, but a placard which had been
+pinned on the front of the old ulster left no room for doubt. Across it
+had been inscribed in large printed letters:
+
+"THE MOST UNPOPULAR TEACHER IN SCHOOL."
+
+No one dared take the effigy away for fear of being implicated.
+Everybody had seen it, both men and women professors and the boys and
+girls of the two schools. But it was not until Miss Thompson, the
+principal of the Girls' High School, had arrived that the figure was
+removed.
+
+"How could those boys have been so mean!" exclaimed Grace to her three
+friends just before the gong sounded. "They might have known what would
+happen."
+
+There was an ominous quiet in the various class rooms all morning; but
+nothing was said or done to indicate just when the storm would burst.
+When the first class in algebra met, Anne trembled with fear, but Miss
+Leece, in a robin's egg-blue dress, which offset the angry hue of her
+complexion, was apparently too angry to trust herself to look in the
+direction of the young girl and the lesson progressed without incident.
+
+However, she was only biding her time.
+
+"Miss Pierson," she said, toward the end of the lesson, in a voice so
+rasping as to make the girls fairly shiver, "go to the blackboard and
+demonstrate this problem."
+
+Then she read aloud in the same disagreeable voice, the following
+difficult problem:
+
+"'Train A starts from Chicago going thirty miles an hour. An hour later
+Train B starts from Chicago going thirty-five miles an hour. How far
+from Chicago will they be when Train B passes Train A?'"
+
+The girls looked up surprised. The problem was well in advance of what
+they had been studying and Miss Leece was really asking Anne to recite
+something she had not yet learned.
+
+Anne hardly knew how to reply to the terrible woman who stood glowering
+at her as if she would like to crush her to bits.
+
+"I'm sorry," said the girl. "I cannot."
+
+"Miss Nesbit," said the teacher, "will you demonstrate this problem?"
+
+Miriam rose with a little smile of triumph on her face and went to the
+blackboard, where she worked out the problem.
+
+"Why, what on earth does the woman mean?" whispered Grace. "Are we
+expected to learn lessons we have never been taught and has that horrid
+Miriam been studying ahead?"
+
+"I think I must be dreaming," replied Anne, looking sorrowfully at Miss
+Leece.
+
+"Miss Pierson," thundered the teacher, "you are aware, I believe, that I
+permit no conversation in this class. Stupidity and inattention are not
+to be supported in any student, and I must ask you to leave the room."
+
+Anne rose in a dazed sort of way, looking very small and shabby as she
+left the room.
+
+But Miss Leece was not to come off so easily in the fight, and Anne had
+a splendid champion in Grace Harlowe, who could not endure injustice and
+was fearless where her rights or her friends' rights were concerned.
+
+She rose quietly and faced the angry teacher, who already regretted
+having gone so far.
+
+"If Miss Pierson is to be ordered from the room, Miss Leece, I shall
+follow her. I spoke to her first. I was naturally surprised that you
+gave out a problem so far in advance of our regular work. It is doubtful
+if any girl in the class could do it except Miriam, and she must have
+been prepared."
+
+"Miss Harlowe," said Miss Leece, stamping her foot, and again giving way
+to rage, "I must ask you to take your seat at once and never interfere
+again with the way I conduct this class."
+
+"You conduct this class with injustice and violence, Miss Leece," said
+Grace, turning very white, but holding herself in admirable control
+considering the conduct of the older woman.
+
+"I am in no humor to be answered back this morning, Miss Harlowe, and I
+would advise you to be careful," continued the enraged woman. "I have
+had enough to try me since last night and this morning. Miss Pierson
+must answer to the principal for those insults, and her insubordination
+just now has only made matters worse."
+
+"Miss Pierson has nothing to answer for which I have not, and I shall
+join her," replied Grace, and she left the room.
+
+Miss Leece was about to continue the lesson when Jessica, pale and
+trembling, rose and followed her friend. Nora was next to go and in
+another moment there was not a girl left in the algebra class except
+Miriam and her four particular friends. The gong sounded as the last
+pupil closed the door behind her, but there was little doubt that the
+first class in algebra had gone on a strike.
+
+The noon recess gong had sounded before the girls were able to meet and
+talk about the incident, and, during the time that intervened, Anne had
+received a summons in the form of a small note to meet the principal in
+her office at three that afternoon. She said nothing to her friends,
+however, and hid the envelope in her pocket.
+
+The girls in IV. algebra gathered around their friends to hear the
+story. They were indignant and expressed their readiness to join the
+strike out of sympathy in case there was any more trouble.
+
+"They have no right to put such a violent woman over us," said Grace, as
+she nibbled at a pickle and a cracker in the locker room. "I wish they
+would give me the opportunity. I should be more than willing to testify
+to her behavior before the entire faculty and the school board
+combined."
+
+Anne, herself, the center of the whole affair was very quiet. This
+remarkable young girl seemed to possess some secret force that she was
+able to draw upon when she most needed it.
+
+"Anne, you precious child," exclaimed the impetuous Nora, "you must not
+get scared. Whatever happens, the whole class means to stand by you.
+Don't we, girls?"
+
+"Yes," came from all sides.
+
+"I don't think anything in particular will happen," replied Anne. "I
+believe Miss Leece really wants to prevent my winning the prize. That's
+all."
+
+"She has certainly adopted a pet," cried Marian Barber.
+
+"What did Miriam Nesbit mean by studying ahead like that?" exclaimed
+another. "It was disloyal to the whole class."
+
+"It looks very much as if they had fixed it up between them," continued
+Grace. "I'm sorry about the effigy, but I won't stand that kind of
+favoritism. It's mean and underhanded."
+
+After school Anne lingered in the corridor until the other girls had
+gone. Then she made her way slowly to the office of the principal. "Come
+in," came the answer to her timid knock.
+
+Miss Thompson, the principal, was a fine woman, much beloved by the
+people of Oakdale where she had served as principal of the Girls' High
+School for many years. She had adjusted numerous difficulties in her
+time, but never such a knotty problem as the present one. It was
+incredible that Anne Pierson, who stood so well in her classes that she
+had already been mentioned by the faculty, should have engaged in such
+an escapade as Miss Leece had accused her of.
+
+"Sit down," she said kindly to the young girl, whose small, tired face
+appealed to her sympathies. "What is this trouble between you and Miss
+Leece, Miss Pierson?" she continued, plunging into the subject.
+
+"I do not know myself, Miss Thompson," answered Anne quietly.
+
+"But she accuses you of rather terrible things, Miss Pierson," went on
+the principal, picking up a slip of paper and reading aloud,
+"'inattention, insubordination, impertinence and a tendency to make
+trouble.' Have you any answer to make to these charges?"
+
+"No," replied Anne.
+
+"Have you nothing to say?"
+
+"Only that they are untrue."
+
+"Miss Pierson," continued the principal, opening a closet door, "do you
+recognize this figure."
+
+[Illustration: "Miss Pierson, Do You Recognize This Figure?"]
+
+There, hanging by its neck on a coat hook and still wearing its
+fantastic bonnet and green veil, was the famous effigy.
+
+Anne looked at the absurd thing for a moment in silence. Then her eyes
+met Miss Thompson's, and both teacher and pupil burst out laughing.
+
+The young girl never knew how far that laugh went to soften her present
+predicament. As a matter of fact, Miss Thompson had never liked the
+teacher in mathematics, while the small, shabby pupil appealed strongly
+to her sympathy.
+
+"Were you not the originator of this outrageous plot, Miss Pierson?"
+
+Anne was silent. She could hardly say she was the originator and still
+she had participated.
+
+"I will put the question in another form," said the principal. "If you
+were not the originator, who was?"
+
+Still Anne made no reply.
+
+"Miss Leece," continued the principal, "alleges that she distinctly saw
+you standing by the figure. She did not recognize the other faces. Do
+you think, Miss Pierson, that such an escapade as you engaged in last
+night was entirely respectful or worthy of a pupil of Oakdale High
+School?"
+
+"No," replied Anne at last.
+
+"Do you know that suspension or expulsion are the punishments for such
+behavior?"
+
+Anne clasped her hands nervously. She saw the freshman prize floating
+away, and her eyes filled with tears, but she said nothing.
+
+Instead of being angry, however, Miss Thompson was pleased with the
+girl's pluck and loyalty. But she was puzzled to know how to proceed.
+Her judgment and her sympathies revolted against punishing this prize
+pupil, and still it looked as if Miss Leece had everything on her side.
+A tap at the door interrupted her reflections, and Anne opened it,
+admitting Mrs. Gray escorted by David and Grace.
+
+"My dear Miss Thompson," said the old lady, "I know you will consider me
+an interfering old woman, but when I heard that my particular child,
+Anne Pierson, was in trouble, I came straight to you. I want to talk the
+whole matter over comfortably; since it's my own freshman class that's
+on the rampage, I feel as if I had a right to put in a word."
+
+"You are most welcome, Mrs. Gray," replied Miss Thompson, cordially.
+
+She was exceedingly fond of the lonely old lady who had been a
+benefactor to the school in so many ways. "But what's this you say about
+the freshman class? I have heard nothing about it."
+
+"Grace," said Mrs. Gray, "suppose you tell Miss Thompson what you have
+just finished telling me."
+
+Then Grace related the incident in the algebra class and the long
+succession of insults Anne had endured from the terrible Miss Leece.
+
+"Dear, dear," murmured Miss Thompson, "this looks like persecution and
+very strong favoritism on the part of Miss Leece. A thing we wish to
+keep out of the school as much as possible. But what about this!" and
+she opened the door of the closet where the pumpkin face of the effigy
+grinned at them grotesquely from the shadows.
+
+"I have something to say about that, Miss Thompson," declared David. "I
+am the author of this 'crime' and I intend to take the blame for it.
+Miss Pierson had so little to do with it that we had fairly to drag her
+out of her own house to make her join the crowd."
+
+"I think, Miss Thompson," put in Mrs. Gray, "that a teacher must have
+been exceedingly sharp and disagreeable to have inspired such nice
+children to this," and she pointed to the figure.
+
+"I believe you are right," admitted the principal after a moment's
+thought, "and I trust, under the circumstances, that the whole affair
+can be settled without the interference of the School Board. Suppose you
+leave Miss Leece to me. And young people," she added, "if you will
+promise to say nothing more about the subject, I think Miss Leece may be
+persuaded to let the matter drop."
+
+And so ended the Hallowe'en escapade. Miss Thompson paid a visit to Miss
+Leece that evening, at the teacher's rooms in Oakdale, and was closeted
+with her for more than an hour. No one ever knew what happened. Miss
+Thompson was a woman to keep her own counsel; but the affair never came
+up before the School Board and Miss Leece, after that, though somewhat
+stiff in her manner, had no more outbursts of rage for some time.
+Undoubtedly her display of favoritism in the algebra class had lost her
+the day.
+
+Miss Thompson was a woman of fine judgment and broad and just views. She
+was proud of the Oakdale High Schools and the splendid classes they
+turned out year after year. She realized perfectly what a disturbance a
+woman like Miss Leece could cause and she determined to check her at
+every point, especially when the most prominent and finest pupils of the
+two schools were implicated.
+
+Therefore the offenders went scot-free and Anne was once more safe to
+pursue the freshman prize.
+
+Miss Leece, however, was only biding her time. While Anne had won this
+battle she might lose the next.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THANKSGIVING DAY
+
+
+"Oh, how I love Thanksgiving!" cried Grace.
+
+"Oh, how you love turkey, you mean," exclaimed her bosom friend, Nora
+O'Malley.
+
+"Yes," admitted Grace, "the turkey is a grand old bird, bless him, but
+football is what I really love, delightful, thrilling football. I wish I
+could play center on the home team. I know I could make a touchdown as
+well as the best of them."
+
+The crowd of young people were seated on straw in the bottom of a large
+road wagon that was slowly making its way from Grace's house out to the
+football grounds. It was decorated with the colors of the Oakdale High
+School, sea-blue and white, and the girls wore blue and white rosettes
+and carried long horns from which dangled ribbon streamers. Numbers of
+Oakdale people were hurrying down the road toward the field, and the
+crisp autumn air vibrated with the sounds of talk and laughter. In the
+distance could be heard the music of the town band, which always gave a
+concert before the Thanksgiving game.
+
+"And to think that little Anne has never in her life seen a football
+game!" exclaimed Jessica.
+
+Anne blushed.
+
+"Yes," she replied reluctantly, "I'll have to admit this is my very
+first game, but I understand the rules. Grace has explained them to me.
+I hope our boys will win."
+
+"If the Dunsmore boys are in good trim, I'm afraid they'll give us a
+stiff pull," observed David, "but the stiffer the pull the more
+interesting it is to watch, so long as they don't lick us."
+
+Just then the wagon drew up at the grounds and the boys and girls jumped
+out and made their way through the crowd to their seats.
+
+Everybody in Oakdale turned out for the annual Thanksgiving football
+game. The professors and their wives, the teachers from the Girls' High
+School and all the pupils were there in full force, besides the citizens
+of Oakdale and their families. There was really a very large assemblage
+in the semicircular ampitheater which was hung with bunting and flags in
+honor of the great occasion, and probably not one in the whole cheerful
+company but had enjoyed a good Thanksgiving dinner that afternoon, so
+good humor beamed from every face.
+
+"Don't you think this is a thrilling sight, Anne?" demanded Grace, for
+there was not a soul in Oakdale who was not vain of the High School
+football team, which had won for itself honors all over the state.
+
+"Wonderful!" exclaimed Anne, clasping her hands and waiting impatiently
+for the performance to commence.
+
+Just then the band struck up again, and under cover of the music David
+whispered to Jessica:
+
+"Do you see that man over there to the right on the back seat, with
+long, dark hair and a slouch hat?"
+
+Jessica found the individual presently, starting slightly when she saw
+his face.
+
+"I do believe it's Anne's father," she whispered.
+
+"It just is," said David, "and he's looking hard at Anne, too. I wonder
+if he means to make another scene."
+
+"Poor Anne!" sighed Jessica. "She seems to have more than her fair share
+of troubles."
+
+The two teams then filed out for warming-up practice; the excitement of
+the ensuing game drove all thought of the sinister looking Mr. Pierson
+out of their heads, for the time being. The first half ended in a
+brilliant touchdown for the High School boys, though the kick for goal
+failed. Immediately the place rang with the cheers of the spectators.
+Crowds of boys rushed up and down giving the High School yell and when
+the noise died down somewhat the girls started the High School song:
+
+    "Here's three cheers for dear old Oakdale,
+    God bless her, everyone!"
+
+Anne was thrilled. Never had she enjoyed herself so much. She stood upon
+the seat beside Grace and waved a blue and white banner as frantically
+as anybody else.
+
+"I don't think I quite understand what it's all about," she confided to
+David, who sat next to her, "but I am very happy all the same."
+
+David smiled down into the radiant face. What a new dress and hat can do
+for one small, insignificant little person is quite wonderful sometimes.
+And Anne, with the money she had earned from Mrs. Gray, had replenished
+her wardrobe. In her neat brown suit and broad-brimmed hat she was
+really pretty, in a queer, quiet sort of way, David thought. He wondered
+if the father, hidden by rows of people, in the back, would be able to
+see how prosperous and well his daughter was looking. But his attention
+was recalled to the football field, for the next half was going against
+the High School, and there was apprehension among the sons and daughters
+of Oakdale.
+
+"Dunsmore! Dunsmore!" cried a delegation from Dunsmore College.
+
+But Dunsmore was not to be the victor that Thanksgiving Day. It was
+ordained that, just as hope had almost expired, a slender, fleet-footed
+young junior of the High School team should seize the ball and fly like
+the wind across the line. Score 10 to 1--Oakdale's score!
+
+Immediately a terrific hubbub began. Surely the place had gone mad, Anne
+thought. The hundreds of spectators, including Grace and her party, had
+rushed from the ampitheater, clambered over the railing and dashed into
+the field of glory. Such yelling and roaring, such blowing of horns
+while the hero of the afternoon was carried about on the shoulders of
+his fellows, made her heart palpitate wildly. Her friends had forgotten
+all about her, evidently, or perhaps they thought she had followed.
+
+"Anne," said a voice in her ear, "don't make any disturbance. I want you
+to come with me."
+
+Anne turned around quickly and faced her father.
+
+"Come at once!" he said. "I want to get out of this howling mob as soon
+as possible. We can talk later."
+
+He took her hand, not ungently, and presently they found themselves on
+the other side of the fence surrounding the field. Anne had not meant to
+go, but she knew her father was quite capable of making a scene and she
+felt she couldn't endure it just then. Once outside, she thought she
+might escape. Never once, however, did he release her hand until he had
+her safe in one of the town hacks and they had started down the road.
+
+When Grace and her friends finally recovered from their wild joy and
+excitement there was no Anne to be found.
+
+"Perhaps she stayed in her seat," exclaimed Grace, but the place was
+quite empty.
+
+David and Jessica looked about them uneasily.
+
+"What chumps we were!" said the young man presently. "We never bothered
+to look after her, and now probably that old parent of hers has actually
+gone and kidnapped the poor child."
+
+They searched through the crowds everywhere, but Anne was nowhere about.
+
+At last David and Jessica confessed their suspicions to Grace.
+
+"Oh, oh!" cried Grace, "I feel as if we were personally responsible for
+her! What shall we do?"
+
+David thought a minute.
+
+"Is there a play at the Opera House to-night?" he asked presently.
+
+"I believe there is," replied Grace. "Why?"
+
+"Ten to one Anne's father is acting in it," said David, "and that is the
+reason he happens to be in Oakdale to-day."
+
+"That's a very brilliant idea if it happens to be true," said Jessica.
+"But don't you think we had better see Miss Mary Pierson before we do
+anything?"
+
+"No," exclaimed Grace decisively. She was in the habit of thinking
+quickly and her friends usually let her have her way; but it was
+generally the best way. "It would be a pity to alarm her unnecessarily
+if we can avoid it. Anne isn't expected home until late, anyway. She is
+invited as are all of you to eat supper at my house. Suppose we go right
+to town, while David makes some inquiries at the Opera House. Then, if
+Anne's father is really acting in town to-night, we shall know what to
+do."
+
+Accordingly, they tumbled into the road wagon, whipped up the horse and
+drove back to Oakdale as fast as they could go. On the way in, they saw
+a new bill posted on a wall, advertising a play entitled "Forsaken." It
+showed, in vivid colors, a young girl very ragged and tired looking,
+asleep on the steps of a large church.
+
+"Let's go to the show," cried Nora, who always managed to combine
+amusement with duty; "that is," she added, "if Anne's father is in it.
+Of course, Anne will probably be somewhere about, in that case, and we
+could spirit her away while he is acting."
+
+"That isn't a bad idea," answered David. "But I'd better find out a few
+things first. I'll come over to your house, Grace, and report," he
+called as he jumped out of the back of the cart.
+
+The girls waited impatiently for his return, feeling that every moment
+Anne might be speeding away in some outgoing train, and they were losing
+valuable time. Grace had thought of consulting her mother, her best and
+wisest counsellor at all times, but Mr. and Mrs. Harlowe had gone on a
+long drive to the home of Mrs. Harlowe's mother and would not return
+until late that night. In half an hour their patience was rewarded; the
+gate clicked and David ran breathlessly up the walk, joining them
+presently in the parlor.
+
+"It's true," he cried excitedly. "Anne is at the Spencer Arms, probably
+locked up in a room. Her father is acting to-night in 'Forsaken,' and
+the whole company leaves town on the 11.30 train. I suppose Anne must go
+to the theater, for there will be no time to go back to the hotel after
+the play. I got the whole thing out of the clerk."
+
+"Then we can all go to the theater," cried Nora triumphantly.
+
+"What good will that do Anne?" demanded practical Grace.
+
+"It may do her no good whatever," said David, "but it would be well not
+to lose sight of the father, even, if we must follow him to the train.
+And if Anne knows we are near, she will be able to get back her nerve."
+
+"Children," cried Grace suddenly, "I have a scheme. I won't put it into
+action unless it's absolutely necessary, but it's bound to work."
+
+"What is it?" demanded the others.
+
+"I won't tell," replied Grace mysteriously, "because I may not have to
+use it, and I'll warn you that it's rather dangerous. But it will save
+Anne, and we just mustn't get caught."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+GRACE KEEPS HER SECRET
+
+
+The "best" Oakdale people did not often see the melodramas that appeared
+from time to time at the small opera house. Occasionally, if something
+really good came along, Oakdale society turned out in force and filled
+the boxes and the orchestra seats; but, generally speaking, the little
+theater was only half filled.
+
+And such was the case on this Thanksgiving night. Most of the audience
+was made up of farmers out holiday-making with their families, factory
+girls from the silk mills and a few storekeepers and clerks.
+
+"I am glad there are so few people here," observed Grace, looking around
+the scanty audience; "because, if we have to resort to my scheme, it
+will make it much easier and less dangerous."
+
+"What in the world is it?" pleaded Jessica.
+
+"Never mind," answered her friend. "I'm afraid you'll object, so I won't
+tell until the last minute."
+
+Just then a wheezy orchestra struck up a march and the High School party
+settled down in their seats, each with a secret feeling that it was
+rather good fun, in spite of the peculiar reason that had taken them
+there.
+
+"Here he is," said Nora, pointing to the name on the programme. "He
+takes the part of Amos Lord, owner of the woolen mills."
+
+At that moment the lights went down and the music stopped short. The
+curtain rolled up slowly disclosing the front of a church. It was night
+and lights gleamed through the stained glass windows. Snow was falling
+and from the church came the sound of organ music playing the wedding
+march. The picture was really very impressive, although the music was
+somewhat throaty and the flakes of snow were larger than life-size.
+
+But who was it half lying, half sitting on the church steps, shivering
+with cold?
+
+The girls had not been so often to the theater that they could afford to
+be disdainful over almost any passable play, and from the very moment
+the curtain went up their interest was aroused. Certainly, there was
+something extremely romantic and interesting about the lonely little
+figure on the church steps.
+
+"That's the heroine," whispered Jessica. "Her name is Evelyn Chase."
+
+Then people began to go into the church. It was a wedding evidently,
+although the groom was a tall, lean, middle-aged individual with gray
+hair.
+
+"It's Mr. Pierson himself," exclaimed Nora in a loud whisper.
+
+The bride-to-be was young and quite pretty. She was not dressed in
+white, but it was plain she was the bride because she carried a bouquet
+and hung on the arm of Anne's incorrigible parent. As they started up
+the steps, what should they stumble over but the half-frozen form of the
+young girl!
+
+Then, there was a great deal of acting, not badly done at all, thought
+David, who had had more experience in these matters than his friends.
+The bride refused to go on with the ceremony until the poor little thing
+was taken care of. The groom would brook no delay, for, oh, perfidy, he
+had recognized in the still figure his own child by a former wife
+deserted years before.
+
+Slowly the forsaken girl regained consciousness, lifted her head from
+the steps, threw back her shawl, and----
+
+"Heavens and earth, it's Anne herself!" exclaimed Grace.
+
+It was Anne. They were so startled and amazed they nearly tumbled off
+their seats.
+
+"As I live, it is Anne, and acting beautifully!" whispered David.
+
+"Where did she learn how?" demanded Jessica. "Strange she never told
+it."
+
+But they were too interested to reply, for the action of the play was
+excellent and the interest held until the curtain rang down on the first
+act.
+
+"No wonder he wants to keep her with him," ejaculated David when the
+lights went up. "She is the star performer in the show."
+
+"She is wonderful," declared Grace. "To think that little, brown, quiet
+thing could be so talented! I always imagined acting was the hardest
+thing in the world to do, but it seems as though she had always been on
+the stage."
+
+"Are we still going to try to save her?" asked Nora.
+
+"Of course," replied David. "She doesn't want to act. Didn't you hear
+her say so that night? She wants to go to school."
+
+"But it seems a pity, somehow, when she is so talented."
+
+"She's just as talented in her studies," said Grace, "and I've often
+heard that stage life is very hard. No, no! I intend to do my best to
+get Anne away this very night, if it upsets the entire town of Oakdale."
+
+When the second act was over, and Anne had actually so moved her
+audience that one old farmer was audibly sobbing into a red cotton
+handkerchief, and the girls themselves were secretly wiping their eyes,
+Grace whispered to David:
+
+"I'm going to write a note, if you'll lend me a pencil and a slip of
+paper, and wrap it around the stem of this chrysanthemum. When Anne
+appears in the next act, you go up in the box, and if she's alone an
+instant pitch it to her. Then she will know what she's to do."
+
+"But what is she to do?" demanded the others.
+
+"I won't tell," persisted Grace. "You'll object, if I do."
+
+"All right," said David. "I'll obey you Mistress Grace, although I wish
+you would confide in me."
+
+But Grace was obdurate. She would tell no one.
+
+The last act disclosed an attic at the top of an old tenement, with
+dormer windows looking out on a wintry scene. Anne appeared, more ragged
+than ever, carrying a little basket of matches. It was evident that she
+was a match girl by trade, and that this was her wretched domicile. As
+she crept down the center of the stage, ill and wretched, for she was
+supposed to be about to die--David saw his opportunity. From behind the
+curtain of the box he tossed the chrysanthemum, which fell right at her
+feet.
+
+"If she only sees it," he thought.
+
+But apparently she didn't. Going wearily to an old cupboard, she took
+out a crust of bread. Then she drew the ragged curtains at the windows
+and lit a candle. Simultaneously the entire attic was illuminated, for
+stage candles have remarkable powers of diffusing light.
+
+"Why doesn't she pick up the flower?" exclaimed Grace. "If she doesn't
+the scheme won't work at all."
+
+"I believe she's going to die," whispered Nora in a broken voice.
+
+Just then the Irish comedian appeared, puffing and blowing from the long
+climb he had had to the top of the house. He had come to bring help to
+the dying girl, but he was funny in spite of the dreary tragedy, and
+Nora changed her tears to laughter and began to giggle violently,
+burying her face in her handkerchief in her effort to control her mirth.
+Her laughter was always contagious, and presently her two friends were
+giggling in chorus.
+
+"Do hush, Nora O'Malley!" whispered Jessica nervously. "You know that if
+you once get us started we'll never stop."
+
+A countryman, sitting back of Nora, touched her on the shoulder.
+
+"Be you laughing or crying, miss?" he asked. "It ain't a time for
+laughing nor yet for crying, since the young lady ain't dead yet and I
+don't believe she's goin' to die, either."
+
+"She just is," exclaimed Nora, wiping the tears from her eyes. "She'll
+die before she gets off that bed to-night, I'll wager anything."
+
+All this while, the chrysanthemum with the note twisted and pinned to
+its stem lay in the middle of the stage. In the meantime, Anne had
+fallen into a stupor from cold and hunger. The kind little comedian
+rushed about the stage, making a fire, putting on the tea kettle and
+stumbling over his own feet in an effort to be useful.
+
+"Now, all the others will enter in a minute," whispered Grace
+disgustedly, "and she'll never get it at all."
+
+Just then Anne turned on her pillow and opened her eyes. They looked
+straight at David, who was sitting in the front of the box. He pointed
+deliberately at the chrysanthemum.
+
+"She sees it," said Jessica, for Anne's eyes were now fixed on the
+flower.
+
+When the kind Irishman departed to spend his last cent on medicine and
+food for the dying girl, she rose, staggered across the stage, seized
+the chrysanthemum and rushed back again, just in time to be lying prone
+when her father entered, now a repentant and sorrowful sinner.
+
+"It's all right," whispered Grace in a relieved tone. "I feel sure that
+the plan will work to perfection."
+
+Anne _did_ die a stage death, and there was not a dry eye in the house
+when she forgave her father, bade farewell to the entire company, who
+had now gathered in the attic, and her soul passed out to soft music
+while the lights were turned very low.
+
+"Fire! Fire!" rang out a voice from the darkened house.
+
+Where did the voice come from? Nora and Jessica were so startled they
+could only clutch each other and wonder, while Grace whispered:
+
+"Don't move from your seats."
+
+"Grace, was that your voice?" whispered David, who had joined the girls
+during the death-bed scene.
+
+But Grace made no reply. She only put her finger to her lips as she held
+his arm with a detaining hand.
+
+There was a panic in the house. The audience rushed for the doors while
+the actors leaped over the footlights in their mad scramble to escape.
+Several women's voices took up the cry of fire and the place was in wild
+confusion. Evidently the man who managed the lights had been too
+frightened to turn them on again, for the theater still remained in
+semi-darkness.
+
+The four young people did not move while the audience was crowding out
+of the aisles.
+
+"We might as well be suffocated as crushed," observed David. "It's a
+much more comfortable death, and besides I can't smell any smoke."
+
+Grace smiled but was silent.
+
+"I'm here at last," announced Anne's well-known voice behind them.
+
+And there she was, still in her ragged stage dress, carrying her hat and
+coat on her arm.
+
+"Why, Anne Pierson!" cried Nora, "I thought you were dead and gone."
+
+Anne laughed.
+
+"Not dead," she said. "But I would certainly have been gone in another
+half hour. We needn't hurry," she continued. "I don't believe he would
+ever think of looking for me inside the theater, and, for the time
+being, this is the safest place."
+
+"Anne, why did you never tell us you were an actress!" demanded David.
+
+"I was afraid to," faltered the girl. "I was afraid you would all hate
+me if you knew the truth. Besides, I never acted but six months in all
+my life. We toured in this play a year ago, and I knew the part
+perfectly. It would have been cruel of me not to have played to-night.
+The girl who usually does it was sick and there was no one to take her
+part. When father told me that, I knew I should have to do it this once,
+but if the fire panic hadn't started I couldn't have gotten away from
+him very easily. He would have made a terrible scene. And even then, it
+might have been difficult. No stranger would have helped me run away
+from my own father, who is determined that I shall go on the stage. He
+thinks I have the making of an actress. But I don't like the stage life.
+It is hard and ugly. I want to study, and be with girls like you." A
+charming smile radiated her small, intelligent face.
+
+"Where do I come in?" asked David, looking at her.
+
+"I think you are the best friend I have in the world, David," declared
+Anne. "I can never forget your kindness."
+
+"And now, Mademoiselle Annette Piersonelli," asked David, secretly much
+pleased at the girl's earnestness, "can't you divest yourself of your
+ragged dress before we go?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," she replied. "I am fully clothed underneath." She slipped
+off the stage dress and put on her hat and coat.
+
+Meanwhile, not a soul was left in the theater except two of the ushers,
+who were sniffing around trying to find out where the fire scare had
+originated.
+
+"There comes father," whispered Anne. "Can't we hide behind the seats?"
+
+"Quick," cautioned David. "He's coming down the center aisle."
+
+The five young people crouched low while the actor stalked down the
+aisle. But it was plain he was not looking for his daughter in the
+theater, for he called out to one of the ushers moving about at a
+distance:
+
+"Have you seen anything of the young girl who was with the company? I
+lost her during the panic and I haven't been able to locate her since. I
+must be leaving town in a few minutes," he added, consulting his watch.
+"It's almost time for the train now."
+
+"The company all left with the audience," said the usher. "I guess she
+went along with 'em."
+
+"Now is our time," said Anne, when the actor had disappeared. "Suppose
+we go out the stage entrance and down that side street!"
+
+Whereupon she led the way back of the boxes and into the wings, followed
+by her friends, who looked curiously about them at the unusual sight.
+
+"What a queer place," said Grace, "and how smudgy the scenery looks! Are
+these little places dressing rooms, Anne?"
+
+"Yes," answered Anne. "You see, it's all horrid when you are close. And
+the life is worse--riding almost every day on smoky trains and spending
+each night in a different place. The people are so different, too. I
+would rather go to Oakdale High School," she exclaimed, "than be the
+greatest actress in the world."
+
+They were standing in one of the larger dressing rooms while Anne
+endeavored to wipe the powder and rouge from her face with a pocket
+handkerchief.
+
+A tall figure darkened the doorway, and in the glass Anne saw the
+reflection of her father's face. Without a word, she ran to the open
+window and jumped out on the fire escape. The others followed nimbly
+after her. Mr. Pierson turned and rushed down the passage to the side
+entrance.
+
+"Hurry, Anne!" called David. "He will meet you at the bottom if you
+don't."
+
+They climbed quickly down the ladder, almost treading on each other's
+fingers in their haste, and in another moment they were running down an
+alleyway.
+
+"Another narrow escape," cried Anne, when they were out of danger. "How
+shall I ever thank you, dear friends?"
+
+"You have already discharged the debt, Anne, by letting us see you act,"
+answered Grace.
+
+"By the way, Grace," commanded David, "own up now. It was you, wasn't
+it, who started the fire panic?"
+
+"I told you I wouldn't tell," answered Grace, "and I never shall."
+
+"Anne, did she say anything about it in her note?" asked Nora.
+
+"No," said Anne mysteriously, "she never mentioned the word 'fire' at
+all."
+
+"I feel certain it was you who called 'fire,' Grace," said Jessica.
+
+"I'll never, never tell," cried Grace teasingly; "so you'll never, never
+know."
+
+She turned in at her own gate and to this day the mystery is still
+unsolved.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MRS. GRAY'S ADOPTED DAUGHTERS
+
+
+After Mrs. Gray's luncheon party in honor of Grace and her three friends
+a tiny little idea had implanted itself in her mind. As the weeks rolled
+on, and Christmas holidays approached, it grew and spread into a real
+plan which occupied her thoughts a considerable part of every day.
+
+As a secretary Anne had turned out admirably. The only drawback was that
+Mrs. Gray could not see enough of her. The lonesome old lady almost
+lived on Anne's semi-weekly visits, but the girl was too busy to give
+any more of her time to reading aloud or driving with her benefactor.
+
+Finally Mrs. Gray took a bold step. She invited the four girls to meet
+at another Sunday luncheon, and announced her intentions from the head
+of the table.
+
+"My dear children," she said, "you are aware that I am a very old
+woman."
+
+"We are not aware of anything of the sort, Mrs. Gray," interrupted
+Grace.
+
+"Nevertheless I am," pursued Mrs. Gray. "A very old, lonesome person
+with few pleasures. I have decided, therefore, to do an exceedingly
+selfish thing, and give myself a real treat."
+
+"You deserve it if anyone in the world does, Mrs. Gray," put in Jessica.
+"You who are always giving other people treats."
+
+"Wait until you hear the plan, child, before you pass judgment,"
+answered Mrs. Gray. "It's been too many years to count since I have had
+a really, jolly Christmas," she continued. "I have just sat here in this
+quiet old house, and let the holidays roll over me without even noticing
+them."
+
+"Now, Mrs. Gray," exclaimed Grace, "the poor people in Oakdale would not
+agree with you on that point. Only last Christmas I saw your carriage
+stopping in front of the Flower Mission, and it was simply bursting with
+presents."
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear. It is the easiest thing in the world to give
+presents and not so much pleasure after all. What I want is some actual
+fun, good Christmas cheer and plenty of young people. But I shall have
+to be selfish if I'm to get it all, because it will mean that I'm to rob
+mothers and fathers for a whole week of their children. Mr. and Mrs.
+Harlowe will have to learn to do without you, Grace, for seven days and
+nights. Your father, Jessica, must keep his own house. Nora, your
+brothers and sister must not expect to see you at all while you belong
+to me. As for my precious Anne, here, I should just like to steal her
+away altogether from her mother. In fact, my dears, I am going to adopt
+you for a whole week during the holidays and then--such larks!"
+
+And the charming old lady looked so gay and pretty that the girls all
+laughed joyously.
+
+"Do you mean that you really want us to make you a visit, Mrs. Gray?"
+
+"I do indeed. That is the exceedingly selfish wish I have been
+entertaining for the last six weeks. I not only want it, but I have
+arranged for it already. I have made secret calls, my dears, and mothers
+and fathers, brothers and sisters are all most agreeable. You are to
+come to me a week before Christmas and must settle yourselves exactly as
+if you were my own children. I mean to punish any homesick girl severely
+by giving her an overdose of chocolate drops. Families may be visited
+once a day, if necessary, though I shall frown down upon too frequent
+absences. But, young ladies, before we get any further, tell me what you
+think of the plan?"
+
+The girls were almost speechless with amazement and pleasure. To visit
+Mrs. Gray's beautiful home and live in a whirl of parties and funmaking
+such as would be sure to follow was more than any of them had ever
+dreamed of.
+
+"It's perfectly delightful, Mrs. Gray!" they cried almost in one breath.
+
+"And we shall give the Christmas party together, my four daughters and
+I, and we'll do exactly as we choose and invite whom we please."
+
+"Oh, oh!" exclaimed the four young girls. "Won't it be fun?"
+
+"It will for me," said the little old lady. "And I need to have a good
+time. I am getting old before my time for lack of amusement. And now, my
+lady-birds, who else shall we invite to the house party?"
+
+"Who else?" said Grace, somewhat crestfallen; for four intimate girl
+chums are invariably jealous of admitting other girls to the charmed
+circle.
+
+"Do you mean what other girls, Mrs. Gray?" asked Jessica.
+
+"No, no, child; I mean what other boys, of course. Do you think I want
+any more than my four nice freshmen to amuse me? But I don't think this
+party would be complete without four fine fellows to look after us. Who
+are the four nicest boys you know?"
+
+"David," exclaimed all four voices in unison.
+
+Mrs. Gray laughed.
+
+"There seems to be no difference of opinion on that score," she replied;
+"but is David the only boy in Oakdale?"
+
+"He's the nicest one," said Anne, who could never forget how kind David
+had been to her when his sister was her bitter enemy.
+
+"Reddy Brooks is nice, too," said Nora. "He threw apples at some tramps
+once, and saved us from being robbed."
+
+"Very good," said Mrs. Gray. "Reddy Brooks shall certainly be invited to
+the house party. I admire courage above all things."
+
+"Then there's 'Hippopotamus' Wingate," said Jessica.
+
+"Who?" demanded Mrs. Gray.
+
+"His name is really 'Theophilus', but the boys have always called him
+'Hippopotamus,' and now the name sticks to him and everybody forgets he
+has any other."
+
+"Are you agreed on Hippopotamus, my adopted daughters?" demanded Mrs.
+Gray.
+
+It was voted by acclamation, that Hippopotamus was agreeable to the
+company.
+
+"And now, I have a fourth to propose," announced Mrs. Gray. "I think I
+should like to import my great-nephew, Tom Gray, from New York. He is a
+little older than these boys, perhaps. Nineteen is his age, I think, and
+I haven't seen him since he was a child; but he's obliged to be nice
+because he bears the name of one beloved by all who knew him."
+
+"Whose name, Mrs. Gray?" asked Nora.
+
+"That of my husband," said the old lady, softly. "The nicest Tom Gray
+this world has ever known." And she looked at a portrait over the
+sideboard of a very handsome young man dressed in the uniform of an Army
+officer.
+
+"He loved his country, my dears, and fought for it nobly. He was a
+soldier and a gentleman," went on the old lady proudly, "and I am sorry
+he left no son to follow in his footsteps. He was a great hunter and
+traveler, too. I used to tell him if he had not loved his family so
+dearly, he would certainly have been a gypsy. He liked camping and
+tramping, and used to wander off in Upton Woods for hours at a time. He
+knew the names of all the trees and birds and animals that exist, I
+believe. But he loved his home, too, and no woods had the power to draw
+him away from it for long. I used to tell him he had brought a piece of
+the forest and put it in our front yard, for he planted all those
+beautiful trees you now see growing on my lawn, which my old gardener,
+who has been with me since I was first married, cherishes as he would
+his own children."
+
+"And is young Tom Gray like him, Mrs. Gray?" interposed Grace.
+
+"I hope so, my dear," sighed the old lady. "If he has inherited the
+beautiful traits of his uncle, his wholesome tastes for the outdoors and
+nature, he can't help being a fine fellow. But I have not seen my nephew
+since he was a child. He has been living here and there all these years,
+sometimes in America and sometimes in England. His mother and father are
+both dead, and he has been brought up by his mother's unmarried sisters,
+who are half English themselves. But he must be a nice boy, even if he
+has only one drop of his uncle's blood in his veins."
+
+The girls sighed and said nothing. It was touching and beautiful to see
+the old lady's loyalty and devotion after all these years of loneliness;
+for her husband had been dead since she was a young woman. Still Mrs.
+Gray never brooded. She was always cheerful and happy in doing
+kindnesses for other people.
+
+"If ever I marry," sentimental Jessica was thinking, "I hope it will be
+somebody like Mrs. Gray's husband."
+
+"I should like to have a brother like Tom Gray," observed Grace aloud.
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Gray, "we shall have to wait and see what the new Tom
+Gray is like. He may be utterly unlike _my_ Tom Gray."
+
+And the old lady sighed.
+
+"We shall all have to get new party dresses," exclaimed Nora to change
+the subject. "I have been wanting one for an age and now I have a good
+excuse."
+
+"Oh, yes," cried Grace enthusiastically. "Now, at last, I shall be able
+to get the blue silk mother promised I could have if at any time there
+was an occasion worthy of it."
+
+"I'm going to ask papa to give me a lavender crepe for a Christmas
+present," said Jessica.
+
+"O Mrs. Gray," continued Nora, "we are going to have such fun Oakdale
+can't hold us."
+
+"I think we should have a surprise for Mrs. Gray," announced Grace. "She
+is doing so much for us. O girls! I have an idea."
+
+"What!" demanded the others breathlessly, including Mrs. Gray herself,
+who was as full of curiosity as a young girl.
+
+"No, no," cried Grace, "it wouldn't be a surprise if I gave it away. But
+it's going to require a lot of work and planning to carry it out."
+
+"Is it big or little?" asked the dainty old lady as eager as a child to
+find out the secret.
+
+"It's rather small," answered Grace.
+
+"Fine or superfine?"
+
+"Both," laughed Grace. "But you'll not know till Christmas night; so
+stifle your curiosity."
+
+"I suppose I must wait, but it's going to be very hard," replied Mrs.
+Gray plaintively.
+
+And so the party was arranged. Notes, written by Anne, were dispatched
+to the four boys; plans were discussed for the week's amusements, and
+the four girls finally started home in a state of great excitement to
+look over their wardrobes and furbish up their party dresses.
+
+Only Anne had looked somewhat dubious during the conversation. How could
+she spend a week in a beautiful house, with parties every night and
+company all the time, and nothing to wear but that hideous black silk?
+
+"Anne," called Mrs. Gray, as the young girl was about to close the front
+door and follow the others down the steps. "Wait a moment. I want to see
+you." She led Anne into the big drawing room. "Do you know that I am
+greatly in your debt, my child?" continued the old lady, as she drew
+Anne down beside her on the sofa. "I don't think I could ever possibly
+repay you for the good you have done me this autumn. But I am going to
+try, nevertheless, by making you a Christmas present before Christmas
+arrives. Now, when I was your age, I preferred clothes to other things.
+I think all young girls do; or, if they don't they are most unnatural.
+Therefore, child, I have decided to pay off some of my indebtedness to
+you by getting my dressmaker to make you some dresses, if it is
+agreeable to you. Why, what is this! My little girl crying?"
+
+The tears were streaming down Anne's cheeks.
+
+"You mustn't cry, my own child," sobbed Mrs. Gray. "For I always cry
+when I see other people doing it, and it's very bad for my old eyes, you
+know."
+
+"You are so good to me!" said Anne. "It makes me cry because I'm so
+happy."
+
+"Well, well!" exclaimed Mrs. Gray, drying her eyes and beginning to
+laugh. "What a couple of sillies we are, to be sure. Now go, Anne, to my
+dressmaker, Mrs. Harvey, who has orders to make you four dresses, two
+for evening and two for afternoon. Mrs. Harvey has good taste and will
+help you select them. But perhaps you will like the ones she and I
+looked at the other day. One of them I am sure you will admire. I chose
+it specially because it will give color to your pale cheeks."
+
+"What is it, Mrs. Gray?" asked Anne eagerly.
+
+"It's pink crepe de Chine, my dear."
+
+And Anne held her breath to keep from crying again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MIRIAM PLANS A REVENGE
+
+
+For weeks Miriam Nesbit had felt a sullen resentment toward her brother,
+David, because he persisted in being friends with at least two of the
+girls in Oakdale High School whom she disliked most.
+
+When he announced, one morning at breakfast, that he had been included
+in Mrs. Gray's house party, his sister suddenly burst into tears of
+passionate rage.
+
+"Please don't cry, Miriam, old girl," said David, who was not of a
+quarrelsome disposition. "I'm awfully sorry if I hurt you, but, you
+know, Mrs. Gray was one of my earliest sweethearts."
+
+Which was perfectly true. When David was a little boy he used to crawl
+through the garden hedge and call on the charming old lady nearly every
+day.
+
+David had hoped that Miriam would laugh at this, but she stormed all the
+more, while poor Mrs. Nesbit looked wretched.
+
+"It isn't Mrs. Gray," sobbed Miriam. "But to think that my own brother
+would associate with Grace Harlowe, who is always working against me,
+and that common little Pierson girl whose sister takes in sewing!"
+
+"Miriam, Miriam!" exclaimed Mrs. Nesbit, "I am shocked to hear you say
+such things. Because the girl is poor she is not necessarily common.
+Your grandfather was a poor man, too. He started his career as a
+machinist. You would never have had the money and position you have now
+if he had not become an inventor. Is it possible you would try to keep
+some one else from rising in life, when your own family struggled with
+poverty years ago?"
+
+Miriam was silenced for a moment. She had seldom heard her mother speak
+so forcibly; but Mrs. Nesbit had seen, with growing misgivings, the
+innate snobbishness in her daughter's character, and for a long time she
+had been looking for an opportunity like the one that now presented
+itself.
+
+David had risen during Miriam's contemptuous speech, and had turned very
+white; which was always a signal that his slow wrath had been kindled at
+last; but since he was a child he had had such admirable control of his
+feelings that it had often been remarked by older people. Miriam,
+however, knew the sign and resorted again to tears to draw attention to
+her own sufferings.
+
+"You and mother have turned against me," she cried. "Mother, you have
+always loved David best, anyhow."
+
+"Nonsense!" replied David. "You are a willful, selfish girl, jealous
+because a poor girl is getting ahead of you in your classes and because
+you are not included in the house party. Do you think Mrs. Gray would
+ask you to join those four nice girls in her house after that Miss Leece
+business? If you had learned to be polite and agreeable you would never
+have gotten into this state now." Having delivered himself of his
+opinion, and spent his rage, David walked out of the room and quietly
+closed the door after him.
+
+"You see what you have done, Miriam," exclaimed Mrs. Nesbit. "You have
+made your brother angry. I have seldom seen him like that before, not
+since the stable man beat his dog. But don't cry, my child. It's all
+over now," and Mrs. Nesbit drew her daughter to her and stroked her hot
+forehead. "Why don't you give a house party, too?" she added after a
+moment's thought. "Would it give you any pleasure or help to heal your
+hurt feelings?"
+
+"O mother!" exclaimed Miriam, looking up quickly. "I believe I _will_
+invite four girls and boys to spend Christmas week with me. Wouldn't it
+be fun?"
+
+And it was in this manner that a plan for an opposition house party
+sprang into existence; although the son of the house had joined the
+other side.
+
+All through her preparations Miriam carefully guarded the secret that
+she was bitterly hurt at having been left out of Mrs. Gray's party, and
+she meditated a revenge that was still only a half-formed idea. In the
+first place, she chose Julia Crosby as one of the guests of the
+Christmas house party; Julia Crosby the tall, mischievous sophomore who
+had originated the "Black Monks of Asia." Surely the two together could
+work out some scheme which would bring her enemies to her feet and
+humble little Mrs. Gray, who had dared to slight her.
+
+Meanwhile, the holidays were approaching. The crisp, cold air resounded
+with the jingle of sleigh bells, for snow had fallen the first week in
+December and all the sleighs in Oakdale were taken from their summer
+quarters.
+
+The four chums were full of secret preparations. Grace had devised a
+scheme of entertainment which, in the town of Oakdale, would be unique,
+but it required much work and practice to perfect it. In the meantime
+Nora O'Malley had decided to entertain her friends at a bobbing party to
+start the Christmas holidays. And it was at this party that Miriam
+seized her first opportunity to make trouble.
+
+"Anne, you are learned in many things, but not in outdoor fun," said
+Grace as the young people in mufflers and sweaters started to climb the
+long hill where the coasting was best.
+
+"Do you mean to say you have never been coasting, Anne?" demanded David.
+
+"I'm afraid I'll have to admit it," replied Anne. "To tell the truth, I
+never did have any fun, except reading, until I started in the High
+School and met all of you. You see, little city children are denied all
+these nice things unless they go to the parks, but it's no fun going
+alone."
+
+"Well, you won't be alone now," said Hippy Wingate. "There are four to a
+sled, and we'll put you in the middle to keep you from getting lost in
+the snow."
+
+"Look out, here comes some one!" called Grace, just as a small sled shot
+past them like a flash, with a laugh and a cheer from its occupants,
+Miriam and Reddy Brooks.
+
+"They ought not to have done that," exclaimed David. "We couldn't see
+them over the knob of the hill and they might have run us down."
+
+By this time they had reached the top of the hill, and Anne's heart
+bounded at the sight of the long, white track made by the sled which had
+just passed them and disappeared far below across a flat meadow now
+smooth and hard as a table top.
+
+"Don't be frightened, Anne," said David, who sat behind her on the sled.
+
+He pinioned her arms with his own and with a wild whoop the four young
+people skimmed down the hill.
+
+There was no time to be frightened, no time even to think, as they shot
+through the fine bracing air like a ball from a cannon. Before they knew
+it, they were landed at the bottom.
+
+"O Hippy," cried Grace, her cheeks glowing like winter berries, "I feel
+as if I were riding the comet. But look out for the others," for the
+remaining sleds followed in quick succession and the air resounded with
+the whoops of the boys and girls as they shot past. "Is there any sport
+in the world that can touch it?" she demanded of the world in general.
+
+Three or four more such rides, and Anne felt an exhilaration she had
+never before known. She was climbing the hill for a final trip before
+the party returned to Nora's for hot chocolate and sandwiches, when she
+heard some one cry out just behind her. She had lingered a little to
+watch the sleds pass, and had failed to notice a small sled with a
+single occupant come over the brow of the hill well out of the beaten
+path and make straight for her. It was Miriam Nesbit, riding flat on her
+stomach and going like the wind.
+
+"Jump to the left, Anne," cried Grace's voice, "or you'll be hurt!"
+
+Anne looked up and saw the sled. It all happened in a flash, and how
+David managed to get there first she never knew; but the next instant
+the two were rolling over and over in the snow with Miriam on top of
+them and a broken sled skidding on its back down the hillside.
+
+"It was Miss Pierson's fault," exclaimed Miriam as she pulled herself
+out of the snow, and the others came running to the scene of the
+accident. "Why didn't she get out of the way? Inexperienced people ought
+not to come to bobbing parties. They always get hurt."
+
+David was binding up a cut in his wrist, which was sprinkling the snow
+with blood. He was too angry to trust himself to answer his sister
+before the others just then. They had pulled Anne out of a snowdrift and
+she was leaning limply against Jessica, trying to collect her senses. It
+seemed to her that she had been walking well out of the sled track, out
+of everybody's way; but it didn't make any difference since nobody was
+killed.
+
+"All I can say now, Miriam," said Grace, "is that you are entirely
+mistaken. If you hadn't hit Anne you'd have knocked me over. I was
+walking just ahead of her and nobody can say I am inexperienced."
+
+"Grace Harlowe, do you think I did it on purpose?" demanded Miriam
+furiously.
+
+"I haven't insinuated anything, Miriam," replied Grace. "I simply wanted
+to disabuse your mind of a mistake. That was all." And she turned away
+from the angry girl.
+
+All this time the other young people had said nothing. It was really an
+embarrassing situation, considering that David had not said a word
+either for or against his sister.
+
+"I think we had better not coast any more to-night," said Nora, after a
+pause. "David has hurt his hand and Anne is so shaken that it would be
+well to give her something hot to drink. Come on, everybody."
+
+"David, are you much hurt?" asked Grace uneasily.
+
+"Nothing but a little cut," he said shortly, so shortly that Grace
+flushed. Perhaps he was angry with her for having spoken out to Miriam.
+
+"I hope you aren't hurt much, David," said Miriam.
+
+David made no reply.
+
+"David," she repeated in a louder voice.
+
+But her brother had started down the hill, his hands in his pockets.
+Nobody took much notice of Miriam as the young people followed after
+him. Reddy Brooks was secretly congratulating himself that he hadn't
+been riding behind her on the sled as she had wished, insisting that she
+wanted to do the guiding herself. It was curious, he thought, and might
+have resulted in a serious accident, at least to Anne if David hadn't
+pulled her away. If Miriam had only thought to throw herself to the
+right when she saw Anne in the way. Girls had no heads, anyway, that is,
+most girls. Grace, he decided, was almost equal to a man for coolness
+and good judgment. But there were few girls who could touch Grace
+Harlowe; and he did a series of cartwheels in the snow to emphasize his
+feelings, to the relief of everybody present, for the silence was
+becoming uncomfortable.
+
+"Nora," said Anne when they had reached town, "if you'll excuse me I
+think I'll go home. I'm a little tired."
+
+"I'll take you home, Anne," said David, who had heard her remark. "I
+don't feel much like partifying either after this jolt. Come along,
+little girl," and he tucked Anne's arm in his and marched her off
+without another word.
+
+"All my party is leaving before the party," cried Nora in despair.
+
+"No, not all," replied Hippy Wingate. "There are still a few of us left,
+and I promise to drink any extra chocolate you may happen to have."
+
+"Don't give the animals sweets, Nora," exclaimed Reddy. "Especially the
+hippopotamus. He has a delicate stomach. You see, his keeper used to
+feed him chocolate drops three times a day."
+
+Hippy grinned good-naturedly. He was a round roly-poly boy, famous for
+his appetite.
+
+"Get away from here, Red Curls," he cried, hitting Reddy in the back
+with a snowball.
+
+"Oh, you coward," cried Reddy, talking in a high falsetto voice, "to hit
+a man when his back is turned. I'll slap you for that," and he landed a
+snowball on Hippy's chest.
+
+Hippy crouched behind the girls.
+
+"I was a fool to throw at a pitcher," he cried; "he'll be sending me one
+of his curves in a minute."
+
+"Hiding behind the ladies, hey?" returned Reddy, beginning to pitch
+snowballs at the girls.
+
+"Let's wash his face," cried Nora to the other boys and girls coming up
+just then. They chased Reddy all the way to Nora's house and rolled him
+in the snow until he cried "enough."
+
+Once inside Nora's cozy home, the coasters were soon doing ample justice
+to the good things to eat, which Nora's sister had prepared for them.
+Although all three of Anne's chums regretted deeply the unpleasant
+affair on the hill it was not mentioned again during the evening. Still,
+each girl felt in her heart that poor little Anne had, in Miriam Nesbit,
+a dangerous enemy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
+
+
+"Here's the tack-hammer, Hippy, and don't fall off the ladder, please,"
+cautioned Grace, as she assisted Hippy Wingate to tack up an evergreen
+garland in Mrs. Gray's drawing room.
+
+Not in twenty years had the old house taken on such holiday attire.
+Great bunches of holly and cedar filled the vases and bowls and
+decorated the chandeliers. Fires blazed on every hearth and the warm
+glow from many candles and shaded lamps brightened the fine old rooms.
+
+"My dear young people," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, coming in just then, "how
+happy you make me feel! I do wish you were all really my children and
+could forever stay just the ages you are now."
+
+"This house would be like the palace of everlasting youth, then,
+wouldn't it, Mrs. Gray?" suggested Anne.
+
+"Until some meddlesome little Pandora came along, opened the box and let
+all the troubles out," interposed David, who was still feeling very
+bitter toward his sister Miriam, and glad to leave home for a time until
+his anger had cooled.
+
+"Ah, well, we have no Pandoras here," answered Mrs. Gray, smiling on the
+young guests. "You are all girls and boys after my own heart, and I
+trust we shall have a beautiful time together. But here comes that
+nephew of mine, Tom Gray. I wonder if he's grown out of all
+recollection."
+
+While she was speaking one of the town hacks had driven up to the steps,
+and there was a violent ring at the bell.
+
+"Mr. Thomas Gray," announced the old butler at the door and Tom Gray,
+who had been the subject of endless speculation and conjecture, entered
+the room.
+
+"If he turns out to be disagreeable or stupid or anything," the girls
+had been whispering, "it would be such a pity because everybody else is
+so nice."
+
+Neither had the boys felt inclined to be prepossessed in Tom Gray's
+favor. He was a stranger, from New York, older than themselves and in
+college.
+
+"I wish he wasn't going to butt in with his city manners," Reddy Brooks
+was thinking regretfully. "He is sure to have a swelled head and try to
+boss the crowd."
+
+They had pictured him as a sort of dandy, with needle-toed patent
+leather shoes and a coat cut in at the waist and padded over the
+shoulders.
+
+Even David had voiced a few thoughts on the subject of Tom Gray.
+
+"I'll bet he's an English dude," he said. For Mrs. Gray's nephew had
+spent most of his life in England. "He'll probably carry a cane and wear
+a monocle."
+
+They were not surprised, therefore, when a young man entered the room
+who bore out somewhat the picture they had conjured. He was tall and
+slender, very dapper and rather ladylike in his bearing. His alert, dark
+eyes were set too close together, and his face had a narrow, sinister
+look that made them all feel uncomfortable. He spoke with a decided
+English accent, in a light, flippant voice which sent a quiver of
+dislike up and down David's spine, and made Reddy Brooks give his right
+arm a vigorous twirl as if he would have liked to pitch something at the
+young man's head.
+
+Mrs. Gray was the most surprised person in the room. It must be
+remembered that she had not seen her nephew since he was a child, and
+she had hoped for better things than this. However, always the most
+courteous and loyal of souls, she now made the best of the situation and
+greeted the newcomer cordially, though she did not bestow upon him the
+motherly kiss she had been saving.
+
+Tom Gray bowed low over his aunt's hand.
+
+"You are so much changed, Tom; I should hardly have known you,"
+exclaimed the old lady, trying to conceal her disappointment and dismay.
+"England has weaned you away from your own country. You look as if you
+had just stepped out of Piccadilly."
+
+"And so I have, aunt," replied the young man, using a very broad "a." "I
+have been in this country only a few months. England is the only place
+in the world for me, you know. I can't bear America."
+
+Hippy Wingate gave himself an angry shake, which made all the ornaments
+on the mantelpiece rattle ominously.
+
+"You must let me introduce you to my young friends, Tom," said Mrs.
+Gray, changing the subject quickly.
+
+The introductions having been accomplished, she took his arm and led the
+way back to dinner.
+
+"Do you think we can stand him for a week?" whispered David to Grace, as
+they followed down the hall.
+
+"We'll have to," replied Grace, "or hurt Mrs. Gray's feelings. But isn't
+he the limit?"
+
+"Asinine dandy!" hissed Hippy.
+
+"I knew he'd be a Miss Nancy," exclaimed Reddy.
+
+The girls did not express their disappointment, but as the meal
+progressed the conversation was strained and stupid.
+
+"How did you leave your cousins in England, Tom?" asked Mrs. Gray,
+trying to keep the ball rolling and inwardly wishing she had never asked
+her nephew down.
+
+"Quite well, thank you, aunt," replied Thomas Gray. "I expect to leave
+this beastly country and join them very soon."
+
+"Indeed?" answered Mrs. Gray, flushing and with difficulty keeping back
+the tears of disappointment. To think a nephew of hers could have turned
+out like this!
+
+"Do you play football?" demanded Hippy abruptly.
+
+"Really, I don't care for the game," answered Thomas. "It's awfully
+rough, don't you know."
+
+"Perhaps you prefer baseball?" suggested Grace.
+
+"No," continued the young man, "I can't say I do. The truth is, I don't
+like outdoor games at all."
+
+"What do you like, then?" demanded Nora, giving him a glance of
+ineffable scorn.
+
+"I like afternoon tea," he answered, "and bridge."
+
+Reddy almost groaned aloud, but he remembered his manners and choked his
+outburst of disgust.
+
+"It is a pity," said Tom's aunt, turning her nearsighted blue eyes on
+him in amazement and displeasure. "Our Oakdale boys are all athletes.
+Even David here, the scholar and inventor, I'll venture to say, knows
+football and baseball as well as his friends."
+
+"I'm not much of an inventor, Mrs. Gray," protested David. "You know my
+airship tumbled down before it got half way across the gym. But I shall
+never lose hope."
+
+"Ah, airships?" exclaimed Thomas Gray, and deliberately taking a monocle
+from his pocket, he stuck it in his eye and stared at David, who choked
+and sputtered in his glass of water, while Hippy dropped a fork that
+fell on his plate with a great clatter.
+
+Mrs. Gray raised her lorgnette and looked at her nephew.
+
+"Thomas," she said sternly, "don't wear that thing here. It's not the
+custom in this town or in this country, for that matter. If you are
+nearsighted, buy yourself a pair of spectacles."
+
+"Certainly, aunt, certainly; it shall be as you wish," replied Thomas,
+without a tinge of embarrassment. "I am so unused to America, you know."
+
+Then Nora relieved the painful situation by laughing. She was taken with
+the giggles and she laughed till the tears rolled down her cheeks. The
+others laughed, too, even Mrs. Gray, who felt that she might give way to
+hysterics at any moment.
+
+After dinner Thomas Gray detained his aunt in another room, while the
+girls and boys returned to the parlor. The two were closeted together
+for some time, and when they finally appeared, Mrs. Gray looked
+strangely flushed and nervous. But there was a smile on her nephew's
+thin lips and a dangerous flicker in his crafty eyes.
+
+"I'll stake my last cent he's been getting money out of his poor little
+aunty," said David to Grace. "He's just the kind to do it."
+
+"Poor Mrs. Gray!" exclaimed Grace. "I am so sorry for her. You can't
+think how she's been planning this party for months. Why did she ever
+ask down that wretch of a nephew? David, do try and make friends with
+him. Maybe there's something good in him after all, and it will help
+things along if Mrs. Gray feels that we want to like him."
+
+"All right," promised David. "It goes against my grain to talk with a
+Miss Nancy dandy like that. It gives me a feeling in my chest like
+indigestion and bronchitis combined--but I'll make the effort."
+
+So he went over and joined the Anglo-American, and began to talk with
+him in an easy, friendly sort of way.
+
+"Won't you come over by the fire," he said. "I think we are going to
+play some games the girls have planned."
+
+"Thanks, no," said the other, stifling a yawn. "I think I'll retire.
+I've had a long journey and I'm awfully knocked out. By the way, old
+chap," he continued, coming closer to David and whispering in his ear,
+which made that sensitive young man draw back with a quiver of dislike,
+"you couldn't favor me with a few dollars, could you? I left my check
+book in my portmanteau, which is still on the way and I find I haven't a
+cent. I'll return it to-morrow."
+
+David regarded him with amazement. Here was a man whom he had met only
+an hour before, already trying to borrow money from him. Schoolboys are
+not likely to have money about them, but David did happen to have five
+dollars in his pocket.
+
+"Certainly," was all he said, as he handed over the money.
+
+The transaction had only taken a moment and when David drew out the five
+dollar bill, he was careful not to let anyone see him do it. However,
+Mrs. Gray, who had been out of the room, returned at the very moment the
+money was changing hands. In a flash she saw what her nephew had done.
+Without stopping to think she made straight for the two young men.
+
+"Tom Gray," she said, speaking too low for anyone except her nephew and
+David to hear, "how dare you ask me for money and then borrow from one
+of my guests? You are a disgrace to your father, and to the name of
+Gray! I am ashamed of you and I command you to give that money back to
+David instantly."
+
+Tom Gray was as angry as his aunt. His face went from red to white, and
+he looked as if he would like to break a vase or tear something to
+pieces.
+
+"'Eavens, awnt, don't make a scene. I wouldn't a' awsked 'im, h'if I
+'adn't needed more money. I'll pay him to-morrow."
+
+Mrs. Gray and David were too surprised to speak. It was plain that, when
+Tom Gray was angry, he dropped his h's.
+
+David looked at him curiously, then he drew the old lady's arm through
+his.
+
+"Don't bother, Mrs. Gray," he said. "It was only a small loan, and I was
+glad to be of service. I believe Mr. Gray wants to go to bed now. He
+just said he was very tired. Shall I take him up?"
+
+"If you will," replied Mrs. Gray, quieting down. "His room is next
+yours, David. Will you show him the way?"
+
+"Young people," she said, going across to the boys and girls, who had
+gathered around the fire and were laughing and talking in low voices,
+"would you mind if we all went up early to-night? I feel a little out of
+sorts--bewildered--I don't know what. Children change so as they grow
+up," she added, sighing.
+
+The poor old lady's eyes filled with tears. She slipped her arm around
+Anne's waist.
+
+"You will never change, my dear boys and girls. You will all grow into
+fine men and women, I feel certain, and be devoted citizens of this
+splendid country of ours, which has always been good enough for our
+mothers and fathers, and ought to be quite good enough for us."
+
+"Three cheers for America!" cried Hippy Wingate, giving his plump figure
+a twist like a whirling dervish.
+
+Mrs. Gray laughed.
+
+"Yes, indeed, my dears, America is a splendid country and every American
+should be proud to say so."
+
+"And Oakdale is one of the nicest places in America," piped up Anne.
+
+"Hurrah for Oakdale!" cried Hippy again.
+
+"And Oakdale High School!" added Anne.
+
+"And hurrah for the sponsor of the freshman class!" exclaimed Grace.
+
+Whereupon they formed a circle, with Mrs. Gray in the middle, and danced
+about her laughing and singing:
+
+"Hurrah for Mrs. Gray!"
+
+The pretty, little old lady beamed happily upon her adopted family, as
+she called them.
+
+"My darling children!" she cried. "Kiss me good night, every one of you,
+and we'll all go up to our beds."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A MIDNIGHT ALARM
+
+
+The dry, cold air of the outdoors, and the warm fires inside the old
+house, certainly had the effect of making a very sleepy crowd of boys
+and girls who were not sorry, after all, to turn in early.
+
+Grace and Anne occupied a room together so large that it could easily
+have been turned into two apartments and each have been the size of
+ordinary bedrooms.
+
+"I'm glad our beds are close together, anyway," said Grace. "The rest of
+the furniture in this room seems to be miles apart."
+
+Mrs. Gray's room was just in front; Nora and Jessica were in a smaller
+one back of theirs, and across the hall were the boys' rooms.
+
+"Isn't it a wonderful old house?" replied Anne. "I never slept in such a
+big room in all my life. And how kind Mrs. Gray is! There is nothing she
+hasn't remembered."
+
+Each girl had found on her bed a pretty dressing gown of silk and wool
+and beside it a pair of bedroom slippers. There was a bowl of fruit on a
+table, and just before they dropped off to sleep a maid brought in a
+tray of glasses with a pitcher of hot milk.
+
+"Mrs. Gray says this will warm you up before you go to bed," explained
+the maid.
+
+"Dear, sweet Mrs. Gray," continued Anne, as she curled up on a rug
+before the fire to sip the warm drink, "she has planned so many things
+for this party. I am so sorry she has been disappointed."
+
+"He's not a bit like her, Anne," replied her friend, not caring to
+mention names. "I do wish she had never asked him."
+
+"My only hope," said Anne, "is that we will all seem so young and
+childish to him that he will get bored and leave."
+
+"Well, just strictly between us and as man to man, as David is always
+saying, don't you think he is horrid? He has no manners at all, and it's
+hard to believe he's a product of the Gray family."
+
+"He has such shifty eyes," said Anne, "and I had a feeling that his
+dislike for America was all put on to shock us. I feel so warm and
+sleepy," she continued drowsily when the lights were put out and they
+had snuggled down in the soft, comfortable beds.
+
+"I heard him drop an 'h' once," whispered Grace, in a sleepy voice.
+
+But there was no reply. Anne was already dreaming of her four beautiful
+new dresses.
+
+It might have been midnight, perhaps a little later when Grace awoke
+with a start. Not a sound disturbed the peace of the old house except
+the ticking of the clock on the mantel and the occasional crackling of
+dying embers in the fireplace. Yes; there was one sound and it aroused
+her. A loose board creaked in the floor, or was it a door which opened
+and closed softly? Perhaps it was nothing after all. And she closed her
+eyes and drew the eiderdown quilt close about her shoulders.
+
+No; there it was again. A distinct footfall. She raised herself on her
+elbow and peered into the shadows. Far over at the other side of the
+chamber--it seemed an infinite distance just then--stood a figure. Grace
+looked at it calmly. She had never been a coward and she was not
+frightened now, only she wondered who could be invading their room at
+this hour. Perhaps Mrs. Gray; perhaps one of the servants. No, it was
+neither; of course it couldn't be because it was the figure of a man.
+She saw him now plainly enough hovering over the dressing table.
+
+A small, cold hand slipped into hers. Anne was awake too. She had seen
+the figure and lay quite still watching it. Grace silently returned the
+pressure; then the two lay watching the man's stealthy motions for a
+moment, while Grace's mind was busy devising a plan by which the robber
+might be caught.
+
+Oakdale was a quiet, prosperous place, and burglars were unusual.
+Occasionally the hands in the silk mills made a disturbance, and there
+had been a few highway robberies, but an actual house-breaker seldom
+troubled the law-abiding town. The two girls, as they lay watching him
+from under the covers, guessed that this man was a real burglar. He wore
+a black soft hat and carried a small electric lantern, while, with a
+practised hand, he picked the lock of a small drawer in the dressing
+table where the girls had put their purses. Once he turned the light
+toward the beds. Instantly the girls' eyelids dropped and they lay as
+still as mice. Having satisfied himself that all was well, the prowler
+went on with his work, finally tiptoeing into the front room where Mrs.
+Gray was sleeping. Evidently he had made a circuit of the three bedrooms
+on that side of the house. As he slipped out Grace leaped from the bed.
+Now was the time for action. Putting on her dressing gown and slippers
+she dashed to the door leading into the hall, only to come upon the
+burglar again who had probably been frightened in his last venture and
+had retired to the hall for safety.
+
+Fortunately he was standing with his back to her while he closed the
+door, and feeling that she was safe for the moment, she crouched in the
+shadow of the doorway. The thief evidently thought he also was safe, for
+he seized a large, heavy-looking valise from the floor and made straight
+for the steps without looking to right or left.
+
+Now a door across the hall opened and another figure appeared. Grace
+trembled for a moment, fearing it might be another thief. She had always
+heard they traveled in pairs. But it was David, wrapped in a long gray
+dressing gown, looking for all the world like a monk.
+
+He glanced up and down the hall for a moment, then tapped on the door of
+the next room and without waiting for an answer walked in. In an instant
+he was out again and had started swiftly down the stairs, Grace
+following him. She had intended to speak to him, but it had all taken
+place so quickly there was no time. David made straight for the dining
+room, opening the heavy door. The room was brightly lighted. In a flash,
+Grace saw on the table a pile of the beautiful Gray silver, brought over
+from England by past generations of Grays. Grace never knew what
+instinct prompted her to enter the dining room by the butler's pantry at
+the very end of the long hall. As she pushed the swinging door, she
+heard David say:
+
+"You low blackguard, what do you mean by stealing your aunt's silver?"
+
+Grace started at the mention of the word "aunt." It was, then, the
+wretched Tom Gray who was robbing his own relative!
+
+"Get out!" returned the other coldly, "and attend to your own business.
+You are only a kid."
+
+"Give up those things you have stolen, or I'll pound you to a jelly!"
+cried David, making a rush at the burglar, who dodged nimbly.
+
+Then Grace had an inspiration, which assuredly saved David from very
+disagreeable consequences. Real burglars, like rattlesnakes, are not
+likely to be dangerous except when they are disturbed. It is then that
+they become dangerous characters. Grace slipped back into the pantry,
+swiftly opened one of the linen drawers and drew forth what turned out
+later to be a breakfast cloth, which was lucky because it was small and
+easy to manage.
+
+When, in the next instant, she had pushed the door open, what she saw
+made her blood run cold. Tom Gray had whipped out a small pistol and
+pointed it straight at David's head.
+
+"Get out of here, quick!" he said just as Grace opened the table cloth
+with a jerk and flung it over his head. A pistol shot rang out, but
+David had dodged in time and the bullet was buried in the mahogany
+wainscot back of him. The astonished burglar dropped the weapon, and
+began to struggle violently to release himself.
+
+Instantly David pinioned his arms from the back. But the fellow might
+even then have struggled free, if Reddy Brooks and Hippy Wingate had not
+burst into the room, followed by Anne, who had roused them after Grace
+had gone. The three boys swiftly overpowered Tom Gray and tied him to a
+chair with cord Grace had found in the pantry.
+
+But now, what was to be done? Undoubtedly the noise would awaken Mrs.
+Gray and she would have to be told that her nephew was a burglar about
+to make off with the family silver.
+
+Perhaps the loss of the silver would hurt less than family disgrace.
+
+In the midst of their council Mrs. Gray herself appeared.
+
+"What in the world is the matter?" she demanded.
+
+No one replied for a moment. It was a very uncomfortable situation for
+the young guests of the house party. If only the burglar had not been a
+member of the Gray family!
+
+Then Tom Gray himself spoke.
+
+"I must say this is a nice 'ospitable way to treat a guest and a
+relation. 'Ere I am taken by a lot of silly children for a burglar. I,
+your own nephew, awnt, who 'ad come down stairs on the h'innocent
+h'errand of finding some h'ice water."
+
+Mrs. Gray looked from one to another of the silent group. Her eyes took
+in the silver piled on the table, the pistol on the floor and the
+burglar's tools and lantern.
+
+"You are a burglar," she said, "a wretched, common thief. I knew it as
+soon as you entered my house last night. I could not then explain the
+feeling of repugnance I had, but I know now what it meant. I shall not
+offer hospitality to a coward, for all thieves are cowards. Boys, take
+what he has stolen from his pockets."
+
+Reddy and Hippy searched the bulging pockets of the thief's coat and
+waistcoat, and brought forth a quantity of jewelry, watches and purses.
+
+"Now, David," continued Mrs. Gray, firmly, "be kind enough to give me
+that pistol."
+
+David obeyed her, wondering if she meant to shoot her own nephew.
+
+Mrs. Gray pointed the pistol at the thief with as steady a hand as if
+she had been shooting at targets all her life.
+
+"Untie the cords," she commanded.
+
+They cut the cords with a carving knife.
+
+"Now, go!" said the old lady, still pointing the pistol at his head.
+"Leave my house quickly. I shall not punish you, because a thief is
+always punished sooner or later."
+
+Tom Gray looked immensely relieved, Grace thought, in spite of his
+crestfallen, hangdog air. They followed him down the hall, Mrs. Gray in
+the lead, until he slammed the front door after him and disappeared in
+the night.
+
+Then, turning with her old, sweet manner, she continued:
+
+"My dear children, I want to thank you for helping me rid my house of
+this man. I know I can depend on all of you never to mention it to
+anyone. It would have been a great blow to me if I had not been so
+angry; but now let us all go to our beds and forget this horrid episode.
+To-morrow we shall be as happy as ever. I am determined it shall not
+interfere with our good time."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+TOM GRAY
+
+
+The company which met around the breakfast table, next morning, was
+entirely restored to its old gayety. There was not one member of the
+house party, including Mrs. Gray herself, who did not feel unbounded
+relief that the place was so well rid of Tom Gray.
+
+David was glad there had been no arrest, and that the mistress of the
+house had with so much dignity and spirit turned out the culprit. It
+would have been a bad business, testifying in court against Mrs. Gray's
+nephew when he had been visiting in her house.
+
+"Mrs. Gray," suggested Grace, "if you haven't made any plans this
+morning for us, I think we had better spend an hour or so rehearsing our
+surprise."
+
+"Very well, my dear, you may spend as much time as you like at it; but
+if I peep over the transom, or listen through a crack in the door, you
+mustn't scold. I don't know that I can wait much longer to find out what
+it is."
+
+"No, no! You're not to come near the third story," protested Grace. "We
+shall nail down the transom and stuff the keyhole with soap if you do."
+
+"I never could stand suspense," exclaimed the old lady, shaking her head
+until her lace breakfast cap, with its little bows of lavender ribbon,
+quivered all over. "I fear I shall be tempted to break into the room
+before Christmas night and unearth the whole business. But tell me this
+much. Who is in the surprise?"
+
+"All of us," declared Nora. "But now we'll have to get somebody to take
+the place of----"
+
+She paused and blushed scarlet.
+
+"Mr. Thomas Gray," announced the old butler at the door, with a peculiar
+expression on his countenance.
+
+There was a dead silence. Mrs. Gray sat as if turned to stone, while
+David half rose from his seat and Hippy seized a bread and butter knife
+to plunge into the heart of his enemy, if necessary.
+
+"Aunt Rose," cried a voice outside, "aren't you glad to see me?"
+
+A broad-shouldered, well-built young man walked into the room and kissed
+the old lady right in the mouth, before she could say a word. He had a
+sunburned, wholesome face, kindly gray eyes, light-brown hair, and wore
+a heavy suit of rough, blue cloth. He carried no cane; neither were his
+shoes pointed at the toes, and there wasn't a tinge of English in his
+accent except that his enunciation was unusually good.
+
+Mrs. Gray rose from her chair and examined the young man long and
+carefully.
+
+"The very image of your uncle," she cried at last, and gave him a good
+hug. "The very image, my dear Tom. Your old aunty has been a most
+egregious fool. Why didn't you come last night?"
+
+"Didn't you get my telegram? I sent it in good time. I was delayed and
+had to take the night train up. I am awfully sorry if it inconvenienced
+you."
+
+"You haven't inconvenienced me, my boy, except for a slight loss of
+sleep, and a fright and a narrow of escape from losing the family
+silver, which David and Grace, here, prevented."
+
+Then Mrs. Gray sat down and burst out laughing. The others joined in and
+for a few minutes the breakfast table was in an uproar.
+
+The real Tom Gray, who was the image of his uncle's portrait over the
+sideboard, looked from one to another of the strange faces and then
+began to laugh too, since it seemed to be the proper thing to do. He had
+one of those delightful, hearty laughs that ring out in a whole roomful
+of voices. When Mrs. Gray heard it she stopped short, patting her nephew
+on the cheek; for he was sitting beside her now in a place hastily
+arranged by the butler.
+
+"Exactly your uncle's laugh. It's good to hear it again. You're a Gray,
+every inch of you; and, thank God, you're a fine fellow! If you had come
+down here with an English accent and no 'h's' and a monocle, I should
+have shut the door in your face. I should, indeed."
+
+"Who, me?" demanded her nephew, forgetting his grammar in his surprise
+at such a state of affairs. "Not me, dear aunt. America's good enough
+for me. I've had lots of good times with my English cousins, but
+America's my home and country."
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Hippy, dashing around the table and seizing the young
+man's hand. "We're glad to know you. We're proud and happy to make your
+acquaintance."
+
+There was such an uproar of fun and laughter at this that Tom Gray began
+at last to see that something had really happened, and that his sudden
+and unheralded appearance had brought immense relief to the assembled
+company.
+
+"Don't you think it's time somebody put me on?" he asked finally when
+the noise had quieted down a little.
+
+"Tom," replied his aunt, "did you tell anyone you were coming to Oakdale
+for Christmas to visit me!"
+
+"Why, yes," answered Tom after a moment's thought. "I believe I did. In
+fact I know I did. I was staying for a week in New York, with an English
+friend, Arthur Butler. I told him all about it. It was on his account
+that I stayed over one night. I sent the telegram by his servant,
+Richards."
+
+"Ah, ha!" cried Mrs. Gray. "And pray tell us what that wretch of a
+servant looked like."
+
+Tom laughed.
+
+"Richards is quite an unusual fellow, a good servant I believe, but
+rather effeminate and a kind of a dandy----"
+
+"That's the man!"
+
+"He's the one!"
+
+"The very fellow!"
+
+Half a dozen voices interrupted at once.
+
+Then Mrs. Gray explained the rather serious adventure of the night
+before. She ended by saying:
+
+"I never, in my heart of hearts, really believed he was you, Tom, dear."
+
+"The scoundrel!" exclaimed the young man. "Can't we set the police on
+him?"
+
+"The police in Oakdale are slow, Tom," replied his aunt. "Slow from lack
+of occupation. Robbers do not flock here in great numbers."
+
+"At least, I'll telegraph to Arthur Butler," said Tom, "and warn him.
+They may catch him from that end."
+
+The telegram was accordingly sent. Likewise the police were notified,
+but Richards, who turned out to be a well-known English crook, made good
+his escape and was heard from no more.
+
+It did not take our young people long to make the acquaintance of the
+real Tom Gray, nor to decide he was a fine fellow and one they could
+admit to their circle without regret.
+
+"He's like a breath of fresh air," thought Grace, and indeed it was
+disclosed later that he intended to study forestry because he loved the
+country and the open air, and spent all his vacations camping out and
+taking long walking trips. But there was nothing of the gypsy in him. He
+was full of energy and ambition and infused such a wholesome vigor into
+whatever he did that the young people felt a new enthusiasm in his
+presence.
+
+"I propose to celebrate the return of the real Tom Gray," announced Mrs.
+Gray, "by sending my boys and girls off on a sleighing party this
+afternoon. The big old sleigh holds exactly eight. Reddy, you may drive,
+since the roads are so familiar to you. You must all be back at six
+o'clock, for, remember, to-night we decorate the Christmas tree and
+every girl freshman in Oakdale High School must have a present on it."
+
+Just after lunch, therefore, after a hard morning's work over Mrs.
+Gray's "surprise," the young people bundled into the big side-seated
+sleigh, and tucked the buffalo robes tightly around them. The horses
+snorted in the crisp, dry air; there was a jingle of merry sleigh bells
+as off they started down the street toward the open country.
+
+    Jingle bells, jingle bells,
+    Jingle all the way.
+    Oh, what fun 'tis to ride
+    In a one-horse open sleigh.
+
+they sang as they bowled over the well-beaten track; and Tom Gray
+breathed a sigh of pure delight.
+
+"Isn't this great!" he exclaimed. "Wouldn't you rather do this than
+write an essay or study Latin prose composition?"
+
+"Next to riding in an airship and skating, it's the finest thing I know
+of," answered David.
+
+"Have you ever ridden in an airship?" demanded Tom.
+
+"No, but I intend to," replied the other; for David had never for a
+moment relinquished his pet scheme, but worked on his experiments
+whenever he had a spare moment; little dreaming that one day he was to
+become the talk of the town.
+
+As the sleigh passed the Nesbit house, Miriam and some of her friends
+were just entering her front gate. She saw the party and a shadow of
+black jealousy darkened her face.
+
+"Why don't we do the same thing?" she exclaimed aloud, and in another
+twenty minutes she had bundled her own guests into the Nesbit sleigh,
+while she herself took the reins and guided the pair of spirited black
+horses.
+
+"Miriam, I do wish you would let one of the boys drive," said her
+mother, who had come to the door to see her off.
+
+"I prefer to do the driving, mother," replied the spoiled girl, and with
+a crack of the whip, the second sleighful was off after the first. It
+was not long before the Nesbit sleigh had met and passed the other,
+which was not going at a very great rate of speed. Mrs. Gray's carriage
+horses were much older and more staid than Miriam's pair of young
+blacks.
+
+"Who is the girl in front?" asked Tom, as the sleigh flashed past.
+
+"My sister," answered David shortly.
+
+"She must be a pretty good driver," observed Tom.
+
+David made no reply. He knew perfectly well that Miriam was not strong
+enough to hold in the black team, once the horses got the upper hand;
+but he hoped one of the boys would take the reins if they showed any
+symptoms of running away.
+
+The early twilight was just falling when the Gray house party came to a
+narrow, rickety old bridge spanning the bed of a creek. Here they
+stopped the horses for a time, while Grace and Hippy gathered some
+branches of evergreen growing on the edge of a wood, just over the
+bridge.
+
+Suddenly the stillness was broken by the sound of bells ringing so
+violently that it seemed as if all Bedlam had broken loose. Around a
+curve and down the road in front of them loomed Miriam's blacks, making
+straight for the other group. They were going like the wind, and the
+empty sleigh, lying on its side, was clattering behind them.
+
+"Jump, girls!" cried Tom, while with the other boys he started to cross
+the bridge to intercept the horses.
+
+If Grace had paused to reflect she might never have attempted
+accomplishing the daring deed that suggested itself to her. Quickly
+snatching off her scarlet cape, she dashed into the middle of the road,
+waving it before her. Perhaps the horses also thought Bedlam had been
+let loose. At sight of the terrifying apparition, they slackened up,
+snorted and reared backward.
+
+"She is a brave girl," thought Tom Gray, as he leaped at the nearest
+rearing, plunging animal, while David seized the other. Far down the
+road came the sound of a faint halloo.
+
+"I'll pick up the others. I suppose they are in a drift," said Reddy, as
+he drove off and in a few minutes returned carrying Miriam and her
+party. Miriam herself looked white and frightened, although she
+pretended to treat the affair lightly.
+
+"A rabbit scared the horses," was all she said. "I'll let one of the
+boys drive us home."
+
+"Indeed, I shan't go back in that sleigh," cried Julia Crosby.
+
+"Perhaps you'll accept a ride in the freshman sleigh, Miss Crosby,"
+suggested Nora; and the other girl, somewhat ashamed, was obliged to
+place herself at the mercy of her enemies.
+
+"All of you girls get into Mrs. Gray's sleigh," commanded David, "and
+Tom and I will drive the other sleigh back." No one ever cared to
+disobey David when he spoke in this tone. Even his wilful sister took
+her seat between Grace and Anne without a word and never spoke during
+the entire drive back, except to say good night at her own front gate.
+
+But Grace could not refrain from one sharp little thrust.
+
+"You seem to be unlucky with sleighs and sleds both, Miriam," she said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE MARIONETTE SHOW
+
+
+Do you remember your first party dress? How it gave a glimpse of the
+throat and neck, and seemed to sweep the ground all around, although it
+merely reached your shoe tops?
+
+Did you feel a thrill of pleasure when the last hook and eye was
+fastened and you surveyed yourself in the longest mirror in the house?
+
+So it was with Anne in her pink crepe de Chine. Or was it really Anne,
+this little vision in rose color with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes?
+She stood spellbound before the glass on that memorable Christmas night,
+and no one disturbed her for awhile. Mrs. Gray and the girls had stolen
+out so as not to embarrass the young girl who, for the first time, saw
+herself in a beautiful new silk dress exactly the color of pink rose
+petals, which hung in soft folds to the tips of her small pink satin
+slippers.
+
+"Give her a chance, girls," whispered Mrs. Gray. "We mustn't be too
+enthusiastic about the difference. It might hurt her tender little
+feelings. But she _does_ look sweet, doesn't she?"
+
+"As pretty as a picture, Mrs. Gray," answered Grace, kissing the old
+lady's peach blossom cheek. "But they are coming. I hear them on the
+walk. We must get behind the scenes and see that everything is all
+ready."
+
+The big drawing room of the Gray house was soon full of young people
+watching the folding doors leading into the library with expectant
+faces. In the hall a string orchestra was discoursing soft music and the
+place was filled with the hum of conversation and low laughter. Mrs.
+Gray, seated on the front row, in the place of honor, occasionally
+looked about her and smiled happily.
+
+"Why didn't I do this long ago?" she said to herself. "But then, were
+there ever before such nice girls as my four adopted daughters?"
+
+Miriam sat near, with the other members of her house party. It had been
+a source of much discussion whether or not to admit Julia Crosby to the
+freshman party. But, since she was Miriam's guest, what else was there
+to do?
+
+"We shall be only heaping coals of fire on her head at any rate," hinted
+Jessica, "and that certainly ought to make her feel worse than if she
+had been left out."
+
+After everyone was comfortably seated three loud raps were heard from
+behind the folding doors. Some one began to play "The Funeral March of a
+Marionette" on the piano, and the doors slid slowly back.
+
+There was a murmur of surprise and wonder.
+
+Two curtains had been stretched across the door opening above and below
+and two hung down at each side, leaving an oblong space in the middle in
+which stood a little doll theater nearly a yard and a half long and a
+yard high. A row of footlights across the miniature stage presently
+blossomed into light, and the freshman girls smiled as they recognized
+some of those same little bulbs that had served to illuminate the
+pumpkin face of Miss Leece's effigy. The music ceased and the curtains
+rolled back. There sat Cinderella by the kitchen fire, very stiff and
+straight, but weeping audibly with her little fists in her eyes. She was
+ten inches high and, on careful examination, it could be seen that two
+threads attached to her arms, and another to the back of her neck, made
+it possible for her to move about and use her hands in a remarkably
+life-like manner.
+
+Wild applause from the audience. Well there might be, for the scene was
+perfect, from the old brick fireplace with an iron pot steaming on the
+coals to the rows of shining pans and blue dishes on a shelf at the
+side, all of which came from a toy shop, along with a little kitchen
+bench and chairs.
+
+The cruel sisters swept in, dressed for the ball. When they spoke there
+were convulsive titters among the guests for the voices of the cruel
+step-sisters were those of Nora and Hippy. Anne read the lines of
+Cinderella so plaintively that Mrs. Gray shed a secret tear or two when
+Cinderella was left alone in the gloomy old kitchen. When the fairy
+godmother appeared, in a peaked red hat and a long red cape, it was
+Jessica who spoke the lines in a sweet, musical voice. How Cinderella
+rolled out the pumpkin and displayed six white mice in a trap, and how,
+after a brief interval of total darkness, could be seen through the open
+door a coach of gold in which sat Cinderella in a silken gown, need not
+be related here. It all took place without a single slip and the dolls
+went through their parts with such funny life-like motions that the boys
+and girls forgot they were not watching real actors.
+
+It was the scene of the ballroom, however, which was the real triumph of
+the evening.
+
+"How did those clever children ever do it?" exclaimed Mrs. Gray, aloud,
+when the curtain rolled back and disclosed the ballroom of the palace,
+with a drop curtain at the back showing a vista of marble columns and
+pillars. A gilt chandelier was suspended in the middle, from which
+stretched garlands of real smilax. There were rows of little gilt chairs
+against the walls filled with dolls in stiff satins and brocades. And
+one large throne chair with a red velvet cushion in it, on which sat the
+prince, who spoke with the voice of David Nesbit, and entertained his
+guests in royal state. After the exciting arrival of Cinderella, Nora
+played a minuet on the mandolin, the tinkling music of which seemed best
+suited to the doll drama, and the prince and Cinderella executed a dance
+of such intricate steps and low bows that the audience was convulsed
+with laughter. There were even suppressed titters from behind the
+scenes. This dance, which had been devised by Tom Gray and Grace,
+necessitated two extra threads to manipulate the feet. It was most
+difficult and had required long and tedious practice, but the results
+were quite worth all the time and trouble.
+
+Mrs. Gray laughed till the tears rolled down her cheeks and made a
+personal appeal for an encore, which was given; but there was a mishap
+this time; Cinderella's threads became entangled and she came near to
+breaking her china nose. Audiences are invariably most pitiless when
+they are most pleased, and have no mercy on exhausted actors. At the cry
+of "Speech! Speech!" the Prince stepped forward and made a low bow.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "we thank you for your approval and if
+strength and breath permitted us, and the lady had not injured her nose,
+we would gladly dance again for you."
+
+Then came the last scene. The step-sisters made desperate efforts to
+wear the slipper; Cinderella finally retired triumphantly on the
+prince's arm, and the curtains closed only to open again a few moments
+later upon a scene which bore a strong resemblance to Oakdale High
+School. The fairy godmother occupied the center of the stage while the
+entire company of dolls were lined up on either side. Cinderella and the
+prince, each held the end of an open scroll, which bore a printed
+inscription that could be seen by the audience. It read:
+
+"A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THE FAIRY GODMOTHER OF THE FRESHMAN CLASS."
+
+A scene of wild enthusiasm followed. The young people gave three cheers
+for Mrs. Gray and ended with the High School yell. The actors came out
+and were cheered each in turn.
+
+Grace, Tom Gray and Reddy had worked the marionettes, it seemed,
+standing on the back of the table where the theater was placed, while
+the others, sitting on low stools at the sides where they could see and
+not be seen, read their lines which had been composed by Anne.
+
+"It wasn't so hard as you might think," said Grace, explaining the
+marionettes to a group of friends. "Dressing the dolls was easy; we
+glued on most of their clothes, and we made the step-sisters ugly by
+giving them putty noses. Hippy painted the scenery and David supplied
+the electric lights. The threads that moved the arms and bodies were
+tied to little cross sticks something like a gallows, so that they could
+be held from above without being seen."
+
+But the marionette show was only the beginning of the party. There was
+to be feasting and dancing, and, lastly, a big Christmas tree loaded
+with presents.
+
+The floors were cleared. The notes of a waltz rang out, and away whirled
+the happy boys and girls. Anne and David, who did not dance, retired to
+a sofa in the library to look on.
+
+"Are you happy, Anne, in your beautiful pink dress?" asked David,
+regarding her with open admiration.
+
+"How can I help being happy?" she replied. "This is the first pretty
+dress that I have ever had and I never went to a party before, either."
+
+"I never enjoyed a party before," said David, "but I'm enjoying this
+one. I hope, for Mrs. Gray's sake, it goes off without a hitch."
+
+Just then Tom Gray waltzed by with Grace. They stopped when they saw
+their friends, and came back.
+
+"Our efforts are certainly crowned with success," exclaimed Grace. "It's
+the most beautiful ball ever given in Oakdale. Everyone says so. By the
+way," she added, "get your partners and fall in line for the grand march
+to supper."
+
+"I already have mine, all right," declared Tom Gray.
+
+"And I think I have mine," observed David. "She's wearing a pink dress
+and is just about as tall as a marionette."
+
+Anne laughed and stood on tiptoe to make herself look taller. Suddenly
+she caught the eye of Miriam Nesbit, who was lingering in the doorway,
+watching the scene with an expression that the circumstances and holiday
+surroundings hardly seemed to justify.
+
+"I wonder if the party will go off without a hitch," thought Anne, as
+they joined the grand march into the dining room.
+
+When the beautiful, illuminated tree had been disburdened of all its
+presents and the guests were well advanced on their supper, Mrs. Gray
+approached Anne, carrying an oblong box, neatly done up in white tissue
+paper tied with red ribbons. Pinned to the ribbon with a piece of holly
+was a Christmas card on which was printed in fancy lettering "A
+Christmas Thought."
+
+"Why, what is this, Mrs. Gray?" demanded Anne, rather excited, while
+many of the boys and girls gathered around her and some stood on chairs
+in order to see what the mysterious box contained.
+
+"I know no more than you, dear," replied the old lady. "A man left it at
+the door a moment ago, and one of the servants gave it to me. Why don't
+you open it and see?"
+
+Anne hesitated. Something told her not to open the box, but how could
+she help it with dozens of her friends waiting eagerly to see what was
+in it?
+
+"Hurry up, Anne, aren't you curious to see what it is?" some one called.
+
+"It looks like flowers," said another.
+
+"Or candy," observed a third.
+
+And still Anne's fingers lingered on the bow of red ribbon. Was there
+anyone in the world who could be sending her a box that night? Certainly
+not her mother nor her sister, nor any of her friends who had exchanged
+presents in the morning. Mrs. Gray evidently had not sent it and there
+was no one else in her small list of friends who would have taken the
+trouble.
+
+"Anne, you funny child, don't you see we are all waiting impatiently?"
+said Grace at last.
+
+Anne slipped off the ribbons and opened the package. In the box was some
+object, carefully done up in more tissue paper.
+
+"It looks like a mummy," exclaimed Hippy.
+
+Untying the wrappers, Anne held up to the curious view of the others a
+large doll.
+
+At first she hardly comprehended what it was and held it out at arms'
+length looking at it wonderingly. It was dressed as a man in a black
+suit with a long Prince Albert coat, very crudely made on close
+inspection, but still cut and fitted to give the right effect. The face
+had been cleverly changed with paint and putty, and pinned on the head
+was a black felt hat, constructed out of the crown of an old one
+evidently, in which had been sewn some lank black hair.
+
+A card was tied around the doll's neck, and some one looking over Anne's
+shoulder read aloud the following inscription written upon it:
+
+"Why have imitation actors when you can get real ones?"
+
+Anne gave a gasp.
+
+Who could have played this cruel trick upon her? She knew her four
+friends had never spoken of the happenings of Thanksgiving night, but
+such secrets would leak out in spite of everything, and there may have
+been others in the audience who had recognized her. Moreover, her father
+himself would not have hesitated to tell who she was, so that it was not
+difficult to understand how the story had spread.
+
+But who would have the heart to hold her father up to ridicule in this
+way, and to cause her such secret pain and unhappiness? While her
+thoughts were busy, David had seized the doll and wrapped it up again.
+He was very angry, but it was wiser to keep silent.
+
+"What was it, dear?" demanded Mrs. Gray, who had not been able to hear
+the message written on the card.
+
+"Just a silly trick on Anne, Mrs. Gray," replied David, for Anne was too
+near to tears to trust the sound of her own voice.
+
+"Something about actors, wasn't it?" asked Julia Crosby, who was
+hovering near, and before she could be stopped, she had snatched the
+doll from Anne's lap. The covers fluttered to the floor and the others
+pressed eagerly around to get a glimpse of it.
+
+David leaped to his feet so vigorously that he upset a chair.
+
+"Give that back!" he commanded. "It is not yours."
+
+[Illustration: "Give That Back! It Is Not Yours."]
+
+"I will not," answered Julia Crosby. "Neither is it yours."
+
+"I say you will," cried David, furiously, losing his temper completely.
+
+"Get it if you can!" challenged the girl, darting through the crowd with
+David at her heels.
+
+Suddenly there was a crash, a startled cry and the great fir tree with
+all its ornaments and lighted candles fell to the floor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AFTER THE BALL
+
+
+Yes, here was the hitch that Anne had secretly dreaded and which the
+other girls had anxiously hoped to avoid.
+
+She had not dreamed what it would be, but she had felt it coming all
+evening, ever since she had seen Miriam hovering near the library door.
+And, in a way, Miriam was connected with the disaster. Had not Miriam's
+guest and chum exceeded all bounds of politeness by prying into other
+people's affairs? No doubt, as she fled from David, her dress had caught
+in one of the branches of the tree and so pulled it over.
+
+All this darted through Anne's head as she stood leaning against the
+wall while the room was fast filling with smoke and the pungent odor of
+burning pine.
+
+Suddenly, some one at her elbow deliberately called "Fire! Fire!" These
+were the same ominous words she had heard Thanksgiving night, only they
+seemed now more alarming, more threatening. Who could be so foolish, so
+ill-advised as to scream those agitating words in a roomful of girls and
+boys already keyed up to a high pitch of excitement? Anne turned quickly
+and confronted Miriam.
+
+"Don't do that!" exclaimed Anne. "You will only make matters worse."
+
+Miriam looked at her scornfully, although it was evident she had not
+noticed her before.
+
+"Be quiet, spy," she hissed, "and don't make trouble."
+
+"I suspect you of making a great deal," returned Anne, calmly.
+
+She was not afraid of this passionate, spoiled girl, and only the fact
+that Miriam was the sister of David, her devoted friend, kept Anne from
+saying more.
+
+In another moment, the entire Christmas tree was in a bright blaze. Anne
+had climbed up to a chair, and thence to the table that the crowd had
+pushed against her as it ran. Anne was about to leap to the floor when
+Grace and Tom Gray dashed in with an armful apiece of wet blankets. With
+the help of the others they spread the blankets over the burning tree
+and the blaze was extinguished almost as soon as it was born.
+
+"No harm has been done," said Tom. "The canvas covering saved the floor
+and fortunately all the furniture has been taken out anyhow. It's all
+right, Aunt Rose. Nobody hurt; nothing damaged. I never heard of a more
+accommodating fire in my life."
+
+"Open the windows now and let out the smoke," ordered Mrs. Gray, "and,
+if you have all finished eating, I think you had better come into the
+drawing room while the servants clear out this debris. Tom, please tell
+the musicians to play a waltz. I do not want my guests to carry away any
+unpleasant impressions of this house."
+
+The music struck up and the dance began again.
+
+"Well," said Grace, "no one need feel badly about the fire, because a
+Christmas tree generally has to be burned, anyway, and nothing of value
+but the ornaments was destroyed. So everything is all right."
+
+"It was all my fault," exclaimed David, in a contrite voice. "Mrs. Gray,
+you will have to forgive me before I can enjoy a clear conscience again.
+If it hadn't been for that lumbering sophomore, Julia Crosby, I should
+never have lost my temper the way I did."
+
+"My dear David," cried Mrs. Gray, patting him affectionately on the arm,
+"you couldn't do anything I would disapprove of. If you wanted to rescue
+Anne's doll I am sure you had some excellent reason for it."
+
+Mrs. Gray had not heard the history of Anne's father, for Grace and her
+friends had kept the secret well, and Anne, herself, had never cared to
+tell the story. She was a quiet, reserved girl who talked little of her
+own affairs.
+
+"He _did_ have a good reason, Mrs. Gray," put in Grace, "and it was
+enough to make him lose his temper. Julia Crosby is everlastingly
+playing practical jokes and getting people into trouble. However, I
+don't suppose she upset the tree on purpose," she added, thoughtfully.
+
+"Well, well," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, "let us forget all about it and wind
+up the party with a Virginia reel. Tom and Grace must lead it off, and
+Anne, you and David watch the others so that when it comes your turn you
+will be able to dance it yourselves."
+
+So it was that Mrs. Gray's freshman Christmas ball ended as gayly as it
+had started, with a romping, joyous Virginia reel. There was not a soul,
+except the little old lady herself, who did not join the two long lines
+stretching from one end of the rooms to the other and when it came
+Anne's turn, she was not afraid to bow and curtsey as the others had
+done, for she had quickly mastered the various figures of the dance.
+Moreover, was she not wearing a beautiful dress of pink crepe de Chine?
+After all a pretty dress does make a great difference. Anne felt she
+could never have danced so well in the old black silk.
+
+When the reel was over the boys and girls joined hands and formed an
+immense circle about their charming hostess, whirling madly around her
+as they cried:
+
+"Three cheers for Mrs. Gray!"
+
+The old lady was very happy. She waved her small, wrinkled hands at them
+and called out over the din:
+
+"Three cheers for my dear freshmen boys and girls!"
+
+At length, when the hands of the clock pointed to two, and the last of
+the dancers had departed, Mrs. Gray sank into a chair exhausted.
+
+"I am tired," she said, "but I never in my life had such a good time!"
+
+Was there ever a girl in the world who did not want to exchange
+confidences with her best friends after a party?
+
+Grace and Anne, therefore, were not surprised when two figures in
+dressing gowns and slippers stole into their room, crouching on the rug
+before the fire.
+
+"We've all sorts of things to say," exclaimed Nora, "else we wouldn't
+think of keeping you up so late. In the first place, wasn't it perfectly
+delightful?"
+
+"Grand!" sighed the others.
+
+"Everything except that one accident, and the thing that caused it,"
+answered Grace.
+
+"By the way, Anne, where is the doll?" asked Jessica.
+
+Anne produced it from its box.
+
+"Here it is," she said sadly. "But it was a cruel joke. Can you imagine
+who could have done it?"
+
+"I have several suspicions," answered Grace, "but I make no accusations
+without grounds."
+
+The four girls examined the doll carefully.
+
+"My poor father!" exclaimed Anne, her eyes filling with tears.
+
+"I'll tell you what, girls," cried Nora suddenly, "there's more to this
+than just Anne's secret. How did anyone know we were going to have a
+marionette show? Didn't we keep it dark?"
+
+"Yes," they answered.
+
+"Perhaps it got out through the servants," suggested Jessica.
+
+"It certainly is rather an underhanded business," cried Grace, "for
+whoever did this not only must have bribed one of Mrs. Gray's servants,
+but also must have some way or other raked up Anne's secret. It was
+evidently some one who had a grudge against you, poor dear," she added,
+patting Anne on the cheek.
+
+"Girls!" exclaimed Jessica, who all this time had been looking the doll
+over carefully, "where have you seen this material before?" She pointed
+at the fancy red waistcoat the doll was wearing.
+
+"It has a familiar look," answered Nora.
+
+"It looks to me very much like a red velveteen suit I saw somewhere once
+upon a time," observed Grace.
+
+"You did see it, Grace. But it was--how long ago? Two or more years,
+wasn't it?"
+
+"I know," cried Nora. "Miriam Nesbit's!"
+
+"Sh-h-h!" warned Grace. "Remember David. He's just across the hall."
+
+"And he must never know," added Anne, "not if she sent me a dozen
+dolls."
+
+"But I haven't finished," continued Jessica. "I feel exactly like a
+detective on the scent. This doll is wearing something else that is
+familiar to us all. Anne, you have seen it, I am sure."
+
+They scanned the doll eagerly. The shabby black suit was made of some
+indescribable material that might have come from anywhere. The red
+velveteen waistcoat they had already identified. Then came a little
+white cotton dickey, with a high standing collar and then----
+
+"The tie!" cried Nora. "The green tie! Is that it, Jessica?"
+
+"You are right," answered Jessica. "Have you never seen that green silk
+before?"
+
+Grace was in a brown study.
+
+Anne could not recall it and Nora was groping in the dark.
+
+"I'll tell you this much," said Jessica, who loved a mystery; "It just
+matches a certain veil----"
+
+"Miss Leece!" exclaimed Grace. "It's a piece of the trimming on an old
+dress she sometimes wears."
+
+"Exactly," said Jessica. "Who, having once seen it could ever forget
+it?"
+
+And so Miss Leece and Miriam had combined forces against poor little
+Anne!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A WINTER PICNIC
+
+
+"Aunt Rose," exclaimed Tom Gray, several mornings after the Christmas
+dance, "I have a scheme; but, before I ask your permission to carry it
+out, I want you to grant it."
+
+"Why do you ask it at all, then, Tom, dear?" answered his aunt.
+
+"Because we want your seal and sanction upon the undertaking," replied
+Tom, giving the old lady an affectionate squeeze. "Is it granted, little
+Lady Gray?" he asked.
+
+"I am merely groping about in the dark, my boy, but I trust to your good
+sense not to ask me anything too outrageous. Tell me what it is quickly,
+so that I may know exactly how deeply I am implicated."
+
+"Well," said Tom, "here's the scheme in a nutshell. I want to give a
+picnic."
+
+Mrs. Gray groaned.
+
+"A picnic, boy? Whoever heard of a picnic in mid-winter. What mad notion
+is this?"
+
+"But you have given your consent, aunty, and no honorable woman can go
+back on her word."
+
+"So I have, child, but explain to me quickly what a winter picnic is so
+that I may know the worst at once."
+
+"A winter picnic is a glorious tramp in the woods, with a big camp-fire
+at noon, for food, warmth and rest, and then a tramp back again."
+
+"And can I trust to you to take good care of my four girls? Anne and
+Jessica are not giants for strength. You must not walk them too far, or
+let them get chilled; and, if you find they are growing tired, you must
+bring them straight back."
+
+"On my word of honor, as a gentleman and a Gray, I promise," said Tom,
+solemnly.
+
+"And you will all be in before dark?" continued Mrs. Gray.
+
+"We promise," continued the young people.
+
+"Wear your stoutest shoes and warmest clothing," she went on.
+
+"We promise," they cried.
+
+"And we want a lot of lunch, aunt," said Tom coaxingly, "and some nice
+raw bacon for cooking and eating purposes."
+
+"You shall have everything you want," said Mrs. Gray, "but who will
+carry the lunch?"
+
+"We will distribute it on the backs of our four pack mules," replied
+Grace. "But Hippy must carry the coffee-pot. He's not to be trusted with
+food."
+
+"Now, wouldn't it be a remarkable sight to see a pack mule eating off
+his own back!" observed Hippy. "There are several animals that can turn
+their heads all the way around, I believe, but not the human animal."
+
+"We had better start as soon as possible," broke in Tom. "Hurry up,
+girls, and get ready, while the servants fix the lunch."
+
+In half an hour eight young people, well muffled and mittened, started
+off toward the open country. It was a clear, cold day and the
+snow-covered fields and meadows sparkled in the sunshine.
+
+"If I were a gypsy by birth, as well as by inclination," declared Tom,
+as they trudged gayly along, "I should take to the road in the early
+spring, and never see a roof again until cold weather."
+
+"But being a member of a respectable family and about to enter college,
+you have to sleep in a bed under cover?" added David.
+
+"It's partly that," said Tom, "and partly the cold weather that is
+responsible for my good behavior two thirds of the year. If I lived in a
+warm climate all the year around, every respectable notion I had would
+melt away in a week and I'd take to the open forever."
+
+"I have never been in the woods in the winter time," said Anne. "Are
+they very beautiful?"
+
+"One of the finest sights in the world," cried Tom enthusiastically, his
+wholesome face glowing from his exercise.
+
+Just then they climbed an old stone wall and entered a forest known as
+"Upton Wood," which covered an area of ten miles or more in length and
+several miles across.
+
+"It is beautiful," said Anne as she gazed up and down the wooded aisles
+carpeted in white. "It is like a great cathedral. I could almost kneel
+and pray at one of these snow covered stumps. They are like altars."
+
+"The fault I find with the woods in winter," observed Grace, "is that
+there is nothing to do in them, no birds and beasts to make things
+lively, no flowers to pick, no brooks to wade in. Just an everlasting
+stillness."
+
+"I admit there's not much social life," replied Tom. "The inhabitants
+either go to sleep or fly south, most of them. But don't forget the
+rabbits and squirrels and----"
+
+"And an occasional bear," interrupted Reddy. "They have been seen in
+these parts."
+
+"Worse than bears," said Hippy. "Wolves!"
+
+"Goodness!" ejaculated Tom. "You are doing pretty well. I didn't know
+this country was so wild. But that's going some."
+
+"Oh, well, as to that," said David, "nobody has ever really seen
+anything worse than wildcats, and we have to take old Jean's word for it
+about the wolves. He claimed to have seen wolves in these woods three
+years ago. As a matter of fact they chased him out, and he was obliged
+to turn civilized for three months."
+
+"Who is old Jean?" asked Tom, much interested.
+
+"He is a French-Canadian hunter who has lived somewhere in this forest
+for years. He comes into town occasionally, looking like Daniel Boone,
+dressed in skins with a squirrel cap, and carrying a bunch of rabbits
+that he sells to the butchers."
+
+"He's a great sight," said Grace. "I saw him on his snowshoes one day.
+He was coming down Upton Hill, where we coasted, you know, Anne, and he
+sped along the fields faster than David's motor cycle."
+
+They had been walking for some time over the hard-packed snow and were
+now well into the forest, which hemmed them in on every side and seemed
+to stretch out in all directions into infinite space.
+
+"Reddy, are you perfectly sure we won't get lost in this place?"
+demanded Jessica at last.
+
+They had been walking along silently intent on their own thoughts.
+Perhaps it was the grandeur of the great snow-laden trees that oppressed
+them; perhaps the vast loneliness of the place, where nothing was
+stirring, not even a rabbit.
+
+"We're all right," returned Reddy. "My compass tells me. We go due north
+till we want to start home and then we can either turn around and go
+back due south or turn west and go home by the road."
+
+"I have neither compass nor watch," said Hippy, "but nature's timepiece
+tells me that it's lunch time. This cold air gives me an appetite."
+
+"Gives you one?" cried David. "You old anaconda, you were born with an
+appetite. You started eating boiled dumplings when you were two years
+old."
+
+"Who told you so?" demanded Hippy.
+
+"Never mind," said David. "It's an old story in Oakdale."
+
+"Let's feed the poor soul," interposed Grace. "It would be wanton
+cruelty to keep him waiting any longer."
+
+"He'll have to make the fire, then," said Reddy. "Make him pay for his
+dumplings if he wants 'em so early."
+
+"All right, Carrots," cried Hippy. "I'll gather fagots and make a fire,
+just to keep you from talking so much."
+
+"I'll help you, Hippy," said Nora. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I am
+very hungry too. It's the people who are never able to eat at the table,
+and then go off and feed up in the pantry, who always manage to shirk
+their work."
+
+The others all laughed.
+
+"Let's make a fair division of labor," put in Grace, "so as to prevent
+future talk."
+
+While some of them gathered sticks and dried branches, the others began
+clearing away the snow in an open space, where the fire could be built.
+
+Anne and Jessica unpacked the luncheon and poured some coffee from a
+glass jar into a tin pot to be heated, while Tom peeled several long
+switches and impaled pieces of bacon on the ends to be cooked over the
+fire, which was soon blazing comfortably.
+
+"How do you like this, girls?" he asked presently, when the broiling
+bacon began to give out an appetizing smell and the hot coffee added its
+fragrance to the air. "How's this for a winter picnic?"
+
+"I like it better than a summer picnic," interposed Hippy. "The food is
+better and there are no gnats."
+
+"Gnats are very fond of fat people," said Reddy. "They drink down their
+blood like--circus lemonade."
+
+"Get busy and give me some coffee, Red-head," said Hippy, who sat on a
+stump and ate energetically, while the others were broiling their slices
+of bacon.
+
+"Here, Hippy," said Nora, pouring out a steaming cupful, "if it wasn't
+interesting to watch you store it away, perhaps I wouldn't wait on you
+hand and foot like this."
+
+"This is the best way in the world to cook bacon," said Tom, holding his
+wand over the fire with several pieces of bacon stuck on the forked
+ends.
+
+"A very good method, if your stick doesn't burn up," replied Anne.
+"There! Mine fell into the fire. I knew it would."
+
+Meantime, Jessica and Grace were frying the rest of the slices in a pan.
+
+"That's good enough, but this is better and quicker," said Grace.
+"There's no reason for dispensing with all the comforts of a home just
+because you choose to be a woodsman, Tom."
+
+They never forget how they enjoyed that luncheon, devouring everything
+to the ultimate crumb and the final drop of hot coffee.
+
+Although it was bitterly cold, they did not feel the chill. The brisk
+walk, the warm fire and their hearty meal had quickened their blood, and
+even Anne, the smallest and most delicate of them all, felt something of
+Tom's enthusiasm for the deep woods.
+
+At last it was time to start again.
+
+The boys were trampling down the fire while the girls began stowing the
+cups and coffee-pot into a basket. The woods seemed suddenly to have
+grown very quiet.
+
+"How still it is," whispered Anne. "I feel as if everything in the world
+had stopped. There is not a breath stirring."
+
+"Perhaps it has," answered Grace. "But we mustn't stop, even if
+everything else has, now that the fire is out, or we'll freeze to
+death."
+
+She was just about to call the others briskly, for the air was beginning
+to nip her cheeks, when something in the faces of the four boys made her
+pause.
+
+They were standing together near the remains of the fire, and seemed to
+be listening intently.
+
+Not a sound, not even the crackling of a branch disturbed the stillness
+for a moment and then, from what appeared to be a great distance, came a
+long, howling wail, so forlorn, so weird, it might have been the cry of
+a spirit.
+
+"What is it?" whispered the other girls, creeping about Grace.
+
+"I think we'd better be hurrying along, now, girls," said David in a
+natural voice. "It's getting late."
+
+"You can't deceive us, David," replied Grace calmly. "We know it's
+wolves."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+WOLVES!
+
+
+Wolves! The name was terrifying enough. But their cry, that
+long-drawn-out, hungry call, gave the picnickers a chill of
+apprehension.
+
+"We must take the nearest way out of the wood, Reddy," exclaimed Tom.
+"They are still several miles off, and, if we hurry, we may reach the
+open before they do."
+
+All started on a run, David helping Anne to keep up with the others
+while Reddy looked after Jessica. Nora and Grace were well enough
+trained in outdoor exercise to run without any assistance from the boys.
+Indeed, Grace Harlowe could out-run most boys of her own age.
+
+"Go straight to your left," called Reddy, consulting his compass as he
+hurried Jessica over the snow.
+
+Again they heard the angry howl of the wolves, and the last time it
+seemed much nearer.
+
+"It's a terrible business, this running after a heavy meal," muttered
+Hippy, gasping for breath as he stumbled along in the track of his
+friends. "I'll make a nice meal for 'em if they catch me," he added,
+"and it looks as if I'd be the first to go."
+
+"Reddy, are you sure you're right?" called Tom. "The woods don't seem to
+be thinning out as they are likely to do toward the edge."
+
+"Keep going," called Reddy, confident of the direction. "You see, we had
+gone pretty far in, but I believe the open country is about a mile this
+way."
+
+A mile? Good heavens! Jessica and Anne were already stumbling from
+exhaustion, while Hippy was quite winded. Another five minutes of this
+and at least three of the party would be food for wolves, unless
+something could be done. So thought David, who, breathless and light
+headed, was now almost carrying Anne.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Grace, who had been running ahead of the others. "Here's
+Jean's hut!"
+
+There, sure enough, right in front of them, was a little house built of
+logs and mud.
+
+Had it been put in that particular spot years ago just to save their
+eight lives now? Anne wondered vaguely as she blindly stumbled on.
+
+As Grace lifted the wooden latch of the door, she looked over her
+shoulder. Not three hundred yards away loped five gaunt, gray animals.
+Their tongues hung limply from the sides of their mouths and their eyes
+glowered with a fierce hunger.
+
+"Hurry!" she cried, in an agony of fear. "Oh, hurry!"
+
+Tom and David were carrying Anne now, while Jessica was half staggering,
+assisted by Nora and Reddy. Hippy, the perspiration pouring from his
+face, brought up the rear, and they had scarcely pulled him in and
+barred the door before the wolves had reached the hut and were leaping
+against the walls howling and snarling.
+
+Nobody spoke for some time. Those who were not too tired were busy
+thinking.
+
+What was to be done? Eight young people, on a bitter cold winter
+afternoon, shut up in a hut in the middle of a forest while five
+half-starved wolves besieged the door.
+
+Presently Tom Gray began to look about him.
+
+There was a fireplace in the hut, which, by great good luck, contained
+the remains of a large backlog. More fuel was stacked in the corner,
+chiefly brushwood and sticks. He made a fire at once and the others
+gathered around the blaze, for they felt the penetrating chill now,
+after their rapid and exhausting flight through the forest.
+
+"Here's a rifle," exclaimed Grace, who was also exploring, while Tom
+kindled the fire.
+
+"Good!" cried Tom. "Let's see it. It may be our salvation."
+
+He seized the gun and examined the barrel, but, alas, there was only one
+shot left in it. They searched the hut for more cartridges, but not one
+could they find.
+
+In the meantime the wolves, which might have been taken for large collie
+dogs at a little distance, were trotting around the house, leaping
+against the door and windows and occasionally giving a blood-curdling
+howl.
+
+"Suppose you feed me to them?" groaned Hippy. "You could get almost to
+Oakdale before they finished me."
+
+The suggestion seemed to break the apprehensive silence that had settled
+down upon them, and they burst out laughing, one and all; even Anne, who
+was lying on a bearskin in front of the fire.
+
+"I suppose the beasts were driven down from the hills by hunger, and
+when they smelled the fat bacon frying, the woods couldn't hold them,"
+observed David. "I have always heard that a hungry wolf could smell
+something to eat on another planet."
+
+"Well, what are we going to do?" demanded Nora. "If we leave this
+charming abode of Jean's, we shall be eaten alive, and if we stay in it
+we shall starve."
+
+"You won't starve for a while yet, child. You have only just eaten. You
+remind me of the story of the people who were locked up in a vault in a
+cemetery. They divided the candle into notches and decided to eat a
+notch apiece every day. They had just finished the last notch, and were
+expecting to die at any moment of starvation, when somebody unlocked the
+door, and how long do you suppose they had been shut up!"
+
+"Several days, I suppose," answered Nora, "since they appeared to have
+eaten several notches."
+
+"Not at all," replied David. "Only three hours."
+
+"I'd rather be in a vault, with the dead, than out here," observed
+Hippy.
+
+"Are we such poor company as all that, Fatty!" laughed Reddy.
+
+"I've made a great find," announced Tom Gray in the midst of their
+chatter. He was standing on a bench examining something on a shelf
+suspended from the ceiling.
+
+"What?" demanded the others in great excitement.
+
+"A pair of snowshoes," he answered.
+
+There was a disappointed silence.
+
+"Well, don't all speak at once," said Tom at last. "Don't you agree with
+me that it's a great find?"
+
+"We are sorry we can't enthuse," answered David, "but we fail to see how
+snow shoes can help us out of our present predicament."
+
+"Nobody here knows how to use them," continued Reddy, "and even if he
+did, he couldn't out-run a pack of wolves."
+
+"I know how to use them," exclaimed Tom. "I learned it in Canada a few
+winters ago, but I will admit I couldn't beat the wolves in a race.
+However, the shoes may come in handy yet."
+
+Just then one of the wolves threw his body against the door and the
+small cabin shook with the force of the blow.
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed David, "I thought they had us then. Another blow
+like that and the old latch might give way."
+
+They looked about them for something to place against the door, but
+there was not a stick of furniture in the room. Even the bed, in one
+corner, was made of pine boughs and skins.
+
+"I wonder how there happens to be only five wolves," said Anne. "I
+thought they went about in large packs."
+
+"They are probably mama and papa and the whole family," replied Hippy.
+"The smallest, friskiest ones, I think, are young ladies, by the way
+they switched along behind the others and hung back kind of shy-like."
+
+"Now, Hippy Wingate, don't tell us such a romance as that," warned
+Grace, "when you were so winded you could hardly look in front of you,
+much less behind you."
+
+At that moment there was another crash against the door while two gray
+paws and the tip of a pointed muzzle could be seen on one of the window
+sills.
+
+"It's almost three o'clock," said Tom Gray, looking at his watch. "I
+think we'll have to do something, or we shall be penned here all night.
+Now, what shall it be? Suppose we have a friendly council and consider."
+
+"All right," said David; "the meeting is open for suggestions. What do
+you advise, Anne?"
+
+Anne smiled thoughtfully.
+
+"I have no advice to offer," she said, "unless you shoot one of the
+wolves and let the others eat him up. Perhaps that would take the edge
+off their appetites."
+
+"No, that would only serve as an appetizer," answered David. "After they
+had eaten one member of the family they would be still hungrier for
+another."
+
+"And yet that isn't a half bad idea," said Tom, "and for two reasons.
+Did you notice a path which began at the hut and which was evidently
+Jean's trail? I saw it from the corner of my eye as I ran."
+
+No, the others had not noticed anything of the sort. But who would stop
+to think of trails with a pack of hungry wolves at his heels?
+
+Tom's training in the woods had taught him to take in such details, and
+consequently he had noticed it particularly. Moreover, the trail led
+straight to the left, presumably toward the west.
+
+"Now, this is what I propose to do," he continued, taking down the
+snowshoes and looking over their straps and fastenings carefully.
+"Reddy, who, I hear, is a good shot, must climb up at one of the windows
+and shoot the first wolf he sees. Eating the dead wolf would probably
+occupy the attention of his brothers for some ten minutes or so--perhaps
+longer. While they are busy I shall make off on the snowshoes. With that
+much of a start, and with plenty of tasty human beings close at hand, I
+doubt if they even follow me. If they do, why I'll just shin up a tree.
+But I believe I can beat them. I'm pretty good on snowshoes."
+
+"Tom Gray, you shan't do it!" cried Grace. "It may mean sure death. How
+do you know the wolves won't seize you the moment you open the door?
+Besides, you don't know the way. Suppose you should get lost?"
+
+"No, no," insisted Tom. "None of these things will happen. I know
+positively that a hungry wolf will stop chasing a human being and eat up
+a dead wolf, or a shoe, or a rug, or anything that happens to be thrown
+to him. I never was surer of anything in my life than that I can get
+away from here before the beasts know it."
+
+There was a storm of protestation from the others, but Tom Gray finally
+overruled every objection and they reluctantly consented to let him go.
+
+It was arranged that Reddy should stand on a bench by one of the small
+windows and attract the attention of the wolves by throwing out a rabbit
+skin that was nailed to one of the walls. While the beasts were tearing
+this to pieces he was to shoot one of them. Furthermore, the instant the
+live wolves had finished devouring the dead one, Reddy was to pitch out
+another skin, of which there were many about the hut, of foxes, rabbits
+and other small animals, which the trapper had collected.
+
+This, they agreed, would probably keep the wolves occupied for awhile,
+until Tom had got a good start down the trail.
+
+Tom slipped his feet in the snowshoes and stood by the door waiting.
+While the wolves howled and fought over the rabbit skin, bang went the
+rifle.
+
+"I got him!" cried Reddy.
+
+In an instant Tom Gray had flung open the door and was off down the
+trail.
+
+As he had expected, the live wolves were hungrily eating the dead one
+and had not apparently even noticed his departure.
+
+The boys and girls in the hut sat breathlessly waiting, while Reddy
+watched the famished animals gorge themselves with the blood and fresh
+meat of their comrade.
+
+Reddy had rolled up a fox skin into a small bundle, and was prepared to
+pitch it out to them the moment they had finished.
+
+Just as they had lapped the last drop of blood, he cast out the skin.
+They sniffed at it a moment, gave a long, disapproving howl, that sent
+the cold chills down the spines of the prisoners, and then made off down
+the trail after Tom Gray.
+
+Reddy gave a loud exclamation and jumped down from the bench.
+
+"_They have followed Tom!_" he cried, in a high state of excitement.
+
+There was a long pause.
+
+"We'll have to go, then," said David finally. "Girls, you are safe as
+long as you stay inside the hut, and some of us at least will be able to
+bring help before long."
+
+With that, all three of the boys, for Hippy was no coward, in spite of
+his size and appetite, rushed out of the hut and disappeared in the
+wood.
+
+The afternoon shadows were beginning to lengthen when Grace fastened the
+latch and returned to the fire where her three friends sat silent,
+afraid to speak for fear of giving way to tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE GRAY BROTHERS
+
+
+The four girls never knew how long they waited that afternoon in the
+hunter's cabin. It might have been only minutes, but the minutes seemed
+to drag themselves into hours. The uncertain fate of the boys, the
+tragedy that surely awaited perhaps all of them made the situation
+almost unbearable.
+
+Grace piled the fireplace high with the remaining wood, but the blaze
+could not keep away the chill that crept over them as the sun sank
+behind the trees. They shivered and drew nearer together for comfort.
+
+Should they ever see their four brave friends again?
+
+And David?
+
+Anne could endure it no longer. She rose and began to move about the
+hut. There lay her coat and hat. Almost without knowing what she did she
+put them on, pulled on her mittens and tied a broad, knitted muffler
+around her ears.
+
+"Girls," she said suddenly. She had gone about her preparations so
+quietly the other three had not even turned to see what she was doing.
+"I'm going. I don't want any of you to go with me, but I would rather
+die than stay here all night without knowing what has happened to David
+and the others."
+
+"Wait a moment," cried Grace, "and I'll go, too. It would be unbearable
+not to know--and if we meet the wolves, why, then, as Tom said, we can
+climb a tree. Poor Tom!" she added sadly. "I wonder where he is now."
+
+Nora and Jessica rose hastily.
+
+"Do you think I'd stay?" cried Nora. "Not in a thousand years!"
+
+"Anything is better than this," exclaimed Jessica, as she drew on her
+wraps and prepared to follow her friends into the woods.
+
+Grace opened the door, peering out into the gathering darkness.
+
+"There is not a living thing in sight," she said. "We'd better hurry,
+girls; it will soon be dark." Then the four young girls started down the
+trail and were soon out of sight.
+
+When Tom Gray left old Jean's hut, with nothing between him and the
+ravenous wolves, except the angle of a wall, he took a long, gliding
+step, his body swinging gracefully with the motion, and was off like the
+wind, under a broad avenue of trees. But he had not gone far before one
+of the straps loosened and his foot slipped. He fell headlong, but was
+up instantly.
+
+It took a few moments to tighten the strap, and it must have been then
+that the wolves caught the scent, and after hurriedly finishing the meal
+in hand, galloped off for another without taking the slightest notice of
+the fox skin that Reddy had tossed to them. Tom made a fresh start,
+feeling more confident on his feet than he had at first, and he was well
+under way when he heard the howl of the wolves behind him. Gathering all
+his energies together he managed to keep ahead of them until the woods
+became less dense, and he saw through the interlacing branches the open
+meadows and fields.
+
+"They are too hungry to leave off now," he said to himself as he
+hurriedly searched the valley below for the nearest farmhouse. In front
+of him was a very high, steep hill, that same hill, in fact, where
+Nora's coasting party had taken place. Glancing behind him, he caught a
+glimpse of the gray brothers trotting through the forest.
+
+"I'll take the hill," he thought. "It's quickest and there must be some
+kind of a refuge below." With long, swift glides he reached the knob
+which had hidden Miriam's sled from view as she bore down on Anne the
+night of the coasting party.
+
+The wolves were right behind him now, and unless something turned up he
+hardly dared think what would happen.
+
+But Tom Gray had always possessed an indomitable belief that things
+would turn out all right. It seemed absurd to him that he was to be food
+for wolves when he had still a long and delightful life before him.
+Certainly he would not give up without a struggle.
+
+Perhaps it was this fine confidence that his destiny was not yet
+completed that gave him the strength which now promised to save him. As
+he fled down the hill he saw below an old oak tree whose first branches
+had been lopped off. Exerting every atom of strength in him, just as he
+reached the bottom Tom gave a leap. He caught the lowest limb with one
+hand, pulled himself up and calmly took his seat in the crotch of the
+tree.
+
+He was just in time. The wolves were at his heels, snarling and snapping
+like angry dogs. The boy regarded them from his safe perch and burst out
+laughing.
+
+[Illustration: Tom Gray Escapes from the Wolves.]
+
+"So I fooled you, did I, you gray rascals?" he said aloud. "You think
+you'll keep me here all night, do you, old hounds? Well, we'll see who
+wins out in the long run."
+
+Meanwhile, the wolves ran about howling disconsolately while Tom sat in
+the branches of the tree, rubbing his hands and arms to keep warm. He
+had removed the snowshoes and was just contemplating climbing to the top
+of the tree to keep his blood circulating, when three figures appeared
+on the brow of the hill.
+
+"As I live, it's the boys," he said to himself. "Go back!" he yelled,
+waving a red silk muffler. "Climb a tree quickly!"
+
+They had seen and heard him, and making for the nearest tree, each
+shinned up as fast as he could.
+
+"Here's a howdy-do," said Tom to himself. "Four boys treed by wolves and
+night coming on."
+
+Yet he swung his legs and whistled thoughtfully, while the others
+shouted to him, but he could not hear what they said, for the wind was
+blowing away from him. In the meantime the wolves did not all desert him
+and he could only wait patiently, with the others, for something to turn
+up.
+
+What did turn up was a good deal of a shock to all of them.
+
+Grace, Jessica, Nora and Anne suddenly emerged from the forest, standing
+out in bold relief on the brow of the hill.
+
+The three boys at the top of the hill all jumped to the ground at once.
+
+"Run for the trees," cried David, for the wolves had caught the new
+scent and had started toward them on a dead run.
+
+"Crack, crack," went a rifle. Instantly the first wolf staggered and
+fell backward.
+
+How was it that the boys had not noticed before that the girls were not
+alone?
+
+Another shot and a second wolf ran almost into their midst, gave a leap
+and fell dead. One more dropped; and the sole surviving wolf beat a
+frenzied retreat.
+
+"We found old Jean!" cried Grace. "Wasn't it the most fortunate thing in
+the world? And now nobody is killed and we are all safe and I'm so
+happy!" She gave the old hunter's arm a squeeze.
+
+Old Jean, enveloped in skins from top to toe, smiled good-naturedly.
+
+"It was the Bon Dieu, mademoiselle, who have preserve you. Do not t'ank
+ole Jean. It was the Bon Dieu who put it in ole Jean's haid to set
+rabbit trap to-night."
+
+He would accept neither money nor thanks for shooting the wolves.
+
+"I will skin them. It is sufficient."
+
+It was not long before eight very tired and very happy young people were
+seated around Mrs. Gray's dinner table. Grace was a little choky and
+homesick for her mother, now that all the danger was over, but the week
+of the house party was almost up, so she concealed her impatience to be
+home again.
+
+The softly shaded candles shed a warm glow over their faces, and the
+logs crackled on the brass andirons. They looked into each others' eyes
+and smiled sleepily.
+
+Had it all been a dream, their winter picnic, or was old Jean at that
+very moment really nailing wolf skins to his wall?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE LOST LETTER
+
+
+Spring was well advanced, full of soft airs and the sweet scents of
+orchards in full bloom.
+
+Through the open windows of the schoolroom Grace could hear the pleasant
+sounds of the out of doors. The tinkle of a cow bell in a distant meadow
+and the songs of the birds brought to her the nearness of the glorious
+summer time.
+
+She chewed the end of her pencil impatiently, endeavoring to withdraw
+her attention from the things she liked so much better than Latin
+grammar and algebra. Examinations were coming, those bugbears of the
+young freshman, and then vacation. A vision of picnics crossed her mind,
+of long days spent out of doors, with luncheon under the trees and
+tramps through the woods. Yet, before all these joys, must come the
+inevitable final test, the race for the freshman prize. Although, after
+all, only two would really enter the race, Miriam and Anne. Nobody else
+would think of competing with these two brilliant students.
+
+How tired Anne looked! She had done nothing but study of late. No party
+had been alluring enough to beguile her from her books. She had even
+discontinued her work with Mrs. Gray, and early and late toiled at her
+studies.
+
+"She will tire herself out," Grace thought, and made a resolution to
+take Anne with her on a visit to her grandmother's in the country just
+as soon as the High School doors were closed for the summer.
+
+Miriam was not studying so hard. But then she never did anything hard.
+She simply seemed to absorb, without taking the trouble to plod. She had
+been very defiant of late, Grace thought, and more insolent than ever
+before. She and Miss Leece were "thicker" than was good for Miriam,
+considering that teacher's peculiar disposition to flatter and spoil
+her. However, that was none of Grace's business, and certainly Miss
+Leece had been careful since the sound rating Miss Thompson had given
+her.
+
+Just then the gong broke in upon Grace's reflections. With a sigh of
+relief she closed her book and strolled with her friends down to their
+usual meeting place in the locker room.
+
+There was but one topic of conversation now, the freshman prize.
+
+"Anne," predicted Nora, "you just can't help winning it! I don't believe
+it's in you to make a mistake. Miss Leece always gives you the hardest
+problems, too, but she can't stump little Anne."
+
+Anne smiled wearily. It was well examinations were to begin in two days.
+In her secret soul she felt she could not hold out much longer.
+Moreover, Anne was worried about family affairs. She had received a
+letter, that morning, which had troubled her so much that she had been
+on the point, a dozen times, of bursting into tears. However, if she won
+the prize--not the small one, but the _big_ one--the difficulty would be
+surmounted.
+
+Another worry had crept into her mind. She had lost the letter. A
+little, wayward breeze had seized it suddenly from her limp fingers and
+blown it away. She knew the letter was lurking somewhere in a corner of
+the schoolroom, and she had hoped to find it when the class was
+dismissed. But the missing paper was nowhere in sight when she had
+searched for it during recess. Perhaps it had blown out the window, in
+which case it would be brushed up by the janitress and never thought of
+again. Not for worlds would Anne have had anyone read that letter.
+
+It was during the afternoon session, in the middle of one of the
+schoolroom recitations, that she caught sight of her letter again. But
+after the class was dismissed and she had made haste to the corner of
+the room, where she thought she had seen it under a desk, it was not
+there. Disappointed and uneasy Anne put on her hat and started home.
+
+All afternoon she worried about it. Perhaps it was because she was so
+tired that she was especially sensitive about the letter being found by
+some one else. If that some one else should read the contents, she felt
+it would mean nothing lees than disgrace.
+
+"You look exhausted, child," said Anne's sister Mary, who was weary
+herself, having worked hard all day on a pile of spring sewing Mrs. Gray
+had ordered. "Why don't you take a walk and not try to do any studying
+this afternoon?"
+
+"I think I will, sister," replied Anne; and, pinning on her hat, she
+left her small cottage and started toward High School Street.
+
+Turning mechanically into the broad avenue shaded by elm trees, she
+strolled along, half-dreaming and half-waking. She was so weary she felt
+she might lie down and sleep for twenty years, and like Rip Van Winkle
+awaken old and gray. It was foolish of her to be so uneasy about that
+letter.
+
+Was it a premonition that compelled her to return to the schoolroom and
+search again for it? Perhaps the old janitress might have found it. The
+young girl quickened her pace. She must hurry if she wanted to catch the
+old woman before the latter closed up for the night.
+
+Anne had not thought of looking behind. Her mind, so trained to
+concentration, was now bent only upon one object. But would it have
+swerved her from her present purpose, even if she had noticed Miss Leece
+following her?
+
+The High School was still open, although Anne could not find the
+janitress. Perhaps the old woman was asleep somewhere. On several
+occasions she had been found sleeping soundly when she should have been
+brushing out schoolrooms and mopping floors. Anne was determined,
+however, to give one good, thorough search for her letter and she
+accordingly mounted to the floor where the freshmen class room was
+situated and entered the large, empty recitation room.
+
+She looked long and carefully under the desks and benches, even going
+through the scrap baskets, but there was no sign of the letter. Then she
+went into some of the other class rooms, but her search was unrewarded.
+
+"What's the use?" she asked herself at last. "It's sure to have been
+destroyed. I think I'll just have to give it up, and try to rest a
+little before to-morrow, or I'll never be fit to try for that prize."
+
+As she started down the broad staircase she heard the rasping voice of
+Miss Leece mingling with the principal's cool, well-modulated tones.
+Anne paused a moment, watching the two figures below. Miss Leece looked
+up and caught her eye, but Miss Thompson was engaged in unlocking the
+door, and did not see the little figure lingering on the steps.
+
+Just as the door opened, another door slammed violently, and the next
+moment Anne heard footsteps running along a small passage that crossed
+the corridor. Leaning far over the rail she caught a glimpse of a
+figure. It was--no, Anne could not be certain of the identity. But it
+looked like--well, never mind whom. Anne meant to keep the secret, for
+it was evident that the person had been bent on mischief, else why slam
+a door and run at the approach of Miss Thompson! And now Anne heard the
+door open again and Miss Thompson's voice calling: "Who is there?" But
+there was no answer. Deep down in Anne's heart there crept a vague
+suspicion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+DANGER AHEAD
+
+
+     MY DEAR GRACE:
+
+     Will you come and see me at my office after school to-day? I have
+     something very important to discuss.
+
+     Sincerely yours,
+
+     EMMA THOMPSON.
+
+Grace read the letter over twice. What in the world could Miss Thompson
+want to discuss with her? Perhaps she had not been doing well enough in
+her classes. But Grace rejected the idea. She always kept up to the
+average, and it was only those who fell below who ever received warnings
+from the principal.
+
+Perhaps it was--well, never mind, she would wait and see. As soon as
+school was over she hurried to the principal's office and tapped on the
+door.
+
+"Well, Grace, my dear," said Miss Thompson, as the young girl entered,
+"did my note frighten you?"
+
+"No, indeed," replied Grace; "I had a clear conscience and I don't
+expect to fail in exams to-morrow, although I am not so studious as Anne
+Pierson or Miriam."
+
+"Of course you don't expect to fail, my dear," said the principal,
+kindly, for, of all the girls in the school, Grace was her favorite. "I
+didn't bring you here to scold you. But I have something very serious to
+talk about. While I have threshed out the matter with myself, I believe
+I might do better by talking things over with one of my safest and
+sanest freshman."
+
+"Why, what has happened, Miss Thompson?" asked Grace curiously.
+
+"First, let me ask you a few questions," answered the principal. "Tell
+me something about the competition for the freshman prize. Which girl do
+you think has the best chance of winning it?"
+
+"I know whom I want to win," replied Grace innocently. "Anne, of course,
+and I believe she will, too. While Miriam is more showy in her
+recitations, Anne is much more thorough, and she studies a great deal
+harder. The fact is, I am afraid she is making herself ill with
+studying. But she is determined to win not the little prize, but the big
+one, which is more than even Anne can do, I believe. Whoever heard of
+having every examination paper perfect?"
+
+"It has not been done so far," admitted Miss Thompson, "but why is Anne
+so bent on winning the prize? Is it all for glory, do you think?"
+
+"Anne is very poor, you know, Miss Thompson," said Grace simply.
+
+"So she is," replied the principal, "and the child needs the money."
+Miss Thompson paused a moment, looking thoughtfully out over the smooth
+green lawn. "Grace," she resumed, finally, "I have something very
+serious to tell you. Two days ago I made a discovery that may change the
+fate of the freshman prize this year considerably. You know I keep the
+examination questions here in my desk. That is, the originals. A copy is
+now at the printers. So, you see, I have only one set of originals. I
+had occasion to come back to my office quite late the day of the
+discovery, and, as I let myself in at that door," she pointed to the
+door leading into the corridor, "what I thought was a gust of wind
+slammed the door leading into the next room which I usually keep shut
+and bolted on this side. My desk was open and the freshman examination
+papers undoubtedly had been tampered with. I could tell because they are
+usually the last in the pile and they were all on top and quite
+disarranged. Whoever had been here, had heard my key in the lock, and
+without waiting to close the desk had fled by the other door. I feel
+deeply grieved over this matter. I should never think of suspecting any
+of my fine girls of such trickery; and, yet, who else could it have been
+except one of the freshmen?"
+
+"Oh, Miss Thompson, this is dreadful," exclaimed Grace, distressed and
+shocked over the story. "I don't believe there's a girl in the class who
+would have done it. There must be some mistake."
+
+"That is why I sent for you, Grace," said the principal. "I want your
+advice. Now Anne----"
+
+"_Anne?_" interrupted Grace horrified. "You don't suppose, for a minute,
+Anne would be dishonest? Never! I won't stay and listen any longer," and
+she rushed to the door.
+
+Miss Thompson followed, placing a detaining hand on her arm.
+
+"You are right, Grace, to be loyal to your friend," said the principal,
+always just and kind under the most trying circumstances; "but Anne, I
+must tell you, is under suspicion."
+
+"Why?" demanded Grace, almost sobbing in her anger and unhappiness.
+
+"The afternoon of the discovery Anne was here long after school hours.
+She was seen by two people wandering about the building."
+
+"Who were the people?" demanded Grace incredulously.
+
+"The janitress, who saw her from the window of another room, and--Miss
+Leece."
+
+"I thought so," exclaimed Grace, with a note of triumph in her voice.
+"It is Miss Leece, is it, who is trumping up all this business? I tell
+you, I don't believe a word of it, Miss Thompson. Anne would no more do
+such a thing than I would, and I am going to fight to save her if it
+takes my last breath. Do you know how hard she has worked to win this
+prize? Simply all the time. I believe, if she knew what you suspected,
+it would kill her. I believe it's some tale Miss Leece has made up. And
+besides, why shouldn't she have come back to the building? Perhaps she
+forgot a book or something. I'd just like to know what Miss Leece was
+doing here at that time of day."
+
+"She came here to meet me on business," answered Miss Thompson. "That is
+why she knows something of the unfortunate affair. She was with me when
+I found my desk had been broken open and the papers disturbed. She also
+heard the other door slam and it was then she told me of having seen
+Anne wandering about the building for which, as you say, there might
+have been a dozen reasons; I believe, as firmly as you do, that the
+child is incapable of cheating, and I intend to leave no stone unturned
+to get at the truth. But there is still another fact against Anne that
+is very black." The speaker took from a drawer a slip of folded paper.
+"This was found in the building," she continued, "and since it was an
+open letter, without address and under the circumstances, so important,
+it was read and the contents reported to me. I have since read it myself
+and I now ask you to read it."
+
+     DEAR ANNE:
+
+     I must have one hundred dollars at once, or go somewhere for a long
+     time. I foolishly signed a friend's name to a slip of paper. I
+     didn't know he would be so hard, but he threatens to prosecute
+     unless I pay up before the end of next week. I know you have rich
+     friends. I have been hearing of your successes. Perhaps the old
+     lady, Mrs. G., will oblige you. I trust to your good sense to see
+     that the hundred must be forthcoming, or it will mean disgrace for
+     us all.
+
+     Your father,
+
+     J. P.
+
+Grace limply held the letter in one hand.
+
+"Oh, poor, poor Anne!" she groaned, wiping away the tears that had
+welled up into her eyes and were running down her cheeks.
+
+"I feel just as you do, my child," went on Miss Thompson. "I am deeply,
+bitterly sorry for this unfortunate child. But you will agree with me
+that she has had a very strong motive for winning the prize."
+
+Grace nodded mutely.
+
+"By the way," she asked presently, when she had calmed herself, "who was
+it that found the letter?"
+
+"Miss Leece again," replied Miss Thompson, hesitatingly.
+
+"There, you see," exclaimed Grace excitedly, "that woman is determined
+to ruin Anne before the close of school. I tell you, I won't believe
+Anne is guilty. It has taken just this much to make me certain that she
+is entirely innocent. Is there no clue whatever to the person who copied
+the papers?"
+
+"Yes," answered Miss Thompson, "there is. This had been shoved back in
+the desk under the papers. It does not belong to me, and it could not
+have gotten into my desk by any other means. I suppose, in her hurry to
+copy the freshmen sheets, whoever she was, laid it down and forgot it."
+
+Miss Thompson produced a crumpled pocket handkerchief. Grace took it and
+held it to the light. There were no marks or initials upon it whatever;
+it was simply a cambric handkerchief with a narrow hemstitched border, a
+handkerchief such as anyone might use. It was neither large nor small,
+neither of thin nor thick material.
+
+"There's nothing on it," said Grace. "I suppose the stores sell hundreds
+of these."
+
+"That's very true," answered the principal, "but I hoped you would be
+familiar enough with your friends' handkerchiefs to recognize this one."
+
+"No," replied Grace, "I haven't the least idea whose it is. Wait a
+moment," she added quickly, smelling the handkerchief; "there is a
+perfume on it of some sort. Did you notice that?"
+
+"I did," replied Miss Thompson. "It was one of the first things I did
+notice. I am very sensitive to perfumes; perhaps because I dislike them
+on clothing. But I waited for you to find it out for yourself. In fact,
+my dear, this will be the only means of trapping the person. Now, what
+perfume is it, and who in the class uses it? I am not familiar with
+perfumes, but I thought perhaps you were. And now, I will tell you that
+this is the reason I sent for you. The reason I showed you this letter,
+which has only been seen by one other person besides myself--Miss Leece,
+of course. I do not wish to tell anyone else about this matter. I do not
+care to put the subject before the School Board for discussion. I do not
+believe, any more than you, that Anne is guilty and I have taken you
+into my confidence because I believe you are the one person in the world
+who can help me in this predicament. Miss Leece, of course, intends to
+do everything in her power to bring the child 'to justice.' But, until I
+give her permission, she will hardly dare to speak of it. So far, we
+three are the only people who know what has happened. In the meantime, I
+shall turn over this handkerchief to you. Keep it carefully and be very
+guarded about what you do and say. You are a young girl," she continued,
+taking Grace's hand and gazing full into her honest eyes, "but I have a
+great respect for your judgment and discretion, and that is the reason I
+am asking for your help in this very delicate matter. You may rest
+assured that I shall do nothing whatever; at least, not until after
+examinations. I have an idea that we may get a clue through them. We
+must save Anne, whose life would be utterly ruined by such a false
+accusation as this. And I feel convinced that it is false."
+
+"Well, I can tell you one thing, Miss Thompson," returned Grace as she
+opened the door, "and that is Anne Pierson never used any perfume in her
+life. She hasn't any to use."
+
+Miss Thompson nodded and smiled.
+
+"I was sure of that," she called.
+
+Grace had little time to lose. The examinations, which took place the
+next day and the day after, would undoubtedly bring matters to a crisis.
+
+She took the handkerchief from her pocket and sniffed at it. Neither was
+she familiar with perfumes, and this odor was new to her. Suddenly an
+idea occurred to her and she made straight for the nearest drugstore.
+
+"Mr. Gleason," she demanded of the clerk in charge, "could you tell me
+what perfume this is?"
+
+The druggist sniffed thoughtfully at the handkerchief for some seconds.
+
+"It's sandalwood," he said at last. "We received some in stock a week
+ago."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT
+
+
+How examinations loom up on the fatal day, like monstrous obstacles that
+must be overcome! How the hours slip past, with nothing to break the
+stillness save the scratching of pens on foolscap paper, while each
+student draws upon the supply of knowledge stored up during the winter
+months!
+
+A fly buzzes on the window pane; a teacher rises, tiptoes slowly about
+the room and sits down again. She can do nothing, now, but keep watch on
+the pairs of drooping shoulders and the tired, flushed faces.
+
+Anne was so absorbed in her work that she was oblivious to everything
+about her. Her pen moved with precision over her paper and her copy was
+neat and clear.
+
+It was the second day of the examinations and she felt that her fate
+would soon be decided; but she was too tired now to worry. She worked on
+quietly and steadily. She had almost finished, and, as she answered one
+question after another, she was more and more buoyed up by the
+conviction that she would win the prize.
+
+Miriam had finished her work. Her impatient nature would not permit her
+to do anything slowly. As she gave a last flourishing stroke with her
+pen, she leaned back, looking about her. She smiled contemptuously as
+her eyes rested on Anne.
+
+"What a shabby, slow little creature she is!" Miriam murmured. "It would
+be a disgrace for a girl like me to be beaten by her. I'll never endure
+it in the world."
+
+It was not long before the girls had all finished and turned in their
+papers to the teacher in charge.
+
+"Oh, glorious happy day!" cried Nora, as she sped joyously down the
+corridor. "Examinations are over, and now for a good time!"
+
+A dozen or more of the freshman class had been invited to Miriam's to a
+tea to celebrate the close of school. Anne, of course, was not invited;
+but Grace and her friends had received invitations and promptly accepted
+them.
+
+Grace had taken Nora and Jessica into her confidence to some extent. She
+needed their help, but she had not mentioned the letter from Anne's
+father. The three girls met early by appointment, at the Harlowe house,
+to discuss matters before going to Miriam Nesbit's.
+
+"Here's a list of the people in Oakdale," said Nora, "who have bought
+sandalwood perfume. I have been to four drug stores and all the dry
+goods stores."
+
+Grace took the list and read:
+
+"'Mrs. I. Rosenfield, Miss Alice Gwendolyn Jones, Mr. Percival Butz,
+etc.' Good heavens!" she cried, "there's not a single person on this
+list who has anything to do with Oakdale High School. Mr. Percival
+Butz," she laughed. "The idea of a man buying perfume. Really, girls,"
+she added in despair, "we've been wasting our time. I can't see that any
+of us has made the least headway. I have called on almost every freshman
+in the class and inquired what her favorite perfume is, and I know some
+of them thought I was silly. Anyway, not one of them claimed to use
+sandalwood."
+
+"The stupidest girls would be the ones who would be most likely to want
+to copy the papers," observed Jessica, "but those girls are much too
+nice to believe such horrid things about. I went to see Ellen Wiggins
+and Sallie Moore yesterday afternoon. Neither of them use perfume.
+Sallie Moore told me she had an orris root sachet that had almost lost
+its scent. Which reminds me," she continued, "why couldn't this
+handkerchief have been scented by some other means than just perfume.
+Perhaps it was put into a mouchoir case with sandalwood powder."
+
+"Why, of course," exclaimed Grace. "Jessica, I never thought of asking
+who had been buying sachet powders. You have a great head."
+
+"Must I go back and ask all those storekeepers for more lists?" demanded
+Nora.
+
+"No, child," replied Grace. "Just give us time to think first."
+
+"It's time to go to Miriam's anyhow," observed Jessica. "Perhaps some
+sort of inspiration will come on the way," and the three girls set out
+for the tea party.
+
+As they paused to admire the beautiful flower beds on the Nesbit lawn
+Jessica said:
+
+"Have you inquired Miriam's favorite perfume?"
+
+"Oh, yes," answered Grace. "She said she liked them all and had no
+favorites."
+
+"Why are all these strange young women breaking into my premises?"
+demanded a voice behind them.
+
+"David Nesbit," cried Grace, "where have you been all this time? You
+never seem to find the time to come near your old friends any more."
+
+"I have been busy, girls," replied David. "Never busier in my life. But
+I believe I've struck it at last. It will not be long, now, before I
+turn into a bird."
+
+"Oh, _do_ show it to us!" cried Grace. "Where is the model?"
+
+"In my workroom," he replied. "If you are very good, and will promise to
+say nothing to the others, I'll give you a peep this afternoon. When I
+signal to you from the music room, by sounding three bass notes on the
+piano, start upstairs and I'll meet you on the landing. You may ask why
+this mystery? But I know girls, and if all those chattering freshmen are
+allowed to come into my room they are sure to knock over some of the
+models, or break something, and I couldn't stand it."
+
+The three girls entered the large and imposing drawing room where
+Miriam, in a beautiful pink mulle, trimmed with filmy lace insertions,
+received them with unusual cordiality; and presently they all repaired
+to the dining room where ice cream and strawberries were served with
+little cakes with pink icing. It was, as a matter of fact, a pink tea,
+and Miriam's cheeks were as pink as her decorations. She looked
+particularly excited and happy. Each of the three chums had just
+swallowed her last and largest strawberry, saved as a final relish, when
+three low notes sounded softly on the piano in the adjoining room.
+
+In the hum of conversation nobody had noticed David's signal except
+Grace and her friends, who strolled into the music room where he was
+waiting.
+
+"Come along," he said, leading the way up the back stairs, "and please
+consider this as a special mark of attention from the great inventor who
+has never yet made anything go. Where's Anne?"
+
+"I suppose she is resting," answered Grace. "She had just about reached
+the end of her strength to-day."
+
+"But she'll win the prize, I hope," continued David.
+
+"We are all sure of it," answered Grace, in emphatic tones.
+
+David opened the door into his own private quarters, which consisted of
+a large workroom with a laboratory attached, where he had once worked on
+chemical experiments until he had become interested in flying machines.
+
+"Here they are," he exclaimed, walking over to a large table in the
+workroom. "I have three models, you see, and each one works a little
+better than the other. This last one, I believe, will do the business."
+He pointed to a graceful little aeroplane made of bamboo sticks and rice
+paper.
+
+"Isn't it sweet?" exclaimed the girls in unison.
+
+"And it has a name, too," continued David unabashed. "I've called her
+'Anne,' because, while she's such a small, unpretentious-looking little
+craft, she can soar to such heights. There is not room here to show you
+how good she is, but we'll have another gymnasium seance some day soon,
+Anne must come and see her namesake."
+
+"There!" cried Grace in a tone of annoyance. "I have jagged a big place
+in my dress, David Nesbit, on a nail in your table. Why do you have such
+things about to destroy people's clothes?"
+
+"But nobody who wears dresses ever comes in here," protested David,
+"except mother and the maid, and they know better than to come near this
+table. Can't I do something? Glue it together or mend it with a piece of
+sticking plaster?"
+
+"No, indeed," answered the girl. "Just get me a needle and thread,
+please. I don't want to go downstairs with such a hideous rent in my
+dress."
+
+"Why, of course," assented David. "Why didn't I think of it sooner?
+Mother will fix you up," and he opened the door into the hall and called
+"mother!"
+
+Mrs. Nesbit came hurrying in. She never waited to be called twice by her
+son, who was the apple of her eye.
+
+"My dear Grace," she exclaimed when she saw the tear, "this is too bad.
+Come right into my room and I'll mend it for you."
+
+So it happened that Grace was presently seated in an armchair in Mrs.
+Nesbit's bedroom, while the good-natured woman whipped together the
+jagged edges of the rent.
+
+"What a beautiful box you have, Mrs. Nesbit," said Grace, pointing to a
+large carved box on the dressing table.
+
+"Do you like it?" replied the other. "I'm fond of it, probably because I
+was so happy when I bought it years ago while traveling abroad with my
+husband. It smells as sweet as it did when it was new," she added,
+placing the box in Grace's lap.
+
+Nora and Jessica, who had been hovering about the room, now came over to
+see the sweet-scented box. How strangely familiar was that pungent
+perfume which floated up to them. Where had they smelled it before?
+
+"It is made of carved sandalwood," continued Mrs. Nesbit, opening the
+lid, "and I have always kept my handkerchiefs in it, you see----"
+
+"Mother!" called David's voice from the hall, and Mrs. Nesbit left the
+room for a moment.
+
+"Sandalwood!" gasped Grace.
+
+Yes, it was the same perfume that now faintly scented the famous
+handkerchief.
+
+There was a pile of handkerchiefs in the box. Grace lifted the top one
+and sniffed at it. She examined the border carefully and the texture.
+
+"It looks like stealing," she whispered, "but I must have this
+handkerchief. I'll return it afterwards," and she slipped the
+handkerchief into her belt.
+
+Nora and Jessica had exchanged significant glances, while Nora's lips
+had formed the words, "exactly like the other one."
+
+In the meantime Miss Thompson had been closeted with Anne Pierson for
+half an hour in the principal's office. By special request she had
+arranged to have Anne's examination papers looked over immediately and
+sent to her. The papers were therefore the first to receive attention
+from each teacher, and were then turned over to Miss Thompson, who
+hurried with them into her office and locked the door behind her.
+
+"It would be a pity if they were too perfect," she said to herself.
+"That would tell very much against Anne, I fear."
+
+But, as her eyes ran over them, she shook her head dubiously. They were
+marvels of neatness and not one cross or written comment marred their
+perfection. At the foot of each sheet the word "perfect" had been
+written. Some of the teachers had even added notes stating that no
+errors of any sort had been found, while one professor had paid Anne the
+very high compliment of stating that the perfection of her examination
+papers had not been a surprise. Never in that teacher's experience had
+he taught a more brilliant pupil. Miss Thompson looked with interest at
+the algebra papers. If this had not come up, she thought, Miss Leece
+would certainly have managed to find a flaw somewhere, even if she had
+had to invent one. But under the circumstances, it was more to that wily
+woman's purpose to give Anne her due. For Miss Leece knew that a perfect
+examination paper would tell more against the young girl than for her.
+
+It was after this that Miss Thompson had her talk with Anne, a very
+kindly, interested talk, in which the young girl's prospects, her work
+and health had all come under consideration. And then in the gentlest
+possible way Miss Thompson had produced the letter.
+
+"Is this yours, Anne?" she asked.
+
+Anne started violently.
+
+"O Miss Thompson," she cried, making a great effort to keep back her
+tears, "where did you find it? I spent one entire afternoon here looking
+for it. It was the very day you and Miss Leece were here."
+
+"Oh, you saw us then," replied the principal. "And where were you?"
+
+"I was outside on the steps," replied Anne. "Didn't Miss Leece mention
+it? She looked up and saw me just as you unlocked the door. Then the
+other door slammed and some one hurried down the passage. I saw her,
+too, but----"
+
+"But what, Anne?" asked the principal slowly.
+
+"But I am not sure who it was."
+
+"Have you an idea?"
+
+"I could only guess from the outline of her figure," replied Anne. "And
+it wouldn't be fair to tell her name unless I had seen her plainly. It
+might have been some one else."
+
+Anne had a suspicion that something had happened, and that Miss Thompson
+had brought her here to find out what she knew. But she never dreamed
+that she herself was under suspicion.
+
+One thing had struck Miss Thompson very forcibly. Miss Leece had known
+all along that Anne was on the staircase at the very moment the other
+person was slamming the door in their faces. And yet Miss Leece was
+determined to condemn Anne to the faculty that very night. She had said
+so in as many words, in defiance of the principal's arguments against
+such a course.
+
+"Well, good night, my child," she said at last, giving Anne a motherly
+kiss. "You have done a good winter's work and I am proud of you."
+
+Anne hurried away, clutching the letter in her hand. She wondered if
+Miss Thompson had read it, and somehow she didn't mind so much after
+all. The principal seemed to her the very embodiment of all that was
+good and kind.
+
+Miss Thompson was destined to have several callers that afternoon. In a
+few moments Grace hurried in, breathless and excited.
+
+"Look at that, Miss Thompson," cried the girl, thrusting a handkerchief
+into her hand. "Look at it and smell it."
+
+"Well," replied the principal, "I've seen it before and smelled it
+before, too. Only you've had it washed and ironed, haven't you!"
+
+Grace took a crumpled handkerchief from her pocket.
+
+"Here's the real one," she cried triumphantly.
+
+The two handkerchiefs were certainly identical in shape and material and
+both were perfumed with sandalwood.
+
+"Where did you get this one?" demanded the principal.
+
+"From Mrs. Nesbit's sandalwood handkerchief box," whispered Grace
+slowly.
+
+"You think it was then----?"
+
+"Yes," replied Grace. "I'm certain of it. It's as plain as daylight. She
+borrowed her mother's handkerchief."
+
+"Dear, dear!" exclaimed the principal. "How very foolish! How very
+unnecessary! And all because she couldn't endure to be beaten! Do you
+know," she continued presently, "that Miss Leece intends to denounce
+Anne before the faculty to-night? My authority can't stop her, and I
+don't believe the similarity of these two handkerchiefs will either."
+
+"Miss Thompson," exclaimed Grace, "I tell you I know perfectly well that
+woman is going to try to ruin Anne for the sake of Miriam. I have known
+it for months. Why, at Mrs. Gray's Christmas party she did a thing that
+is too outrageous to believe," and here Grace opened a bundle she had
+brought with her and produced the marionette of James Pierson.
+
+Miss Thompson was shocked at the recital of the story. She, too,
+recognized the green silk tie, although she had no recollection of
+Miriam's red velveteen suit, a piece of which formed the waistcoat. But
+there was something about that green silk which stuck in the memory.
+Probably because it was so ugly, having a semi-invisible yellow line
+running through it.
+
+"Yes," she said, "I remember it very well. It was the trimming on a
+blouse Miss Leece wore last autumn. I do not believe anyone could forget
+such a hideous piece of material."
+
+Miss Thompson paused a moment and considered.
+
+"My dear," she continued presently, "I believe this is all I shall need
+to confront Miss Leece with. Your bringing it to me at this moment shows
+most excellent judgment. It may prevent a painful scandal in the school,
+as well as saving Anne from disgrace. As for the two handkerchiefs, the
+evidence is too slight to make any open accusations; but at any rate you
+may leave both with me. I may need them in my interview with Miss Leece.
+I may as well tell you I am anticipating a pretty stiff battle with her.
+I don't believe I should have won with only the handkerchiefs."
+
+"Oh, I hope we can save Anne, Miss Thompson," cried Grace.
+
+"I earnestly hope so, too," replied the principal. "It would be too
+heart breaking to have the child go down under this false accusation;
+and aside from that, such scandals are bad for the school and I would
+rather deal with them privately than have them made public. But run
+along now, dear. You have done nobly and deserve a prize yourself."
+
+A knock was heard, and as Grace departed through one door Miss Leece
+opened the other.
+
+"If Miss Thompson only wins this battle!" the young girl exclaimed to
+herself. "I want to believe she will, but I know that terrible Miss
+Leece will make a tremendous fight."
+
+She joined her friends, who were waiting for her outside.
+
+"Girls," she cried, "pray for Anne to-night!"
+
+Nora, good little Catholic that she was, went straight to her church and
+burned two candles before the altar of the Holy Virgin, while she
+offered up a humble petition for Anne's deliverance; while Grace and
+Jessica, in their own bedrooms, that night prayed reverently and
+earnestly that Anne might be saved from her enemies. Thus were Anne's
+three devoted friends working and praying for her while she slept the
+sleep of exhaustion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE FRESHMAN PRIZE
+
+
+Graduation night in Oakdale High School was one of the great social
+events of the year. The floor and galleries of Assembly Hall were
+invariably packed with an enthusiastic audience; for the two schools
+united at the ceremony of graduation and the senior class formed a mixed
+company on the stage.
+
+Most of the pupils attended commencement and the freshman class of the
+Girls' High School was always there in full to witness the triumph of
+one of its members, who was called forth from the audience to receive
+the usual freshman prize of twenty-five dollars.
+
+The identity of the winner was always kept a secret until the great
+night, when she was summoned from the audience to the stage and
+presented with the money before the entire assembly.
+
+The readers can imagine, therefore, the uncertainty and trepidation that
+fluttered in the hearts of our four girls as they sat together in the
+center of the great hall. Anne had passed through a dozen stages of
+emotions, both hopeful and otherwise, and had finally steeled herself to
+give up all thought of winning either of the prizes.
+
+Miriam, confident and handsome, sat near them. She wore a beautiful
+white dress trimmed with lace, and her thick, black plaits were twisted
+around her head like a coronet.
+
+"She's all dressed up to step up on the stage and get her twenty-five,"
+whispered Nora to Jessica.
+
+"Perhaps she already knows she's going to get it," answered Jessica
+doubtfully. "Perhaps Miss Leece has told her."
+
+"If Miss Leece knew it, she would certainly have told her," answered
+Grace, leaning over so that Anne could not hear her; "but I feel sure
+Miss Thompson has managed it somehow, although I kept hoping all day she
+would send me a note or something. It may be she hated to tell me the
+bad news."
+
+Hippy Wingate and Reddy Brooks came down the aisle in immaculate attire.
+David followed behind, pale and silent.
+
+Did David suspect anything about his sister? Grace wondered. Certainly
+he had directly or indirectly been the means of balking every one of
+Miriam's schemes for injuring Anne. Perhaps Miriam had told him she was
+to win the prize, and he was thinking of Anne's disappointment. All
+three boys paused when they saw their friends of the Christmas house
+party. Hippy leaned over to say:
+
+"Hello, girls! Can you guess what has brought us here to-night, all
+dressed up in our best?"
+
+"Not unless it was to show off your clothes," replied Nora.
+
+"To see Miss Anne Pierson win the freshman prize. Simply that, and
+nothing more."
+
+"But I don't expect to win it, Hippy," protested Anne.
+
+"If you don't, you aren't the girl we took you for, then," replied
+Hippy. "I heard from a young person in your class that you hadn't made a
+mistake in six months."
+
+"But just as many people think Miriam will win," said Anne. "Look at all
+the people congratulating her already."
+
+Surely enough Miriam's friends had rallied around her at the final test,
+and numbers of girls and boys and grown people, too, were already
+prophesying victory.
+
+Just then the audience composed itself, for the exercises were about to
+begin. Soft music was heard and the graduates filed out and took their
+seats.
+
+Immediately they were seated, Mrs. Gray, in a beautiful lavender silk
+gown and a white lace bonnet trimmed with violets, swept down the aisle,
+bowing and smiling right and left.
+
+"Girls!" cried Grace delightedly, looking over her shoulder, "guess who
+is with our precious little Mrs. Gray?"
+
+"Tom Gray!" cried the others in unison, just as Tom Gray himself
+appeared opposite them and waved his hat, regardless of the many eyes
+fastened upon him, for Mrs. Gray was an important personage not only at
+these annual assemblages, but in Oakdale itself, of which she had always
+been a most generous and loyal citizen.
+
+Mrs. Gray nodded cordially when she saw the girls, but shook her head
+over Anne's pale, drawn little face.
+
+As the ceremonies proceeded after the opening prayer, Anne felt herself
+drifting further and further away. She was a little boat on a troubled,
+restless sea, with the noise of the waves in her head, and only
+occasionally did she hear some one's voice reading a graduating essay or
+making a speech--she couldn't tell which. She remembered there was a
+piano solo, very loud and crashing, it seemed to her, and there was a
+tremendous humming sound. The sea was growing very rough, she thought. A
+storm was brewing somewhere. Then the wind died down again, there was a
+complete and utter silence and she seemed to be entirely alone.
+
+"I have great pleasure in announcing," she dimly heard a voice say,
+"that the annual freshman prize, so generously donated always by Mrs.
+Gray, is awarded this year to one of the most brilliant and remarkable
+pupils who has ever studied in Oakdale High School. My language, in this
+instance, may appear to be rather extravagant, but the pupil, who has
+been under the eye of the faculty for many months because of her most
+excellent standing, has achieved a unique success in the history of the
+school. I may say that she has turned in a set of examination papers
+absolutely perfect in every detail, and it is with real delight I
+announce that she has won not only the usual smaller prize of
+twenty-five dollars, but the premium always offered at the same time,
+but never before won by any pupil of this school, of one hundred
+dollars, for a flawless examination. I would, therefore, ask Miss Anne
+Pierson to come to the platform, that I may have the honor of delivering
+both prizes to her."
+
+Such a shout as arose after this remarkable speech had never before been
+heard at a high school graduation. The freshman class was fairly mad
+with joy, while Hippy and Reddy yelled themselves hoarse.
+
+"Anne!" cried Grace. "Wake up, Anne! Are you asleep, child? Go up to the
+platform. Miss Thompson is waiting for you."
+
+Tears of joy and relief were rolling down Grace's cheeks as she urged
+Anne to rise from her seat.
+
+Anne stood up, half dazed, still wondering what it was all about, and
+made her way through a sea of faces to the platform.
+
+"Hurrah!" roared the pupils of the High School in one voice.
+
+"Hi-hi-hi! Hi-hi-hi! Oakdale, Oakdale, HIGH SCHOOL!"
+
+This was an honor usually accorded only to football and baseball heroes.
+
+When Anne reached the platform she appeared so small and plain, in her
+simple white muslin frock, that people looked at her wonderingly. It was
+not everyone in Oakdale who was familiar with the little, dark-haired
+girl.
+
+"My dear," said Miss Thompson, very handsome and imposing in a gray silk
+dress, "I am happy to be the one to hand you these two prizes. You have
+worked hard and richly deserve them both. I am sure everyone in this
+house to-night is glad that your winter's unceasing labors are crowned
+with success, and I now recommend you to take a good rest, for such
+prizes are only earned by earnest and hard application, and hard work
+carries with it, sometimes, its own penalty." (She placed special
+emphasis on these last words.) "You have indeed earned the right to a
+happy vacation."
+
+Two bouquets were handed over the footlights at this point, one a
+beautiful bunch of pink roses and the other of lilies of the valley.
+
+Mrs. Gray had sent the roses Grace felt sure. It was her custom always
+to send such a bouquet to the one who carried off the prize. But who had
+sent the lilies of the valley?
+
+"Very likely David," Grace said to herself, watching the boy's face as
+Anne took the flowers from the usher.
+
+Had he known then that his sister had lost the prize, or was his faith
+in Anne so great?
+
+But something had happened.
+
+Suddenly the waves, which for the last half hour had been roaring and
+tossing about Anne, seemed to submerge her completely. She felt a horrid
+sensation of sickness for a moment; and then down, down she sank to the
+bottom of nothing, carrying her flowers and prizes with her.
+
+"She's fainted!" cried some one. "The poor, little, tired girl has
+fainted!"
+
+A tall young graduate picked up the small, limp figure and carried her
+off the stage as easily as if she had been a child. The closing
+exercises were then resumed, the benediction pronounced and the audience
+filed out somewhat silently.
+
+Grace and her friends hurried around behind the scenes, where they found
+Mrs. Gray in the act of placing a smelling-salts bottle to Anne's
+nostrils, while Tom Gray and David Nesbit were cooling her temples with
+lumps of ice. "She is conscious at last!" exclaimed the old lady, as
+Anne opened her eyes. "It was entirely too much excitement for this
+delicate, worn-out child. Tom, order the carriage. I mean to take her
+straight to my own house and nurse her myself. I am the only person in
+this town who has time to give her all the care and attention she needs.
+I feel like such a lazy, good-for-nothing old woman when I see all these
+bright young people winning prizes and doing so many clever things."
+
+"How you do go on, Mrs. Gray," said David. "You know very well you are
+the brightest, youngest and prettiest girl in Oakdale."
+
+Anne sat up at this moment, and looked into the faces of her best
+friends leaning over her anxiously.
+
+"I thought the boat capsized just as I was about to win the race," she
+said faintly.
+
+"The little boat did capsize, dear," answered Mrs. Gray gently, "but not
+until after you had won the race. And now, if you are well enough to let
+this strong nephew of mine carry you, we are going to take you right
+home. Are all my Christmas children here?" she continued, looking about
+her. Hippy and Reddy had joined the group just then. "Yes, here you are.
+Tom and I can't take you all up in the carriage, but I want you to
+follow us, if your parents and guardians have no objections. I have
+arranged a little supper to celebrate Anne's victory. I am sorry she
+can't come to her own party, but she may hear all about it afterwards
+and the rest of you shall make merry for her."
+
+Not long after, six young people strolled up Chapel Hill in the
+moonlight, talking gayly of the happy days they had spent together with
+Mrs. Gray; for Richards, the burglar, seemed now a sort of joke to them,
+and even the terrible recollection of the wolves was softened by time,
+and they could only laugh at poor Hippy's plight when his breath gave
+out and his legs refused their office.
+
+"Oh, well," exclaimed Hippy, pretending to be much offended, "it is a
+very good idea to remember only the funny things and forget the
+dangerous ones, when all's said and done. But if I'd have had a stroke
+of apoplexy just as that young lady wolf began to lick my heels, you
+wouldn't have been so merry over the recollection."
+
+"Well," retorted Nora, "we would have been just about going into half
+mourning, by now, and that's always a cheerful thought."
+
+"Grace," whispered Jessica, taking advantage of the talk of the others
+not to be overheard, "did you notice Miriam when Miss Thompson began her
+speech?"
+
+"No," answered Grace, "I was too intent upon Anne to look at Miriam.
+Why?"
+
+"Well," continued Jessica, "you remember that Miss Thompson mentioned no
+names until almost the very end of the speech!"
+
+"Yes," answered the other; "I remember it particularly, because I kept
+wishing she would hurry and get to the point."
+
+"Exactly," went on Jessica, "and Miriam thought she had won the prize."
+
+"How do you know, Jessica! How could you tell?"
+
+"Oh, in a hundred different ways. I could tell by the smile on her face
+that she took every compliment to herself. Lots of people were watching
+her, too, and I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for her, because
+she is one of those people who just can't stand losing. When Miss
+Thompson reached the place where she was about to ask Anne to step up
+and get the prize, Miriam half rose in her seat. Mrs. Nesbit pulled her
+back in the nick of time. I honestly believe she would have reached the
+stage before Anne did, if her mother hadn't stopped her. Hippy told me
+they left before the benediction. I suppose Miriam was not equal to the
+mortification."
+
+"I thought perhaps Miss Thompson would have mentioned her name as coming
+second in the contest," said Grace. "She usually does, you know. But
+there were good reasons, and plenty, why she shouldn't this time, I
+suppose. And to think, Jessica, that Miriam need never have done that
+dreadful thing. She would probably have passed second in the class
+anyway, and copying the papers didn't help her one little bit."
+
+Mrs. Gray reported Anne to be much better. She had taken some nourishing
+broth and gone to bed, and she was at that moment sleeping soundly.
+
+So there was no cause for anything but good cheer at the supper party.
+
+And here let us leave them around Mrs. Gray's hospitable table. For, is
+it not better to say farewell rejoicing so that no shadows may darken
+the memory we shall carry with us during the long months of separation?
+
+Before Oakdale High School welcomes her children back again, David will
+sail abroad with his mother and sister; Grace and Anne will set off for
+the country to visit Grace's grandmother; the others and their families
+will scatter to various summer resorts, while Mrs. Gray will seek a cool
+spot in the mountains.
+
+However, in the next volume, which will be entitled, "Grace
+Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School; Or, the Record of the Girl
+Chums in Work and Athletics," we shall again meet the four girls and
+their friends. This book, the record of the girl chums in athletics,
+tells of the exciting rivalries of the sophomore and junior basketball
+teams, culminating in a final hard-fought battle. Again Grace Harlowe
+distinguishes herself by her bravery and good judgment, and again Miriam
+Nesbit will do her best to thwart her at every point. And we may learn
+what Anne Pierson did with the prize money.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S
+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
+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.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC;
+      Or, The Secret of Smugglers' Island.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET;
+      Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND;
+      Or, A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS;
+      Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA;
+      Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator Swamp.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE;
+      Or, A Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES;
+      Or, The Flying Dutchman of the Big Fresh Water.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH;
+      Or, The Boy Shepherds of the Great Divide.
+
+    THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP;
+      Or, Pitting Their Wits Against a Packers' Combine.
+
+    THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS;
+      Or, Following the Steam Plows Across the Prairie.
+
+    THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO;
+      Or, The Conspiracy of the Wheat Pit.
+
+
+
+
+Submarine Boys Series
+
+By VICTOR G. DURHAM
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY;
+      Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP;
+      Or, "Making Good" as Young Experts.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES;
+      Or, The Prize Detail at Annapolis.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES;
+      Or, Dodging the Sharks of the Deep.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE;
+      Or, The Young Kings of the Deep.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG;
+      Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS;
+      Or, Breaking Up the New Jersey Customs Frauds.
+
+
+
+
+The Square Dollar Boys Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+    THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP;
+      Or, Fighting the Trolley Franchise Steal.
+
+    THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING;
+      Or, In the Lists Against the Crooked Land Deal.
+
+
+
+
+The College Girls Series
+
+By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S FIRST YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S SECOND YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S RETURN TO OVERTON CAMPUS.
+
+
+
+
+Dave Darrin Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+    DAVE DARRIN AT VERA CRUZ;
+      Or, Fighting With the U. S. Navy in Mexico.
+
+
+
+
+Pony Rider Boys Series
+
+By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+These tales may be aptly described the best books for boys and girls.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES;
+      Or, The Secret of the Lost Claim.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS;
+      Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA;
+      Or, The Mystery of the Old Custer Trail.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS;
+      Or, The Secret of Ruby Mountain.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI;
+      Or, Finding a Key to the Desert Maze.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO;
+      Or, The End of the Silver Trail.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON;
+      Or, The Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch.
+
+
+
+
+The Boys of Steel Series
+
+By JAMES R. MEARS
+
+Each book presents vivid picture of this great industry. Each story is
+full of adventure and fascination.
+
+    THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES;
+      Or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft.
+
+    THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN;
+      Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift
+
+    THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS;
+      Or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes.
+
+    THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS;
+      Or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder Pits.
+
+
+
+
+The Madge Morton Books
+
+By AMY D. V. CHALMERS
+
+    MADGE MORTON--CAPTAIN OF THE MERRY MAID.
+
+    MADGE MORTON'S SECRET.
+
+    MADGE MORTON'S TRUST.
+
+    MADGE MORTON'S VICTORY.
+
+
+
+
+West Point Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young Americans
+whose doings will inspire all boy readers.
+
+    DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT;
+      Or, Two Chums in the Cadet Gray.
+
+    DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT;
+      Or, Finding the Glory of the Soldier's Life.
+
+    DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT;
+      Or, Standing Firm for Flag and Honor.
+
+    DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT;
+      Or, Ready to Drop the Gray for Shoulder Straps.
+
+
+
+
+Annapolis Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in
+these volumes.
+
+    DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;
+      Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at the U. S. Naval Academy.
+
+    DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;
+      Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy "Youngsters."
+
+    DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;
+      Or, Leaders of the Second Class Midshipmen.
+
+    DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;
+      Or, Headed for Graduation and the Big Cruise.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO;
+      Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest.
+
+    THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA;
+      Or, Laying Tracks on the "Man-Killer" Quicksand.
+
+    THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA;
+      Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick.
+
+    THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO;
+      Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS;
+      Or, Two Recruits in the United States Army.
+
+    UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY;
+      Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons.
+
+    UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS;
+      Or, Handling Their First Real Commands.
+
+    UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES;
+      Or, Following the Flag Against the Moros.
+
+
+
+
+Battleship Boys Series
+
+By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's huge
+drab Dreadnaughts.
+
+    THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA;
+      Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy.
+
+    THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD;
+      Or, Winning Their Grades as Petty Officers.
+
+    THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE;
+      Or, Earning New Ratings in European Seas.
+
+    THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS;
+      Or, Upholding the American Flag in a Honduras Revolution.
+
+
+
+
+The Meadow-Brook Girls Series
+
+By JANET ALDRIDGE
+
+Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor life.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS COURTS.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN;
+      Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER;
+      Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football Gridiron.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Leading the Athletic Vanguard.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Start Things Moving.
+
+    THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND;
+      Or, Dick & Co. at Winter Sports.
+
+    THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and Knowledge.
+
+    THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Make Their Fame Secure.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB;
+      Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake Pleasant.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP;
+      Or, The Dick Prescott Six Training for the Gridley Eleven.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP;
+      Or, Dick & Co. in the Wilderness.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Making Themselves "Hard as Nails."
+
+
+
+
+The Circus Boys Series
+
+By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON
+
+Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely
+interesting and exciting life.
+
+    THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS;
+      Or, Making the Start in the Sawdust Life.
+
+    THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT;
+      Or, Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark.
+
+    THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND;
+      Or, Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny South.
+
+    THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI;
+      Or, Afloat with the Big Show on the Big River.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;
+      Or, The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshman Girls.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;
+      Or, The Record of the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;
+      Or, Fast Friends in the Sororities.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;
+      Or, The Parting of the Ways.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT;
+      Or, Watching the Summer Parade.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES;
+      Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON;
+      Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO;
+      Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH;
+      Or, Proving Their Mettle Under Southern Skies.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT WASHINGTON;
+      Or, Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High
+School, by Jessie Graham Flower
+
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year At High School, by JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Plebe 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 Plebe Year at High School
+       The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls
+
+Author: Jessie Graham Flower
+
+Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20472]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Newman, Sigal Alon, Mary Meehan and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/i000.jpg"><img src="images/i000.jpg" alt=""/></a>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<h1>Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School</h1>
+
+<h3>OR</h3>
+
+<h2>The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls</h2>
+
+<h3>By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.</h3>
+
+<h4>Author of Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School, Grace Harlowe's
+Junior Year at High School, Etc.</h4>
+
+
+<h4>PHILADELPHIA<br />
+HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY<br />
+<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1910</span></h4>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i001" id="i001"></a>
+<img src="images/i001.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>A Troop of Black-Robed Figures Were Stealthily Approaching.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">The Accident of Friendships</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">The Sponsor of the Freshman Class</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Gray Engages a Secretary</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">The Black Monks of Asia</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Anne Has a Secret</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">The Sophomore Ball</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">All Hallowe'en</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">Miss Leece</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Thanksgiving Day</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Grace Keeps Her Secret</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Gray's Adopted Daughters</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">Miriam Plans a Revenge</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Christmas Holidays</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">A Midnight Alarm</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">Tom Gray</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">The Marionette Show</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">After the Ball</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">A Winter Picnic</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">Wolves!</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">The Gray Brothers</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">The Lost Letter</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. <span class="smcap">Danger Ahead</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. <span class="smcap">In the Thick of the Night</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. <span class="smcap">The Freshman Prize</span></a><br /><br />
+<a href="#HENRY_ALTEMUS_COMPANYS">Other Books Published by HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+
+<p><a href="#i001">A Troop of Black-Robed Figures Were Stealthily Approaching.</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#i002">"Miss Pierson, Do You Recognize This Figure?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#i003">"Give That Back! It Is Not Yours."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#i004">Tom Gray Escapes from the Wolves</a></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>THE ACCIDENT OF FRIENDSHIPS</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Who is the new girl in the class?" asked Miriam Nesbit, flashing her
+black eyes from one schoolmate to another, as the girls assembled in the
+locker room of the Oakdale High School.</p>
+
+<p>"Her name is Pierson; that is all I know about her," replied Nora
+O'Malley, gazing at her pretty Irish face in the looking glass with
+secret satisfaction. "She's very quiet and shy and looks as if she would
+weep aloud when her turn comes to recite, but I'm sure she's all right,"
+she added good naturedly. For Nora had a charming, sunny nature, and
+always saw the best if there was any best to see.</p>
+
+<p>"She is very bright," broke in Grace Harlowe decisively. "She went
+through her Latin lesson without a mistake, which is certainly more than
+I could do."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't like her," pouted Miriam. "I never trust those quiet
+little things. And, besides, she is the worst-dressed girl in&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" interrupted Jessica Bright, touching a finger to her lips. "Here
+she is."</p>
+
+<p>A little, brown figure entered the room just as Miriam finished
+speaking. But Jessica was too late with her warning. The young girl had,
+without doubt, heard the cruel speech and her face flushed painfully as
+she pinned on a shabby old hat, slipped her arms into a thin black
+jacket and stepped out again without looking at the crowd of schoolmates
+who watched her silently.</p>
+
+<p>"Miriam, I should think you'd learn to be more careful," exclaimed
+hot-tempered Nora, her soft heart touched by the appealing little
+stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what difference does it make?" replied Miriam. "If Miss Pierson
+doesn't know already that she's the shabbiest girl in school, it's high
+time she found it out. I have a suspicion her mother takes in washing or
+something, and I mean to find it out right now. We can't invite a girl
+like that to our class parties and entertainments. She would disgrace
+us."</p>
+
+<p>"Miriam," said Grace quietly, "I believe we are all privileged to invite
+whom we please to our homes. I intend to give a class tea next Saturday,
+and I mean to follow Miss Pierson right now and ask her to help me
+receive."</p>
+
+<p>The two girls looked into each other's faces for a moment without
+speaking. Grace was quiet and contained, Miriam flushed and furiously
+angry. They had been rival leaders always at the Grammar School, but the
+rivalry had never come to open battle until now.</p>
+
+<p>Miriam was the first to drop her eyes. She did not reply, but from that
+moment she was the sworn enemy of Grace Harlowe and her two friends,
+Nora and Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we had better hurry," said Jessica, trying to calm the troubled
+scene. "Nobody knows exactly where Miss Pierson lives and she will be
+out of sight before we can catch her."</p>
+
+<p>The three girls ran lightly out of the basement of the fine old building
+that was the pride of Oakdale. It was large and imposing, built of
+smooth, gray stone, with four huge columns supporting the front portico.
+A hundred yards away stood the companion building, the Boys' High
+School, exactly like the first in every respect except that a wing had
+been added for a gymnasium which the girls had the privilege of using on
+certain days. A wide campus surrounded the two buildings, shaded by elm
+and oak trees. Certainly no other town in the state could boast of twin
+high schools as fine as these; and especially did the situation appeal
+to the people of Oakdale, for the ten level acres surrounding the two
+buildings gave ample space for the various athletic fields, and the
+doings of the high schools formed the very life of the place.</p>
+
+<p>But we must return to our three girls who were hurrying down the shady
+street, followed in a more leisurely and dignified fashion by Miriam and
+her friends. The shabby figure of the little stranger had just turned
+the corner as the girls left the High School grounds.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on," cried Grace breathlessly, leading the way. Having once made
+up her mind, she always pursued her point with a fine obstinacy
+regardless of opinion.</p>
+
+<p>When they had come to the cross street they saw their quarry again, now
+making her way slowly toward the street next the river. This was the
+shabbiest street in Oakdale, though no one knew exactly why, since the
+river bank might have been the chosen site for all the handsomest
+buildings; but towns are as incorrigible as people, sometimes, and
+insist on growing one way when they should grow another, without the
+slightest regard for future appearances.</p>
+
+<p>And so, when little Miss Pierson stopped in front of one of the smallest
+and meanest cottages on River Street, the girls knew she must, indeed,
+be very poor. The house, small and forlorn, presented a sad countenance
+streaked with tear stains from a leaky gutter. An uneven pavement led to
+the front door, which bore a painted sign: "Plain Sewing."</p>
+
+<p>They paused irresolutely at the gate, and were taking counsel together
+when Miriam Nesbit passed with her friends. She pointed at the door and
+laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, that girl's conduct is contemptible!" exclaimed Grace, giving
+the wooden gate a vigorous push. "I simply won't tolerate her rudeness.
+She is an unmitigated snob!" Grace knocked on the door rather sharply to
+emphasize her feelings. It was opened almost immediately by Miss Pierson
+herself, still in her hat and coat; and in her surprise and
+embarrassment she almost shut the door in their faces. But Jessica's
+gentle smile reassured her, and Grace, who was a born leader, took her
+hand kindly and plunged at once into the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"You left school so quickly this afternoon, Miss Pierson, that I didn't
+have a chance to see you. I have something very particular I want to ask
+you to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you come in?" said the other, opening the door into the parlor,
+which had an air of refinement about it in spite of its utter poorness.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne!" called a querulous voice down the passage.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mother, I'm coming," answered the girl, hurrying out of the room
+with a frightened look in her eyes. In a few moments she was back again.</p>
+
+<p>"Please excuse me for leaving you," she said. "My mother is an invalid
+and needs my sister or me with her constantly."</p>
+
+<p>"Her name is Anne, then," thought Grace. "I shall call her so at once
+and break the ice."</p>
+
+<p>"Anne," she said aloud, "I think you know my friends, don't you&mdash;Jessica
+Bright and Nora O'Malley? And I am Grace Harlowe."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," replied Anne, brightening at the friendly advances of the
+others. "I remember your names from the roll call."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," replied Grace. "But I think we should all be more to each
+other than roll-call acquaintances, we freshmen. I am very ambitious for
+our class. I want it to be the best that ever graduated from Oakdale
+High School, and for that reason, I think all the girls in it should try
+to be friends and work together to advance the cause. I'm going to start
+the ball rolling by giving a tea to our class next Saturday afternoon.
+Will you come and receive with Jessica and Nora and me?"</p>
+
+<p>Anne clasped her hands delightedly for a moment. Then her eyes filled
+with tears and her lips trembled so that the girls were afraid she might
+be going to cry. Tender-hearted Jessica turned her face away for fear of
+showing too much sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry," said Anne at last, rather unsteadily, "but I am afraid I
+can't accept your delightful invitation. I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," said a voice at the door, "I didn't mean to intrude
+on your visitors, Anne, but I couldn't help overhearing Miss Harlowe's
+invitation."</p>
+
+<p>A small woman, much older than Anne, but very like her in face and
+figure, appeared at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"This is my sister," said Anne, taking the other's hand affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne imagines she can't go, but she certainly can," went on the older
+Miss Pierson, calmly, not in the least embarrassed by the strange young
+girls. "Of course, she must go. I can arrange it easily."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Mary&mdash;&mdash;" protested Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, little sister," interrupted Mary, "it will be all right.
+Miss Harlowe, what time must she be there?"</p>
+
+<p>"At four o'clock," answered Grace, rising to go, "and I am delighted
+that she can come. Remember, Anne, I'm counting on you to pour the
+lemonade. The other girls are going to help with the sandwiches and ice
+cream. By the way," she added, as they went down the steps, "be sure and
+come to the basketball meeting at the gym this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>And so it was arranged that Anne Pierson, the shabbiest and poorest girl
+in Oakdale High School, was to help receive at one of the prettiest and
+most charming houses in town. Miriam Nesbit's rudeness was to bring
+about a friendship between Anne Pierson and her three schoolmates that
+lasted a lifetime.</p>
+
+<p>After the half-past two o'clock dinner, which was the universal custom
+in Oakdale, the chums met again at the gymnasium in the Boys' High
+School. Wednesdays and Saturdays were nicknamed "ladies' days" by the
+High School boys, for on these afternoons the girls were permitted free
+use of the gymnasium.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting to-day was not for gymnastic exercises, however, but an
+important subject was to be discussed&mdash;the Freshman Basketball Team.
+Also the captain of the team was to be elected.</p>
+
+<p>Other club meetings were in full force when the girls arrived, and the
+great room vibrated with the hum of voices. The three freshmen, who knew
+better than to interrupt sophomores and juniors at their pow-wows, made
+their way quietly across the hall to the appointed place of rendezvous.
+Of course, the entire Freshman Class did not assemble to discuss this
+subject. Many members were not interested in basketball, except to look
+on. Girls who were overstudious, and not physically strong, could not at
+any rate play on the team, and therefore they seldom attended such
+meetings. Jessica Bright was one of these, nevertheless, she followed
+her two friends, who had always been foremost in athletics at the
+Central Grammar School.</p>
+
+<p>The election of a captain was the first business of the meeting. That
+over, the captain, after due and serious consultation with a friendly
+cabinet, chose the players and their substitutes.</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly Grace Harlowe had the coolest head in the class, and was the
+most to be relied upon at critical moments; yet Miriam Nesbit exerted a
+strange influence over her followers, who were almost her slaves. She
+was the richest of all the girls and wore the costliest clothes. The
+parties she gave, from time to time, in her mother's large and handsome
+home were the talk of the place. She was also the cleverest girl in the
+class, and had taken undisputed first place since she was a child. She
+was not a close student, but seemed to absorb her lessons in half the
+time that it took her friends to master them. Popular she certainly was,
+or rather she was feared by her schoolmates. Her masterful, overpowering
+spirit seemed to sweep everything before it.</p>
+
+<p>Grace Harlowe was quite as powerful in her way, but she had a noble,
+unselfish disposition and was much beloved by her friends. She stood
+well in her studies, but had never taken first place. Perhaps this was
+because she had interested herself so much in outdoor sports that she
+had not given enough time to study.</p>
+
+<p>Both girls were handsome&mdash;Miriam tall, dark and oriental-looking, with
+flashing eyes and an imperious curve to her lips; Grace was also tall,
+with wavy, chestnut hair, fine gray eyes, regular features, a full,
+generous chin and cheeks glowing with health.</p>
+
+<p>Miriam Nesbit had already done a good deal of lobbying when the three
+girls arrived on the scene. She wished to be elected captain of the team
+at any cost; but Grace's adherents were holding off, quietly waiting for
+her arrival.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, here you are at last!" said Marian Barber, who had been preparing
+the ballots for the coming election.</p>
+
+<p>Marian was the busy girl of the class, and always made herself useful.</p>
+
+<p>"Is everyone here?" demanded Nora, scanning the crowd of freshmen with a
+view to ascertaining what her chum's chances were.</p>
+
+<p>"All that intend coming," replied Miriam. "The softies stayed away, as
+usual."</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose we wait five minutes," said Grace, looking at her watch, "and
+then, if no one comes, we will cast the votes."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," exclaimed Miriam impatiently. "I have an engagement and can't
+spare any more time. I vote that we have the election at once, without
+waiting another moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," assented Grace. "I only suggested waiting because Anne
+Pierson promised to come, and, of course, every girl in the class has a
+right to vote at the class elections."</p>
+
+<p>"Anne Pierson?" cried Miriam, turning crimson with suppressed rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Grace calmly; "but, if everybody is agreeable, suppose
+we go ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"Agreed!" cried the others and the ballots were cast.</p>
+
+<p>There was not much parliamentary practice in these class elections. Each
+girl wrote the name of her choice on a slip of paper and dropped it in a
+hat. Four of the girls then counted the votes, and the one receiving the
+most slips was declared elected.</p>
+
+<p>The slips were dropped into the hat, amid the silence of the company.
+Some of the sophomores and juniors, perched on parallel bars, watched
+the scene with superior amusement, but no notice was taken of their
+half-whispered jeers.</p>
+
+<p>The four girls then retired to count the votes.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a tie," announced Marian Barber, returning presently; "a tie
+between Grace and Miriam. I wish some of the others would come and
+settle the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Here's some one," cried Nora. "Here's Anne Pierson. Let her cast the
+decisive vote."</p>
+
+<p>Miriam's eyes blazed, but she held her peace. There was nothing to do
+but submit with an uneasy grace. But who could doubt what the outcome
+would be? However, she felt somewhat relieved when Grace said:</p>
+
+<p>"I think we should cast the votes over again, and, according to the
+rules we made last year, Miriam and I should not vote, since the
+election rests between us."</p>
+
+<p>The votes were cast again, Anne timidly dropping her slip in the hat
+with the others, and, as might have been expected, Grace was elected
+captain of the Freshman Basketball Team of the Oakdale High School.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SPONSOR OF THE FRESHMAN CLASS</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Grace," asked Mrs. Harlowe, the day of the famous freshman tea, "have
+you asked some of the girls to help this afternoon? Bridget can attend
+to the sandwiches, but some one ought to pour the lemonade and generally
+look after the wants of the others."</p>
+
+<p>Grace was arranging a bowl of China asters on the piano in her mother's
+charming drawing room. The shining mahogany chairs and tables reflected
+the glow of the wood fire, for the day was chilly, and bright chintz
+curtains at the windows gave a cheerful note of color to the scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, mother," replied Grace. "Nora and Jessica, of course, and Anne
+Pierson."</p>
+
+<p>"And who is Anne Pierson?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know who she is," answered Grace. "I never knew her until she
+entered the High School. But she is terribly poor. Her mother is an
+invalid and her sister takes in plain sewing. I really asked her at
+first because Miriam Nesbit was rude to her one day. But I'm beginning
+to like her so much, now, that I'm glad I did it. She's as quiet as a
+little mouse, but she is fast taking first place in class. I believe she
+will outstrip Miriam before the end of the year. Don't ask me who she
+is, though. I haven't the least idea, but she's all right, I can promise
+you that. I'm sorry for her because she is poor. They live in a little
+broken-down cottage on River Street."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Harlowe looked dubious. Grace was always bringing home stray people
+and animals, and the mother was accustomed to her daughter's whims. The
+young girl was familiar to all the ragamuffins of the town slum, and
+when she sometimes found one gazing wistfully through the fence palings
+of her mother's old-fashioned garden, she promptly led him around to the
+kitchen, gave him a plate of food on the back steps, picked him a small
+bouquet and sent him off half-dazed with her gracious and impetuous
+kindness.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, I shall be prepared for anything," exclaimed Mrs.
+Harlowe; "but remember that feeding people on the back steps and asking
+them into the parlor to meet your friends and acquaintances are two
+different matters altogether."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be afraid, mother," replied Grace. "You will like Anne as well as
+I do, once you get to know her. You must be careful not to frighten her
+at first. She is the most timid little soul I ever met."</p>
+
+<p>Just then the front gate clicked and two girls strolled up the red-brick
+walk, their light organdie dresses peeping out from the folds of their
+long capes.</p>
+
+<p>"Here come Nora and Jessica," cried Grace excitedly, running to the door
+to meet her friends.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Harlowe smiled. In spite of Grace's sixteen years she was still her
+little girl.</p>
+
+<p>There was another click at the gate and Mrs. Harlowe saw through the
+parlor window a little, dark figure, pathetically plain in its shabby
+coat and hat.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little soul," thought the good woman. "How I wish I could put her
+into one of Grace's muslins, but, of course, I couldn't think of
+offering to do such a thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said Grace some minutes later, when the girls had laid aside
+their wraps and descended into the drawing room, "this is Anne Pierson,
+our new friend."</p>
+
+<p>Anne Pierson, small and shrinking, was dressed in a queer, old-fashioned
+black silk that had evidently been taken up and made short for the
+occasion. Mrs. Harlowe's heart was touched to the quick and she bent and
+kissed the young girl gently.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do, my dear?" she said kindly. "I am always glad to meet
+Grace's friends, and you are most welcome."</p>
+
+<p>Anne was too frightened almost to speak. This was the first party she
+had ever attended, and the beautiful room, the girls in their light,
+pretty dresses, the bowls of flowers and the cheery firelight nearly
+stupefied her.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Harlowe disappeared into the little conservatory off the dining
+room, returning in a moment with two big red roses which she pinned to
+Anne's dress.</p>
+
+<p>"These red roses have been waiting for you all morning," she said, "and
+they're just in their prime now."</p>
+
+<p>More guests began to arrive, and soon the room was full of young girls
+talking gayly together in groups or walking about, their arms around
+each other's waists after the manner of fifteen and sixteen.</p>
+
+<p>Grace had seated Anne at the dining room table behind a large cut glass
+bowl which almost hid her small figure. Grace knew from experience that
+this would be the most popular spot in the room, and she cautioned many
+of her friends to be kind to the timid little stranger. She knew also
+that giving Anne something to keep her occupied would relieve her
+embarrassment. Anne conscientiously filled and refilled the glasses, and
+in the intervals answered the questions put to her; but never asked any
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>Miriam Nesbit came in late with her two most intimate friends. She wore
+a resplendent dress of old rose crepe and a big black hat. Anne forgot
+her resentment when she caught sight of the vision and was lost in
+admiration. But she was brought sharply to her senses by a rude,
+sneering laugh from the ill-bred girl, who was staring insolently at the
+old black silk gown.</p>
+
+<p>Anne flushed and hung her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad Mrs. Harlowe gave me the flowers," she thought. "They hide it
+a little, I think."</p>
+
+<p>Meantime there was the bustle of a new and important arrival. Grace and
+her mother ushered in a charming little old lady and seated her in the
+place of honor, a big leather chair between the windows. She wore a gray
+silk dress and a lavender bonnet daintily trimmed in lace and white
+ostrich tips.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls," said Grace, as a hush fell over the room, "there is no need for
+me to introduce any of you to Mrs. Gray, who is the sponsor for the
+freshman class."</p>
+
+<p>There was a buzz of laughter and conversation again, and through the
+double doors Anne caught sight of the little old lady, talking gayly to
+her subjects, seated, like a diminutive queen, on a large throne.</p>
+
+<p>"Why is she the sponsor of the class?" Anne asked of Jessica, who was
+hovering near by.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, have you never heard?" returned Jessica. "Mrs. Gray's daughter died
+during her freshman year at High School, long ago, and ever since then,
+Mrs. Gray has offered a prize of twenty-five dollars for the girl who
+makes the highest average in her examinations at the end of the freshman
+year. She was made sponsor of the freshman class about ten years ago, so
+each year, soon after school opens, some one of the freshmen gives a tea
+and invites her to meet the new girls. You must come in and be
+introduced, too, as soon as you are through here."</p>
+
+<p>"A prize of twenty-five dollars," repeated Anne. "How I wish I might win
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>"It's even more than that," said Jessica. "For a perfect examination she
+offers one hundred dollars. But, needless to say, no one has ever won
+the hundred. It is considered impossible to pass a perfect examination
+in every subject."</p>
+
+<p>"One hundred dollars!" exclaimed Anne. "Oh, if I only could!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you may win the twenty-five dollars, anyway, Anne," said Jessica.
+"I suppose the one hundred dollar prize is beyond the reach of human
+beings."</p>
+
+<p>"And now, young ladies," Mrs. Gray was saying, smiling at the group of
+girls who surrounded her, as she examined them through her lorgnette,
+"most of you I have known since you were little tots, and your fathers
+and mothers before you; but I don't know which of you excels in her
+studies. Is it you, Grace, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>Grace shook her head vigorously.</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, Mrs. Gray," she replied. "I could never be accused of
+overstudy. I suppose I'm too fond of basketball."</p>
+
+<p>"It won't hurt you, my dear," said the old lady, tapping the girl
+indulgently with her lorgnette; "the open air is much better than that
+of the schoolroom, and so long as you keep up an average, I daresay you
+won't disappoint your mother. But none of you have told me yet who leads
+the freshman class in her studies."</p>
+
+<p>"Miriam Nesbit," said several voices in unison.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Mrs. Gray, looking intently at Miriam. "So you are the gold
+medal girl, Miriam? Dear me, what a young lady you are growing to be!
+But you must not study too hard. Don't overdo it."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray had gone through this same conversation every year since any
+of the girls could remember, and never failed to caution the head girl
+not to overstudy.</p>
+
+<p>"There's no fear of that, Mrs. Gray," replied Miriam boastfully. "My
+lessons give me very little trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Gray," broke in Nora O'Malley mischievously, "Miriam Nesbit has a
+close second in the class. The first girl who has ever been known to
+come up to her."</p>
+
+<p>Miriam flushed, half-angry and half-pleased at the adroit compliment.</p>
+
+<p>"And who may that be, my dear?" queried Mrs. Gray, searching about the
+room with her nearsighted blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Anne Pierson" replied Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"Pierson, Pierson?" repeated the little old lady. "Why have I not met
+her? I do not seem to remember the name in Oakdale. But where is this
+wonderful young woman who is outstripping our brilliant Miriam? I feel a
+great curiosity to see her."</p>
+
+<p>"Anne Pierson, Anne Pierson!" called several voices, while Grace began
+to search through the rooms and hall.</p>
+
+<p>At the first mention of her name Anne had darted from her seat behind
+the lemonade bowl, and rushed to the nearest shelter, which was the
+conservatory.</p>
+
+<p>Grace found her, at last, in the conservatory crouched behind a palm.</p>
+
+<p>"Come here, you foolish child!" exclaimed Grace. "You are wanted at
+once. Why did you run and hide? Mrs. Gray&mdash;the great Mrs. Gray&mdash;wishes
+to meet you. Think of that!"</p>
+
+<p>Anne clasped the girl's strong hand with her two small ones.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Grace," she whispered, "won't you excuse me? I&mdash;I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You what? Silly, come right along!"</p>
+
+<p>Grace fairly dragged the trembling little figure into the drawing room,
+where a silence had fallen over the group of young girls who watched the
+scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Tut, tut, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Gray gently. "You mustn't be afraid
+of me. I'm the most harmless old woman in the world."</p>
+
+<p>Then she tried to get a glimpse of Anne's downcast, crimson face.</p>
+
+<p>"I wanted particularly to meet you, child," went on Mrs. Gray, "because
+I hear you are a formidable rival of the best pupil in the freshman
+class. That is a great boast for your friends to make for you, my dear.
+Miriam Nesbit is a famously smart girl, I'm told. But I wanted to meet
+you, too, because you bear the name I love best in the world."</p>
+
+<p>Here the old lady's voice became very soft, and the girls suddenly
+remembered that the young daughter had been called Anne. Was there not a
+memorial window, in the chapel of the High School, of an angel carrying
+a lily and underneath an inscription familiar to them all: "In Memory of
+Anne Gray, died in her freshman year, aged sixteen"?</p>
+
+<p>The girls moved off quietly, conversing in low voices, leaving Anne
+alone with her new friend.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a very little girl to be so clever," said Mrs. Gray, patting
+one of Anne's small wrists as she looked into the dark eyes. "Where do
+you live, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"On River Street," replied Anne undergoing the scrutiny calmly, now she
+found herself alone.</p>
+
+<p>"River Street?" repeated Mrs. Gray, trying to recall whom she had ever
+known living in that strange quarter of the town. "Have you been long in
+Oakdale?" she went on.</p>
+
+<p>"A few years, ma'am," replied Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"And what is your father's business, my child?" continued the old lady
+remorselessly.</p>
+
+<p>Anne blushed and hung her head, and for a moment there was no reply to
+the question. Presently she drew a sharp breath as if it hurt her to
+make the confession.</p>
+
+<p>"My father does not live here," was what she said. "My mother is an
+invalid. My sister supports us with sewing. As soon as I finish in the
+High School, I shall teach."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray put an arm around the girl's waist and drew her down beside
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm a stupid old woman, child. You must forgive me. Old people forget
+their manners sometimes. Will you come and see me very soon? Perhaps
+to-morrow after church you will take luncheon with me? I want to know
+you better."</p>
+
+<p>She drew a card from the beaded reticule that hung at her side.</p>
+
+<p>"Remember, at half-past twelve," she said, giving the girl's hand an
+extra squeeze as she rose to go.</p>
+
+<p>After Mrs. Gray had taken her departure a free and easy atmosphere was
+restored and the girls began talking and laughing without the
+restriction of an older person's presence. Mrs. Harlowe shortly after
+this also left them to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's do some stunts," proposed Grace. "Nora, will you give us your
+imitations?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," replied Nora, "if Miriam will promise to sing, and Jessica
+will do her Greek dance, and Georgie will play for us."</p>
+
+<p>"All right!" came a chorus of voices.</p>
+
+<p>"We've done it oft before, but we'll do it o'er again if the company so
+wishes," said Georgie Pine, one of the brightest and gayest girls in the
+class.</p>
+
+<p>The others seated themselves in a semicircle, while each girl gave her
+little performance, and, at the conclusion, was applauded
+enthusiastically. Nora had a real talent for mimicry; she convulsed her
+audience with imitations of some of the High School teachers. When it
+came Miriam's turn she sat down at the piano with a queer look on her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe she means mischief," thought Grace to herself, as she watched
+the girl curiously.</p>
+
+<p>Miriam ran a brilliant scale up the piano, for music was another of her
+many accomplishments. Then she paused and turned to the others.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't sing," she said, "unless Miss Pierson promises to recite us
+something first, Poe's 'Raven,' for instance."</p>
+
+<p>Grace flushed angrily and was about to interfere when, to her surprise,
+Anne herself replied:</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be glad to if that is the poem you like best. I always
+preferred 'Annabel Lee.'"</p>
+
+<p>Miriam was too amazed to answer. She could never form an idea of what it
+cost Anne in self-control to acquiesce; but the young girl had gained a
+new strength that day. So many people had been kind to her, and what is
+more, interested in her welfare. She rose quietly and walked to the
+middle of the semicircle.</p>
+
+<p>Grace and her chums were in an agony of fear lest poor Anne should break
+down, and so distress them all except the unkind Miriam. However, they
+need not have troubled themselves. Anne fixed her eyes on the far wall
+of the dining room and commenced to recite "The Raven" in a clear,
+musical voice that deepened as she repeated the stanzas. The girls
+forgot the shabby little figure in its ill-fitting black silk and saw
+only Anne's small, white face and glowing eyes. Not Miss Tebbs, herself,
+teacher of English and elocution at the High School, could have improved
+upon the performance.</p>
+
+<p>"It was perfectly done," said Grace afterwards, telling the story to her
+mother. "It was almost uncanny and quite creepy toward the last."</p>
+
+<p>When the performance was over the girls crowded around little Anne with
+eager congratulations; but, strange to say, everyone forgot that Miriam
+had given her promise to sing.</p>
+
+<p>What the crestfallen Miriam kept wondering was: "Wherever did she learn
+to do it?"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>MRS. GRAY ENGAGES A SECRETARY</h3>
+
+
+<p>Grace and her two friends, Jessica and Nora, were also invited to Mrs.
+Gray's luncheon the next day, after church. Grace had often taken meals
+in the beautiful house on Chapel Hill, but the other girls had never
+been privileged to do more than sit in the large, shady parlors while
+their mothers paid an afternoon call.</p>
+
+<p>It was with some excitement, therefore, that the three girls met in
+front of the Catholic Church, of which Nora was a member, and strolled
+up the broad street together. As they passed the little Episcopal
+Chapel, which had given the hill its name, Anne Pierson joined them. She
+looked grave and excited, and there was a feverish glow in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne, my child," exclaimed Grace, who always seemed much older than the
+others, "how late do you study at night? I believe you are working too
+hard. You look tired out."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not tired," replied Anne. "I don't mind studying. Only so much has
+happened in the last few days! And now we're going to luncheon with Mrs.
+Gray. I've seen her house. It's very beautiful from the outside, more
+beautiful than the Nesbits', I think, because it is older and there is
+such a pretty garden at the side."</p>
+
+<p>"Anne," said Jessica, "we're counting on you to win the prize. There is
+no reason why a rich girl like Miriam Nesbit should get it. She doesn't
+need the money, in the first place; and, in the second, she's already
+had enough glory to turn her head. Being beaten won't hurt her at all."</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather win it," answered Anne, with passionate fervor, "than
+almost anything in the world. And think of the big prize of $100! If I
+could win that&mdash;&mdash;" Words failed to express her enthusiasm and she
+paused and clasped her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, we won't expect that of you," replied Grace, "Nobody could be
+expected to pass a perfect examination. That's an impossible
+achievement."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> shall try, anyway," said Anne in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>Just then they were joined by a young man of about eighteen, who lifted
+his hat politely to them.</p>
+
+<p>"May I walk with you?" he asked of Grace. "You seem to be going my way
+this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, David, we are going your way. We are lunching with your next
+door neighbor, Mrs. Gray. But you must let me introduce you to Miss
+Pierson. Anne, this is Mr. Nesbit, Miriam's brother."</p>
+
+<p>Anne flushed at the mention of Miriam's name and bowed distantly to the
+newcomer, who was a junior at the High School and quite grown-up to the
+young freshmen.</p>
+
+<p>David Nesbit, like his sister, was tall, dark and handsome; but unlike
+her, he was quiet and unassuming. He, too, stood at the head of his
+classes, but he was not athletic, as Miriam was, and spent most of his
+time in the school laboratory, experimenting, or working at home on
+engines and machinery of his own contriving.</p>
+
+<p>However, there was nothing snobbish in David's attitude. He greeted Anne
+as cordially as he had the others.</p>
+
+<p>"We never see you now, David," continued Grace. "You are always so busy
+with your inventions and contrivances. What is the latest? A flying
+machine?"</p>
+
+<p>"You guessed right the very first time," replied David. "It is just
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Really?" laughed the girls, incredulously, while Anne's eyes grew large
+with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall you fly around Oakdale in it?" asked Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we are not building big ones yet," answered David. "These are
+little fellows. Models, you know. The big ones may come later. Six of
+the junior and senior fellows have been working on them all summer. We
+started it in the manual training course. After we had learned to hammer
+things out of silver, and do wood carving and a few other little useful
+accomplishments, I suggested a flying machine to Professor Blitz and he
+fell to it like a ripe peach. It was too late to do anything last spring
+except talk, however. But we are almost ready now, after our labors this
+summer."</p>
+
+<p>"Ready for what?" demanded Grace. "If you are not going to fly
+yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"For our exhibition. Why don't you come and see it at the gym. next
+Friday night?"</p>
+
+<p>"We can't. We aren't invited," answered Nora, tossing back her saucy
+little curls.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll invite you," said David. "This will admit four young ladies to the
+High School gym.," he continued, taking out a card and writing on it,
+"At 7.30 Thursday evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Then everybody isn't invited?" demanded Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not everybody," replied David. "Just a chosen few. And you must be
+sure to come, too, Miss Pierson," he added, turning to Anne, who, all
+this time, had been silently listening to the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"I should love to," she answered, giving him a grateful glance.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll leave you here," said David, turning in at a graveled driveway
+that led to the Nesbit house, a very large and ornate building standing
+far back from the street in the midst of a well-kept lawn.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish Miriam would take a few lessons in manners from her brother,"
+murmured Grace, when they were out of hearing distance.</p>
+
+<p>"He is certainly one of the nicest boys in High School," said Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"If he only played football!" said Grace, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"And danced," added Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how to dance, nor did I ever see a game of football," said
+Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"Meaning that Mr. David suits you, Miss Anne," said Grace teasingly.</p>
+
+<p>"It was nice of him to ask me, too," was all Anne said in reply.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do, my dears?" said Mrs. Gray, a few moments later, when
+John, the aged butler, ushered the girls into the long, old-fashioned
+parlor. "You are most kind to come and cheer up a lonely old woman. I
+shall expect you to be very gay and tell me all the gossip of the
+Oakdale High School, the four of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Luncheon is served, ma'am," announced John, whereat the sprightly old
+lady led the way to the dining room.</p>
+
+<p>Over the delicious broiled chicken and other good things they discussed
+the affairs of the school, the new teacher in mathematics, Miss Leece,
+who was so unpopular; the girls' principal, Miss Thompson, beloved by
+all the pupils; the merits of the Freshman Basketball Team and a dozen
+other schoolgirl topics that seemed to delight the ears of Mrs. Gray.</p>
+
+<p>"The truth is," she said, "I believe this freshman class is going to be
+one of the finest Oakdale High School has ever turned out. I have a
+feeling that I shall be very proud of my new girls, and at Christmas
+time I mean to do something I have never done before, if all goes well."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do tell us what it is, Mrs. Gray," cried the girls in great
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to celebrate with the largest Christmas party that's been given
+in Oakdale for many a long year. Grace, you shall manage it for me, and
+all of you shall help me decorate the tree and the house. We'll invite
+the freshmen boys and have a real dance with Ohlson's band for the
+music."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh!" cried the girls ecstatically, even quiet Anne joining in the
+chorus.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way," went on Mrs. Gray, "do you know any girl who would like to
+come up and read to me twice a week, and write my notes for me? I'm
+getting to be an old woman. My eyesight is growing dim. Is there any
+girl who would like to earn a little pocket money? But she must have a
+sweet, soft voice, like Anne's here."</p>
+
+<p>"Anne would be the very girl herself, Mrs. Gray," suggested Grace. "She
+reads and recites beautifully."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not sure it would trespass on your time too much, Anne?"
+observed the wily old lady. "I don't want to impose on you."</p>
+
+<p>Anne's face fairly radiated with happiness. Could those girls possibly
+guess how much it meant to her to earn a little money! Five dollars was
+to her an enormous sum, and perhaps she might earn as much as that in
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"Might I do it?" she exclaimed, beside herself with joy.</p>
+
+<p>Grace turned her face away a moment. She felt almost ashamed of her own
+comfortable prosperity. And how like Mrs. Gray it was to do a kind thing
+in that way, as if Anne would be conferring a favor by accepting the
+position.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, you might, my dear. And I feel myself lucky to get the
+brightest girl in her class, and maybe in Oakdale High School, to come
+and entertain me twice a week."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BLACK MONKS OF ASIA</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Who wants to go nutting?" demanded Grace Harlowe in the basement
+cloakroom a few afternoons later.</p>
+
+<p>"We do," came a chorus of voices.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't," answered one.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you like nutting parties, Miriam?" asked Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"She's too old," put in a sophomore. "This is a young people's party, I
+presume?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's not a sophomore party, at any rate," retorted Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"Ma-ma, ma-ma," cried a number of other sophomores, imitating the cries
+of a baby.</p>
+
+<p>The freshmen were nettled by the superior attitude of the older class,
+but they knew better than to say anything more just then.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, girls," said Grace in a low voice, after the sophomores had
+strolled away, "we'll be sophomores ourselves next year. Now, all who
+want to join the party, meet Nora and Jessica and me at the old Omnibus
+House at three-thirty. And, above all, don't give the meeting place
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"Not in a thousand years," said Marian Barber.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident that Miriam Nesbit had hoped to break up the party by
+declining to go herself. But she was not quite strong enough in the
+class to divide it utterly, and she went off in a huff, with the secret
+wish to take revenge on somebody. As she started up Chapel Hill to her
+home she was joined by one of the sophomore girls, who lived across the
+street.</p>
+
+<p>"Your plebes are getting away from you, Miriam," exclaimed the older
+girl in a bantering tone. "You haven't got them well in hand yet.
+Nutting parties should be left behind for the Grammar School pupils."</p>
+
+<p>"They certainly should," replied Miriam in a disgusted tone. "It's Grace
+Harlowe who gets up all these foolish children's games. She's nothing
+but a tomboy, anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"She's the captain of the basketball team, isn't she?" asked the other
+dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," admitted Miriam reluctantly, "but she never would have been if
+she hadn't brought along all her friends to vote for her."</p>
+
+<p>"Whew-w-w!" whistled the sophomore. "You don't mean to say it wasn't a
+fair election?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, fair enough," said Miriam, "except that I didn't bother to bring
+any of my special friends, and she did. I don't call that exactly fair."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well," consoled the other, "you have a few things coming to you
+anyway, Miriam. You're at the head of your class, as usual, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>Miriam nodded her head without answering. She was thinking of little
+Anne Pierson and what a close race they were running together. Even
+studying harder than she had ever had to do before, Miriam found it
+difficult to keep up with Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are they going?" asked the other girl suddenly, after they had
+walked along a few minutes in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are who going?" asked Miriam.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the nutting party, of course."</p>
+
+<p>Here was Miriam's chance for revenge. The sophomores were a famously
+mischievous class, and this girl was one of its ringleaders. Back in
+Grammar School days they had played many pranks on their school fellows,
+and even in their freshman year they had dared to turn off all lights,
+one night at a dance of older schoolmates.</p>
+
+<p>"If I tell, you won't give me away, will you?" asked Miriam.</p>
+
+<p>"I promise," said the older girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then. They meet at three-thirty at the Omnibus House on the
+River road."</p>
+
+<p>"Good," said the sophomore. "Don't you want to come along and see the
+fun?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't count on me," answered Miriam, turning in at her gate, with mixed
+feelings of shame and triumph.</p>
+
+<p>The Omnibus House, which had been chosen by Grace as the class meeting
+place, was an old stone building standing in the middle of an orchard.
+It was now in ruins, but tradition set it down as a former inn and stage
+coach station built before the days of railroads, and finally burned by
+the Indians. There was a curious hieroglyphic sign cut in a stone slab
+in the front wall which one of the High School professors interested in
+arch&aelig;ology had deciphered as follows: "Peace and Justice Reign Over
+Mount Asia Tavern."</p>
+
+<p>Here the crowd of High School "plebes," as the sophomores scornfully
+dubbed them, met in conclave, partly to gather nuts in the woods near
+by, partly to discuss class matters, but chiefly to enjoy the crisp
+autumn weather. The woods were still gorgeous in russets and reds, in
+spite of the recent heavy frosts, and there was a smell of burning
+leaves and dry bracken in the air. The girls skipped about like young
+ponies.</p>
+
+<p>"If this is childish," cried Grace, "then I'd like to be a child always,
+for I shall play in the woods when the notion strikes me, even if I'm a
+grandmother."</p>
+
+<p>There was a smothered snicker at this from the inside of the old stone
+house, but the girls were too intent on their enjoyment to notice it.</p>
+
+<p>"Young ladies," exclaimed Nora O'Malley, trailing her cape after her to
+make her skirts look longer, and twisting her mouth down to give her
+face a severe expression, "you are not in your usual form to-day. I must
+ask for better preparation hereafter."</p>
+
+<p>There was a peal of joyous laughter from the other girls.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Leece to a dot," cried Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Bright," went on Nora, "you will please pay attention to the
+lesson. If you do not, young woman, I shall have to punish you in the
+old-fashioned way."</p>
+
+<p>"You will, will you?" cried Jessica, rushing gayly upon her friend.
+"Come on and try it then!"</p>
+
+<p>The other girls followed, and there was a tussle to pull Nora down from
+the stone upon which she had clambered to protect herself.</p>
+
+<p>Shrieks, struggles and wild laughter followed, while Nora fought
+desperately to hold her position. So absorbed were they in friendly
+battle that they had not noticed a troop of black-robed figures leaving
+the ruined Omnibus House and stealthily approaching.</p>
+
+<p>Nora was the first to see the ominous circle. She stopped short, and
+pointed with unmistakable terror at the masked and hooded persons, who
+were watching them silently. There was a moment of frozen horror when
+the girls turned around. This was a lonely spot, too remote from any
+dwelling to call for help. Besides, the freshmen were outnumbered by
+these weird figures, who appeared not unlike monks in their somber
+cowls, although their faces were absolutely hidden by black masks.</p>
+
+<p>The girls clustered together around the rock like a group of frightened
+chickens. Jessica had turned pale. She was not very robust and often
+overtaxed her strength to keep up with her two devoted friends.</p>
+
+<p>The tallest of the masked figures then spoke in a queer, deep voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Young women, are you not aware that this is a sacred spot, devoted for
+generations past to the Black Monks of Asia, whose home this building
+was before it became a roadhouse for stage coaches? Never invade this
+spot again with your hilarity. And now we will permit you to go,
+marching out single file, without looking back. But first, through your
+leader you must give your word never to mention this meeting to anyone.
+If you refuse this promise we shall punish you as only the Black Monks
+of Asia know how to punish persons who have offended the order. The
+leader will please step forward."</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's whispered conversation among the freshmen. Then
+Grace, urged by her friends, said:</p>
+
+<p>"We promise."</p>
+
+<p>"Now march out, single file, as agreed," resumed the Black Monk of Asia,
+his voice trembling a little with suppressed emotion of some sort.</p>
+
+<p>The girls started to move out of the enclosure single file, Grace
+leading the procession, when a gust of wind blew the robe of the leading
+monk apart, disclosing a navy blue serge walking-skirt. Grace's quick
+eye caught sight of the skirt at once, and breaking from the line, she
+charged straight into the group of black monks, crying:</p>
+
+<p>"Sophomores! Sophomores!"</p>
+
+<p>The other girls ran after her, screaming at the tops of their voices;
+and there might have been almost a free fight between the two classes
+had not the Black Monks of Asia scattered in every direction, running at
+utmost speed.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on back, girls," cried Grace in a disgusted tone.</p>
+
+<p>She had chased a monk half-way across the orchard; then stopped to
+wonder what she would do if she caught the tall, black-robed individual
+who had indecorously caught up her skirts and was flying well ahead over
+the rough ground.</p>
+
+<p>One by one the plebes returned to their meeting place.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that was a sell!" uttered Nora disgustedly. "How shall we ever
+manage to get even with those mean sophomores!"</p>
+
+<p>"If we don't," exclaimed Grace, "we shall never hear the last of it in
+Oakdale."</p>
+
+<p>"But who gave us away?" demanded Jessica. "Did anyone drop a hint to the
+sophomores of our secret meeting place?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't," said one girl after another.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps they followed us," suggested Marian Barber.</p>
+
+<p>"No one followed me," asserted Grace. "I was careful to look behind and
+see."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor me."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor me," exclaimed several of her classmates.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Nora. "Somebody must have overheard and given the secret
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"Not Mi&mdash;&mdash;" but Grace stopped before she had finished the name.</p>
+
+<p>The girls looked at each other.</p>
+
+<p>Could Miriam Nesbit have been so false to her class?</p>
+
+<p>No one replied, but each made a secret resolution to ferret out Miriam's
+suspected treachery if it were the last act of her life.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's start home, now," said Grace. "It's too late to go nutting
+anyhow, and these foolish sophomores have spoiled the afternoon, for me
+at least. If we don't cook up something to pay them back, the name of
+freshman will be disgraced forever more."</p>
+
+<p>However, the afternoon adventures were not at an end.</p>
+
+<p>As the group of girls started toward the road, some distance away,
+trying not to look crestfallen, a gruff voice from the far side of the
+Omnibus House called:</p>
+
+<p>"Hold up there!"</p>
+
+<p>The girls took no notice, thinking it was more upper-class tricks.</p>
+
+<p>Five rough-looking men emerged from a grove of alders which grew about
+the building.</p>
+
+<p>The young girls were really frightened this time. No sophomore could
+disguise herself like this. These were undoubtedly genuine ruffians of
+the worst type, hungry, blear-eyed and ragged.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do?" whispered Jessica, clinging to Grace desperately.</p>
+
+<p>"Everybody run," answered her friend, trying to be calm as the five men
+advanced on them. But when they broke away to run toward the distant
+road they found their retreat cut off by the tramps, who were active
+enough as soon as the girls showed signs of flight. Back of them lay the
+dense woods into which the sophomores must have plunged and departed for
+town by another road. Seeing that escape was impossible, since, if some
+got away, others would be caught&mdash;and no girl was willing to desert her
+friends&mdash;the frightened plebes paused again and clustered about their
+leader.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?" asked Grace of one of the men.</p>
+
+<p>"First your money, then your jewelry," answered the tramp, insolently
+leering at her.</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose we haven't any money or jewelry," replied Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"So much the worse for you, then," answered the tramp in a threatening
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"He can have this gold bracelet," exclaimed Jessica, slipping the band
+from her arm.</p>
+
+<p>But Grace was not listening. Her attention was absorbed by a group of
+people passing in a straggling line on the road. Lifting up her voice
+she gave the High School yell, which had been familiar to every High
+School boy and girl for the last twenty years:</p>
+
+<p>"Hi-hi-hi; hi-hi-hi; Oakdale, Oakdale, HIGH SCHOOL!"</p>
+
+<p>As she expected, the call was answered immediately, and some of the
+loiterers along the highway vaulted the fence at one bound.</p>
+
+<p>"Help!" cried all the girls in chorus. "Help! Help!"</p>
+
+<p>"It's some of the High School boys!" exclaimed Nora, in a relieved voice
+as the rescuers came bounding through the orchard.</p>
+
+<p>The tramps looked irresolute for a moment, but when they saw that the
+newcomers were five boys they held their ground.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?" said the tallest boy, with a flaming head of red
+hair, as he confronted one of the tramps.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank heaven it's Reddy Brooks, pitcher on the sophomore baseball
+team!" whispered Grace, unable to conceal her joy.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that any of your business, young man?" demanded the tramp, showing
+his teeth like an angry dog.</p>
+
+<p>"It's my business to protect these young ladies," answered Reddy Brooks,
+"and I'll do it if I have to shed somebody's blood in the attempt."</p>
+
+<p>"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the big tramp, clapping his hands to his sides and
+almost dancing a jig in his amusement.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Reddy had cast his eyes about for some kind of a weapon.
+There was not a stick nor stone in sight. The only thing he could find
+was a pile of winter apples that had evidently been collected by the
+owner of the orchard to be barreled next day.</p>
+
+<p>Reddy made a rush for the pile, to the amazement of his fellow-students,
+who imagined for a moment that he was running away. They soon found out
+his purpose, however, when the apples came whizzing through the air with
+well-aimed precision.</p>
+
+<p>The first one hit the biggest tramp squarely on the chin and almost
+stunned him. Each boy then chose his man and the five ruffians were soon
+running across the orchard to the wood, the boys after them, their
+pockets bulging with apples. Laughing and yelling like wild Indians,
+they pelted their victims until the men disappeared in the forest.</p>
+
+<p>The girls, who had forgotten their fright in the excitement of the
+chase, were laughing, too, and urging on the attacks exactly as they
+would have done at one of the college football games. Perhaps they had
+had a narrow escape, but it was great fun, now, especially when Reddy
+Brooks threw one of his famous curved balls and hit a tramp plump on the
+back of the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," cried Nora, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, "I never had
+such a good time in all my life! Wasn't it great?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wasn't it though?" grinned Reddy, as the boys returned from the field
+of victory. "Lots more fun than throwing balls at dummies at the county
+fair, wasn't it, fellows?"</p>
+
+<p>"You girls ought to be careful how you walk out here alone at this time
+of the year," said Jimmie Burke. "There are a great many tramps around
+now, going south in bunches to spend the winter in Palm Beach, no
+doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll never do it again," answered Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"Never again!" exclaimed Nora, raising her right hand to heaven.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose Farmer Smithson will wonder what became of his apples,"
+observed Reddy.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, he has so many acres of orchards, I don't suppose he'll miss
+this one little pile."</p>
+
+<p>And the crowd started gayly off to town.</p>
+
+<p>But the girls of the freshman class had not forgotten&mdash;or forgiven&mdash;the
+Black Monks of Asia.</p>
+
+<p>All along the walk Grace was turning over and over in her mind some
+scheme of revenge. Nothing seemed feasible, however. The sophomores were
+so well up in tricks that it would be difficult to deceive them.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose," Grace proposed suddenly, aloud, "we ask David Nesbit's advice
+to-morrow night, when we go to the flying machine exhibition."</p>
+
+<p>After that she dismissed the subject from her mind for the time being.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>ANNE HAS A SECRET</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the night of the flying machine exhibition, the four chums, for Anne
+had now been formally adopted by Grace and her friends, arrived somewhat
+early at the great arched doorway leading into the gymnasium.</p>
+
+<p>They were all somewhat excited over this new experience. There had been
+many balloon ascensions at the State Fair, and once a dirigible airship
+had sailed over the town of Oakdale. But to see a real flying machine
+with all its grace and elegance and lightness was like stepping onto
+another planet where progress had advanced much faster than it had on
+this.</p>
+
+<p>At least, so thought Anne as she followed her friends into the building.
+There was a sound of puffing and churning, during which David arrived in
+a cloud of smoke on his motor cycle.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to learn to ride one of those queer machines," exclaimed Grace
+from the doorway, never dreaming what an important part that very
+machine was one day to play in the history of Oakdale.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, you're welcome to," replied David, jumping off as he stopped
+the motor. "Come over to the campus to-morrow afternoon, and I'll give
+you your first lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that really an invitation?" asked Grace. "For I shall accept it, if
+it is."</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly is," answered the young man, "and I shall expect you to
+make a very excellent prize pupil, not like Reddy Brooks, who tumbled
+off and smashed his nose because he suddenly forgot how to manage the
+brakes."</p>
+
+<p>A few other people gathered in the roomy gymnasium to see the
+exhibition, but the girls could see that it was a very exclusive company
+they had been invited to join. There were, in fact, no other girls,
+except Miriam Nesbit, who came late with her mother, a handsome, quiet
+woman to whom her son David bore a marked resemblance.</p>
+
+<p>Grace and her friends spoke to Mrs. Nesbit cordially, while Miriam bowed
+coldly and confined all her attentions to Miss Leece, the unpopular
+teacher of mathematics. Miriam ignored Anne entirely.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, ladies, if you will all be seated, the show will begin,"
+announced David, leading them to the spectators' benches ranged against
+the wall. "Don't expect anything wonderful of mine," he added. "It's
+only in the first stages so far. I'm afraid she'll break down, but she's
+a great little machine, just the same. Isn't she, mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is wonderful, I think, David," replied Mrs. Nesbit, who was a very
+shy, quiet woman, almost entirely wrapped up in her only son. Miriam had
+always been too much for her, and she had long since given up attempting
+to rule or direct her brilliant, willful daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Nesbit," said Grace, "this is Anne Pierson, one of the brightest
+girls in the freshman class."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do?" said Mrs. Nesbit cordially, giving the girl her hand.
+"You are a newcomer, are you not? I haven't heard Miriam speak of you."</p>
+
+<p>"She is a newcomer, mother, but I hear she's giving your daughter Miriam
+a stiff pull for first place," said David teasingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd keep quiet, David," exclaimed his sister angrily. "You
+always talk too much."</p>
+
+<p>"Miriam!" remonstrated her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Nesbit," said Miss Leece in a disagreeable, harsh voice, "will
+have no trouble, I think, in holding her own."</p>
+
+<p>The teacher gave Anne such a glare from her pale blue eyes that the poor
+child shrank behind Grace in embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear," murmured Mrs. Nesbit helplessly. She disliked exceedingly
+the scenes to which her daughter often subjected the family.</p>
+
+<p>David only laughed good-naturedly.</p>
+
+<p>"The exhibition is about to begin," he said, and disappeared into the
+room where the ships were to be put through their performances.</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments six young airship builders appeared, each carrying in
+his arms the result of his summer's labors. There was vigorous applause
+from everybody except Miriam, who was too angry with her brother to
+enjoy the spectacle.</p>
+
+<p>The aeroplanes were all copies of well-known models, except David's,
+which was of an entirely new and original design of his own invention.
+It looked something like a flying fish, the girls thought, with its
+slender, oblong body, gauzy fins at the sides and a funny little forked
+tail at the stern.</p>
+
+<p>The models were too light for machinery, so rubber bands, secured
+cris-cross in the bows, when suddenly released with a snap gave the
+little ships the impetus they needed to fly the length of the gymnasium.</p>
+
+<p>Only four of the six, however, were destined to fly that evening. They
+soared straight down the big room, as easily and gracefully as great
+white birds, and dropped gently when they hit the curtain at the other
+end, their builders running after them as eagerly as boys sailing kites.
+One of the models fluttered and settled down before it reached the other
+side, and David's machine, which had commanded most attention because it
+was different, started out bravely enough, its little propeller making a
+busy humming as it skimmed along. But it had gone hardly ten yards
+before it collapsed and ignominiously crashed to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad of it," said Miriam above the din, for everyone had gathered
+about the young man to offer sympathy and congratulations at the same
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"It's very, very clever, my boy," said Professor Blitz, "and you'll
+succeed yet, if you keep at it."</p>
+
+<p>"She wouldn't go far, David," said Grace, stroking the little model, as
+if it had been a pet dog, "but she's the prettiest of all, just the
+same."</p>
+
+<p>"Did it hurt it when it fell?" Anne asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it broke one of its little fins," laughed David. "It hurt me
+much more than itself, because it wouldn't be good and fly all the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Anne," called Grace, "here is some one looking for you. It's a boy with
+a note."</p>
+
+<p>Anne looked frightened as she opened a soiled looking envelope the boy
+handed her.</p>
+
+<p>"Is anything the matter?" asked Jessica, seeing the expression of fear
+on her face.</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;yes&mdash;&mdash;," answered poor little Anne, undecidedly. "I must go home,
+or rather I mustn't go the way I came. Don't you think I could leave at
+a side entrance? I don't want to see the person who is waiting for me in
+front."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, child," spoke up Grace. "We'll see you home ourselves. Won't
+we, girls!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait until I lock up my motor cycle and I'll go along," called David.
+"We'll all protect Miss Anne."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him," said Anne to the boy, putting the note back in the envelope
+and giving it to him, "that what he asks is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't you squeeze us into the carriage, mother?" asked David,
+returning presently with his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"I have invited Miss Leece to drive home with us, mother," interrupted
+Miriam, giving her brother a blighting glance. "There is room for only
+one more person. Perhaps Jessica will take it."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind," said Jessica coldly, "but I prefer to walk with the
+girls."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You'd</i> better walk, too, cross-patch, and learn a few manners from
+your friends," was David's parting advice to his sister.</p>
+
+<p>"Children, children!" exclaimed Mrs. Nesbit, "don't, I beg of you,
+quarrel in public."</p>
+
+<p>Presently the five young people had slipped out of a side door of the
+gymnasium and started down a back street in the direction of Anne's
+house. They had not gone far, however, before they became aware that
+they were being followed. Grace was the first to call the attention of
+Nora and Jessica to a long, slim figure stealing after them in the
+shadows.</p>
+
+<p>"Here he comes," whispered Jessica. "What in the world do you suppose he
+wants with our poor little Anne?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe he's going to stop us," returned Grace. "He is coming nearer
+and nearer."</p>
+
+<p>"Anne, I command you to wait!" called a voice from behind them.</p>
+
+<p>They all stopped suddenly and Anne jumped as though she had received a
+shock.</p>
+
+<p>A tall, theatrical-looking individual had come up to them. He wore a
+shabby frock coat and a black slouch hat, which he raised with an
+elaborate flourish when he saw the young girls.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, ladies," he said, "but I wish to speak with my daughter."</p>
+
+<p>Anne controlled herself with an effort.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot see you now, father," she said. "It is quite late and I must
+get back."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall not only speak to me but you shall come with me," exclaimed
+the man, with a sudden flare of anger. "I will not submit to
+disobedience again. Come at once!"</p>
+
+<p>"Father, I cannot go with you," cried Anne, clinging to her friends. "I
+would rather be with mother and Mary. They need me more than you do and
+I want to go to school and study to be a teacher."</p>
+
+<p>The man was now beside himself with theatrical rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Miserable child!" he cried, waving his arms wildly. "I shall take you
+if I must by force." Breaking through the group, he seized the hand of
+his daughter and dragged her after him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, save me!" cried the poor girl, struggling to release herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't stand this! If she doesn't want to go with him, she shan't,
+father or no father," growled David, dashing after the pair.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, sir!" he cried, seizing Anne's other hand. "I must ask you to
+release this young lady at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Insolent boy!" cried the other, giving each word an oratorical
+flourish, "are you not aware that this young lady, as you call her, is
+merely a child, and that she happens to be my daughter? I cannot see
+that you have a right to interfere in a family matter."</p>
+
+<p>"But I have no proof that Miss Pierson is your daughter," retorted
+David. "It is enough that she doesn't want to go with you. I undertook
+to see her safely to her own home, this evening, and I mean to do it.
+After that you may settle your difficulties as you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Miserable upstart!" cried the man, now so thoroughly angry that he let
+go Anne's hand, "I have a good mind to give you what you deserve. As for
+you, undutiful, wretched girl," he added, his voice rising to an
+emotional tremolo, "you shall be well punished for this!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't wait," whispered Anne. "If we run, we can get away, now, while he
+is so angry." At that they all took to their heels, David following
+after them, much relieved to have given Anne's father the slip without
+further disagreeable argument.</p>
+
+<p>No one spoke until they had reached the Pierson cottage and had seen
+Anne safely to the front door.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed at last, trying not to cry. "I wouldn't
+for anything have had it happen, and just when you were all beginning to
+like me a little. Will you forgive me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive you, Anne!" cried Grace. "It wasn't your fault. We are only
+awfully sorry for you."</p>
+
+<p>"We will just forget all about it, and never speak of it to anyone,"
+promised Jessica, taking the girl's hand kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"But I want you to understand that I was right in not going," protested
+Anne. "Some day I will explain."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you were right," said David, "and I hope you will never be
+persuaded to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, all, a thousand times!" came gratefully from Anne; "and good
+night." Then she disappeared into the cottage.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, this was a night's adventure," observed Grace, as they started
+homeward.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid Anne's father is a night's adventurer," muttered David. "He
+looks mightily like one of those strolling actors who go barnstorming
+through country towns."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Anne! Do you suppose he wants her to barnstorm?" asked Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't a doubt of it," replied the young man. "I think you girls had
+better adopt that poor child and look after her."</p>
+
+<p>"We have already," answered Grace. "Didn't Miriam tell you about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miriam? No; she never tells me anything. Besides, what has she to do
+with it?"</p>
+
+<p>The girls were silent.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way," continued Grace, "speaking of barnstorming, we want to ask
+your advice, David. The sophomores played a mean trick on us the other
+day at the old Omnibus House."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard something about the Black Monks of Asia," answered David,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't your inventive brain devise a scheme of revenge?" went on Grace.
+"If we don't get even with them soon, the story will be all over town."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," replied David, "I can tell you a secret I happened to have
+overheard when one of the sophomores was calling on Miriam. I was an
+eavesdropper entirely by accident, but what I heard might help some. The
+sophomores are going to give an initiation mask ball a week from
+Saturday night. Only the class and a few outsiders, among them Miriam,
+are to be present. Everybody is to be in fancy dress, and disguised out
+of all recognition. Can't you work up a scheme with that to go upon,
+girls?"</p>
+
+<p>"We certainly can," cried Nora. "It's the chance of a lifetime."</p>
+
+<p>"Just wait and see!" exclaimed Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, David, you didn't happen to overhear the password, did
+you?" asked Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"I did," he replied. "Nothing escaped me, for I was caught in a trap.
+You know I don't care for that large, husky young damsel who leads the
+sophomores, and if I had made my presence behind the screen known, I
+should have had to speak to her. So I just sat still and said nothing.
+The password is 'Asia.'"</p>
+
+<p>"They are trying to rub it in, I suppose," cried Grace. "But I think
+they won't be so ready to use that word after their old ball is over."</p>
+
+<p>"If you want any help," offered David as he left Grace at her front
+door, "you know where to come for it, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're a true brick, David!" said Grace. "Good night."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SOPHOMORE BALL</h3>
+
+
+<p>There was an undercurrent of excitement in the air on the day of the
+sophomore ball.</p>
+
+<p>The sophomores themselves were full of secrets, whispering around in
+groups, their faces grave with self-important expressions. This was to
+be their annual Initiation Ball, and many new members, after receiving
+initiation into the various sophomore societies, were to be invited to
+the gymnasium, which had been turned over to the class for the evening.</p>
+
+<p>There was no end to the fun of these balls, according to feminine
+gossip, for no male was ever admitted and only three invitations were
+issued to girls of other classes. It was, in fact, to be nothing but fun
+and frolic, and every costume had been planned weeks ahead.</p>
+
+<p>One teacher was asked to be present to keep order in case of intrusion,
+for the gymnasium door, on that famous night, was always besieged by
+youths from the Boys' High School, who roared and jeered as each cloaked
+and masked figure rushed under the archway and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>The freshmen, all through the day, were unusually quiet. They kept to
+themselves and had little to say. Miriam and her three particular
+friends were carefully avoided by their classmates. Miriam, herself,
+felt the snub at once. Had she, after all, made a mistake, and was she
+losing ground in the class? But her vanity was like a life buoy to her
+sinking hopes. She refused to see that the other girls regarded her with
+growing dislike.</p>
+
+<p>When school was over, that afternoon, six girls strolled down the High
+School walk arm in arm. They were Grace and her three chums and two
+other girls who were popular in the freshman class.</p>
+
+<p>Anne's small figure seemed almost dwarfed next to Grace, who towered
+half a foot above her. Ever since Anne's trying scene with her father,
+Grace had been doubly tender and kind to her, until the young girl
+seemed to expand under the happy influence.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, girlies, dear, we are the chosen six. I hope we shall be a credit
+to the class."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk so loudly, Nora. I feel as if we were surrounded by spies
+to-day. Everybody has been so mysterious and queer."</p>
+
+<p>"One thing is practically certain," whispered Grace: "I believe it was
+Miriam who told the sophomores about the Omnibus House. Why else did
+they invite her to their ball?"</p>
+
+<p>"We can never prove it, though," said one of the others, "unless we get
+her up a tree some day and make her admit it."</p>
+
+<p>"Remember, Anne," cautioned Grace, when they came to the cross street
+leading to the Pierson cottage, "eight o'clock sharp at my house! And
+don't bother about things. We shall have more than enough among us."</p>
+
+<p>At half-past eight that night the sound of a stringed orchestra floated
+out on the breeze as the door of the gymnasium swung back and forth to
+admit disguised sophomores, who each whispered the countersign to the
+doorkeeper, after running the gauntlet of the waiting crowd, and slipped
+in.</p>
+
+<p>The music was furnished by a troupe of women players especially engaged
+to play in this Adamless Eden. What would not the crowd of waiting boys
+have given for one glimpse of the ball room, where ballet girls, clowns
+and courtiers, Egyptian snake charmers, Mephistopholeses and
+Marguerites, priests and priestesses of the Orient, all whirled madly
+together?</p>
+
+<p>Every door had been locked and bolted and every downstairs window
+securely closed. Ventilation was obtained through the half-open windows
+opening on the upper gallery, which ran around the four sides of the
+gymnasium. The doors to this gallery had also been locked and the only
+way to reach it was by steps leading up from the gymnasium.</p>
+
+<p>Six masked and hooded figures swung down High School Street together,
+talking and laughing in low voices. The smallest of the six appeared to
+stumble over her feet, and once tumbled in the road. Her friends gayly
+helped her up, when it was disclosed that she wore a pair of boy's shoes
+much too large for her.</p>
+
+<p>"If we don't break our necks stumbling over these brogans," whispered
+the tallest girl, "we'll be lucky."</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, each one of the six maskers was wearing a pair of
+men's shoes.</p>
+
+<p>"I stuffed my toes with cotton," laughed another, "but even now they are
+hard to manage."</p>
+
+<p>Just then a motor cycle shot past them, slowed down and stopped
+altogether.</p>
+
+<p>The rider rested it against a tree and came back.</p>
+
+<p>"I recognized you by your big feet," he said in a whisper. "Grace,
+here's the duplicate key to the laboratory. I had some trouble getting
+it, but no one knows, and you'll be safe enough. I'll let myself in with
+the other duplicate key and lock the door. They will be sure to try it
+at intervals. If you get into any trouble, early in the evening, make a
+dash for the steps and blow your horn loud. Now, that's all, I think.
+I'll be hidden in the laboratory until my turn comes. Good-bye and good
+luck!"</p>
+
+<p>In another instant he was off on his motor cycle.</p>
+
+<p>Six figures, well disguised in dominoes of as many hues, presently
+appeared on the ball room floor, just in time for the grand march. It
+was a pity no one, except the lone teacher, was permitted to look at the
+brilliant picture. But such was the tradition of the class. After the
+march, ten ballet girls in tarlatan skirts, their faces concealed by
+little black satin masks, gave a performance. Following this, a Spanish
+dancer, whom the six dominoes recognized at once as the treacherous
+Miriam Nesbit, gave an exhibition of her skill.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to have some fun with her," whispered the blue domino to the
+red one. "Just follow me and see."</p>
+
+<p>The last speaker joined the dancer as the music struck up a waltz.</p>
+
+<p>"That was a good day's work you did for our class, not long ago," she
+whispered as they danced off together.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked the Spanish dancer.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean the Black Monks of Asia. Now, do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought it was not to be told," exclaimed the dancer, flushing
+under her mask.</p>
+
+<p>"Only to the committee so that you might be rewarded with an
+invitation," whispered the domino, as she slipped away.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>She</i> did confess it, and every freshman in the class shall know it
+to-morrow!" the emissary exclaimed privately to her friend, the red
+domino.</p>
+
+<p>"In spite of what her brother is doing for us to-night?" returned the
+red domino.</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite right, child. I never thought of that. Perhaps that is
+the very reason he is helping us get even to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is," added the other, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls, we must hurry up and begin," whispered another of the six
+dominoes. "They are all going to unmask at half-past ten."</p>
+
+<p>So the unrecognized intruders slipped away, stationing themselves about
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon a rumor began to spread among the dancers that there were
+young men present. No one knew exactly how it started, but it grew and
+spread with such persistency that it finally reached the ears of the
+chaperon.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of the girls saw their feet," said her informant, "and not only
+their feet but their trousers, too."</p>
+
+<p>The teacher rose and rapped sharply for order.</p>
+
+<p>"Young ladies," she called in a loud voice, "I am sorry to disturb the
+dancers, but we have every reason to believe there are some men in the
+room. Since it is not yet time for you to unmask, it will be simple to
+find out who does not belong here by having you file past me. I will
+lift each mask myself."</p>
+
+<p>The dancers accordingly arranged themselves in a long line and walked
+single file past the teacher. She saw only girl's faces, however, as she
+peeped under the masks, and the dance proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>The next disturbance came when the maskers had all taken their stand at
+one end of the room at the request of the six dominoes, who managed to
+whisper to each sophomore that there was presently to be a surprise.</p>
+
+<p>An expectant hush fell over the company as the six dominoes filed out of
+a side room and stood, for a moment, in full view of the sophomores.
+Then the six deliberately lifted their dominoes, disclosing trouser legs
+and men's shoes. Instantly the place was in pandemonium; yet before the
+sophomores could rush upon the intruders six long horns were blown in
+unison, and immediately the lights went out. In the darkness the six
+dominoes made for the stairs, rushed along the gallery, and were
+admitted to the laboratory by the duplicate key. But, just before the
+blue domino disappeared, she called out in a loud voice from the
+gallery:</p>
+
+<p>"The freshmen are avenged!"</p>
+
+<p>When the doors were safely closed the lights were turned on again,
+disclosing the sophomores blinking foolishly at each other after the
+sudden startling change from darkness to light.</p>
+
+<p>"They are in the laboratory!" cried one. "Let's cut off their escape!"</p>
+
+<p>The angry sophomores made a rush for the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry girls!" urged David, who had just returned to the laboratory
+after manipulating the lights. "They'll catch us before we know it."</p>
+
+<p>But the young fugitives were too late. Just then there was the sound of
+many feet running up the stairs from the other door.</p>
+
+<p>"How about one of the gallery doors?" asked Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"They are all locked," answered David. "There only remain the skylight
+trap-door and the roof. Do you think you could manage it if I helped
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course; we could manage anything," protested the freshmen girls.</p>
+
+<p>It was an easy matter to climb up the ladder, and clamber through the
+trap-door on to the roof.</p>
+
+<p>"We're just in time," whispered David. "They have found the right key to
+the gallery door, and they'll be coming in both ways. Crawl carefully
+now, girls, for heaven's sake, and don't slip!"</p>
+
+<p>The seven young people began slowly to draw themselves along the
+gymnasium roof on their hands and knees. Fortunately, it was not a very
+sloping roof, and their only danger lay in their movements being heard
+from below. Meanwhile the gymnasium had emptied itself, and parties of
+enraged sophomores were engaged in searching the adjoining class rooms
+and passages.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's surround the building on the outside," cried one of the class
+leaders. "They can't escape, then, by any of the fire escapes, and we
+are sure to catch them!"</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments, David peeping over the edge of the roof, saw figures
+stationed at every possible exit, waiting patiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Lie low," he whispered, "and crawl on your stomachs, or you're surely
+caught."</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the seven had reached the end of the hundred feet of
+gymnasium, where their flight was stopped short by a blank wall where
+the gymnasium joined the High School building.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a pretty pass," whispered David. "I forgot about this old school
+wall. The only thing to do, now, is to hide behind this chimney and wait
+for the row to quiet down."</p>
+
+<p>There they lay, as flat as possible, listening with bated breath to the
+sophomores below. Presently there was a sound of footsteps on the
+gymnasium roof and they heard Miriam's voice saying:</p>
+
+<p>"They must have escaped through the trap-door in the laboratory and come
+along here. Wait a minute, girls, and I'll see."</p>
+
+<p>"O Grace, we're caught!" groaned Jessica. "What shall we do?"</p>
+
+<p>"No we aren't yet," answered Grace. "Especially if she is coming alone,
+and that is what I am praying for."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come with you, Miriam," called the voice of the sophomore leader.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you take the other side?" proposed Miriam. "And I'll go
+around and meet you."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," came the answer.</p>
+
+<p>The freshmen clutched each other and waited.</p>
+
+<p>Miriam ran lightly along the roof, and came upon the seven prostrate
+figures so suddenly that she almost lost her balance.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't speak," said Grace, in a distinct whisper, "and don't give us
+away. If you do, you will regret it. Remember the blue domino who
+waltzed with you!"</p>
+
+<p>She hoped Miriam would understand what she meant and so save her from
+further explanation. In this Grace was right. Miriam was trapped at
+last. She deliberately turned and walked away without a word.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, girls," they heard her call to the others, "let's waste no
+more time on them." When all was quiet the seven intriguers slipped down
+the fire escape and disappeared in the darkness&mdash;safely escaping
+discovery.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>ALL HALLOWE'EN</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Anne," called a chorus of boys' and girls' voices, "come out and have
+some fun. Have you forgotten it's Hallowe'en?"</p>
+
+<p>The door of the Pierson cottage opened and Anne appeared on the
+threshhold.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't," she answered; "I must study to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, bother lessons!" exclaimed Grace Harlowe. "Skip them, for once, and
+join the crowd. We are going Hallowe'ening. Mother allowed it because
+David Nesbit and Reddy Brooks are along to look after us."</p>
+
+<p>Anne looked longingly at the little company.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come," she sighed, "although it was my algebra I was working on.
+You know Miss Leece hates me, and, if I slip up, she'll be much harder
+than any of the other teachers."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang Miss Leece!" said David promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let's hang her, then," exclaimed Nora. "Let's dress her up and
+hang her on a limb of a tree."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by 'hang' her?" asked Grace, while Anne went in to put
+on her hat and coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know?" replied Nora. "You stuff an old dress full of hay and
+paper, make a head out of any old thing, put a hat on it, and there you
+have her mighty fine."</p>
+
+<p>"That's an old stunt, Nora," observed David. "Let's have something more
+improved and up-to-date. Suppose, for instance, we use Marian's
+Jack-o'-lantern for the head. I'll put some little electric bulbs in the
+eye holes and attach them to a battery so that we can turn her eyes off
+and on. And we'll ride her on a broomstick in good style."</p>
+
+<p>"Only, nobody must know it's Miss Leece whose being effigied," urged
+Grace. "This must be merely for our own private satisfaction. Everybody
+promise not to tell."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody promised; so, with Anne safely in tow, they started for
+Jessica's house to make the figure. Here they were not likely to be
+interrupted. Jessica's mother was dead and her father spent most of his
+evenings in his library.</p>
+
+<p>Half a broomstick, with a small pumpkin attached to one end, formed the
+framework of Miss Leece's effigy. A cross beam gave a human touch to the
+shoulders and with the skeleton ready, the business of stuffing an old
+ulster and hanging it over the figure was simple. Tiny electric bulbs
+were placed in the eyes and a bonnet tied on the head with a green veil
+floating behind. Miss Leece, Nora insisted, always wore one growing out
+of her left ear. There was nothing left to do now, but to place the
+figure in a legless chair that had been nailed to two poles, and the
+procession was ready.</p>
+
+<p>"She's a very fine lady," cried Grace, running ahead to get the effect
+of the absurd lopsided figure whose eyes glared and went out
+alternately. "I wish the real Miss L. could see herself now. She would
+know exactly what she looks like when she glares at poor little Anne in
+class."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Anne," said David, "this shall be your party. We are going to give
+you satisfaction for your wrongs in the only way that lies in our
+power."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't really mind her," replied Anne, "only I'm afraid she'll
+catch me unprepared, some day, and then I <i>will</i> get it in earnest."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a perfect outrage," exclaimed Grace. "Miss Leece is so cruel to
+little Anne, David, that it makes my blood boil. I sometimes think she
+is trying to make Anne lose the freshman prize."</p>
+
+<p>"The old Hessian!" cried David, who was on a sort of rampage that
+evening. "What shall I do to her, Anne? Give her an electric shock?" and
+he pressed the electric button rapidly up and down, which made the eyes
+glare hideously and go out several times in succession.</p>
+
+<p>In a town the size of Oakdale strolling parties of boys and girls, on
+Hallowe'en night, made a not unusual sight, so when our young people
+paraded boldly down the main street, singing and blowing horns, nothing
+was thought of it. What they were doing might be considered exceedingly
+out of place by a few straightlaced persons, but boys and girls will
+have their fun, even if it must sometimes be at the expense of other
+people.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly Miss Leece was the most unpopular teacher ever employed in the
+High School as far back as memory could reach. She was cruel, strict and
+sharp-tongued. Often her violent, unrestrained temper got the better of
+her in the class room; then she gave an exhibition that was not good for
+young girls to see. Anne, especially, was the victim of her rages&mdash;poor
+little Anne who never missed a lesson and studied twice as hard as the
+other girls. Miss Leece had but one weakness, apparently, and that was
+Miriam Nesbit.</p>
+
+<p>Twice had the faculty convened in secret session to consider Miss
+Leece's case, but it had been decided to keep her through the year at
+least, since she was engaged by contract and was moreover an excellent
+instructor in mathematics.</p>
+
+<p>So, it was no wonder that even this early in the school year, she was
+the object of dislike to the High School girls. But could our girls have
+foreseen what the evening's fun would bring forth, they would never have
+been so reckless in carrying the effigy about town.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose we take her across the square," cried Reddy; "then over the
+bridge to the old graveyard and hang her on the limb of the apple tree
+just outside the wall?"</p>
+
+<p>Off they started, singing at the tops of their voices:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Hang a mean teacher on a sour apple tree,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hang a mean teacher on a sour apple tree.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>When they reached the center of the public square, where a big electric
+light shed its rays, who should spring out of the shadows, from nowhere
+apparently, but Miss Leece herself? Nothing escaped her sharp ears and
+her cold blue eyes; neither words of the song nor the figure in detail,
+green veil and all; nor Anne Pierson, who happened to be standing quite
+near the effigy at the moment.</p>
+
+<p>And what was worse, and still more incriminating to the guilty
+merrymakers, the moment they caught sight of her they stopped singing.
+The eyes in the pumpkin suddenly lost their glare, and a silent
+procession wound its way hurriedly from the square.</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens!" cried Grace. "Why did we stop the song? If we had only
+gone right ahead, it wouldn't have looked half as bad."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a mistake," admitted David, gravely, "especially as she seemed
+to have seen Anne first of all. Anne, if she walks into you to-morrow
+morning, you can just lay the blame on me, do you hear? I got up the
+whole party and I'm willing to stand for it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," cried Anne. "That wouldn't be fair, David. I couldn't think of
+doing that."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you are not to get the blame, at any rate," said David, "if I
+have to go up and make a confession to the principal herself."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go and hang her now, anyhow," cried Reddy. "We'll take no
+half-way measures with old Queen Bess."</p>
+
+<p>But somehow the spice of the adventure seemed to have gone out of it.</p>
+
+<p>"It really would be dangerous now," said Grace. "She would be certain to
+hear of it and make it worse for all of us."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not burn her," put in Nora, who was afraid of nothing and had often
+looked at the scolding teacher with such cold, laughing eyes, that even
+Miss Leece was disconcerted.</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" cried several of the others. "We will take her down below the
+bridge and burn her as a witch."</p>
+
+<p>No one objected to this, since the ashes of the effigy would tell no
+tales. Once more they started singing: "Merrily we roll along!" as they
+marched out of the village, crossed the bridge over the little river and
+finally paused on the bank below.</p>
+
+<p>"Plant the pole in deep," said David, "so she won't topple, and fix her
+up to suit yourselves, girls, while we get the fagots."</p>
+
+<p>The boys began to search about for dried sticks and twigs, while the
+girls were arranging the figure for her funeral pyre.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, there was a wild war whoop. A crowd of boys dashed out of a
+thicket near by, each one carrying a lighted Jack-o'-lantern on top of a
+pole, and surrounded the effigy of the teacher.</p>
+
+<p>"Help!" cried the girls, trying to defend the absurd thing from the
+attack, but they were too late. One of the boys seized the pole and
+rushed off in the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Leece, in effigy, had been kidnapped in an instant, before David
+and his friends had had time to realize what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Which way did they go?" he asked breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Through the thicket," cried Grace.</p>
+
+<p>And the whole crowd dashed after the kidnappers. It was great fun for
+everybody except Anne, who was too tired to keep up the chase for long,
+and was soon lagging behind the others. David saw her and turned back.</p>
+
+<p>"You are too little for all this junketing, Anne," he said kindly.
+"Suppose I take you home? Shall I?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would, David," answered the girl. "I'm just about ready to
+drop, I'm so tired."</p>
+
+<p>Taking her arm, he helped her over the ruts and rough places, until they
+finally emerged from the wood and started on the road to town.</p>
+
+<p>There were many other Hallowe'en parties out that night; singing and
+laughing was heard in every direction.</p>
+
+<p>"It's like a play," said Anne, "only everything is behind the scenes.
+Don't think I haven't enjoyed it, David, just because I got tired. I
+never played with boys and girls of my own age before. What fun it is!"</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it?" replied the young man, "I love to get out, once in a while,
+and have a good time like this. I find I can work all the better after
+it's over."</p>
+
+<p>Presently the others caught up with them, breathless and laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Leece is stolen," cried Grace, "before ever she was hanged or
+burned. I do wonder what they'll do with her."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, leave her in the woods," responded Reddy, "to scare the birds
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, Anne," continued Grace. "David will take you home. We go
+this way. Don't be frightened about to-morrow. I doubt if she says
+anything; and if she does, we are all implicated."</p>
+
+<p>The young people separated, still singing and laughing; never dreaming
+of the storm brewing from their evening's prank.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne," pursued David, as they strolled down River Street together,
+"when I make my flying machine will you be afraid to take a sail with
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never," replied Anne, "but I wish it had been made in time to carry me
+away from Miss Leece to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>And Anne's words had more meaning than either of them realized at the
+time.</p>
+
+<p>Imagine the surprise and horror of the Hallowe'en party when, next
+morning, they discovered the effigy of Miss Leece planted right in front
+of the Girls' High School!</p>
+
+<p>And the teacher herself was the first to see the impious outrage.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>MISS LEECE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Yes, there stood the hideous, grotesque effigy just where her abductors
+had left her the night before, her green veil floating in the breezes.
+As a figure of fun and an object of ridicule, she might not have created
+more than a ripple with the faculty. But it was evident that Miss
+Leece's function, even in effigy, was to make trouble.</p>
+
+<p>And trouble was certainly brewing that memorable morning. The figure
+itself might never have been recognized, but a placard which had been
+pinned on the front of the old ulster left no room for doubt. Across it
+had been inscribed in large printed letters:</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">The Most Unpopular Teacher in School</span>."</p>
+
+<p>No one dared take the effigy away for fear of being implicated.
+Everybody had seen it, both men and women professors and the boys and
+girls of the two schools. But it was not until Miss Thompson, the
+principal of the Girls' High School, had arrived that the figure was
+removed.</p>
+
+<p>"How could those boys have been so mean!" exclaimed Grace to her three
+friends just before the gong sounded. "They might have known what would
+happen."</p>
+
+<p>There was an ominous quiet in the various class rooms all morning; but
+nothing was said or done to indicate just when the storm would burst.
+When the first class in algebra met, Anne trembled with fear, but Miss
+Leece, in a robin's egg-blue dress, which offset the angry hue of her
+complexion, was apparently too angry to trust herself to look in the
+direction of the young girl and the lesson progressed without incident.</p>
+
+<p>However, she was only biding her time.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Pierson," she said, toward the end of the lesson, in a voice so
+rasping as to make the girls fairly shiver, "go to the blackboard and
+demonstrate this problem."</p>
+
+<p>Then she read aloud in the same disagreeable voice, the following
+difficult problem:</p>
+
+<p>"'Train A starts from Chicago going thirty miles an hour. An hour later
+Train B starts from Chicago going thirty-five miles an hour. How far
+from Chicago will they be when Train B passes Train A?'"</p>
+
+<p>The girls looked up surprised. The problem was well in advance of what
+they had been studying and Miss Leece was really asking Anne to recite
+something she had not yet learned.</p>
+
+<p>Anne hardly knew how to reply to the terrible woman who stood glowering
+at her as if she would like to crush her to bits.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry," said the girl. "I cannot."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Nesbit," said the teacher, "will you demonstrate this problem?"</p>
+
+<p>Miriam rose with a little smile of triumph on her face and went to the
+blackboard, where she worked out the problem.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what on earth does the woman mean?" whispered Grace. "Are we
+expected to learn lessons we have never been taught and has that horrid
+Miriam been studying ahead?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I must be dreaming," replied Anne, looking sorrowfully at Miss
+Leece.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Pierson," thundered the teacher, "you are aware, I believe, that I
+permit no conversation in this class. Stupidity and inattention are not
+to be supported in any student, and I must ask you to leave the room."</p>
+
+<p>Anne rose in a dazed sort of way, looking very small and shabby as she
+left the room.</p>
+
+<p>But Miss Leece was not to come off so easily in the fight, and Anne had
+a splendid champion in Grace Harlowe, who could not endure injustice and
+was fearless where her rights or her friends' rights were concerned.</p>
+
+<p>She rose quietly and faced the angry teacher, who already regretted
+having gone so far.</p>
+
+<p>"If Miss Pierson is to be ordered from the room, Miss Leece, I shall
+follow her. I spoke to her first. I was naturally surprised that you
+gave out a problem so far in advance of our regular work. It is doubtful
+if any girl in the class could do it except Miriam, and she must have
+been prepared."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Harlowe," said Miss Leece, stamping her foot, and again giving way
+to rage, "I must ask you to take your seat at once and never interfere
+again with the way I conduct this class."</p>
+
+<p>"You conduct this class with injustice and violence, Miss Leece," said
+Grace, turning very white, but holding herself in admirable control
+considering the conduct of the older woman.</p>
+
+<p>"I am in no humor to be answered back this morning, Miss Harlowe, and I
+would advise you to be careful," continued the enraged woman. "I have
+had enough to try me since last night and this morning. Miss Pierson
+must answer to the principal for those insults, and her insubordination
+just now has only made matters worse."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Pierson has nothing to answer for which I have not, and I shall
+join her," replied Grace, and she left the room.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Leece was about to continue the lesson when Jessica, pale and
+trembling, rose and followed her friend. Nora was next to go and in
+another moment there was not a girl left in the algebra class except
+Miriam and her four particular friends. The gong sounded as the last
+pupil closed the door behind her, but there was little doubt that the
+first class in algebra had gone on a strike.</p>
+
+<p>The noon recess gong had sounded before the girls were able to meet and
+talk about the incident, and, during the time that intervened, Anne had
+received a summons in the form of a small note to meet the principal in
+her office at three that afternoon. She said nothing to her friends,
+however, and hid the envelope in her pocket.</p>
+
+<p>The girls in IV. algebra gathered around their friends to hear the
+story. They were indignant and expressed their readiness to join the
+strike out of sympathy in case there was any more trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"They have no right to put such a violent woman over us," said Grace, as
+she nibbled at a pickle and a cracker in the locker room. "I wish they
+would give me the opportunity. I should be more than willing to testify
+to her behavior before the entire faculty and the school board
+combined."</p>
+
+<p>Anne, herself, the center of the whole affair was very quiet. This
+remarkable young girl seemed to possess some secret force that she was
+able to draw upon when she most needed it.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne, you precious child," exclaimed the impetuous Nora, "you must not
+get scared. Whatever happens, the whole class means to stand by you.
+Don't we, girls?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," came from all sides.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think anything in particular will happen," replied Anne. "I
+believe Miss Leece really wants to prevent my winning the prize. That's
+all."</p>
+
+<p>"She has certainly adopted a pet," cried Marian Barber.</p>
+
+<p>"What did Miriam Nesbit mean by studying ahead like that?" exclaimed
+another. "It was disloyal to the whole class."</p>
+
+<p>"It looks very much as if they had fixed it up between them," continued
+Grace. "I'm sorry about the effigy, but I won't stand that kind of
+favoritism. It's mean and underhanded."</p>
+
+<p>After school Anne lingered in the corridor until the other girls had
+gone. Then she made her way slowly to the office of the principal. "Come
+in," came the answer to her timid knock.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Thompson, the principal, was a fine woman, much beloved by the
+people of Oakdale where she had served as principal of the Girls' High
+School for many years. She had adjusted numerous difficulties in her
+time, but never such a knotty problem as the present one. It was
+incredible that Anne Pierson, who stood so well in her classes that she
+had already been mentioned by the faculty, should have engaged in such
+an escapade as Miss Leece had accused her of.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down," she said kindly to the young girl, whose small, tired face
+appealed to her sympathies. "What is this trouble between you and Miss
+Leece, Miss Pierson?" she continued, plunging into the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know myself, Miss Thompson," answered Anne quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"But she accuses you of rather terrible things, Miss Pierson," went on
+the principal, picking up a slip of paper and reading aloud,
+"'inattention, insubordination, impertinence and a tendency to make
+trouble.' Have you any answer to make to these charges?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you nothing to say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only that they are untrue."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Pierson," continued the principal, opening a closet door, "do you
+recognize this figure."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i002" id="i002"></a>
+<img src="images/i002.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Miss Pierson, Do You Recognize This Figure?"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<p>There, hanging by its neck on a coat hook and still wearing its
+fantastic bonnet and green veil, was the famous effigy.</p>
+
+<p>Anne looked at the absurd thing for a moment in silence. Then her eyes
+met Miss Thompson's, and both teacher and pupil burst out laughing.</p>
+
+<p>The young girl never knew how far that laugh went to soften her present
+predicament. As a matter of fact, Miss Thompson had never liked the
+teacher in mathematics, while the small, shabby pupil appealed strongly
+to her sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you not the originator of this outrageous plot, Miss Pierson?"</p>
+
+<p>Anne was silent. She could hardly say she was the originator and still
+she had participated.</p>
+
+<p>"I will put the question in another form," said the principal. "If you
+were not the originator, who was?"</p>
+
+<p>Still Anne made no reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Leece," continued the principal, "alleges that she distinctly saw
+you standing by the figure. She did not recognize the other faces. Do
+you think, Miss Pierson, that such an escapade as you engaged in last
+night was entirely respectful or worthy of a pupil of Oakdale High
+School?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Anne at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know that suspension or expulsion are the punishments for such
+behavior?"</p>
+
+<p>Anne clasped her hands nervously. She saw the freshman prize floating
+away, and her eyes filled with tears, but she said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of being angry, however, Miss Thompson was pleased with the
+girl's pluck and loyalty. But she was puzzled to know how to proceed.
+Her judgment and her sympathies revolted against punishing this prize
+pupil, and still it looked as if Miss Leece had everything on her side.
+A tap at the door interrupted her reflections, and Anne opened it,
+admitting Mrs. Gray escorted by David and Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Miss Thompson," said the old lady, "I know you will consider me
+an interfering old woman, but when I heard that my particular child,
+Anne Pierson, was in trouble, I came straight to you. I want to talk the
+whole matter over comfortably; since it's my own freshman class that's
+on the rampage, I feel as if I had a right to put in a word."</p>
+
+<p>"You are most welcome, Mrs. Gray," replied Miss Thompson, cordially.</p>
+
+<p>She was exceedingly fond of the lonely old lady who had been a
+benefactor to the school in so many ways. "But what's this you say about
+the freshman class? I have heard nothing about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Grace," said Mrs. Gray, "suppose you tell Miss Thompson what you have
+just finished telling me."</p>
+
+<p>Then Grace related the incident in the algebra class and the long
+succession of insults Anne had endured from the terrible Miss Leece.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear," murmured Miss Thompson, "this looks like persecution and
+very strong favoritism on the part of Miss Leece. A thing we wish to
+keep out of the school as much as possible. But what about this!" and
+she opened the door of the closet where the pumpkin face of the effigy
+grinned at them grotesquely from the shadows.</p>
+
+<p>"I have something to say about that, Miss Thompson," declared David. "I
+am the author of this 'crime' and I intend to take the blame for it.
+Miss Pierson had so little to do with it that we had fairly to drag her
+out of her own house to make her join the crowd."</p>
+
+<p>"I think, Miss Thompson," put in Mrs. Gray, "that a teacher must have
+been exceedingly sharp and disagreeable to have inspired such nice
+children to this," and she pointed to the figure.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you are right," admitted the principal after a moment's
+thought, "and I trust, under the circumstances, that the whole affair
+can be settled without the interference of the School Board. Suppose you
+leave Miss Leece to me. And young people," she added, "if you will
+promise to say nothing more about the subject, I think Miss Leece may be
+persuaded to let the matter drop."</p>
+
+<p>And so ended the Hallowe'en escapade. Miss Thompson paid a visit to Miss
+Leece that evening, at the teacher's rooms in Oakdale, and was closeted
+with her for more than an hour. No one ever knew what happened. Miss
+Thompson was a woman to keep her own counsel; but the affair never came
+up before the School Board and Miss Leece, after that, though somewhat
+stiff in her manner, had no more outbursts of rage for some time.
+Undoubtedly her display of favoritism in the algebra class had lost her
+the day.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Thompson was a woman of fine judgment and broad and just views. She
+was proud of the Oakdale High Schools and the splendid classes they
+turned out year after year. She realized perfectly what a disturbance a
+woman like Miss Leece could cause and she determined to check her at
+every point, especially when the most prominent and finest pupils of the
+two schools were implicated.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore the offenders went scot-free and Anne was once more safe to
+pursue the freshman prize.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Leece, however, was only biding her time. While Anne had won this
+battle she might lose the next.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>THANKSGIVING DAY</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Oh, how I love Thanksgiving!" cried Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how you love turkey, you mean," exclaimed her bosom friend, Nora
+O'Malley.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," admitted Grace, "the turkey is a grand old bird, bless him, but
+football is what I really love, delightful, thrilling football. I wish I
+could play center on the home team. I know I could make a touchdown as
+well as the best of them."</p>
+
+<p>The crowd of young people were seated on straw in the bottom of a large
+road wagon that was slowly making its way from Grace's house out to the
+football grounds. It was decorated with the colors of the Oakdale High
+School, sea-blue and white, and the girls wore blue and white rosettes
+and carried long horns from which dangled ribbon streamers. Numbers of
+Oakdale people were hurrying down the road toward the field, and the
+crisp autumn air vibrated with the sounds of talk and laughter. In the
+distance could be heard the music of the town band, which always gave a
+concert before the Thanksgiving game.</p>
+
+<p>"And to think that little Anne has never in her life seen a football
+game!" exclaimed Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>Anne blushed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she replied reluctantly, "I'll have to admit this is my very
+first game, but I understand the rules. Grace has explained them to me.
+I hope our boys will win."</p>
+
+<p>"If the Dunsmore boys are in good trim, I'm afraid they'll give us a
+stiff pull," observed David, "but the stiffer the pull the more
+interesting it is to watch, so long as they don't lick us."</p>
+
+<p>Just then the wagon drew up at the grounds and the boys and girls jumped
+out and made their way through the crowd to their seats.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody in Oakdale turned out for the annual Thanksgiving football
+game. The professors and their wives, the teachers from the Girls' High
+School and all the pupils were there in full force, besides the citizens
+of Oakdale and their families. There was really a very large assemblage
+in the semicircular ampitheater which was hung with bunting and flags in
+honor of the great occasion, and probably not one in the whole cheerful
+company but had enjoyed a good Thanksgiving dinner that afternoon, so
+good humor beamed from every face.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think this is a thrilling sight, Anne?" demanded Grace, for
+there was not a soul in Oakdale who was not vain of the High School
+football team, which had won for itself honors all over the state.</p>
+
+<p>"Wonderful!" exclaimed Anne, clasping her hands and waiting impatiently
+for the performance to commence.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the band struck up again, and under cover of the music David
+whispered to Jessica:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you see that man over there to the right on the back seat, with
+long, dark hair and a slouch hat?"</p>
+
+<p>Jessica found the individual presently, starting slightly when she saw
+his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I do believe it's Anne's father," she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"It just is," said David, "and he's looking hard at Anne, too. I wonder
+if he means to make another scene."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Anne!" sighed Jessica. "She seems to have more than her fair share
+of troubles."</p>
+
+<p>The two teams then filed out for warming-up practice; the excitement of
+the ensuing game drove all thought of the sinister looking Mr. Pierson
+out of their heads, for the time being. The first half ended in a
+brilliant touchdown for the High School boys, though the kick for goal
+failed. Immediately the place rang with the cheers of the spectators.
+Crowds of boys rushed up and down giving the High School yell and when
+the noise died down somewhat the girls started the High School song:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Here's three cheers for dear old Oakdale,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">God bless her, everyone!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Anne was thrilled. Never had she enjoyed herself so much. She stood upon
+the seat beside Grace and waved a blue and white banner as frantically
+as anybody else.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I quite understand what it's all about," she confided to
+David, who sat next to her, "but I am very happy all the same."</p>
+
+<p>David smiled down into the radiant face. What a new dress and hat can do
+for one small, insignificant little person is quite wonderful sometimes.
+And Anne, with the money she had earned from Mrs. Gray, had replenished
+her wardrobe. In her neat brown suit and broad-brimmed hat she was
+really pretty, in a queer, quiet sort of way, David thought. He wondered
+if the father, hidden by rows of people, in the back, would be able to
+see how prosperous and well his daughter was looking. But his attention
+was recalled to the football field, for the next half was going against
+the High School, and there was apprehension among the sons and daughters
+of Oakdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Dunsmore! Dunsmore!" cried a delegation from Dunsmore College.</p>
+
+<p>But Dunsmore was not to be the victor that Thanksgiving Day. It was
+ordained that, just as hope had almost expired, a slender, fleet-footed
+young junior of the High School team should seize the ball and fly like
+the wind across the line. Score 10 to 1&mdash;Oakdale's score!</p>
+
+<p>Immediately a terrific hubbub began. Surely the place had gone mad, Anne
+thought. The hundreds of spectators, including Grace and her party, had
+rushed from the ampitheater, clambered over the railing and dashed into
+the field of glory. Such yelling and roaring, such blowing of horns
+while the hero of the afternoon was carried about on the shoulders of
+his fellows, made her heart palpitate wildly. Her friends had forgotten
+all about her, evidently, or perhaps they thought she had followed.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne," said a voice in her ear, "don't make any disturbance. I want you
+to come with me."</p>
+
+<p>Anne turned around quickly and faced her father.</p>
+
+<p>"Come at once!" he said. "I want to get out of this howling mob as soon
+as possible. We can talk later."</p>
+
+<p>He took her hand, not ungently, and presently they found themselves on
+the other side of the fence surrounding the field. Anne had not meant to
+go, but she knew her father was quite capable of making a scene and she
+felt she couldn't endure it just then. Once outside, she thought she
+might escape. Never once, however, did he release her hand until he had
+her safe in one of the town hacks and they had started down the road.</p>
+
+<p>When Grace and her friends finally recovered from their wild joy and
+excitement there was no Anne to be found.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps she stayed in her seat," exclaimed Grace, but the place was
+quite empty.</p>
+
+<p>David and Jessica looked about them uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"What chumps we were!" said the young man presently. "We never bothered
+to look after her, and now probably that old parent of hers has actually
+gone and kidnapped the poor child."</p>
+
+<p>They searched through the crowds everywhere, but Anne was nowhere about.</p>
+
+<p>At last David and Jessica confessed their suspicions to Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh!" cried Grace, "I feel as if we were personally responsible for
+her! What shall we do?"</p>
+
+<p>David thought a minute.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there a play at the Opera House to-night?" he asked presently.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe there is," replied Grace. "Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ten to one Anne's father is acting in it," said David, "and that is the
+reason he happens to be in Oakdale to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a very brilliant idea if it happens to be true," said Jessica.
+"But don't you think we had better see Miss Mary Pierson before we do
+anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," exclaimed Grace decisively. She was in the habit of thinking
+quickly and her friends usually let her have her way; but it was
+generally the best way. "It would be a pity to alarm her unnecessarily
+if we can avoid it. Anne isn't expected home until late, anyway. She is
+invited as are all of you to eat supper at my house. Suppose we go right
+to town, while David makes some inquiries at the Opera House. Then, if
+Anne's father is really acting in town to-night, we shall know what to
+do."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, they tumbled into the road wagon, whipped up the horse and
+drove back to Oakdale as fast as they could go. On the way in, they saw
+a new bill posted on a wall, advertising a play entitled "Forsaken." It
+showed, in vivid colors, a young girl very ragged and tired looking,
+asleep on the steps of a large church.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go to the show," cried Nora, who always managed to combine
+amusement with duty; "that is," she added, "if Anne's father is in it.
+Of course, Anne will probably be somewhere about, in that case, and we
+could spirit her away while he is acting."</p>
+
+<p>"That isn't a bad idea," answered David. "But I'd better find out a few
+things first. I'll come over to your house, Grace, and report," he
+called as he jumped out of the back of the cart.</p>
+
+<p>The girls waited impatiently for his return, feeling that every moment
+Anne might be speeding away in some outgoing train, and they were losing
+valuable time. Grace had thought of consulting her mother, her best and
+wisest counsellor at all times, but Mr. and Mrs. Harlowe had gone on a
+long drive to the home of Mrs. Harlowe's mother and would not return
+until late that night. In half an hour their patience was rewarded; the
+gate clicked and David ran breathlessly up the walk, joining them
+presently in the parlor.</p>
+
+<p>"It's true," he cried excitedly. "Anne is at the Spencer Arms, probably
+locked up in a room. Her father is acting to-night in 'Forsaken,' and
+the whole company leaves town on the 11.30 train. I suppose Anne must go
+to the theater, for there will be no time to go back to the hotel after
+the play. I got the whole thing out of the clerk."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we can all go to the theater," cried Nora triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p>"What good will that do Anne?" demanded practical Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"It may do her no good whatever," said David, "but it would be well not
+to lose sight of the father, even, if we must follow him to the train.
+And if Anne knows we are near, she will be able to get back her nerve."</p>
+
+<p>"Children," cried Grace suddenly, "I have a scheme. I won't put it into
+action unless it's absolutely necessary, but it's bound to work."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" demanded the others.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't tell," replied Grace mysteriously, "because I may not have to
+use it, and I'll warn you that it's rather dangerous. But it will save
+Anne, and we just mustn't get caught."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>GRACE KEEPS HER SECRET</h3>
+
+
+<p>The "best" Oakdale people did not often see the melodramas that appeared
+from time to time at the small opera house. Occasionally, if something
+really good came along, Oakdale society turned out in force and filled
+the boxes and the orchestra seats; but, generally speaking, the little
+theater was only half filled.</p>
+
+<p>And such was the case on this Thanksgiving night. Most of the audience
+was made up of farmers out holiday-making with their families, factory
+girls from the silk mills and a few storekeepers and clerks.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad there are so few people here," observed Grace, looking around
+the scanty audience; "because, if we have to resort to my scheme, it
+will make it much easier and less dangerous."</p>
+
+<p>"What in the world is it?" pleaded Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," answered her friend. "I'm afraid you'll object, so I won't
+tell until the last minute."</p>
+
+<p>Just then a wheezy orchestra struck up a march and the High School party
+settled down in their seats, each with a secret feeling that it was
+rather good fun, in spite of the peculiar reason that had taken them
+there.</p>
+
+<p>"Here he is," said Nora, pointing to the name on the programme. "He
+takes the part of Amos Lord, owner of the woolen mills."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the lights went down and the music stopped short. The
+curtain rolled up slowly disclosing the front of a church. It was night
+and lights gleamed through the stained glass windows. Snow was falling
+and from the church came the sound of organ music playing the wedding
+march. The picture was really very impressive, although the music was
+somewhat throaty and the flakes of snow were larger than life-size.</p>
+
+<p>But who was it half lying, half sitting on the church steps, shivering
+with cold?</p>
+
+<p>The girls had not been so often to the theater that they could afford to
+be disdainful over almost any passable play, and from the very moment
+the curtain went up their interest was aroused. Certainly, there was
+something extremely romantic and interesting about the lonely little
+figure on the church steps.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the heroine," whispered Jessica. "Her name is Evelyn Chase."</p>
+
+<p>Then people began to go into the church. It was a wedding evidently,
+although the groom was a tall, lean, middle-aged individual with gray
+hair.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Mr. Pierson himself," exclaimed Nora in a loud whisper.</p>
+
+<p>The bride-to-be was young and quite pretty. She was not dressed in
+white, but it was plain she was the bride because she carried a bouquet
+and hung on the arm of Anne's incorrigible parent. As they started up
+the steps, what should they stumble over but the half-frozen form of the
+young girl!</p>
+
+<p>Then, there was a great deal of acting, not badly done at all, thought
+David, who had had more experience in these matters than his friends.
+The bride refused to go on with the ceremony until the poor little thing
+was taken care of. The groom would brook no delay, for, oh, perfidy, he
+had recognized in the still figure his own child by a former wife
+deserted years before.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the forsaken girl regained consciousness, lifted her head from
+the steps, threw back her shawl, and&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Heavens and earth, it's Anne herself!" exclaimed Grace.</p>
+
+<p>It was Anne. They were so startled and amazed they nearly tumbled off
+their seats.</p>
+
+<p>"As I live, it is Anne, and acting beautifully!" whispered David.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did she learn how?" demanded Jessica. "Strange she never told
+it."</p>
+
+<p>But they were too interested to reply, for the action of the play was
+excellent and the interest held until the curtain rang down on the first
+act.</p>
+
+<p>"No wonder he wants to keep her with him," ejaculated David when the
+lights went up. "She is the star performer in the show."</p>
+
+<p>"She is wonderful," declared Grace. "To think that little, brown, quiet
+thing could be so talented! I always imagined acting was the hardest
+thing in the world to do, but it seems as though she had always been on
+the stage."</p>
+
+<p>"Are we still going to try to save her?" asked Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," replied David. "She doesn't want to act. Didn't you hear
+her say so that night? She wants to go to school."</p>
+
+<p>"But it seems a pity, somehow, when she is so talented."</p>
+
+<p>"She's just as talented in her studies," said Grace, "and I've often
+heard that stage life is very hard. No, no! I intend to do my best to
+get Anne away this very night, if it upsets the entire town of Oakdale."</p>
+
+<p>When the second act was over, and Anne had actually so moved her
+audience that one old farmer was audibly sobbing into a red cotton
+handkerchief, and the girls themselves were secretly wiping their eyes,
+Grace whispered to David:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to write a note, if you'll lend me a pencil and a slip of
+paper, and wrap it around the stem of this chrysanthemum. When Anne
+appears in the next act, you go up in the box, and if she's alone an
+instant pitch it to her. Then she will know what she's to do."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is she to do?" demanded the others.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't tell," persisted Grace. "You'll object, if I do."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said David. "I'll obey you Mistress Grace, although I wish
+you would confide in me."</p>
+
+<p>But Grace was obdurate. She would tell no one.</p>
+
+<p>The last act disclosed an attic at the top of an old tenement, with
+dormer windows looking out on a wintry scene. Anne appeared, more ragged
+than ever, carrying a little basket of matches. It was evident that she
+was a match girl by trade, and that this was her wretched domicile. As
+she crept down the center of the stage, ill and wretched, for she was
+supposed to be about to die&mdash;David saw his opportunity. From behind the
+curtain of the box he tossed the chrysanthemum, which fell right at her
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>"If she only sees it," he thought.</p>
+
+<p>But apparently she didn't. Going wearily to an old cupboard, she took
+out a crust of bread. Then she drew the ragged curtains at the windows
+and lit a candle. Simultaneously the entire attic was illuminated, for
+stage candles have remarkable powers of diffusing light.</p>
+
+<p>"Why doesn't she pick up the flower?" exclaimed Grace. "If she doesn't
+the scheme won't work at all."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe she's going to die," whispered Nora in a broken voice.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the Irish comedian appeared, puffing and blowing from the long
+climb he had had to the top of the house. He had come to bring help to
+the dying girl, but he was funny in spite of the dreary tragedy, and
+Nora changed her tears to laughter and began to giggle violently,
+burying her face in her handkerchief in her effort to control her mirth.
+Her laughter was always contagious, and presently her two friends were
+giggling in chorus.</p>
+
+<p>"Do hush, Nora O'Malley!" whispered Jessica nervously. "You know that if
+you once get us started we'll never stop."</p>
+
+<p>A countryman, sitting back of Nora, touched her on the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Be you laughing or crying, miss?" he asked. "It ain't a time for
+laughing nor yet for crying, since the young lady ain't dead yet and I
+don't believe she's goin' to die, either."</p>
+
+<p>"She just is," exclaimed Nora, wiping the tears from her eyes. "She'll
+die before she gets off that bed to-night, I'll wager anything."</p>
+
+<p>All this while, the chrysanthemum with the note twisted and pinned to
+its stem lay in the middle of the stage. In the meantime, Anne had
+fallen into a stupor from cold and hunger. The kind little comedian
+rushed about the stage, making a fire, putting on the tea kettle and
+stumbling over his own feet in an effort to be useful.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, all the others will enter in a minute," whispered Grace
+disgustedly, "and she'll never get it at all."</p>
+
+<p>Just then Anne turned on her pillow and opened her eyes. They looked
+straight at David, who was sitting in the front of the box. He pointed
+deliberately at the chrysanthemum.</p>
+
+<p>"She sees it," said Jessica, for Anne's eyes were now fixed on the
+flower.</p>
+
+<p>When the kind Irishman departed to spend his last cent on medicine and
+food for the dying girl, she rose, staggered across the stage, seized
+the chrysanthemum and rushed back again, just in time to be lying prone
+when her father entered, now a repentant and sorrowful sinner.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right," whispered Grace in a relieved tone. "I feel sure that
+the plan will work to perfection."</p>
+
+<p>Anne <i>did</i> die a stage death, and there was not a dry eye in the house
+when she forgave her father, bade farewell to the entire company, who
+had now gathered in the attic, and her soul passed out to soft music
+while the lights were turned very low.</p>
+
+<p>"Fire! Fire!" rang out a voice from the darkened house.</p>
+
+<p>Where did the voice come from? Nora and Jessica were so startled they
+could only clutch each other and wonder, while Grace whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't move from your seats."</p>
+
+<p>"Grace, was that your voice?" whispered David, who had joined the girls
+during the death-bed scene.</p>
+
+<p>But Grace made no reply. She only put her finger to her lips as she held
+his arm with a detaining hand.</p>
+
+<p>There was a panic in the house. The audience rushed for the doors while
+the actors leaped over the footlights in their mad scramble to escape.
+Several women's voices took up the cry of fire and the place was in wild
+confusion. Evidently the man who managed the lights had been too
+frightened to turn them on again, for the theater still remained in
+semi-darkness.</p>
+
+<p>The four young people did not move while the audience was crowding out
+of the aisles.</p>
+
+<p>"We might as well be suffocated as crushed," observed David. "It's a
+much more comfortable death, and besides I can't smell any smoke."</p>
+
+<p>Grace smiled but was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm here at last," announced Anne's well-known voice behind them.</p>
+
+<p>And there she was, still in her ragged stage dress, carrying her hat and
+coat on her arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Anne Pierson!" cried Nora, "I thought you were dead and gone."</p>
+
+<p>Anne laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Not dead," she said. "But I would certainly have been gone in another
+half hour. We needn't hurry," she continued. "I don't believe he would
+ever think of looking for me inside the theater, and, for the time
+being, this is the safest place."</p>
+
+<p>"Anne, why did you never tell us you were an actress!" demanded David.</p>
+
+<p>"I was afraid to," faltered the girl. "I was afraid you would all hate
+me if you knew the truth. Besides, I never acted but six months in all
+my life. We toured in this play a year ago, and I knew the part
+perfectly. It would have been cruel of me not to have played to-night.
+The girl who usually does it was sick and there was no one to take her
+part. When father told me that, I knew I should have to do it this once,
+but if the fire panic hadn't started I couldn't have gotten away from
+him very easily. He would have made a terrible scene. And even then, it
+might have been difficult. No stranger would have helped me run away
+from my own father, who is determined that I shall go on the stage. He
+thinks I have the making of an actress. But I don't like the stage life.
+It is hard and ugly. I want to study, and be with girls like you." A
+charming smile radiated her small, intelligent face.</p>
+
+<p>"Where do I come in?" asked David, looking at her.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are the best friend I have in the world, David," declared
+Anne. "I can never forget your kindness."</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Mademoiselle Annette Piersonelli," asked David, secretly much
+pleased at the girl's earnestness, "can't you divest yourself of your
+ragged dress before we go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed," she replied. "I am fully clothed underneath." She slipped
+off the stage dress and put on her hat and coat.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, not a soul was left in the theater except two of the ushers,
+who were sniffing around trying to find out where the fire scare had
+originated.</p>
+
+<p>"There comes father," whispered Anne. "Can't we hide behind the seats?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quick," cautioned David. "He's coming down the center aisle."</p>
+
+<p>The five young people crouched low while the actor stalked down the
+aisle. But it was plain he was not looking for his daughter in the
+theater, for he called out to one of the ushers moving about at a
+distance:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen anything of the young girl who was with the company? I
+lost her during the panic and I haven't been able to locate her since. I
+must be leaving town in a few minutes," he added, consulting his watch.
+"It's almost time for the train now."</p>
+
+<p>"The company all left with the audience," said the usher. "I guess she
+went along with 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Now is our time," said Anne, when the actor had disappeared. "Suppose
+we go out the stage entrance and down that side street!"</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon she led the way back of the boxes and into the wings, followed
+by her friends, who looked curiously about them at the unusual sight.</p>
+
+<p>"What a queer place," said Grace, "and how smudgy the scenery looks! Are
+these little places dressing rooms, Anne?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Anne. "You see, it's all horrid when you are close. And
+the life is worse&mdash;riding almost every day on smoky trains and spending
+each night in a different place. The people are so different, too. I
+would rather go to Oakdale High School," she exclaimed, "than be the
+greatest actress in the world."</p>
+
+<p>They were standing in one of the larger dressing rooms while Anne
+endeavored to wipe the powder and rouge from her face with a pocket
+handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>A tall figure darkened the doorway, and in the glass Anne saw the
+reflection of her father's face. Without a word, she ran to the open
+window and jumped out on the fire escape. The others followed nimbly
+after her. Mr. Pierson turned and rushed down the passage to the side
+entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry, Anne!" called David. "He will meet you at the bottom if you
+don't."</p>
+
+<p>They climbed quickly down the ladder, almost treading on each other's
+fingers in their haste, and in another moment they were running down an
+alleyway.</p>
+
+<p>"Another narrow escape," cried Anne, when they were out of danger. "How
+shall I ever thank you, dear friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have already discharged the debt, Anne, by letting us see you act,"
+answered Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, Grace," commanded David, "own up now. It was you, wasn't
+it, who started the fire panic?"</p>
+
+<p>"I told you I wouldn't tell," answered Grace, "and I never shall."</p>
+
+<p>"Anne, did she say anything about it in her note?" asked Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Anne mysteriously, "she never mentioned the word 'fire' at
+all."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel certain it was you who called 'fire,' Grace," said Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll never, never tell," cried Grace teasingly; "so you'll never, never
+know."</p>
+
+<p>She turned in at her own gate and to this day the mystery is still
+unsolved.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>MRS. GRAY'S ADOPTED DAUGHTERS</h3>
+
+
+<p>After Mrs. Gray's luncheon party in honor of Grace and her three friends
+a tiny little idea had implanted itself in her mind. As the weeks rolled
+on, and Christmas holidays approached, it grew and spread into a real
+plan which occupied her thoughts a considerable part of every day.</p>
+
+<p>As a secretary Anne had turned out admirably. The only drawback was that
+Mrs. Gray could not see enough of her. The lonesome old lady almost
+lived on Anne's semi-weekly visits, but the girl was too busy to give
+any more of her time to reading aloud or driving with her benefactor.</p>
+
+<p>Finally Mrs. Gray took a bold step. She invited the four girls to meet
+at another Sunday luncheon, and announced her intentions from the head
+of the table.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear children," she said, "you are aware that I am a very old
+woman."</p>
+
+<p>"We are not aware of anything of the sort, Mrs. Gray," interrupted
+Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless I am," pursued Mrs. Gray. "A very old, lonesome person
+with few pleasures. I have decided, therefore, to do an exceedingly
+selfish thing, and give myself a real treat."</p>
+
+<p>"You deserve it if anyone in the world does, Mrs. Gray," put in Jessica.
+"You who are always giving other people treats."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait until you hear the plan, child, before you pass judgment,"
+answered Mrs. Gray. "It's been too many years to count since I have had
+a really, jolly Christmas," she continued. "I have just sat here in this
+quiet old house, and let the holidays roll over me without even noticing
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mrs. Gray," exclaimed Grace, "the poor people in Oakdale would not
+agree with you on that point. Only last Christmas I saw your carriage
+stopping in front of the Flower Mission, and it was simply bursting with
+presents."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, my dear. It is the easiest thing in the world to give
+presents and not so much pleasure after all. What I want is some actual
+fun, good Christmas cheer and plenty of young people. But I shall have
+to be selfish if I'm to get it all, because it will mean that I'm to rob
+mothers and fathers for a whole week of their children. Mr. and Mrs.
+Harlowe will have to learn to do without you, Grace, for seven days and
+nights. Your father, Jessica, must keep his own house. Nora, your
+brothers and sister must not expect to see you at all while you belong
+to me. As for my precious Anne, here, I should just like to steal her
+away altogether from her mother. In fact, my dears, I am going to adopt
+you for a whole week during the holidays and then&mdash;such larks!"</p>
+
+<p>And the charming old lady looked so gay and pretty that the girls all
+laughed joyously.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean that you really want us to make you a visit, Mrs. Gray?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do indeed. That is the exceedingly selfish wish I have been
+entertaining for the last six weeks. I not only want it, but I have
+arranged for it already. I have made secret calls, my dears, and mothers
+and fathers, brothers and sisters are all most agreeable. You are to
+come to me a week before Christmas and must settle yourselves exactly as
+if you were my own children. I mean to punish any homesick girl severely
+by giving her an overdose of chocolate drops. Families may be visited
+once a day, if necessary, though I shall frown down upon too frequent
+absences. But, young ladies, before we get any further, tell me what you
+think of the plan?"</p>
+
+<p>The girls were almost speechless with amazement and pleasure. To visit
+Mrs. Gray's beautiful home and live in a whirl of parties and funmaking
+such as would be sure to follow was more than any of them had ever
+dreamed of.</p>
+
+<p>"It's perfectly delightful, Mrs. Gray!" they cried almost in one breath.</p>
+
+<p>"And we shall give the Christmas party together, my four daughters and
+I, and we'll do exactly as we choose and invite whom we please."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh!" exclaimed the four young girls. "Won't it be fun?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will for me," said the little old lady. "And I need to have a good
+time. I am getting old before my time for lack of amusement. And now, my
+lady-birds, who else shall we invite to the house party?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who else?" said Grace, somewhat crestfallen; for four intimate girl
+chums are invariably jealous of admitting other girls to the charmed
+circle.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean what other girls, Mrs. Gray?" asked Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, child; I mean what other boys, of course. Do you think I want
+any more than my four nice freshmen to amuse me? But I don't think this
+party would be complete without four fine fellows to look after us. Who
+are the four nicest boys you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"David," exclaimed all four voices in unison.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"There seems to be no difference of opinion on that score," she replied;
+"but is David the only boy in Oakdale?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's the nicest one," said Anne, who could never forget how kind David
+had been to her when his sister was her bitter enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"Reddy Brooks is nice, too," said Nora. "He threw apples at some tramps
+once, and saved us from being robbed."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good," said Mrs. Gray. "Reddy Brooks shall certainly be invited to
+the house party. I admire courage above all things."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there's 'Hippopotamus' Wingate," said Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" demanded Mrs. Gray.</p>
+
+<p>"His name is really 'Theophilus', but the boys have always called him
+'Hippopotamus,' and now the name sticks to him and everybody forgets he
+has any other."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you agreed on Hippopotamus, my adopted daughters?" demanded Mrs.
+Gray.</p>
+
+<p>It was voted by acclamation, that Hippopotamus was agreeable to the
+company.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, I have a fourth to propose," announced Mrs. Gray. "I think I
+should like to import my great-nephew, Tom Gray, from New York. He is a
+little older than these boys, perhaps. Nineteen is his age, I think, and
+I haven't seen him since he was a child; but he's obliged to be nice
+because he bears the name of one beloved by all who knew him."</p>
+
+<p>"Whose name, Mrs. Gray?" asked Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"That of my husband," said the old lady, softly. "The nicest Tom Gray
+this world has ever known." And she looked at a portrait over the
+sideboard of a very handsome young man dressed in the uniform of an Army
+officer.</p>
+
+<p>"He loved his country, my dears, and fought for it nobly. He was a
+soldier and a gentleman," went on the old lady proudly, "and I am sorry
+he left no son to follow in his footsteps. He was a great hunter and
+traveler, too. I used to tell him if he had not loved his family so
+dearly, he would certainly have been a gypsy. He liked camping and
+tramping, and used to wander off in Upton Woods for hours at a time. He
+knew the names of all the trees and birds and animals that exist, I
+believe. But he loved his home, too, and no woods had the power to draw
+him away from it for long. I used to tell him he had brought a piece of
+the forest and put it in our front yard, for he planted all those
+beautiful trees you now see growing on my lawn, which my old gardener,
+who has been with me since I was first married, cherishes as he would
+his own children."</p>
+
+<p>"And is young Tom Gray like him, Mrs. Gray?" interposed Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, my dear," sighed the old lady. "If he has inherited the
+beautiful traits of his uncle, his wholesome tastes for the outdoors and
+nature, he can't help being a fine fellow. But I have not seen my nephew
+since he was a child. He has been living here and there all these years,
+sometimes in America and sometimes in England. His mother and father are
+both dead, and he has been brought up by his mother's unmarried sisters,
+who are half English themselves. But he must be a nice boy, even if he
+has only one drop of his uncle's blood in his veins."</p>
+
+<p>The girls sighed and said nothing. It was touching and beautiful to see
+the old lady's loyalty and devotion after all these years of loneliness;
+for her husband had been dead since she was a young woman. Still Mrs.
+Gray never brooded. She was always cheerful and happy in doing
+kindnesses for other people.</p>
+
+<p>"If ever I marry," sentimental Jessica was thinking, "I hope it will be
+somebody like Mrs. Gray's husband."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to have a brother like Tom Gray," observed Grace aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mrs. Gray, "we shall have to wait and see what the new Tom
+Gray is like. He may be utterly unlike <i>my</i> Tom Gray."</p>
+
+<p>And the old lady sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall all have to get new party dresses," exclaimed Nora to change
+the subject. "I have been wanting one for an age and now I have a good
+excuse."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," cried Grace enthusiastically. "Now, at last, I shall be able
+to get the blue silk mother promised I could have if at any time there
+was an occasion worthy of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to ask papa to give me a lavender crepe for a Christmas
+present," said Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"O Mrs. Gray," continued Nora, "we are going to have such fun Oakdale
+can't hold us."</p>
+
+<p>"I think we should have a surprise for Mrs. Gray," announced Grace. "She
+is doing so much for us. O girls! I have an idea."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" demanded the others breathlessly, including Mrs. Gray herself,
+who was as full of curiosity as a young girl.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," cried Grace, "it wouldn't be a surprise if I gave it away. But
+it's going to require a lot of work and planning to carry it out."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it big or little?" asked the dainty old lady as eager as a child to
+find out the secret.</p>
+
+<p>"It's rather small," answered Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine or superfine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Both," laughed Grace. "But you'll not know till Christmas night; so
+stifle your curiosity."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I must wait, but it's going to be very hard," replied Mrs.
+Gray plaintively.</p>
+
+<p>And so the party was arranged. Notes, written by Anne, were dispatched
+to the four boys; plans were discussed for the week's amusements, and
+the four girls finally started home in a state of great excitement to
+look over their wardrobes and furbish up their party dresses.</p>
+
+<p>Only Anne had looked somewhat dubious during the conversation. How could
+she spend a week in a beautiful house, with parties every night and
+company all the time, and nothing to wear but that hideous black silk?</p>
+
+<p>"Anne," called Mrs. Gray, as the young girl was about to close the front
+door and follow the others down the steps. "Wait a moment. I want to see
+you." She led Anne into the big drawing room. "Do you know that I am
+greatly in your debt, my child?" continued the old lady, as she drew
+Anne down beside her on the sofa. "I don't think I could ever possibly
+repay you for the good you have done me this autumn. But I am going to
+try, nevertheless, by making you a Christmas present before Christmas
+arrives. Now, when I was your age, I preferred clothes to other things.
+I think all young girls do; or, if they don't they are most unnatural.
+Therefore, child, I have decided to pay off some of my indebtedness to
+you by getting my dressmaker to make you some dresses, if it is
+agreeable to you. Why, what is this! My little girl crying?"</p>
+
+<p>The tears were streaming down Anne's cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't cry, my own child," sobbed Mrs. Gray. "For I always cry
+when I see other people doing it, and it's very bad for my old eyes, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"You are so good to me!" said Anne. "It makes me cry because I'm so
+happy."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well!" exclaimed Mrs. Gray, drying her eyes and beginning to
+laugh. "What a couple of sillies we are, to be sure. Now go, Anne, to my
+dressmaker, Mrs. Harvey, who has orders to make you four dresses, two
+for evening and two for afternoon. Mrs. Harvey has good taste and will
+help you select them. But perhaps you will like the ones she and I
+looked at the other day. One of them I am sure you will admire. I chose
+it specially because it will give color to your pale cheeks."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Mrs. Gray?" asked Anne eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's pink crepe de Chine, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>And Anne held her breath to keep from crying again.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>MIRIAM PLANS A REVENGE</h3>
+
+
+<p>For weeks Miriam Nesbit had felt a sullen resentment toward her brother,
+David, because he persisted in being friends with at least two of the
+girls in Oakdale High School whom she disliked most.</p>
+
+<p>When he announced, one morning at breakfast, that he had been included
+in Mrs. Gray's house party, his sister suddenly burst into tears of
+passionate rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Please don't cry, Miriam, old girl," said David, who was not of a
+quarrelsome disposition. "I'm awfully sorry if I hurt you, but, you
+know, Mrs. Gray was one of my earliest sweethearts."</p>
+
+<p>Which was perfectly true. When David was a little boy he used to crawl
+through the garden hedge and call on the charming old lady nearly every
+day.</p>
+
+<p>David had hoped that Miriam would laugh at this, but she stormed all the
+more, while poor Mrs. Nesbit looked wretched.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't Mrs. Gray," sobbed Miriam. "But to think that my own brother
+would associate with Grace Harlowe, who is always working against me,
+and that common little Pierson girl whose sister takes in sewing!"</p>
+
+<p>"Miriam, Miriam!" exclaimed Mrs. Nesbit, "I am shocked to hear you say
+such things. Because the girl is poor she is not necessarily common.
+Your grandfather was a poor man, too. He started his career as a
+machinist. You would never have had the money and position you have now
+if he had not become an inventor. Is it possible you would try to keep
+some one else from rising in life, when your own family struggled with
+poverty years ago?"</p>
+
+<p>Miriam was silenced for a moment. She had seldom heard her mother speak
+so forcibly; but Mrs. Nesbit had seen, with growing misgivings, the
+innate snobbishness in her daughter's character, and for a long time she
+had been looking for an opportunity like the one that now presented
+itself.</p>
+
+<p>David had risen during Miriam's contemptuous speech, and had turned very
+white; which was always a signal that his slow wrath had been kindled at
+last; but since he was a child he had had such admirable control of his
+feelings that it had often been remarked by older people. Miriam,
+however, knew the sign and resorted again to tears to draw attention to
+her own sufferings.</p>
+
+<p>"You and mother have turned against me," she cried. "Mother, you have
+always loved David best, anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" replied David. "You are a willful, selfish girl, jealous
+because a poor girl is getting ahead of you in your classes and because
+you are not included in the house party. Do you think Mrs. Gray would
+ask you to join those four nice girls in her house after that Miss Leece
+business? If you had learned to be polite and agreeable you would never
+have gotten into this state now." Having delivered himself of his
+opinion, and spent his rage, David walked out of the room and quietly
+closed the door after him.</p>
+
+<p>"You see what you have done, Miriam," exclaimed Mrs. Nesbit. "You have
+made your brother angry. I have seldom seen him like that before, not
+since the stable man beat his dog. But don't cry, my child. It's all
+over now," and Mrs. Nesbit drew her daughter to her and stroked her hot
+forehead. "Why don't you give a house party, too?" she added after a
+moment's thought. "Would it give you any pleasure or help to heal your
+hurt feelings?"</p>
+
+<p>"O mother!" exclaimed Miriam, looking up quickly. "I believe I <i>will</i>
+invite four girls and boys to spend Christmas week with me. Wouldn't it
+be fun?"</p>
+
+<p>And it was in this manner that a plan for an opposition house party
+sprang into existence; although the son of the house had joined the
+other side.</p>
+
+<p>All through her preparations Miriam carefully guarded the secret that
+she was bitterly hurt at having been left out of Mrs. Gray's party, and
+she meditated a revenge that was still only a half-formed idea. In the
+first place, she chose Julia Crosby as one of the guests of the
+Christmas house party; Julia Crosby the tall, mischievous sophomore who
+had originated the "Black Monks of Asia." Surely the two together could
+work out some scheme which would bring her enemies to her feet and
+humble little Mrs. Gray, who had dared to slight her.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the holidays were approaching. The crisp, cold air resounded
+with the jingle of sleigh bells, for snow had fallen the first week in
+December and all the sleighs in Oakdale were taken from their summer
+quarters.</p>
+
+<p>The four chums were full of secret preparations. Grace had devised a
+scheme of entertainment which, in the town of Oakdale, would be unique,
+but it required much work and practice to perfect it. In the meantime
+Nora O'Malley had decided to entertain her friends at a bobbing party to
+start the Christmas holidays. And it was at this party that Miriam
+seized her first opportunity to make trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne, you are learned in many things, but not in outdoor fun," said
+Grace as the young people in mufflers and sweaters started to climb the
+long hill where the coasting was best.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say you have never been coasting, Anne?" demanded David.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I'll have to admit it," replied Anne. "To tell the truth, I
+never did have any fun, except reading, until I started in the High
+School and met all of you. You see, little city children are denied all
+these nice things unless they go to the parks, but it's no fun going
+alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you won't be alone now," said Hippy Wingate. "There are four to a
+sled, and we'll put you in the middle to keep you from getting lost in
+the snow."</p>
+
+<p>"Look out, here comes some one!" called Grace, just as a small sled shot
+past them like a flash, with a laugh and a cheer from its occupants,
+Miriam and Reddy Brooks.</p>
+
+<p>"They ought not to have done that," exclaimed David. "We couldn't see
+them over the knob of the hill and they might have run us down."</p>
+
+<p>By this time they had reached the top of the hill, and Anne's heart
+bounded at the sight of the long, white track made by the sled which had
+just passed them and disappeared far below across a flat meadow now
+smooth and hard as a table top.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be frightened, Anne," said David, who sat behind her on the sled.</p>
+
+<p>He pinioned her arms with his own and with a wild whoop the four young
+people skimmed down the hill.</p>
+
+<p>There was no time to be frightened, no time even to think, as they shot
+through the fine bracing air like a ball from a cannon. Before they knew
+it, they were landed at the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>"O Hippy," cried Grace, her cheeks glowing like winter berries, "I feel
+as if I were riding the comet. But look out for the others," for the
+remaining sleds followed in quick succession and the air resounded with
+the whoops of the boys and girls as they shot past. "Is there any sport
+in the world that can touch it?" she demanded of the world in general.</p>
+
+<p>Three or four more such rides, and Anne felt an exhilaration she had
+never before known. She was climbing the hill for a final trip before
+the party returned to Nora's for hot chocolate and sandwiches, when she
+heard some one cry out just behind her. She had lingered a little to
+watch the sleds pass, and had failed to notice a small sled with a
+single occupant come over the brow of the hill well out of the beaten
+path and make straight for her. It was Miriam Nesbit, riding flat on her
+stomach and going like the wind.</p>
+
+<p>"Jump to the left, Anne," cried Grace's voice, "or you'll be hurt!"</p>
+
+<p>Anne looked up and saw the sled. It all happened in a flash, and how
+David managed to get there first she never knew; but the next instant
+the two were rolling over and over in the snow with Miriam on top of
+them and a broken sled skidding on its back down the hillside.</p>
+
+<p>"It was Miss Pierson's fault," exclaimed Miriam as she pulled herself
+out of the snow, and the others came running to the scene of the
+accident. "Why didn't she get out of the way? Inexperienced people ought
+not to come to bobbing parties. They always get hurt."</p>
+
+<p>David was binding up a cut in his wrist, which was sprinkling the snow
+with blood. He was too angry to trust himself to answer his sister
+before the others just then. They had pulled Anne out of a snowdrift and
+she was leaning limply against Jessica, trying to collect her senses. It
+seemed to her that she had been walking well out of the sled track, out
+of everybody's way; but it didn't make any difference since nobody was
+killed.</p>
+
+<p>"All I can say now, Miriam," said Grace, "is that you are entirely
+mistaken. If you hadn't hit Anne you'd have knocked me over. I was
+walking just ahead of her and nobody can say I am inexperienced."</p>
+
+<p>"Grace Harlowe, do you think I did it on purpose?" demanded Miriam
+furiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't insinuated anything, Miriam," replied Grace. "I simply wanted
+to disabuse your mind of a mistake. That was all." And she turned away
+from the angry girl.</p>
+
+<p>All this time the other young people had said nothing. It was really an
+embarrassing situation, considering that David had not said a word
+either for or against his sister.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we had better not coast any more to-night," said Nora, after a
+pause. "David has hurt his hand and Anne is so shaken that it would be
+well to give her something hot to drink. Come on, everybody."</p>
+
+<p>"David, are you much hurt?" asked Grace uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but a little cut," he said shortly, so shortly that Grace
+flushed. Perhaps he was angry with her for having spoken out to Miriam.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you aren't hurt much, David," said Miriam.</p>
+
+<p>David made no reply.</p>
+
+<p>"David," she repeated in a louder voice.</p>
+
+<p>But her brother had started down the hill, his hands in his pockets.
+Nobody took much notice of Miriam as the young people followed after
+him. Reddy Brooks was secretly congratulating himself that he hadn't
+been riding behind her on the sled as she had wished, insisting that she
+wanted to do the guiding herself. It was curious, he thought, and might
+have resulted in a serious accident, at least to Anne if David hadn't
+pulled her away. If Miriam had only thought to throw herself to the
+right when she saw Anne in the way. Girls had no heads, anyway, that is,
+most girls. Grace, he decided, was almost equal to a man for coolness
+and good judgment. But there were few girls who could touch Grace
+Harlowe; and he did a series of cartwheels in the snow to emphasize his
+feelings, to the relief of everybody present, for the silence was
+becoming uncomfortable.</p>
+
+<p>"Nora," said Anne when they had reached town, "if you'll excuse me I
+think I'll go home. I'm a little tired."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take you home, Anne," said David, who had heard her remark. "I
+don't feel much like partifying either after this jolt. Come along,
+little girl," and he tucked Anne's arm in his and marched her off
+without another word.</p>
+
+<p>"All my party is leaving before the party," cried Nora in despair.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not all," replied Hippy Wingate. "There are still a few of us left,
+and I promise to drink any extra chocolate you may happen to have."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't give the animals sweets, Nora," exclaimed Reddy. "Especially the
+hippopotamus. He has a delicate stomach. You see, his keeper used to
+feed him chocolate drops three times a day."</p>
+
+<p>Hippy grinned good-naturedly. He was a round roly-poly boy, famous for
+his appetite.</p>
+
+<p>"Get away from here, Red Curls," he cried, hitting Reddy in the back
+with a snowball.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you coward," cried Reddy, talking in a high falsetto voice, "to hit
+a man when his back is turned. I'll slap you for that," and he landed a
+snowball on Hippy's chest.</p>
+
+<p>Hippy crouched behind the girls.</p>
+
+<p>"I was a fool to throw at a pitcher," he cried; "he'll be sending me one
+of his curves in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>"Hiding behind the ladies, hey?" returned Reddy, beginning to pitch
+snowballs at the girls.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's wash his face," cried Nora to the other boys and girls coming up
+just then. They chased Reddy all the way to Nora's house and rolled him
+in the snow until he cried "enough."</p>
+
+<p>Once inside Nora's cozy home, the coasters were soon doing ample justice
+to the good things to eat, which Nora's sister had prepared for them.
+Although all three of Anne's chums regretted deeply the unpleasant
+affair on the hill it was not mentioned again during the evening. Still,
+each girl felt in her heart that poor little Anne had, in Miriam Nesbit,
+a dangerous enemy.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Here's the tack-hammer, Hippy, and don't fall off the ladder, please,"
+cautioned Grace, as she assisted Hippy Wingate to tack up an evergreen
+garland in Mrs. Gray's drawing room.</p>
+
+<p>Not in twenty years had the old house taken on such holiday attire.
+Great bunches of holly and cedar filled the vases and bowls and
+decorated the chandeliers. Fires blazed on every hearth and the warm
+glow from many candles and shaded lamps brightened the fine old rooms.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear young people," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, coming in just then, "how
+happy you make me feel! I do wish you were all really my children and
+could forever stay just the ages you are now."</p>
+
+<p>"This house would be like the palace of everlasting youth, then,
+wouldn't it, Mrs. Gray?" suggested Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"Until some meddlesome little Pandora came along, opened the box and let
+all the troubles out," interposed David, who was still feeling very
+bitter toward his sister Miriam, and glad to leave home for a time until
+his anger had cooled.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, well, we have no Pandoras here," answered Mrs. Gray, smiling on the
+young guests. "You are all girls and boys after my own heart, and I
+trust we shall have a beautiful time together. But here comes that
+nephew of mine, Tom Gray. I wonder if he's grown out of all
+recollection."</p>
+
+<p>While she was speaking one of the town hacks had driven up to the steps,
+and there was a violent ring at the bell.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Thomas Gray," announced the old butler at the door and Tom Gray,
+who had been the subject of endless speculation and conjecture, entered
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>"If he turns out to be disagreeable or stupid or anything," the girls
+had been whispering, "it would be such a pity because everybody else is
+so nice."</p>
+
+<p>Neither had the boys felt inclined to be prepossessed in Tom Gray's
+favor. He was a stranger, from New York, older than themselves and in
+college.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish he wasn't going to butt in with his city manners," Reddy Brooks
+was thinking regretfully. "He is sure to have a swelled head and try to
+boss the crowd."</p>
+
+<p>They had pictured him as a sort of dandy, with needle-toed patent
+leather shoes and a coat cut in at the waist and padded over the
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>Even David had voiced a few thoughts on the subject of Tom Gray.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet he's an English dude," he said. For Mrs. Gray's nephew had
+spent most of his life in England. "He'll probably carry a cane and wear
+a monocle."</p>
+
+<p>They were not surprised, therefore, when a young man entered the room
+who bore out somewhat the picture they had conjured. He was tall and
+slender, very dapper and rather ladylike in his bearing. His alert, dark
+eyes were set too close together, and his face had a narrow, sinister
+look that made them all feel uncomfortable. He spoke with a decided
+English accent, in a light, flippant voice which sent a quiver of
+dislike up and down David's spine, and made Reddy Brooks give his right
+arm a vigorous twirl as if he would have liked to pitch something at the
+young man's head.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray was the most surprised person in the room. It must be
+remembered that she had not seen her nephew since he was a child, and
+she had hoped for better things than this. However, always the most
+courteous and loyal of souls, she now made the best of the situation and
+greeted the newcomer cordially, though she did not bestow upon him the
+motherly kiss she had been saving.</p>
+
+<p>Tom Gray bowed low over his aunt's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You are so much changed, Tom; I should hardly have known you,"
+exclaimed the old lady, trying to conceal her disappointment and dismay.
+"England has weaned you away from your own country. You look as if you
+had just stepped out of Piccadilly."</p>
+
+<p>"And so I have, aunt," replied the young man, using a very broad "a." "I
+have been in this country only a few months. England is the only place
+in the world for me, you know. I can't bear America."</p>
+
+<p>Hippy Wingate gave himself an angry shake, which made all the ornaments
+on the mantelpiece rattle ominously.</p>
+
+<p>"You must let me introduce you to my young friends, Tom," said Mrs.
+Gray, changing the subject quickly.</p>
+
+<p>The introductions having been accomplished, she took his arm and led the
+way back to dinner.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think we can stand him for a week?" whispered David to Grace, as
+they followed down the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to," replied Grace, "or hurt Mrs. Gray's feelings. But isn't
+he the limit?"</p>
+
+<p>"Asinine dandy!" hissed Hippy.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew he'd be a Miss Nancy," exclaimed Reddy.</p>
+
+<p>The girls did not express their disappointment, but as the meal
+progressed the conversation was strained and stupid.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you leave your cousins in England, Tom?" asked Mrs. Gray,
+trying to keep the ball rolling and inwardly wishing she had never asked
+her nephew down.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite well, thank you, aunt," replied Thomas Gray. "I expect to leave
+this beastly country and join them very soon."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed?" answered Mrs. Gray, flushing and with difficulty keeping back
+the tears of disappointment. To think a nephew of hers could have turned
+out like this!</p>
+
+<p>"Do you play football?" demanded Hippy abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, I don't care for the game," answered Thomas. "It's awfully
+rough, don't you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you prefer baseball?" suggested Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"No," continued the young man, "I can't say I do. The truth is, I don't
+like outdoor games at all."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you like, then?" demanded Nora, giving him a glance of
+ineffable scorn.</p>
+
+<p>"I like afternoon tea," he answered, "and bridge."</p>
+
+<p>Reddy almost groaned aloud, but he remembered his manners and choked his
+outburst of disgust.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pity," said Tom's aunt, turning her nearsighted blue eyes on
+him in amazement and displeasure. "Our Oakdale boys are all athletes.
+Even David here, the scholar and inventor, I'll venture to say, knows
+football and baseball as well as his friends."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not much of an inventor, Mrs. Gray," protested David. "You know my
+airship tumbled down before it got half way across the gym. But I shall
+never lose hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, airships?" exclaimed Thomas Gray, and deliberately taking a monocle
+from his pocket, he stuck it in his eye and stared at David, who choked
+and sputtered in his glass of water, while Hippy dropped a fork that
+fell on his plate with a great clatter.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray raised her lorgnette and looked at her nephew.</p>
+
+<p>"Thomas," she said sternly, "don't wear that thing here. It's not the
+custom in this town or in this country, for that matter. If you are
+nearsighted, buy yourself a pair of spectacles."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, aunt, certainly; it shall be as you wish," replied Thomas,
+without a tinge of embarrassment. "I am so unused to America, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Then Nora relieved the painful situation by laughing. She was taken with
+the giggles and she laughed till the tears rolled down her cheeks. The
+others laughed, too, even Mrs. Gray, who felt that she might give way to
+hysterics at any moment.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner Thomas Gray detained his aunt in another room, while the
+girls and boys returned to the parlor. The two were closeted together
+for some time, and when they finally appeared, Mrs. Gray looked
+strangely flushed and nervous. But there was a smile on her nephew's
+thin lips and a dangerous flicker in his crafty eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll stake my last cent he's been getting money out of his poor little
+aunty," said David to Grace. "He's just the kind to do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Mrs. Gray!" exclaimed Grace. "I am so sorry for her. You can't
+think how she's been planning this party for months. Why did she ever
+ask down that wretch of a nephew? David, do try and make friends with
+him. Maybe there's something good in him after all, and it will help
+things along if Mrs. Gray feels that we want to like him."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," promised David. "It goes against my grain to talk with a
+Miss Nancy dandy like that. It gives me a feeling in my chest like
+indigestion and bronchitis combined&mdash;but I'll make the effort."</p>
+
+<p>So he went over and joined the Anglo-American, and began to talk with
+him in an easy, friendly sort of way.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you come over by the fire," he said. "I think we are going to
+play some games the girls have planned."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, no," said the other, stifling a yawn. "I think I'll retire.
+I've had a long journey and I'm awfully knocked out. By the way, old
+chap," he continued, coming closer to David and whispering in his ear,
+which made that sensitive young man draw back with a quiver of dislike,
+"you couldn't favor me with a few dollars, could you? I left my check
+book in my portmanteau, which is still on the way and I find I haven't a
+cent. I'll return it to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>David regarded him with amazement. Here was a man whom he had met only
+an hour before, already trying to borrow money from him. Schoolboys are
+not likely to have money about them, but David did happen to have five
+dollars in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," was all he said, as he handed over the money.</p>
+
+<p>The transaction had only taken a moment and when David drew out the five
+dollar bill, he was careful not to let anyone see him do it. However,
+Mrs. Gray, who had been out of the room, returned at the very moment the
+money was changing hands. In a flash she saw what her nephew had done.
+Without stopping to think she made straight for the two young men.</p>
+
+<p>"Tom Gray," she said, speaking too low for anyone except her nephew and
+David to hear, "how dare you ask me for money and then borrow from one
+of my guests? You are a disgrace to your father, and to the name of
+Gray! I am ashamed of you and I command you to give that money back to
+David instantly."</p>
+
+<p>Tom Gray was as angry as his aunt. His face went from red to white, and
+he looked as if he would like to break a vase or tear something to
+pieces.</p>
+
+<p>"'Eavens, awnt, don't make a scene. I wouldn't a' awsked 'im, h'if I
+'adn't needed more money. I'll pay him to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray and David were too surprised to speak. It was plain that, when
+Tom Gray was angry, he dropped his h's.</p>
+
+<p>David looked at him curiously, then he drew the old lady's arm through
+his.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't bother, Mrs. Gray," he said. "It was only a small loan, and I was
+glad to be of service. I believe Mr. Gray wants to go to bed now. He
+just said he was very tired. Shall I take him up?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you will," replied Mrs. Gray, quieting down. "His room is next
+yours, David. Will you show him the way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Young people," she said, going across to the boys and girls, who had
+gathered around the fire and were laughing and talking in low voices,
+"would you mind if we all went up early to-night? I feel a little out of
+sorts&mdash;bewildered&mdash;I don't know what. Children change so as they grow
+up," she added, sighing.</p>
+
+<p>The poor old lady's eyes filled with tears. She slipped her arm around
+Anne's waist.</p>
+
+<p>"You will never change, my dear boys and girls. You will all grow into
+fine men and women, I feel certain, and be devoted citizens of this
+splendid country of ours, which has always been good enough for our
+mothers and fathers, and ought to be quite good enough for us."</p>
+
+<p>"Three cheers for America!" cried Hippy Wingate, giving his plump figure
+a twist like a whirling dervish.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, my dears, America is a splendid country and every American
+should be proud to say so."</p>
+
+<p>"And Oakdale is one of the nicest places in America," piped up Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah for Oakdale!" cried Hippy again.</p>
+
+<p>"And Oakdale High School!" added Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"And hurrah for the sponsor of the freshman class!" exclaimed Grace.</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon they formed a circle, with Mrs. Gray in the middle, and danced
+about her laughing and singing:</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah for Mrs. Gray!"</p>
+
+<p>The pretty, little old lady beamed happily upon her adopted family, as
+she called them.</p>
+
+<p>"My darling children!" she cried. "Kiss me good night, every one of you,
+and we'll all go up to our beds."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>A MIDNIGHT ALARM</h3>
+
+
+<p>The dry, cold air of the outdoors, and the warm fires inside the old
+house, certainly had the effect of making a very sleepy crowd of boys
+and girls who were not sorry, after all, to turn in early.</p>
+
+<p>Grace and Anne occupied a room together so large that it could easily
+have been turned into two apartments and each have been the size of
+ordinary bedrooms.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad our beds are close together, anyway," said Grace. "The rest of
+the furniture in this room seems to be miles apart."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray's room was just in front; Nora and Jessica were in a smaller
+one back of theirs, and across the hall were the boys' rooms.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it a wonderful old house?" replied Anne. "I never slept in such a
+big room in all my life. And how kind Mrs. Gray is! There is nothing she
+hasn't remembered."</p>
+
+<p>Each girl had found on her bed a pretty dressing gown of silk and wool
+and beside it a pair of bedroom slippers. There was a bowl of fruit on a
+table, and just before they dropped off to sleep a maid brought in a
+tray of glasses with a pitcher of hot milk.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Gray says this will warm you up before you go to bed," explained
+the maid.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, sweet Mrs. Gray," continued Anne, as she curled up on a rug
+before the fire to sip the warm drink, "she has planned so many things
+for this party. I am so sorry she has been disappointed."</p>
+
+<p>"He's not a bit like her, Anne," replied her friend, not caring to
+mention names. "I do wish she had never asked him."</p>
+
+<p>"My only hope," said Anne, "is that we will all seem so young and
+childish to him that he will get bored and leave."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, just strictly between us and as man to man, as David is always
+saying, don't you think he is horrid? He has no manners at all, and it's
+hard to believe he's a product of the Gray family."</p>
+
+<p>"He has such shifty eyes," said Anne, "and I had a feeling that his
+dislike for America was all put on to shock us. I feel so warm and
+sleepy," she continued drowsily when the lights were put out and they
+had snuggled down in the soft, comfortable beds.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard him drop an 'h' once," whispered Grace, in a sleepy voice.</p>
+
+<p>But there was no reply. Anne was already dreaming of her four beautiful
+new dresses.</p>
+
+<p>It might have been midnight, perhaps a little later when Grace awoke
+with a start. Not a sound disturbed the peace of the old house except
+the ticking of the clock on the mantel and the occasional crackling of
+dying embers in the fireplace. Yes; there was one sound and it aroused
+her. A loose board creaked in the floor, or was it a door which opened
+and closed softly? Perhaps it was nothing after all. And she closed her
+eyes and drew the eiderdown quilt close about her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>No; there it was again. A distinct footfall. She raised herself on her
+elbow and peered into the shadows. Far over at the other side of the
+chamber&mdash;it seemed an infinite distance just then&mdash;stood a figure. Grace
+looked at it calmly. She had never been a coward and she was not
+frightened now, only she wondered who could be invading their room at
+this hour. Perhaps Mrs. Gray; perhaps one of the servants. No, it was
+neither; of course it couldn't be because it was the figure of a man.
+She saw him now plainly enough hovering over the dressing table.</p>
+
+<p>A small, cold hand slipped into hers. Anne was awake too. She had seen
+the figure and lay quite still watching it. Grace silently returned the
+pressure; then the two lay watching the man's stealthy motions for a
+moment, while Grace's mind was busy devising a plan by which the robber
+might be caught.</p>
+
+<p>Oakdale was a quiet, prosperous place, and burglars were unusual.
+Occasionally the hands in the silk mills made a disturbance, and there
+had been a few highway robberies, but an actual house-breaker seldom
+troubled the law-abiding town. The two girls, as they lay watching him
+from under the covers, guessed that this man was a real burglar. He wore
+a black soft hat and carried a small electric lantern, while, with a
+practised hand, he picked the lock of a small drawer in the dressing
+table where the girls had put their purses. Once he turned the light
+toward the beds. Instantly the girls' eyelids dropped and they lay as
+still as mice. Having satisfied himself that all was well, the prowler
+went on with his work, finally tiptoeing into the front room where Mrs.
+Gray was sleeping. Evidently he had made a circuit of the three bedrooms
+on that side of the house. As he slipped out Grace leaped from the bed.
+Now was the time for action. Putting on her dressing gown and slippers
+she dashed to the door leading into the hall, only to come upon the
+burglar again who had probably been frightened in his last venture and
+had retired to the hall for safety.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately he was standing with his back to her while he closed the
+door, and feeling that she was safe for the moment, she crouched in the
+shadow of the doorway. The thief evidently thought he also was safe, for
+he seized a large, heavy-looking valise from the floor and made straight
+for the steps without looking to right or left.</p>
+
+<p>Now a door across the hall opened and another figure appeared. Grace
+trembled for a moment, fearing it might be another thief. She had always
+heard they traveled in pairs. But it was David, wrapped in a long gray
+dressing gown, looking for all the world like a monk.</p>
+
+<p>He glanced up and down the hall for a moment, then tapped on the door of
+the next room and without waiting for an answer walked in. In an instant
+he was out again and had started swiftly down the stairs, Grace
+following him. She had intended to speak to him, but it had all taken
+place so quickly there was no time. David made straight for the dining
+room, opening the heavy door. The room was brightly lighted. In a flash,
+Grace saw on the table a pile of the beautiful Gray silver, brought over
+from England by past generations of Grays. Grace never knew what
+instinct prompted her to enter the dining room by the butler's pantry at
+the very end of the long hall. As she pushed the swinging door, she
+heard David say:</p>
+
+<p>"You low blackguard, what do you mean by stealing your aunt's silver?"</p>
+
+<p>Grace started at the mention of the word "aunt." It was, then, the
+wretched Tom Gray who was robbing his own relative!</p>
+
+<p>"Get out!" returned the other coldly, "and attend to your own business.
+You are only a kid."</p>
+
+<p>"Give up those things you have stolen, or I'll pound you to a jelly!"
+cried David, making a rush at the burglar, who dodged nimbly.</p>
+
+<p>Then Grace had an inspiration, which assuredly saved David from very
+disagreeable consequences. Real burglars, like rattlesnakes, are not
+likely to be dangerous except when they are disturbed. It is then that
+they become dangerous characters. Grace slipped back into the pantry,
+swiftly opened one of the linen drawers and drew forth what turned out
+later to be a breakfast cloth, which was lucky because it was small and
+easy to manage.</p>
+
+<p>When, in the next instant, she had pushed the door open, what she saw
+made her blood run cold. Tom Gray had whipped out a small pistol and
+pointed it straight at David's head.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out of here, quick!" he said just as Grace opened the table cloth
+with a jerk and flung it over his head. A pistol shot rang out, but
+David had dodged in time and the bullet was buried in the mahogany
+wainscot back of him. The astonished burglar dropped the weapon, and
+began to struggle violently to release himself.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly David pinioned his arms from the back. But the fellow might
+even then have struggled free, if Reddy Brooks and Hippy Wingate had not
+burst into the room, followed by Anne, who had roused them after Grace
+had gone. The three boys swiftly overpowered Tom Gray and tied him to a
+chair with cord Grace had found in the pantry.</p>
+
+<p>But now, what was to be done? Undoubtedly the noise would awaken Mrs.
+Gray and she would have to be told that her nephew was a burglar about
+to make off with the family silver.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the loss of the silver would hurt less than family disgrace.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of their council Mrs. Gray herself appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"What in the world is the matter?" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>No one replied for a moment. It was a very uncomfortable situation for
+the young guests of the house party. If only the burglar had not been a
+member of the Gray family!</p>
+
+<p>Then Tom Gray himself spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"I must say this is a nice 'ospitable way to treat a guest and a
+relation. 'Ere I am taken by a lot of silly children for a burglar. I,
+your own nephew, awnt, who 'ad come down stairs on the h'innocent
+h'errand of finding some h'ice water."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray looked from one to another of the silent group. Her eyes took
+in the silver piled on the table, the pistol on the floor and the
+burglar's tools and lantern.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a burglar," she said, "a wretched, common thief. I knew it as
+soon as you entered my house last night. I could not then explain the
+feeling of repugnance I had, but I know now what it meant. I shall not
+offer hospitality to a coward, for all thieves are cowards. Boys, take
+what he has stolen from his pockets."</p>
+
+<p>Reddy and Hippy searched the bulging pockets of the thief's coat and
+waistcoat, and brought forth a quantity of jewelry, watches and purses.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, David," continued Mrs. Gray, firmly, "be kind enough to give me
+that pistol."</p>
+
+<p>David obeyed her, wondering if she meant to shoot her own nephew.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray pointed the pistol at the thief with as steady a hand as if
+she had been shooting at targets all her life.</p>
+
+<p>"Untie the cords," she commanded.</p>
+
+<p>They cut the cords with a carving knife.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, go!" said the old lady, still pointing the pistol at his head.
+"Leave my house quickly. I shall not punish you, because a thief is
+always punished sooner or later."</p>
+
+<p>Tom Gray looked immensely relieved, Grace thought, in spite of his
+crestfallen, hangdog air. They followed him down the hall, Mrs. Gray in
+the lead, until he slammed the front door after him and disappeared in
+the night.</p>
+
+<p>Then, turning with her old, sweet manner, she continued:</p>
+
+<p>"My dear children, I want to thank you for helping me rid my house of
+this man. I know I can depend on all of you never to mention it to
+anyone. It would have been a great blow to me if I had not been so
+angry; but now let us all go to our beds and forget this horrid episode.
+To-morrow we shall be as happy as ever. I am determined it shall not
+interfere with our good time."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>TOM GRAY</h3>
+
+
+<p>The company which met around the breakfast table, next morning, was
+entirely restored to its old gayety. There was not one member of the
+house party, including Mrs. Gray herself, who did not feel unbounded
+relief that the place was so well rid of Tom Gray.</p>
+
+<p>David was glad there had been no arrest, and that the mistress of the
+house had with so much dignity and spirit turned out the culprit. It
+would have been a bad business, testifying in court against Mrs. Gray's
+nephew when he had been visiting in her house.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Gray," suggested Grace, "if you haven't made any plans this
+morning for us, I think we had better spend an hour or so rehearsing our
+surprise."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, my dear, you may spend as much time as you like at it; but
+if I peep over the transom, or listen through a crack in the door, you
+mustn't scold. I don't know that I can wait much longer to find out what
+it is."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! You're not to come near the third story," protested Grace. "We
+shall nail down the transom and stuff the keyhole with soap if you do."</p>
+
+<p>"I never could stand suspense," exclaimed the old lady, shaking her head
+until her lace breakfast cap, with its little bows of lavender ribbon,
+quivered all over. "I fear I shall be tempted to break into the room
+before Christmas night and unearth the whole business. But tell me this
+much. Who is in the surprise?"</p>
+
+<p>"All of us," declared Nora. "But now we'll have to get somebody to take
+the place of&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She paused and blushed scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Thomas Gray," announced the old butler at the door, with a peculiar
+expression on his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>There was a dead silence. Mrs. Gray sat as if turned to stone, while
+David half rose from his seat and Hippy seized a bread and butter knife
+to plunge into the heart of his enemy, if necessary.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Rose," cried a voice outside, "aren't you glad to see me?"</p>
+
+<p>A broad-shouldered, well-built young man walked into the room and kissed
+the old lady right in the mouth, before she could say a word. He had a
+sunburned, wholesome face, kindly gray eyes, light-brown hair, and wore
+a heavy suit of rough, blue cloth. He carried no cane; neither were his
+shoes pointed at the toes, and there wasn't a tinge of English in his
+accent except that his enunciation was unusually good.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray rose from her chair and examined the young man long and
+carefully.</p>
+
+<p>"The very image of your uncle," she cried at last, and gave him a good
+hug. "The very image, my dear Tom. Your old aunty has been a most
+egregious fool. Why didn't you come last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you get my telegram? I sent it in good time. I was delayed and
+had to take the night train up. I am awfully sorry if it inconvenienced
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't inconvenienced me, my boy, except for a slight loss of
+sleep, and a fright and a narrow of escape from losing the family
+silver, which David and Grace, here, prevented."</p>
+
+<p>Then Mrs. Gray sat down and burst out laughing. The others joined in and
+for a few minutes the breakfast table was in an uproar.</p>
+
+<p>The real Tom Gray, who was the image of his uncle's portrait over the
+sideboard, looked from one to another of the strange faces and then
+began to laugh too, since it seemed to be the proper thing to do. He had
+one of those delightful, hearty laughs that ring out in a whole roomful
+of voices. When Mrs. Gray heard it she stopped short, patting her nephew
+on the cheek; for he was sitting beside her now in a place hastily
+arranged by the butler.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly your uncle's laugh. It's good to hear it again. You're a Gray,
+every inch of you; and, thank God, you're a fine fellow! If you had come
+down here with an English accent and no 'h's' and a monocle, I should
+have shut the door in your face. I should, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"Who, me?" demanded her nephew, forgetting his grammar in his surprise
+at such a state of affairs. "Not me, dear aunt. America's good enough
+for me. I've had lots of good times with my English cousins, but
+America's my home and country."</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" cried Hippy, dashing around the table and seizing the young
+man's hand. "We're glad to know you. We're proud and happy to make your
+acquaintance."</p>
+
+<p>There was such an uproar of fun and laughter at this that Tom Gray began
+at last to see that something had really happened, and that his sudden
+and unheralded appearance had brought immense relief to the assembled
+company.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think it's time somebody put me on?" he asked finally when
+the noise had quieted down a little.</p>
+
+<p>"Tom," replied his aunt, "did you tell anyone you were coming to Oakdale
+for Christmas to visit me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," answered Tom after a moment's thought. "I believe I did. In
+fact I know I did. I was staying for a week in New York, with an English
+friend, Arthur Butler. I told him all about it. It was on his account
+that I stayed over one night. I sent the telegram by his servant,
+Richards."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, ha!" cried Mrs. Gray. "And pray tell us what that wretch of a
+servant looked like."</p>
+
+<p>Tom laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Richards is quite an unusual fellow, a good servant I believe, but
+rather effeminate and a kind of a dandy&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's the man!"</p>
+
+<p>"He's the one!"</p>
+
+<p>"The very fellow!"</p>
+
+<p>Half a dozen voices interrupted at once.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mrs. Gray explained the rather serious adventure of the night
+before. She ended by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I never, in my heart of hearts, really believed he was you, Tom, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"The scoundrel!" exclaimed the young man. "Can't we set the police on
+him?"</p>
+
+<p>"The police in Oakdale are slow, Tom," replied his aunt. "Slow from lack
+of occupation. Robbers do not flock here in great numbers."</p>
+
+<p>"At least, I'll telegraph to Arthur Butler," said Tom, "and warn him.
+They may catch him from that end."</p>
+
+<p>The telegram was accordingly sent. Likewise the police were notified,
+but Richards, who turned out to be a well-known English crook, made good
+his escape and was heard from no more.</p>
+
+<p>It did not take our young people long to make the acquaintance of the
+real Tom Gray, nor to decide he was a fine fellow and one they could
+admit to their circle without regret.</p>
+
+<p>"He's like a breath of fresh air," thought Grace, and indeed it was
+disclosed later that he intended to study forestry because he loved the
+country and the open air, and spent all his vacations camping out and
+taking long walking trips. But there was nothing of the gypsy in him. He
+was full of energy and ambition and infused such a wholesome vigor into
+whatever he did that the young people felt a new enthusiasm in his
+presence.</p>
+
+<p>"I propose to celebrate the return of the real Tom Gray," announced Mrs.
+Gray, "by sending my boys and girls off on a sleighing party this
+afternoon. The big old sleigh holds exactly eight. Reddy, you may drive,
+since the roads are so familiar to you. You must all be back at six
+o'clock, for, remember, to-night we decorate the Christmas tree and
+every girl freshman in Oakdale High School must have a present on it."</p>
+
+<p>Just after lunch, therefore, after a hard morning's work over Mrs.
+Gray's "surprise," the young people bundled into the big side-seated
+sleigh, and tucked the buffalo robes tightly around them. The horses
+snorted in the crisp, dry air; there was a jingle of merry sleigh bells
+as off they started down the street toward the open country.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Jingle bells, jingle bells,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Jingle all the way.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, what fun 'tis to ride<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In a one-horse open sleigh.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>they sang as they bowled over the well-beaten track; and Tom Gray
+breathed a sigh of pure delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't this great!" he exclaimed. "Wouldn't you rather do this than
+write an essay or study Latin prose composition?"</p>
+
+<p>"Next to riding in an airship and skating, it's the finest thing I know
+of," answered David.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you ever ridden in an airship?" demanded Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I intend to," replied the other; for David had never for a
+moment relinquished his pet scheme, but worked on his experiments
+whenever he had a spare moment; little dreaming that one day he was to
+become the talk of the town.</p>
+
+<p>As the sleigh passed the Nesbit house, Miriam and some of her friends
+were just entering her front gate. She saw the party and a shadow of
+black jealousy darkened her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't we do the same thing?" she exclaimed aloud, and in another
+twenty minutes she had bundled her own guests into the Nesbit sleigh,
+while she herself took the reins and guided the pair of spirited black
+horses.</p>
+
+<p>"Miriam, I do wish you would let one of the boys drive," said her
+mother, who had come to the door to see her off.</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer to do the driving, mother," replied the spoiled girl, and with
+a crack of the whip, the second sleighful was off after the first. It
+was not long before the Nesbit sleigh had met and passed the other,
+which was not going at a very great rate of speed. Mrs. Gray's carriage
+horses were much older and more staid than Miriam's pair of young
+blacks.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the girl in front?" asked Tom, as the sleigh flashed past.</p>
+
+<p>"My sister," answered David shortly.</p>
+
+<p>"She must be a pretty good driver," observed Tom.</p>
+
+<p>David made no reply. He knew perfectly well that Miriam was not strong
+enough to hold in the black team, once the horses got the upper hand;
+but he hoped one of the boys would take the reins if they showed any
+symptoms of running away.</p>
+
+<p>The early twilight was just falling when the Gray house party came to a
+narrow, rickety old bridge spanning the bed of a creek. Here they
+stopped the horses for a time, while Grace and Hippy gathered some
+branches of evergreen growing on the edge of a wood, just over the
+bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the stillness was broken by the sound of bells ringing so
+violently that it seemed as if all Bedlam had broken loose. Around a
+curve and down the road in front of them loomed Miriam's blacks, making
+straight for the other group. They were going like the wind, and the
+empty sleigh, lying on its side, was clattering behind them.</p>
+
+<p>"Jump, girls!" cried Tom, while with the other boys he started to cross
+the bridge to intercept the horses.</p>
+
+<p>If Grace had paused to reflect she might never have attempted
+accomplishing the daring deed that suggested itself to her. Quickly
+snatching off her scarlet cape, she dashed into the middle of the road,
+waving it before her. Perhaps the horses also thought Bedlam had been
+let loose. At sight of the terrifying apparition, they slackened up,
+snorted and reared backward.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a brave girl," thought Tom Gray, as he leaped at the nearest
+rearing, plunging animal, while David seized the other. Far down the
+road came the sound of a faint halloo.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll pick up the others. I suppose they are in a drift," said Reddy, as
+he drove off and in a few minutes returned carrying Miriam and her
+party. Miriam herself looked white and frightened, although she
+pretended to treat the affair lightly.</p>
+
+<p>"A rabbit scared the horses," was all she said. "I'll let one of the
+boys drive us home."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, I shan't go back in that sleigh," cried Julia Crosby.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you'll accept a ride in the freshman sleigh, Miss Crosby,"
+suggested Nora; and the other girl, somewhat ashamed, was obliged to
+place herself at the mercy of her enemies.</p>
+
+<p>"All of you girls get into Mrs. Gray's sleigh," commanded David, "and
+Tom and I will drive the other sleigh back." No one ever cared to
+disobey David when he spoke in this tone. Even his wilful sister took
+her seat between Grace and Anne without a word and never spoke during
+the entire drive back, except to say good night at her own front gate.</p>
+
+<p>But Grace could not refrain from one sharp little thrust.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to be unlucky with sleighs and sleds both, Miriam," she said.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MARIONETTE SHOW</h3>
+
+
+<p>Do you remember your first party dress? How it gave a glimpse of the
+throat and neck, and seemed to sweep the ground all around, although it
+merely reached your shoe tops?</p>
+
+<p>Did you feel a thrill of pleasure when the last hook and eye was
+fastened and you surveyed yourself in the longest mirror in the house?</p>
+
+<p>So it was with Anne in her pink crepe de Chine. Or was it really Anne,
+this little vision in rose color with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes?
+She stood spellbound before the glass on that memorable Christmas night,
+and no one disturbed her for awhile. Mrs. Gray and the girls had stolen
+out so as not to embarrass the young girl who, for the first time, saw
+herself in a beautiful new silk dress exactly the color of pink rose
+petals, which hung in soft folds to the tips of her small pink satin
+slippers.</p>
+
+<p>"Give her a chance, girls," whispered Mrs. Gray. "We mustn't be too
+enthusiastic about the difference. It might hurt her tender little
+feelings. But she <i>does</i> look sweet, doesn't she?"</p>
+
+<p>"As pretty as a picture, Mrs. Gray," answered Grace, kissing the old
+lady's peach blossom cheek. "But they are coming. I hear them on the
+walk. We must get behind the scenes and see that everything is all
+ready."</p>
+
+<p>The big drawing room of the Gray house was soon full of young people
+watching the folding doors leading into the library with expectant
+faces. In the hall a string orchestra was discoursing soft music and the
+place was filled with the hum of conversation and low laughter. Mrs.
+Gray, seated on the front row, in the place of honor, occasionally
+looked about her and smiled happily.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't I do this long ago?" she said to herself. "But then, were
+there ever before such nice girls as my four adopted daughters?"</p>
+
+<p>Miriam sat near, with the other members of her house party. It had been
+a source of much discussion whether or not to admit Julia Crosby to the
+freshman party. But, since she was Miriam's guest, what else was there
+to do?</p>
+
+<p>"We shall be only heaping coals of fire on her head at any rate," hinted
+Jessica, "and that certainly ought to make her feel worse than if she
+had been left out."</p>
+
+<p>After everyone was comfortably seated three loud raps were heard from
+behind the folding doors. Some one began to play "The Funeral March of a
+Marionette" on the piano, and the doors slid slowly back.</p>
+
+<p>There was a murmur of surprise and wonder.</p>
+
+<p>Two curtains had been stretched across the door opening above and below
+and two hung down at each side, leaving an oblong space in the middle in
+which stood a little doll theater nearly a yard and a half long and a
+yard high. A row of footlights across the miniature stage presently
+blossomed into light, and the freshman girls smiled as they recognized
+some of those same little bulbs that had served to illuminate the
+pumpkin face of Miss Leece's effigy. The music ceased and the curtains
+rolled back. There sat Cinderella by the kitchen fire, very stiff and
+straight, but weeping audibly with her little fists in her eyes. She was
+ten inches high and, on careful examination, it could be seen that two
+threads attached to her arms, and another to the back of her neck, made
+it possible for her to move about and use her hands in a remarkably
+life-like manner.</p>
+
+<p>Wild applause from the audience. Well there might be, for the scene was
+perfect, from the old brick fireplace with an iron pot steaming on the
+coals to the rows of shining pans and blue dishes on a shelf at the
+side, all of which came from a toy shop, along with a little kitchen
+bench and chairs.</p>
+
+<p>The cruel sisters swept in, dressed for the ball. When they spoke there
+were convulsive titters among the guests for the voices of the cruel
+step-sisters were those of Nora and Hippy. Anne read the lines of
+Cinderella so plaintively that Mrs. Gray shed a secret tear or two when
+Cinderella was left alone in the gloomy old kitchen. When the fairy
+godmother appeared, in a peaked red hat and a long red cape, it was
+Jessica who spoke the lines in a sweet, musical voice. How Cinderella
+rolled out the pumpkin and displayed six white mice in a trap, and how,
+after a brief interval of total darkness, could be seen through the open
+door a coach of gold in which sat Cinderella in a silken gown, need not
+be related here. It all took place without a single slip and the dolls
+went through their parts with such funny life-like motions that the boys
+and girls forgot they were not watching real actors.</p>
+
+<p>It was the scene of the ballroom, however, which was the real triumph of
+the evening.</p>
+
+<p>"How did those clever children ever do it?" exclaimed Mrs. Gray, aloud,
+when the curtain rolled back and disclosed the ballroom of the palace,
+with a drop curtain at the back showing a vista of marble columns and
+pillars. A gilt chandelier was suspended in the middle, from which
+stretched garlands of real smilax. There were rows of little gilt chairs
+against the walls filled with dolls in stiff satins and brocades. And
+one large throne chair with a red velvet cushion in it, on which sat the
+prince, who spoke with the voice of David Nesbit, and entertained his
+guests in royal state. After the exciting arrival of Cinderella, Nora
+played a minuet on the mandolin, the tinkling music of which seemed best
+suited to the doll drama, and the prince and Cinderella executed a dance
+of such intricate steps and low bows that the audience was convulsed
+with laughter. There were even suppressed titters from behind the
+scenes. This dance, which had been devised by Tom Gray and Grace,
+necessitated two extra threads to manipulate the feet. It was most
+difficult and had required long and tedious practice, but the results
+were quite worth all the time and trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray laughed till the tears rolled down her cheeks and made a
+personal appeal for an encore, which was given; but there was a mishap
+this time; Cinderella's threads became entangled and she came near to
+breaking her china nose. Audiences are invariably most pitiless when
+they are most pleased, and have no mercy on exhausted actors. At the cry
+of "Speech! Speech!" the Prince stepped forward and made a low bow.</p>
+
+<p>"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "we thank you for your approval and if
+strength and breath permitted us, and the lady had not injured her nose,
+we would gladly dance again for you."</p>
+
+<p>Then came the last scene. The step-sisters made desperate efforts to
+wear the slipper; Cinderella finally retired triumphantly on the
+prince's arm, and the curtains closed only to open again a few moments
+later upon a scene which bore a strong resemblance to Oakdale High
+School. The fairy godmother occupied the center of the stage while the
+entire company of dolls were lined up on either side. Cinderella and the
+prince, each held the end of an open scroll, which bore a printed
+inscription that could be seen by the audience. It read:</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">A Merry Christmas to the Fairy Godmother of the Freshman
+Class</span>."</p>
+
+<p>A scene of wild enthusiasm followed. The young people gave three cheers
+for Mrs. Gray and ended with the High School yell. The actors came out
+and were cheered each in turn.</p>
+
+<p>Grace, Tom Gray and Reddy had worked the marionettes, it seemed,
+standing on the back of the table where the theater was placed, while
+the others, sitting on low stools at the sides where they could see and
+not be seen, read their lines which had been composed by Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't so hard as you might think," said Grace, explaining the
+marionettes to a group of friends. "Dressing the dolls was easy; we
+glued on most of their clothes, and we made the step-sisters ugly by
+giving them putty noses. Hippy painted the scenery and David supplied
+the electric lights. The threads that moved the arms and bodies were
+tied to little cross sticks something like a gallows, so that they could
+be held from above without being seen."</p>
+
+<p>But the marionette show was only the beginning of the party. There was
+to be feasting and dancing, and, lastly, a big Christmas tree loaded
+with presents.</p>
+
+<p>The floors were cleared. The notes of a waltz rang out, and away whirled
+the happy boys and girls. Anne and David, who did not dance, retired to
+a sofa in the library to look on.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you happy, Anne, in your beautiful pink dress?" asked David,
+regarding her with open admiration.</p>
+
+<p>"How can I help being happy?" she replied. "This is the first pretty
+dress that I have ever had and I never went to a party before, either."</p>
+
+<p>"I never enjoyed a party before," said David, "but I'm enjoying this
+one. I hope, for Mrs. Gray's sake, it goes off without a hitch."</p>
+
+<p>Just then Tom Gray waltzed by with Grace. They stopped when they saw
+their friends, and came back.</p>
+
+<p>"Our efforts are certainly crowned with success," exclaimed Grace. "It's
+the most beautiful ball ever given in Oakdale. Everyone says so. By the
+way," she added, "get your partners and fall in line for the grand march
+to supper."</p>
+
+<p>"I already have mine, all right," declared Tom Gray.</p>
+
+<p>"And I think I have mine," observed David. "She's wearing a pink dress
+and is just about as tall as a marionette."</p>
+
+<p>Anne laughed and stood on tiptoe to make herself look taller. Suddenly
+she caught the eye of Miriam Nesbit, who was lingering in the doorway,
+watching the scene with an expression that the circumstances and holiday
+surroundings hardly seemed to justify.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if the party will go off without a hitch," thought Anne, as
+they joined the grand march into the dining room.</p>
+
+<p>When the beautiful, illuminated tree had been disburdened of all its
+presents and the guests were well advanced on their supper, Mrs. Gray
+approached Anne, carrying an oblong box, neatly done up in white tissue
+paper tied with red ribbons. Pinned to the ribbon with a piece of holly
+was a Christmas card on which was printed in fancy lettering "A
+Christmas Thought."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what is this, Mrs. Gray?" demanded Anne, rather excited, while
+many of the boys and girls gathered around her and some stood on chairs
+in order to see what the mysterious box contained.</p>
+
+<p>"I know no more than you, dear," replied the old lady. "A man left it at
+the door a moment ago, and one of the servants gave it to me. Why don't
+you open it and see?"</p>
+
+<p>Anne hesitated. Something told her not to open the box, but how could
+she help it with dozens of her friends waiting eagerly to see what was
+in it?</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry up, Anne, aren't you curious to see what it is?" some one called.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks like flowers," said another.</p>
+
+<p>"Or candy," observed a third.</p>
+
+<p>And still Anne's fingers lingered on the bow of red ribbon. Was there
+anyone in the world who could be sending her a box that night? Certainly
+not her mother nor her sister, nor any of her friends who had exchanged
+presents in the morning. Mrs. Gray evidently had not sent it and there
+was no one else in her small list of friends who would have taken the
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne, you funny child, don't you see we are all waiting impatiently?"
+said Grace at last.</p>
+
+<p>Anne slipped off the ribbons and opened the package. In the box was some
+object, carefully done up in more tissue paper.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks like a mummy," exclaimed Hippy.</p>
+
+<p>Untying the wrappers, Anne held up to the curious view of the others a
+large doll.</p>
+
+<p>At first she hardly comprehended what it was and held it out at arms'
+length looking at it wonderingly. It was dressed as a man in a black
+suit with a long Prince Albert coat, very crudely made on close
+inspection, but still cut and fitted to give the right effect. The face
+had been cleverly changed with paint and putty, and pinned on the head
+was a black felt hat, constructed out of the crown of an old one
+evidently, in which had been sewn some lank black hair.</p>
+
+<p>A card was tied around the doll's neck, and some one looking over Anne's
+shoulder read aloud the following inscription written upon it:</p>
+
+<p>"Why have imitation actors when you can get real ones?"</p>
+
+<p>Anne gave a gasp.</p>
+
+<p>Who could have played this cruel trick upon her? She knew her four
+friends had never spoken of the happenings of Thanksgiving night, but
+such secrets would leak out in spite of everything, and there may have
+been others in the audience who had recognized her. Moreover, her father
+himself would not have hesitated to tell who she was, so that it was not
+difficult to understand how the story had spread.</p>
+
+<p>But who would have the heart to hold her father up to ridicule in this
+way, and to cause her such secret pain and unhappiness? While her
+thoughts were busy, David had seized the doll and wrapped it up again.
+He was very angry, but it was wiser to keep silent.</p>
+
+<p>"What was it, dear?" demanded Mrs. Gray, who had not been able to hear
+the message written on the card.</p>
+
+<p>"Just a silly trick on Anne, Mrs. Gray," replied David, for Anne was too
+near to tears to trust the sound of her own voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Something about actors, wasn't it?" asked Julia Crosby, who was
+hovering near, and before she could be stopped, she had snatched the
+doll from Anne's lap. The covers fluttered to the floor and the others
+pressed eagerly around to get a glimpse of it.</p>
+
+<p>David leaped to his feet so vigorously that he upset a chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Give that back!" he commanded. "It is not yours."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i003" id="i003"></a>
+<img src="images/i003.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Give That Back! It Is Not Yours."</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+
+<p>"I will not," answered Julia Crosby. "Neither is it yours."</p>
+
+<p>"I say you will," cried David, furiously, losing his temper completely.</p>
+
+<p>"Get it if you can!" challenged the girl, darting through the crowd with
+David at her heels.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there was a crash, a startled cry and the great fir tree with
+all its ornaments and lighted candles fell to the floor.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>AFTER THE BALL</h3>
+
+
+<p>Yes, here was the hitch that Anne had secretly dreaded and which the
+other girls had anxiously hoped to avoid.</p>
+
+<p>She had not dreamed what it would be, but she had felt it coming all
+evening, ever since she had seen Miriam hovering near the library door.
+And, in a way, Miriam was connected with the disaster. Had not Miriam's
+guest and chum exceeded all bounds of politeness by prying into other
+people's affairs? No doubt, as she fled from David, her dress had caught
+in one of the branches of the tree and so pulled it over.</p>
+
+<p>All this darted through Anne's head as she stood leaning against the
+wall while the room was fast filling with smoke and the pungent odor of
+burning pine.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, some one at her elbow deliberately called "Fire! Fire!" These
+were the same ominous words she had heard Thanksgiving night, only they
+seemed now more alarming, more threatening. Who could be so foolish, so
+ill-advised as to scream those agitating words in a roomful of girls and
+boys already keyed up to a high pitch of excitement? Anne turned quickly
+and confronted Miriam.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do that!" exclaimed Anne. "You will only make matters worse."</p>
+
+<p>Miriam looked at her scornfully, although it was evident she had not
+noticed her before.</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet, spy," she hissed, "and don't make trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"I suspect you of making a great deal," returned Anne, calmly.</p>
+
+<p>She was not afraid of this passionate, spoiled girl, and only the fact
+that Miriam was the sister of David, her devoted friend, kept Anne from
+saying more.</p>
+
+<p>In another moment, the entire Christmas tree was in a bright blaze. Anne
+had climbed up to a chair, and thence to the table that the crowd had
+pushed against her as it ran. Anne was about to leap to the floor when
+Grace and Tom Gray dashed in with an armful apiece of wet blankets. With
+the help of the others they spread the blankets over the burning tree
+and the blaze was extinguished almost as soon as it was born.</p>
+
+<p>"No harm has been done," said Tom. "The canvas covering saved the floor
+and fortunately all the furniture has been taken out anyhow. It's all
+right, Aunt Rose. Nobody hurt; nothing damaged. I never heard of a more
+accommodating fire in my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Open the windows now and let out the smoke," ordered Mrs. Gray, "and,
+if you have all finished eating, I think you had better come into the
+drawing room while the servants clear out this debris. Tom, please tell
+the musicians to play a waltz. I do not want my guests to carry away any
+unpleasant impressions of this house."</p>
+
+<p>The music struck up and the dance began again.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Grace, "no one need feel badly about the fire, because a
+Christmas tree generally has to be burned, anyway, and nothing of value
+but the ornaments was destroyed. So everything is all right."</p>
+
+<p>"It was all my fault," exclaimed David, in a contrite voice. "Mrs. Gray,
+you will have to forgive me before I can enjoy a clear conscience again.
+If it hadn't been for that lumbering sophomore, Julia Crosby, I should
+never have lost my temper the way I did."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear David," cried Mrs. Gray, patting him affectionately on the arm,
+"you couldn't do anything I would disapprove of. If you wanted to rescue
+Anne's doll I am sure you had some excellent reason for it."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray had not heard the history of Anne's father, for Grace and her
+friends had kept the secret well, and Anne, herself, had never cared to
+tell the story. She was a quiet, reserved girl who talked little of her
+own affairs.</p>
+
+<p>"He <i>did</i> have a good reason, Mrs. Gray," put in Grace, "and it was
+enough to make him lose his temper. Julia Crosby is everlastingly
+playing practical jokes and getting people into trouble. However, I
+don't suppose she upset the tree on purpose," she added, thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, "let us forget all about it and wind
+up the party with a Virginia reel. Tom and Grace must lead it off, and
+Anne, you and David watch the others so that when it comes your turn you
+will be able to dance it yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>So it was that Mrs. Gray's freshman Christmas ball ended as gayly as it
+had started, with a romping, joyous Virginia reel. There was not a soul,
+except the little old lady herself, who did not join the two long lines
+stretching from one end of the rooms to the other and when it came
+Anne's turn, she was not afraid to bow and curtsey as the others had
+done, for she had quickly mastered the various figures of the dance.
+Moreover, was she not wearing a beautiful dress of pink crepe de Chine?
+After all a pretty dress does make a great difference. Anne felt she
+could never have danced so well in the old black silk.</p>
+
+<p>When the reel was over the boys and girls joined hands and formed an
+immense circle about their charming hostess, whirling madly around her
+as they cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Three cheers for Mrs. Gray!"</p>
+
+<p>The old lady was very happy. She waved her small, wrinkled hands at them
+and called out over the din:</p>
+
+<p>"Three cheers for my dear freshmen boys and girls!"</p>
+
+<p>At length, when the hands of the clock pointed to two, and the last of
+the dancers had departed, Mrs. Gray sank into a chair exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>"I am tired," she said, "but I never in my life had such a good time!"</p>
+
+<p>Was there ever a girl in the world who did not want to exchange
+confidences with her best friends after a party?</p>
+
+<p>Grace and Anne, therefore, were not surprised when two figures in
+dressing gowns and slippers stole into their room, crouching on the rug
+before the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"We've all sorts of things to say," exclaimed Nora, "else we wouldn't
+think of keeping you up so late. In the first place, wasn't it perfectly
+delightful?"</p>
+
+<p>"Grand!" sighed the others.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything except that one accident, and the thing that caused it,"
+answered Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, Anne, where is the doll?" asked Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>Anne produced it from its box.</p>
+
+<p>"Here it is," she said sadly. "But it was a cruel joke. Can you imagine
+who could have done it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have several suspicions," answered Grace, "but I make no accusations
+without grounds."</p>
+
+<p>The four girls examined the doll carefully.</p>
+
+<p>"My poor father!" exclaimed Anne, her eyes filling with tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what, girls," cried Nora suddenly, "there's more to this
+than just Anne's secret. How did anyone know we were going to have a
+marionette show? Didn't we keep it dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," they answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it got out through the servants," suggested Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly is rather an underhanded business," cried Grace, "for
+whoever did this not only must have bribed one of Mrs. Gray's servants,
+but also must have some way or other raked up Anne's secret. It was
+evidently some one who had a grudge against you, poor dear," she added,
+patting Anne on the cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls!" exclaimed Jessica, who all this time had been looking the doll
+over carefully, "where have you seen this material before?" She pointed
+at the fancy red waistcoat the doll was wearing.</p>
+
+<p>"It has a familiar look," answered Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks to me very much like a red velveteen suit I saw somewhere once
+upon a time," observed Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"You did see it, Grace. But it was&mdash;how long ago? Two or more years,
+wasn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know," cried Nora. "Miriam Nesbit's!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sh-h-h!" warned Grace. "Remember David. He's just across the hall."</p>
+
+<p>"And he must never know," added Anne, "not if she sent me a dozen
+dolls."</p>
+
+<p>"But I haven't finished," continued Jessica. "I feel exactly like a
+detective on the scent. This doll is wearing something else that is
+familiar to us all. Anne, you have seen it, I am sure."</p>
+
+<p>They scanned the doll eagerly. The shabby black suit was made of some
+indescribable material that might have come from anywhere. The red
+velveteen waistcoat they had already identified. Then came a little
+white cotton dickey, with a high standing collar and then&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The tie!" cried Nora. "The green tie! Is that it, Jessica?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are right," answered Jessica. "Have you never seen that green silk
+before?"</p>
+
+<p>Grace was in a brown study.</p>
+
+<p>Anne could not recall it and Nora was groping in the dark.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you this much," said Jessica, who loved a mystery; "It just
+matches a certain veil&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Leece!" exclaimed Grace. "It's a piece of the trimming on an old
+dress she sometimes wears."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," said Jessica. "Who, having once seen it could ever forget
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>And so Miss Leece and Miriam had combined forces against poor little
+Anne!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>A WINTER PICNIC</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Aunt Rose," exclaimed Tom Gray, several mornings after the Christmas
+dance, "I have a scheme; but, before I ask your permission to carry it
+out, I want you to grant it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you ask it at all, then, Tom, dear?" answered his aunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Because we want your seal and sanction upon the undertaking," replied
+Tom, giving the old lady an affectionate squeeze. "Is it granted, little
+Lady Gray?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I am merely groping about in the dark, my boy, but I trust to your good
+sense not to ask me anything too outrageous. Tell me what it is quickly,
+so that I may know exactly how deeply I am implicated."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Tom, "here's the scheme in a nutshell. I want to give a
+picnic."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray groaned.</p>
+
+<p>"A picnic, boy? Whoever heard of a picnic in mid-winter. What mad notion
+is this?"</p>
+
+<p>"But you have given your consent, aunty, and no honorable woman can go
+back on her word."</p>
+
+<p>"So I have, child, but explain to me quickly what a winter picnic is so
+that I may know the worst at once."</p>
+
+<p>"A winter picnic is a glorious tramp in the woods, with a big camp-fire
+at noon, for food, warmth and rest, and then a tramp back again."</p>
+
+<p>"And can I trust to you to take good care of my four girls? Anne and
+Jessica are not giants for strength. You must not walk them too far, or
+let them get chilled; and, if you find they are growing tired, you must
+bring them straight back."</p>
+
+<p>"On my word of honor, as a gentleman and a Gray, I promise," said Tom,
+solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"And you will all be in before dark?" continued Mrs. Gray.</p>
+
+<p>"We promise," continued the young people.</p>
+
+<p>"Wear your stoutest shoes and warmest clothing," she went on.</p>
+
+<p>"We promise," they cried.</p>
+
+<p>"And we want a lot of lunch, aunt," said Tom coaxingly, "and some nice
+raw bacon for cooking and eating purposes."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have everything you want," said Mrs. Gray, "but who will
+carry the lunch?"</p>
+
+<p>"We will distribute it on the backs of our four pack mules," replied
+Grace. "But Hippy must carry the coffee-pot. He's not to be trusted with
+food."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, wouldn't it be a remarkable sight to see a pack mule eating off
+his own back!" observed Hippy. "There are several animals that can turn
+their heads all the way around, I believe, but not the human animal."</p>
+
+<p>"We had better start as soon as possible," broke in Tom. "Hurry up,
+girls, and get ready, while the servants fix the lunch."</p>
+
+<p>In half an hour eight young people, well muffled and mittened, started
+off toward the open country. It was a clear, cold day and the
+snow-covered fields and meadows sparkled in the sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>"If I were a gypsy by birth, as well as by inclination," declared Tom,
+as they trudged gayly along, "I should take to the road in the early
+spring, and never see a roof again until cold weather."</p>
+
+<p>"But being a member of a respectable family and about to enter college,
+you have to sleep in a bed under cover?" added David.</p>
+
+<p>"It's partly that," said Tom, "and partly the cold weather that is
+responsible for my good behavior two thirds of the year. If I lived in a
+warm climate all the year around, every respectable notion I had would
+melt away in a week and I'd take to the open forever."</p>
+
+<p>"I have never been in the woods in the winter time," said Anne. "Are
+they very beautiful?"</p>
+
+<p>"One of the finest sights in the world," cried Tom enthusiastically, his
+wholesome face glowing from his exercise.</p>
+
+<p>Just then they climbed an old stone wall and entered a forest known as
+"Upton Wood," which covered an area of ten miles or more in length and
+several miles across.</p>
+
+<p>"It is beautiful," said Anne as she gazed up and down the wooded aisles
+carpeted in white. "It is like a great cathedral. I could almost kneel
+and pray at one of these snow covered stumps. They are like altars."</p>
+
+<p>"The fault I find with the woods in winter," observed Grace, "is that
+there is nothing to do in them, no birds and beasts to make things
+lively, no flowers to pick, no brooks to wade in. Just an everlasting
+stillness."</p>
+
+<p>"I admit there's not much social life," replied Tom. "The inhabitants
+either go to sleep or fly south, most of them. But don't forget the
+rabbits and squirrels and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And an occasional bear," interrupted Reddy. "They have been seen in
+these parts."</p>
+
+<p>"Worse than bears," said Hippy. "Wolves!"</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness!" ejaculated Tom. "You are doing pretty well. I didn't know
+this country was so wild. But that's going some."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, as to that," said David, "nobody has ever really seen
+anything worse than wildcats, and we have to take old Jean's word for it
+about the wolves. He claimed to have seen wolves in these woods three
+years ago. As a matter of fact they chased him out, and he was obliged
+to turn civilized for three months."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is old Jean?" asked Tom, much interested.</p>
+
+<p>"He is a French-Canadian hunter who has lived somewhere in this forest
+for years. He comes into town occasionally, looking like Daniel Boone,
+dressed in skins with a squirrel cap, and carrying a bunch of rabbits
+that he sells to the butchers."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a great sight," said Grace. "I saw him on his snowshoes one day.
+He was coming down Upton Hill, where we coasted, you know, Anne, and he
+sped along the fields faster than David's motor cycle."</p>
+
+<p>They had been walking for some time over the hard-packed snow and were
+now well into the forest, which hemmed them in on every side and seemed
+to stretch out in all directions into infinite space.</p>
+
+<p>"Reddy, are you perfectly sure we won't get lost in this place?"
+demanded Jessica at last.</p>
+
+<p>They had been walking along silently intent on their own thoughts.
+Perhaps it was the grandeur of the great snow-laden trees that oppressed
+them; perhaps the vast loneliness of the place, where nothing was
+stirring, not even a rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"We're all right," returned Reddy. "My compass tells me. We go due north
+till we want to start home and then we can either turn around and go
+back due south or turn west and go home by the road."</p>
+
+<p>"I have neither compass nor watch," said Hippy, "but nature's timepiece
+tells me that it's lunch time. This cold air gives me an appetite."</p>
+
+<p>"Gives you one?" cried David. "You old anaconda, you were born with an
+appetite. You started eating boiled dumplings when you were two years
+old."</p>
+
+<p>"Who told you so?" demanded Hippy.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," said David. "It's an old story in Oakdale."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's feed the poor soul," interposed Grace. "It would be wanton
+cruelty to keep him waiting any longer."</p>
+
+<p>"He'll have to make the fire, then," said Reddy. "Make him pay for his
+dumplings if he wants 'em so early."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Carrots," cried Hippy. "I'll gather fagots and make a fire,
+just to keep you from talking so much."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll help you, Hippy," said Nora. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I am
+very hungry too. It's the people who are never able to eat at the table,
+and then go off and feed up in the pantry, who always manage to shirk
+their work."</p>
+
+<p>The others all laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's make a fair division of labor," put in Grace, "so as to prevent
+future talk."</p>
+
+<p>While some of them gathered sticks and dried branches, the others began
+clearing away the snow in an open space, where the fire could be built.</p>
+
+<p>Anne and Jessica unpacked the luncheon and poured some coffee from a
+glass jar into a tin pot to be heated, while Tom peeled several long
+switches and impaled pieces of bacon on the ends to be cooked over the
+fire, which was soon blazing comfortably.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you like this, girls?" he asked presently, when the broiling
+bacon began to give out an appetizing smell and the hot coffee added its
+fragrance to the air. "How's this for a winter picnic?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like it better than a summer picnic," interposed Hippy. "The food is
+better and there are no gnats."</p>
+
+<p>"Gnats are very fond of fat people," said Reddy. "They drink down their
+blood like&mdash;circus lemonade."</p>
+
+<p>"Get busy and give me some coffee, Red-head," said Hippy, who sat on a
+stump and ate energetically, while the others were broiling their slices
+of bacon.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Hippy," said Nora, pouring out a steaming cupful, "if it wasn't
+interesting to watch you store it away, perhaps I wouldn't wait on you
+hand and foot like this."</p>
+
+<p>"This is the best way in the world to cook bacon," said Tom, holding his
+wand over the fire with several pieces of bacon stuck on the forked
+ends.</p>
+
+<p>"A very good method, if your stick doesn't burn up," replied Anne.
+"There! Mine fell into the fire. I knew it would."</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Jessica and Grace were frying the rest of the slices in a pan.</p>
+
+<p>"That's good enough, but this is better and quicker," said Grace.
+"There's no reason for dispensing with all the comforts of a home just
+because you choose to be a woodsman, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>They never forget how they enjoyed that luncheon, devouring everything
+to the ultimate crumb and the final drop of hot coffee.</p>
+
+<p>Although it was bitterly cold, they did not feel the chill. The brisk
+walk, the warm fire and their hearty meal had quickened their blood, and
+even Anne, the smallest and most delicate of them all, felt something of
+Tom's enthusiasm for the deep woods.</p>
+
+<p>At last it was time to start again.</p>
+
+<p>The boys were trampling down the fire while the girls began stowing the
+cups and coffee-pot into a basket. The woods seemed suddenly to have
+grown very quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"How still it is," whispered Anne. "I feel as if everything in the world
+had stopped. There is not a breath stirring."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it has," answered Grace. "But we mustn't stop, even if
+everything else has, now that the fire is out, or we'll freeze to
+death."</p>
+
+<p>She was just about to call the others briskly, for the air was beginning
+to nip her cheeks, when something in the faces of the four boys made her
+pause.</p>
+
+<p>They were standing together near the remains of the fire, and seemed to
+be listening intently.</p>
+
+<p>Not a sound, not even the crackling of a branch disturbed the stillness
+for a moment and then, from what appeared to be a great distance, came a
+long, howling wail, so forlorn, so weird, it might have been the cry of
+a spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" whispered the other girls, creeping about Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we'd better be hurrying along, now, girls," said David in a
+natural voice. "It's getting late."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't deceive us, David," replied Grace calmly. "We know it's
+wolves."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<h3>WOLVES!</h3>
+
+
+<p>Wolves! The name was terrifying enough. But their cry, that
+long-drawn-out, hungry call, gave the picnickers a chill of
+apprehension.</p>
+
+<p>"We must take the nearest way out of the wood, Reddy," exclaimed Tom.
+"They are still several miles off, and, if we hurry, we may reach the
+open before they do."</p>
+
+<p>All started on a run, David helping Anne to keep up with the others
+while Reddy looked after Jessica. Nora and Grace were well enough
+trained in outdoor exercise to run without any assistance from the boys.
+Indeed, Grace Harlowe could out-run most boys of her own age.</p>
+
+<p>"Go straight to your left," called Reddy, consulting his compass as he
+hurried Jessica over the snow.</p>
+
+<p>Again they heard the angry howl of the wolves, and the last time it
+seemed much nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a terrible business, this running after a heavy meal," muttered
+Hippy, gasping for breath as he stumbled along in the track of his
+friends. "I'll make a nice meal for 'em if they catch me," he added,
+"and it looks as if I'd be the first to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Reddy, are you sure you're right?" called Tom. "The woods don't seem to
+be thinning out as they are likely to do toward the edge."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep going," called Reddy, confident of the direction. "You see, we had
+gone pretty far in, but I believe the open country is about a mile this
+way."</p>
+
+<p>A mile? Good heavens! Jessica and Anne were already stumbling from
+exhaustion, while Hippy was quite winded. Another five minutes of this
+and at least three of the party would be food for wolves, unless
+something could be done. So thought David, who, breathless and light
+headed, was now almost carrying Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" cried Grace, who had been running ahead of the others. "Here's
+Jean's hut!"</p>
+
+<p>There, sure enough, right in front of them, was a little house built of
+logs and mud.</p>
+
+<p>Had it been put in that particular spot years ago just to save their
+eight lives now? Anne wondered vaguely as she blindly stumbled on.</p>
+
+<p>As Grace lifted the wooden latch of the door, she looked over her
+shoulder. Not three hundred yards away loped five gaunt, gray animals.
+Their tongues hung limply from the sides of their mouths and their eyes
+glowered with a fierce hunger.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry!" she cried, in an agony of fear. "Oh, hurry!"</p>
+
+<p>Tom and David were carrying Anne now, while Jessica was half staggering,
+assisted by Nora and Reddy. Hippy, the perspiration pouring from his
+face, brought up the rear, and they had scarcely pulled him in and
+barred the door before the wolves had reached the hut and were leaping
+against the walls howling and snarling.</p>
+
+<p>Nobody spoke for some time. Those who were not too tired were busy
+thinking.</p>
+
+<p>What was to be done? Eight young people, on a bitter cold winter
+afternoon, shut up in a hut in the middle of a forest while five
+half-starved wolves besieged the door.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Tom Gray began to look about him.</p>
+
+<p>There was a fireplace in the hut, which, by great good luck, contained
+the remains of a large backlog. More fuel was stacked in the corner,
+chiefly brushwood and sticks. He made a fire at once and the others
+gathered around the blaze, for they felt the penetrating chill now,
+after their rapid and exhausting flight through the forest.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a rifle," exclaimed Grace, who was also exploring, while Tom
+kindled the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" cried Tom. "Let's see it. It may be our salvation."</p>
+
+<p>He seized the gun and examined the barrel, but, alas, there was only one
+shot left in it. They searched the hut for more cartridges, but not one
+could they find.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the wolves, which might have been taken for large collie
+dogs at a little distance, were trotting around the house, leaping
+against the door and windows and occasionally giving a blood-curdling
+howl.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose you feed me to them?" groaned Hippy. "You could get almost to
+Oakdale before they finished me."</p>
+
+<p>The suggestion seemed to break the apprehensive silence that had settled
+down upon them, and they burst out laughing, one and all; even Anne, who
+was lying on a bearskin in front of the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose the beasts were driven down from the hills by hunger, and
+when they smelled the fat bacon frying, the woods couldn't hold them,"
+observed David. "I have always heard that a hungry wolf could smell
+something to eat on another planet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what are we going to do?" demanded Nora. "If we leave this
+charming abode of Jean's, we shall be eaten alive, and if we stay in it
+we shall starve."</p>
+
+<p>"You won't starve for a while yet, child. You have only just eaten. You
+remind me of the story of the people who were locked up in a vault in a
+cemetery. They divided the candle into notches and decided to eat a
+notch apiece every day. They had just finished the last notch, and were
+expecting to die at any moment of starvation, when somebody unlocked the
+door, and how long do you suppose they had been shut up!"</p>
+
+<p>"Several days, I suppose," answered Nora, "since they appeared to have
+eaten several notches."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," replied David. "Only three hours."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather be in a vault, with the dead, than out here," observed
+Hippy.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we such poor company as all that, Fatty!" laughed Reddy.</p>
+
+<p>"I've made a great find," announced Tom Gray in the midst of their
+chatter. He was standing on a bench examining something on a shelf
+suspended from the ceiling.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" demanded the others in great excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"A pair of snowshoes," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>There was a disappointed silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, don't all speak at once," said Tom at last. "Don't you agree with
+me that it's a great find?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are sorry we can't enthuse," answered David, "but we fail to see how
+snow shoes can help us out of our present predicament."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody here knows how to use them," continued Reddy, "and even if he
+did, he couldn't out-run a pack of wolves."</p>
+
+<p>"I know how to use them," exclaimed Tom. "I learned it in Canada a few
+winters ago, but I will admit I couldn't beat the wolves in a race.
+However, the shoes may come in handy yet."</p>
+
+<p>Just then one of the wolves threw his body against the door and the
+small cabin shook with the force of the blow.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove!" exclaimed David, "I thought they had us then. Another blow
+like that and the old latch might give way."</p>
+
+<p>They looked about them for something to place against the door, but
+there was not a stick of furniture in the room. Even the bed, in one
+corner, was made of pine boughs and skins.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder how there happens to be only five wolves," said Anne. "I
+thought they went about in large packs."</p>
+
+<p>"They are probably mama and papa and the whole family," replied Hippy.
+"The smallest, friskiest ones, I think, are young ladies, by the way
+they switched along behind the others and hung back kind of shy-like."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Hippy Wingate, don't tell us such a romance as that," warned
+Grace, "when you were so winded you could hardly look in front of you,
+much less behind you."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment there was another crash against the door while two gray
+paws and the tip of a pointed muzzle could be seen on one of the window
+sills.</p>
+
+<p>"It's almost three o'clock," said Tom Gray, looking at his watch. "I
+think we'll have to do something, or we shall be penned here all night.
+Now, what shall it be? Suppose we have a friendly council and consider."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said David; "the meeting is open for suggestions. What do
+you advise, Anne?"</p>
+
+<p>Anne smiled thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no advice to offer," she said, "unless you shoot one of the
+wolves and let the others eat him up. Perhaps that would take the edge
+off their appetites."</p>
+
+<p>"No, that would only serve as an appetizer," answered David. "After they
+had eaten one member of the family they would be still hungrier for
+another."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet that isn't a half bad idea," said Tom, "and for two reasons.
+Did you notice a path which began at the hut and which was evidently
+Jean's trail? I saw it from the corner of my eye as I ran."</p>
+
+<p>No, the others had not noticed anything of the sort. But who would stop
+to think of trails with a pack of hungry wolves at his heels?</p>
+
+<p>Tom's training in the woods had taught him to take in such details, and
+consequently he had noticed it particularly. Moreover, the trail led
+straight to the left, presumably toward the west.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, this is what I propose to do," he continued, taking down the
+snowshoes and looking over their straps and fastenings carefully.
+"Reddy, who, I hear, is a good shot, must climb up at one of the windows
+and shoot the first wolf he sees. Eating the dead wolf would probably
+occupy the attention of his brothers for some ten minutes or so&mdash;perhaps
+longer. While they are busy I shall make off on the snowshoes. With that
+much of a start, and with plenty of tasty human beings close at hand, I
+doubt if they even follow me. If they do, why I'll just shin up a tree.
+But I believe I can beat them. I'm pretty good on snowshoes."</p>
+
+<p>"Tom Gray, you shan't do it!" cried Grace. "It may mean sure death. How
+do you know the wolves won't seize you the moment you open the door?
+Besides, you don't know the way. Suppose you should get lost?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," insisted Tom. "None of these things will happen. I know
+positively that a hungry wolf will stop chasing a human being and eat up
+a dead wolf, or a shoe, or a rug, or anything that happens to be thrown
+to him. I never was surer of anything in my life than that I can get
+away from here before the beasts know it."</p>
+
+<p>There was a storm of protestation from the others, but Tom Gray finally
+overruled every objection and they reluctantly consented to let him go.</p>
+
+<p>It was arranged that Reddy should stand on a bench by one of the small
+windows and attract the attention of the wolves by throwing out a rabbit
+skin that was nailed to one of the walls. While the beasts were tearing
+this to pieces he was to shoot one of them. Furthermore, the instant the
+live wolves had finished devouring the dead one, Reddy was to pitch out
+another skin, of which there were many about the hut, of foxes, rabbits
+and other small animals, which the trapper had collected.</p>
+
+<p>This, they agreed, would probably keep the wolves occupied for awhile,
+until Tom had got a good start down the trail.</p>
+
+<p>Tom slipped his feet in the snowshoes and stood by the door waiting.
+While the wolves howled and fought over the rabbit skin, bang went the
+rifle.</p>
+
+<p>"I got him!" cried Reddy.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant Tom Gray had flung open the door and was off down the
+trail.</p>
+
+<p>As he had expected, the live wolves were hungrily eating the dead one
+and had not apparently even noticed his departure.</p>
+
+<p>The boys and girls in the hut sat breathlessly waiting, while Reddy
+watched the famished animals gorge themselves with the blood and fresh
+meat of their comrade.</p>
+
+<p>Reddy had rolled up a fox skin into a small bundle, and was prepared to
+pitch it out to them the moment they had finished.</p>
+
+<p>Just as they had lapped the last drop of blood, he cast out the skin.
+They sniffed at it a moment, gave a long, disapproving howl, that sent
+the cold chills down the spines of the prisoners, and then made off down
+the trail after Tom Gray.</p>
+
+<p>Reddy gave a loud exclamation and jumped down from the bench.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>They have followed Tom!</i>" he cried, in a high state of excitement.</p>
+
+<p>There was a long pause.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to go, then," said David finally. "Girls, you are safe as
+long as you stay inside the hut, and some of us at least will be able to
+bring help before long."</p>
+
+<p>With that, all three of the boys, for Hippy was no coward, in spite of
+his size and appetite, rushed out of the hut and disappeared in the
+wood.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon shadows were beginning to lengthen when Grace fastened the
+latch and returned to the fire where her three friends sat silent,
+afraid to speak for fear of giving way to tears.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GRAY BROTHERS</h3>
+
+
+<p>The four girls never knew how long they waited that afternoon in the
+hunter's cabin. It might have been only minutes, but the minutes seemed
+to drag themselves into hours. The uncertain fate of the boys, the
+tragedy that surely awaited perhaps all of them made the situation
+almost unbearable.</p>
+
+<p>Grace piled the fireplace high with the remaining wood, but the blaze
+could not keep away the chill that crept over them as the sun sank
+behind the trees. They shivered and drew nearer together for comfort.</p>
+
+<p>Should they ever see their four brave friends again?</p>
+
+<p>And David?</p>
+
+<p>Anne could endure it no longer. She rose and began to move about the
+hut. There lay her coat and hat. Almost without knowing what she did she
+put them on, pulled on her mittens and tied a broad, knitted muffler
+around her ears.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls," she said suddenly. She had gone about her preparations so
+quietly the other three had not even turned to see what she was doing.
+"I'm going. I don't want any of you to go with me, but I would rather
+die than stay here all night without knowing what has happened to David
+and the others."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a moment," cried Grace, "and I'll go, too. It would be unbearable
+not to know&mdash;and if we meet the wolves, why, then, as Tom said, we can
+climb a tree. Poor Tom!" she added sadly. "I wonder where he is now."</p>
+
+<p>Nora and Jessica rose hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I'd stay?" cried Nora. "Not in a thousand years!"</p>
+
+<p>"Anything is better than this," exclaimed Jessica, as she drew on her
+wraps and prepared to follow her friends into the woods.</p>
+
+<p>Grace opened the door, peering out into the gathering darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"There is not a living thing in sight," she said. "We'd better hurry,
+girls; it will soon be dark." Then the four young girls started down the
+trail and were soon out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>When Tom Gray left old Jean's hut, with nothing between him and the
+ravenous wolves, except the angle of a wall, he took a long, gliding
+step, his body swinging gracefully with the motion, and was off like the
+wind, under a broad avenue of trees. But he had not gone far before one
+of the straps loosened and his foot slipped. He fell headlong, but was
+up instantly.</p>
+
+<p>It took a few moments to tighten the strap, and it must have been then
+that the wolves caught the scent, and after hurriedly finishing the meal
+in hand, galloped off for another without taking the slightest notice of
+the fox skin that Reddy had tossed to them. Tom made a fresh start,
+feeling more confident on his feet than he had at first, and he was well
+under way when he heard the howl of the wolves behind him. Gathering all
+his energies together he managed to keep ahead of them until the woods
+became less dense, and he saw through the interlacing branches the open
+meadows and fields.</p>
+
+<p>"They are too hungry to leave off now," he said to himself as he
+hurriedly searched the valley below for the nearest farmhouse. In front
+of him was a very high, steep hill, that same hill, in fact, where
+Nora's coasting party had taken place. Glancing behind him, he caught a
+glimpse of the gray brothers trotting through the forest.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take the hill," he thought. "It's quickest and there must be some
+kind of a refuge below." With long, swift glides he reached the knob
+which had hidden Miriam's sled from view as she bore down on Anne the
+night of the coasting party.</p>
+
+<p>The wolves were right behind him now, and unless something turned up he
+hardly dared think what would happen.</p>
+
+<p>But Tom Gray had always possessed an indomitable belief that things
+would turn out all right. It seemed absurd to him that he was to be food
+for wolves when he had still a long and delightful life before him.
+Certainly he would not give up without a struggle.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it was this fine confidence that his destiny was not yet
+completed that gave him the strength which now promised to save him. As
+he fled down the hill he saw below an old oak tree whose first branches
+had been lopped off. Exerting every atom of strength in him, just as he
+reached the bottom Tom gave a leap. He caught the lowest limb with one
+hand, pulled himself up and calmly took his seat in the crotch of the
+tree.</p>
+
+<p>He was just in time. The wolves were at his heels, snarling and snapping
+like angry dogs. The boy regarded them from his safe perch and burst out
+laughing.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i004" id="i004"></a>
+<img src="images/i004.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>Tom Gray Escapes from the Wolves.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+
+<p>"So I fooled you, did I, you gray rascals?" he said aloud. "You think
+you'll keep me here all night, do you, old hounds? Well, we'll see who
+wins out in the long run."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the wolves ran about howling disconsolately while Tom sat in
+the branches of the tree, rubbing his hands and arms to keep warm. He
+had removed the snowshoes and was just contemplating climbing to the top
+of the tree to keep his blood circulating, when three figures appeared
+on the brow of the hill.</p>
+
+<p>"As I live, it's the boys," he said to himself. "Go back!" he yelled,
+waving a red silk muffler. "Climb a tree quickly!"</p>
+
+<p>They had seen and heard him, and making for the nearest tree, each
+shinned up as fast as he could.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a howdy-do," said Tom to himself. "Four boys treed by wolves and
+night coming on."</p>
+
+<p>Yet he swung his legs and whistled thoughtfully, while the others
+shouted to him, but he could not hear what they said, for the wind was
+blowing away from him. In the meantime the wolves did not all desert him
+and he could only wait patiently, with the others, for something to turn
+up.</p>
+
+<p>What did turn up was a good deal of a shock to all of them.</p>
+
+<p>Grace, Jessica, Nora and Anne suddenly emerged from the forest, standing
+out in bold relief on the brow of the hill.</p>
+
+<p>The three boys at the top of the hill all jumped to the ground at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Run for the trees," cried David, for the wolves had caught the new
+scent and had started toward them on a dead run.</p>
+
+<p>"Crack, crack," went a rifle. Instantly the first wolf staggered and
+fell backward.</p>
+
+<p>How was it that the boys had not noticed before that the girls were not
+alone?</p>
+
+<p>Another shot and a second wolf ran almost into their midst, gave a leap
+and fell dead. One more dropped; and the sole surviving wolf beat a
+frenzied retreat.</p>
+
+<p>"We found old Jean!" cried Grace. "Wasn't it the most fortunate thing in
+the world? And now nobody is killed and we are all safe and I'm so
+happy!" She gave the old hunter's arm a squeeze.</p>
+
+<p>Old Jean, enveloped in skins from top to toe, smiled good-naturedly.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the Bon Dieu, mademoiselle, who have preserve you. Do not t'ank
+ole Jean. It was the Bon Dieu who put it in ole Jean's haid to set
+rabbit trap to-night."</p>
+
+<p>He would accept neither money nor thanks for shooting the wolves.</p>
+
+<p>"I will skin them. It is sufficient."</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before eight very tired and very happy young people were
+seated around Mrs. Gray's dinner table. Grace was a little choky and
+homesick for her mother, now that all the danger was over, but the week
+of the house party was almost up, so she concealed her impatience to be
+home again.</p>
+
+<p>The softly shaded candles shed a warm glow over their faces, and the
+logs crackled on the brass andirons. They looked into each others' eyes
+and smiled sleepily.</p>
+
+<p>Had it all been a dream, their winter picnic, or was old Jean at that
+very moment really nailing wolf skins to his wall?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LOST LETTER</h3>
+
+
+<p>Spring was well advanced, full of soft airs and the sweet scents of
+orchards in full bloom.</p>
+
+<p>Through the open windows of the schoolroom Grace could hear the pleasant
+sounds of the out of doors. The tinkle of a cow bell in a distant meadow
+and the songs of the birds brought to her the nearness of the glorious
+summer time.</p>
+
+<p>She chewed the end of her pencil impatiently, endeavoring to withdraw
+her attention from the things she liked so much better than Latin
+grammar and algebra. Examinations were coming, those bugbears of the
+young freshman, and then vacation. A vision of picnics crossed her mind,
+of long days spent out of doors, with luncheon under the trees and
+tramps through the woods. Yet, before all these joys, must come the
+inevitable final test, the race for the freshman prize. Although, after
+all, only two would really enter the race, Miriam and Anne. Nobody else
+would think of competing with these two brilliant students.</p>
+
+<p>How tired Anne looked! She had done nothing but study of late. No party
+had been alluring enough to beguile her from her books. She had even
+discontinued her work with Mrs. Gray, and early and late toiled at her
+studies.</p>
+
+<p>"She will tire herself out," Grace thought, and made a resolution to
+take Anne with her on a visit to her grandmother's in the country just
+as soon as the High School doors were closed for the summer.</p>
+
+<p>Miriam was not studying so hard. But then she never did anything hard.
+She simply seemed to absorb, without taking the trouble to plod. She had
+been very defiant of late, Grace thought, and more insolent than ever
+before. She and Miss Leece were "thicker" than was good for Miriam,
+considering that teacher's peculiar disposition to flatter and spoil
+her. However, that was none of Grace's business, and certainly Miss
+Leece had been careful since the sound rating Miss Thompson had given
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the gong broke in upon Grace's reflections. With a sigh of
+relief she closed her book and strolled with her friends down to their
+usual meeting place in the locker room.</p>
+
+<p>There was but one topic of conversation now, the freshman prize.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne," predicted Nora, "you just can't help winning it! I don't believe
+it's in you to make a mistake. Miss Leece always gives you the hardest
+problems, too, but she can't stump little Anne."</p>
+
+<p>Anne smiled wearily. It was well examinations were to begin in two days.
+In her secret soul she felt she could not hold out much longer.
+Moreover, Anne was worried about family affairs. She had received a
+letter, that morning, which had troubled her so much that she had been
+on the point, a dozen times, of bursting into tears. However, if she won
+the prize&mdash;not the small one, but the <i>big</i> one&mdash;the difficulty would be
+surmounted.</p>
+
+<p>Another worry had crept into her mind. She had lost the letter. A
+little, wayward breeze had seized it suddenly from her limp fingers and
+blown it away. She knew the letter was lurking somewhere in a corner of
+the schoolroom, and she had hoped to find it when the class was
+dismissed. But the missing paper was nowhere in sight when she had
+searched for it during recess. Perhaps it had blown out the window, in
+which case it would be brushed up by the janitress and never thought of
+again. Not for worlds would Anne have had anyone read that letter.</p>
+
+<p>It was during the afternoon session, in the middle of one of the
+schoolroom recitations, that she caught sight of her letter again. But
+after the class was dismissed and she had made haste to the corner of
+the room, where she thought she had seen it under a desk, it was not
+there. Disappointed and uneasy Anne put on her hat and started home.</p>
+
+<p>All afternoon she worried about it. Perhaps it was because she was so
+tired that she was especially sensitive about the letter being found by
+some one else. If that some one else should read the contents, she felt
+it would mean nothing lees than disgrace.</p>
+
+<p>"You look exhausted, child," said Anne's sister Mary, who was weary
+herself, having worked hard all day on a pile of spring sewing Mrs. Gray
+had ordered. "Why don't you take a walk and not try to do any studying
+this afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I will, sister," replied Anne; and, pinning on her hat, she
+left her small cottage and started toward High School Street.</p>
+
+<p>Turning mechanically into the broad avenue shaded by elm trees, she
+strolled along, half-dreaming and half-waking. She was so weary she felt
+she might lie down and sleep for twenty years, and like Rip Van Winkle
+awaken old and gray. It was foolish of her to be so uneasy about that
+letter.</p>
+
+<p>Was it a premonition that compelled her to return to the schoolroom and
+search again for it? Perhaps the old janitress might have found it. The
+young girl quickened her pace. She must hurry if she wanted to catch the
+old woman before the latter closed up for the night.</p>
+
+<p>Anne had not thought of looking behind. Her mind, so trained to
+concentration, was now bent only upon one object. But would it have
+swerved her from her present purpose, even if she had noticed Miss Leece
+following her?</p>
+
+<p>The High School was still open, although Anne could not find the
+janitress. Perhaps the old woman was asleep somewhere. On several
+occasions she had been found sleeping soundly when she should have been
+brushing out schoolrooms and mopping floors. Anne was determined,
+however, to give one good, thorough search for her letter and she
+accordingly mounted to the floor where the freshmen class room was
+situated and entered the large, empty recitation room.</p>
+
+<p>She looked long and carefully under the desks and benches, even going
+through the scrap baskets, but there was no sign of the letter. Then she
+went into some of the other class rooms, but her search was unrewarded.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use?" she asked herself at last. "It's sure to have been
+destroyed. I think I'll just have to give it up, and try to rest a
+little before to-morrow, or I'll never be fit to try for that prize."</p>
+
+<p>As she started down the broad staircase she heard the rasping voice of
+Miss Leece mingling with the principal's cool, well-modulated tones.
+Anne paused a moment, watching the two figures below. Miss Leece looked
+up and caught her eye, but Miss Thompson was engaged in unlocking the
+door, and did not see the little figure lingering on the steps.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the door opened, another door slammed violently, and the next
+moment Anne heard footsteps running along a small passage that crossed
+the corridor. Leaning far over the rail she caught a glimpse of a
+figure. It was&mdash;no, Anne could not be certain of the identity. But it
+looked like&mdash;well, never mind whom. Anne meant to keep the secret, for
+it was evident that the person had been bent on mischief, else why slam
+a door and run at the approach of Miss Thompson! And now Anne heard the
+door open again and Miss Thompson's voice calling: "Who is there?" But
+there was no answer. Deep down in Anne's heart there crept a vague
+suspicion.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+
+<h3>DANGER AHEAD</h3>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">My dear Grace</span>:</p>
+
+<p>Will you come and see me at my office after school to-day? I have
+something very important to discuss.</p>
+
+<p>Sincerely yours,</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Emma Thompson</span>.</p></div>
+
+<p>Grace read the letter over twice. What in the world could Miss Thompson
+want to discuss with her? Perhaps she had not been doing well enough in
+her classes. But Grace rejected the idea. She always kept up to the
+average, and it was only those who fell below who ever received warnings
+from the principal.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it was&mdash;well, never mind, she would wait and see. As soon as
+school was over she hurried to the principal's office and tapped on the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Grace, my dear," said Miss Thompson, as the young girl entered,
+"did my note frighten you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed," replied Grace; "I had a clear conscience and I don't
+expect to fail in exams to-morrow, although I am not so studious as Anne
+Pierson or Miriam."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you don't expect to fail, my dear," said the principal,
+kindly, for, of all the girls in the school, Grace was her favorite. "I
+didn't bring you here to scold you. But I have something very serious to
+talk about. While I have threshed out the matter with myself, I believe
+I might do better by talking things over with one of my safest and
+sanest freshman."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what has happened, Miss Thompson?" asked Grace curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"First, let me ask you a few questions," answered the principal. "Tell
+me something about the competition for the freshman prize. Which girl do
+you think has the best chance of winning it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know whom I want to win," replied Grace innocently. "Anne, of course,
+and I believe she will, too. While Miriam is more showy in her
+recitations, Anne is much more thorough, and she studies a great deal
+harder. The fact is, I am afraid she is making herself ill with
+studying. But she is determined to win not the little prize, but the big
+one, which is more than even Anne can do, I believe. Whoever heard of
+having every examination paper perfect?"</p>
+
+<p>"It has not been done so far," admitted Miss Thompson, "but why is Anne
+so bent on winning the prize? Is it all for glory, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"Anne is very poor, you know, Miss Thompson," said Grace simply.</p>
+
+<p>"So she is," replied the principal, "and the child needs the money."
+Miss Thompson paused a moment, looking thoughtfully out over the smooth
+green lawn. "Grace," she resumed, finally, "I have something very
+serious to tell you. Two days ago I made a discovery that may change the
+fate of the freshman prize this year considerably. You know I keep the
+examination questions here in my desk. That is, the originals. A copy is
+now at the printers. So, you see, I have only one set of originals. I
+had occasion to come back to my office quite late the day of the
+discovery, and, as I let myself in at that door," she pointed to the
+door leading into the corridor, "what I thought was a gust of wind
+slammed the door leading into the next room which I usually keep shut
+and bolted on this side. My desk was open and the freshman examination
+papers undoubtedly had been tampered with. I could tell because they are
+usually the last in the pile and they were all on top and quite
+disarranged. Whoever had been here, had heard my key in the lock, and
+without waiting to close the desk had fled by the other door. I feel
+deeply grieved over this matter. I should never think of suspecting any
+of my fine girls of such trickery; and, yet, who else could it have been
+except one of the freshmen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Thompson, this is dreadful," exclaimed Grace, distressed and
+shocked over the story. "I don't believe there's a girl in the class who
+would have done it. There must be some mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"That is why I sent for you, Grace," said the principal. "I want your
+advice. Now Anne&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Anne?</i>" interrupted Grace horrified. "You don't suppose, for a minute,
+Anne would be dishonest? Never! I won't stay and listen any longer," and
+she rushed to the door.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Thompson followed, placing a detaining hand on her arm.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, Grace, to be loyal to your friend," said the principal,
+always just and kind under the most trying circumstances; "but Anne, I
+must tell you, is under suspicion."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" demanded Grace, almost sobbing in her anger and unhappiness.</p>
+
+<p>"The afternoon of the discovery Anne was here long after school hours.
+She was seen by two people wandering about the building."</p>
+
+<p>"Who were the people?" demanded Grace incredulously.</p>
+
+<p>"The janitress, who saw her from the window of another room, and&mdash;Miss
+Leece."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so," exclaimed Grace, with a note of triumph in her voice.
+"It is Miss Leece, is it, who is trumping up all this business? I tell
+you, I don't believe a word of it, Miss Thompson. Anne would no more do
+such a thing than I would, and I am going to fight to save her if it
+takes my last breath. Do you know how hard she has worked to win this
+prize? Simply all the time. I believe, if she knew what you suspected,
+it would kill her. I believe it's some tale Miss Leece has made up. And
+besides, why shouldn't she have come back to the building? Perhaps she
+forgot a book or something. I'd just like to know what Miss Leece was
+doing here at that time of day."</p>
+
+<p>"She came here to meet me on business," answered Miss Thompson. "That is
+why she knows something of the unfortunate affair. She was with me when
+I found my desk had been broken open and the papers disturbed. She also
+heard the other door slam and it was then she told me of having seen
+Anne wandering about the building for which, as you say, there might
+have been a dozen reasons; I believe, as firmly as you do, that the
+child is incapable of cheating, and I intend to leave no stone unturned
+to get at the truth. But there is still another fact against Anne that
+is very black." The speaker took from a drawer a slip of folded paper.
+"This was found in the building," she continued, "and since it was an
+open letter, without address and under the circumstances, so important,
+it was read and the contents reported to me. I have since read it myself
+and I now ask you to read it."</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Dear Anne</span>:</p>
+
+<p>I must have one hundred dollars at once, or go somewhere for a long
+time. I foolishly signed a friend's name to a slip of paper. I
+didn't know he would be so hard, but he threatens to prosecute
+unless I pay up before the end of next week. I know you have rich
+friends. I have been hearing of your successes. Perhaps the old
+lady, Mrs. G., will oblige you. I trust to your good sense to see
+that the hundred must be forthcoming, or it will mean disgrace for
+us all.</p>
+
+<p>Your father,</p>
+
+<p>J. P.</p></div>
+
+<p>Grace limply held the letter in one hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, poor, poor Anne!" she groaned, wiping away the tears that had
+welled up into her eyes and were running down her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel just as you do, my child," went on Miss Thompson. "I am deeply,
+bitterly sorry for this unfortunate child. But you will agree with me
+that she has had a very strong motive for winning the prize."</p>
+
+<p>Grace nodded mutely.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way," she asked presently, when she had calmed herself, "who was
+it that found the letter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Leece again," replied Miss Thompson, hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"There, you see," exclaimed Grace excitedly, "that woman is determined
+to ruin Anne before the close of school. I tell you, I won't believe
+Anne is guilty. It has taken just this much to make me certain that she
+is entirely innocent. Is there no clue whatever to the person who copied
+the papers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Miss Thompson, "there is. This had been shoved back in
+the desk under the papers. It does not belong to me, and it could not
+have gotten into my desk by any other means. I suppose, in her hurry to
+copy the freshmen sheets, whoever she was, laid it down and forgot it."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Thompson produced a crumpled pocket handkerchief. Grace took it and
+held it to the light. There were no marks or initials upon it whatever;
+it was simply a cambric handkerchief with a narrow hemstitched border, a
+handkerchief such as anyone might use. It was neither large nor small,
+neither of thin nor thick material.</p>
+
+<p>"There's nothing on it," said Grace. "I suppose the stores sell hundreds
+of these."</p>
+
+<p>"That's very true," answered the principal, "but I hoped you would be
+familiar enough with your friends' handkerchiefs to recognize this one."</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Grace, "I haven't the least idea whose it is. Wait a
+moment," she added quickly, smelling the handkerchief; "there is a
+perfume on it of some sort. Did you notice that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did," replied Miss Thompson. "It was one of the first things I did
+notice. I am very sensitive to perfumes; perhaps because I dislike them
+on clothing. But I waited for you to find it out for yourself. In fact,
+my dear, this will be the only means of trapping the person. Now, what
+perfume is it, and who in the class uses it? I am not familiar with
+perfumes, but I thought perhaps you were. And now, I will tell you that
+this is the reason I sent for you. The reason I showed you this letter,
+which has only been seen by one other person besides myself&mdash;Miss Leece,
+of course. I do not wish to tell anyone else about this matter. I do not
+care to put the subject before the School Board for discussion. I do not
+believe, any more than you, that Anne is guilty and I have taken you
+into my confidence because I believe you are the one person in the world
+who can help me in this predicament. Miss Leece, of course, intends to
+do everything in her power to bring the child 'to justice.' But, until I
+give her permission, she will hardly dare to speak of it. So far, we
+three are the only people who know what has happened. In the meantime, I
+shall turn over this handkerchief to you. Keep it carefully and be very
+guarded about what you do and say. You are a young girl," she continued,
+taking Grace's hand and gazing full into her honest eyes, "but I have a
+great respect for your judgment and discretion, and that is the reason I
+am asking for your help in this very delicate matter. You may rest
+assured that I shall do nothing whatever; at least, not until after
+examinations. I have an idea that we may get a clue through them. We
+must save Anne, whose life would be utterly ruined by such a false
+accusation as this. And I feel convinced that it is false."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can tell you one thing, Miss Thompson," returned Grace as she
+opened the door, "and that is Anne Pierson never used any perfume in her
+life. She hasn't any to use."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Thompson nodded and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"I was sure of that," she called.</p>
+
+<p>Grace had little time to lose. The examinations, which took place the
+next day and the day after, would undoubtedly bring matters to a crisis.</p>
+
+<p>She took the handkerchief from her pocket and sniffed at it. Neither was
+she familiar with perfumes, and this odor was new to her. Suddenly an
+idea occurred to her and she made straight for the nearest drugstore.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Gleason," she demanded of the clerk in charge, "could you tell me
+what perfume this is?"</p>
+
+<p>The druggist sniffed thoughtfully at the handkerchief for some seconds.</p>
+
+<p>"It's sandalwood," he said at last. "We received some in stock a week
+ago."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT</h3>
+
+
+<p>How examinations loom up on the fatal day, like monstrous obstacles that
+must be overcome! How the hours slip past, with nothing to break the
+stillness save the scratching of pens on foolscap paper, while each
+student draws upon the supply of knowledge stored up during the winter
+months!</p>
+
+<p>A fly buzzes on the window pane; a teacher rises, tiptoes slowly about
+the room and sits down again. She can do nothing, now, but keep watch on
+the pairs of drooping shoulders and the tired, flushed faces.</p>
+
+<p>Anne was so absorbed in her work that she was oblivious to everything
+about her. Her pen moved with precision over her paper and her copy was
+neat and clear.</p>
+
+<p>It was the second day of the examinations and she felt that her fate
+would soon be decided; but she was too tired now to worry. She worked on
+quietly and steadily. She had almost finished, and, as she answered one
+question after another, she was more and more buoyed up by the
+conviction that she would win the prize.</p>
+
+<p>Miriam had finished her work. Her impatient nature would not permit her
+to do anything slowly. As she gave a last flourishing stroke with her
+pen, she leaned back, looking about her. She smiled contemptuously as
+her eyes rested on Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"What a shabby, slow little creature she is!" Miriam murmured. "It would
+be a disgrace for a girl like me to be beaten by her. I'll never endure
+it in the world."</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before the girls had all finished and turned in their
+papers to the teacher in charge.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, glorious happy day!" cried Nora, as she sped joyously down the
+corridor. "Examinations are over, and now for a good time!"</p>
+
+<p>A dozen or more of the freshman class had been invited to Miriam's to a
+tea to celebrate the close of school. Anne, of course, was not invited;
+but Grace and her friends had received invitations and promptly accepted
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Grace had taken Nora and Jessica into her confidence to some extent. She
+needed their help, but she had not mentioned the letter from Anne's
+father. The three girls met early by appointment, at the Harlowe house,
+to discuss matters before going to Miriam Nesbit's.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a list of the people in Oakdale," said Nora, "who have bought
+sandalwood perfume. I have been to four drug stores and all the dry
+goods stores."</p>
+
+<p>Grace took the list and read:</p>
+
+<p>"'Mrs. I. Rosenfield, Miss Alice Gwendolyn Jones, Mr. Percival Butz,
+etc.' Good heavens!" she cried, "there's not a single person on this
+list who has anything to do with Oakdale High School. Mr. Percival
+Butz," she laughed. "The idea of a man buying perfume. Really, girls,"
+she added in despair, "we've been wasting our time. I can't see that any
+of us has made the least headway. I have called on almost every freshman
+in the class and inquired what her favorite perfume is, and I know some
+of them thought I was silly. Anyway, not one of them claimed to use
+sandalwood."</p>
+
+<p>"The stupidest girls would be the ones who would be most likely to want
+to copy the papers," observed Jessica, "but those girls are much too
+nice to believe such horrid things about. I went to see Ellen Wiggins
+and Sallie Moore yesterday afternoon. Neither of them use perfume.
+Sallie Moore told me she had an orris root sachet that had almost lost
+its scent. Which reminds me," she continued, "why couldn't this
+handkerchief have been scented by some other means than just perfume.
+Perhaps it was put into a mouchoir case with sandalwood powder."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course," exclaimed Grace. "Jessica, I never thought of asking
+who had been buying sachet powders. You have a great head."</p>
+
+<p>"Must I go back and ask all those storekeepers for more lists?" demanded
+Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"No, child," replied Grace. "Just give us time to think first."</p>
+
+<p>"It's time to go to Miriam's anyhow," observed Jessica. "Perhaps some
+sort of inspiration will come on the way," and the three girls set out
+for the tea party.</p>
+
+<p>As they paused to admire the beautiful flower beds on the Nesbit lawn
+Jessica said:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you inquired Miriam's favorite perfume?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," answered Grace. "She said she liked them all and had no
+favorites."</p>
+
+<p>"Why are all these strange young women breaking into my premises?"
+demanded a voice behind them.</p>
+
+<p>"David Nesbit," cried Grace, "where have you been all this time? You
+never seem to find the time to come near your old friends any more."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been busy, girls," replied David. "Never busier in my life. But
+I believe I've struck it at last. It will not be long, now, before I
+turn into a bird."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>do</i> show it to us!" cried Grace. "Where is the model?"</p>
+
+<p>"In my workroom," he replied. "If you are very good, and will promise to
+say nothing to the others, I'll give you a peep this afternoon. When I
+signal to you from the music room, by sounding three bass notes on the
+piano, start upstairs and I'll meet you on the landing. You may ask why
+this mystery? But I know girls, and if all those chattering freshmen are
+allowed to come into my room they are sure to knock over some of the
+models, or break something, and I couldn't stand it."</p>
+
+<p>The three girls entered the large and imposing drawing room where
+Miriam, in a beautiful pink mulle, trimmed with filmy lace insertions,
+received them with unusual cordiality; and presently they all repaired
+to the dining room where ice cream and strawberries were served with
+little cakes with pink icing. It was, as a matter of fact, a pink tea,
+and Miriam's cheeks were as pink as her decorations. She looked
+particularly excited and happy. Each of the three chums had just
+swallowed her last and largest strawberry, saved as a final relish, when
+three low notes sounded softly on the piano in the adjoining room.</p>
+
+<p>In the hum of conversation nobody had noticed David's signal except
+Grace and her friends, who strolled into the music room where he was
+waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along," he said, leading the way up the back stairs, "and please
+consider this as a special mark of attention from the great inventor who
+has never yet made anything go. Where's Anne?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose she is resting," answered Grace. "She had just about reached
+the end of her strength to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"But she'll win the prize, I hope," continued David.</p>
+
+<p>"We are all sure of it," answered Grace, in emphatic tones.</p>
+
+<p>David opened the door into his own private quarters, which consisted of
+a large workroom with a laboratory attached, where he had once worked on
+chemical experiments until he had become interested in flying machines.</p>
+
+<p>"Here they are," he exclaimed, walking over to a large table in the
+workroom. "I have three models, you see, and each one works a little
+better than the other. This last one, I believe, will do the business."
+He pointed to a graceful little aeroplane made of bamboo sticks and rice
+paper.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it sweet?" exclaimed the girls in unison.</p>
+
+<p>"And it has a name, too," continued David unabashed. "I've called her
+'Anne,' because, while she's such a small, unpretentious-looking little
+craft, she can soar to such heights. There is not room here to show you
+how good she is, but we'll have another gymnasium seance some day soon,
+Anne must come and see her namesake."</p>
+
+<p>"There!" cried Grace in a tone of annoyance. "I have jagged a big place
+in my dress, David Nesbit, on a nail in your table. Why do you have such
+things about to destroy people's clothes?"</p>
+
+<p>"But nobody who wears dresses ever comes in here," protested David,
+"except mother and the maid, and they know better than to come near this
+table. Can't I do something? Glue it together or mend it with a piece of
+sticking plaster?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed," answered the girl. "Just get me a needle and thread,
+please. I don't want to go downstairs with such a hideous rent in my
+dress."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course," assented David. "Why didn't I think of it sooner?
+Mother will fix you up," and he opened the door into the hall and called
+"mother!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Nesbit came hurrying in. She never waited to be called twice by her
+son, who was the apple of her eye.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Grace," she exclaimed when she saw the tear, "this is too bad.
+Come right into my room and I'll mend it for you."</p>
+
+<p>So it happened that Grace was presently seated in an armchair in Mrs.
+Nesbit's bedroom, while the good-natured woman whipped together the
+jagged edges of the rent.</p>
+
+<p>"What a beautiful box you have, Mrs. Nesbit," said Grace, pointing to a
+large carved box on the dressing table.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you like it?" replied the other. "I'm fond of it, probably because I
+was so happy when I bought it years ago while traveling abroad with my
+husband. It smells as sweet as it did when it was new," she added,
+placing the box in Grace's lap.</p>
+
+<p>Nora and Jessica, who had been hovering about the room, now came over to
+see the sweet-scented box. How strangely familiar was that pungent
+perfume which floated up to them. Where had they smelled it before?</p>
+
+<p>"It is made of carved sandalwood," continued Mrs. Nesbit, opening the
+lid, "and I have always kept my handkerchiefs in it, you see&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mother!" called David's voice from the hall, and Mrs. Nesbit left the
+room for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Sandalwood!" gasped Grace.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was the same perfume that now faintly scented the famous
+handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>There was a pile of handkerchiefs in the box. Grace lifted the top one
+and sniffed at it. She examined the border carefully and the texture.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks like stealing," she whispered, "but I must have this
+handkerchief. I'll return it afterwards," and she slipped the
+handkerchief into her belt.</p>
+
+<p>Nora and Jessica had exchanged significant glances, while Nora's lips
+had formed the words, "exactly like the other one."</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Miss Thompson had been closeted with Anne Pierson for
+half an hour in the principal's office. By special request she had
+arranged to have Anne's examination papers looked over immediately and
+sent to her. The papers were therefore the first to receive attention
+from each teacher, and were then turned over to Miss Thompson, who
+hurried with them into her office and locked the door behind her.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be a pity if they were too perfect," she said to herself.
+"That would tell very much against Anne, I fear."</p>
+
+<p>But, as her eyes ran over them, she shook her head dubiously. They were
+marvels of neatness and not one cross or written comment marred their
+perfection. At the foot of each sheet the word "perfect" had been
+written. Some of the teachers had even added notes stating that no
+errors of any sort had been found, while one professor had paid Anne the
+very high compliment of stating that the perfection of her examination
+papers had not been a surprise. Never in that teacher's experience had
+he taught a more brilliant pupil. Miss Thompson looked with interest at
+the algebra papers. If this had not come up, she thought, Miss Leece
+would certainly have managed to find a flaw somewhere, even if she had
+had to invent one. But under the circumstances, it was more to that wily
+woman's purpose to give Anne her due. For Miss Leece knew that a perfect
+examination paper would tell more against the young girl than for her.</p>
+
+<p>It was after this that Miss Thompson had her talk with Anne, a very
+kindly, interested talk, in which the young girl's prospects, her work
+and health had all come under consideration. And then in the gentlest
+possible way Miss Thompson had produced the letter.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this yours, Anne?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>Anne started violently.</p>
+
+<p>"O Miss Thompson," she cried, making a great effort to keep back her
+tears, "where did you find it? I spent one entire afternoon here looking
+for it. It was the very day you and Miss Leece were here."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you saw us then," replied the principal. "And where were you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was outside on the steps," replied Anne. "Didn't Miss Leece mention
+it? She looked up and saw me just as you unlocked the door. Then the
+other door slammed and some one hurried down the passage. I saw her,
+too, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But what, Anne?" asked the principal slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am not sure who it was."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you an idea?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could only guess from the outline of her figure," replied Anne. "And
+it wouldn't be fair to tell her name unless I had seen her plainly. It
+might have been some one else."</p>
+
+<p>Anne had a suspicion that something had happened, and that Miss Thompson
+had brought her here to find out what she knew. But she never dreamed
+that she herself was under suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>One thing had struck Miss Thompson very forcibly. Miss Leece had known
+all along that Anne was on the staircase at the very moment the other
+person was slamming the door in their faces. And yet Miss Leece was
+determined to condemn Anne to the faculty that very night. She had said
+so in as many words, in defiance of the principal's arguments against
+such a course.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, good night, my child," she said at last, giving Anne a motherly
+kiss. "You have done a good winter's work and I am proud of you."</p>
+
+<p>Anne hurried away, clutching the letter in her hand. She wondered if
+Miss Thompson had read it, and somehow she didn't mind so much after
+all. The principal seemed to her the very embodiment of all that was
+good and kind.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Thompson was destined to have several callers that afternoon. In a
+few moments Grace hurried in, breathless and excited.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at that, Miss Thompson," cried the girl, thrusting a handkerchief
+into her hand. "Look at it and smell it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," replied the principal, "I've seen it before and smelled it
+before, too. Only you've had it washed and ironed, haven't you!"</p>
+
+<p>Grace took a crumpled handkerchief from her pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's the real one," she cried triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p>The two handkerchiefs were certainly identical in shape and material and
+both were perfumed with sandalwood.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get this one?" demanded the principal.</p>
+
+<p>"From Mrs. Nesbit's sandalwood handkerchief box," whispered Grace
+slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"You think it was then&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Grace. "I'm certain of it. It's as plain as daylight. She
+borrowed her mother's handkerchief."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear!" exclaimed the principal. "How very foolish! How very
+unnecessary! And all because she couldn't endure to be beaten! Do you
+know," she continued presently, "that Miss Leece intends to denounce
+Anne before the faculty to-night? My authority can't stop her, and I
+don't believe the similarity of these two handkerchiefs will either."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Thompson," exclaimed Grace, "I tell you I know perfectly well that
+woman is going to try to ruin Anne for the sake of Miriam. I have known
+it for months. Why, at Mrs. Gray's Christmas party she did a thing that
+is too outrageous to believe," and here Grace opened a bundle she had
+brought with her and produced the marionette of James Pierson.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Thompson was shocked at the recital of the story. She, too,
+recognized the green silk tie, although she had no recollection of
+Miriam's red velveteen suit, a piece of which formed the waistcoat. But
+there was something about that green silk which stuck in the memory.
+Probably because it was so ugly, having a semi-invisible yellow line
+running through it.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said, "I remember it very well. It was the trimming on a
+blouse Miss Leece wore last autumn. I do not believe anyone could forget
+such a hideous piece of material."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Thompson paused a moment and considered.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," she continued presently, "I believe this is all I shall need
+to confront Miss Leece with. Your bringing it to me at this moment shows
+most excellent judgment. It may prevent a painful scandal in the school,
+as well as saving Anne from disgrace. As for the two handkerchiefs, the
+evidence is too slight to make any open accusations; but at any rate you
+may leave both with me. I may need them in my interview with Miss Leece.
+I may as well tell you I am anticipating a pretty stiff battle with her.
+I don't believe I should have won with only the handkerchiefs."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I hope we can save Anne, Miss Thompson," cried Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"I earnestly hope so, too," replied the principal. "It would be too
+heart breaking to have the child go down under this false accusation;
+and aside from that, such scandals are bad for the school and I would
+rather deal with them privately than have them made public. But run
+along now, dear. You have done nobly and deserve a prize yourself."</p>
+
+<p>A knock was heard, and as Grace departed through one door Miss Leece
+opened the other.</p>
+
+<p>"If Miss Thompson only wins this battle!" the young girl exclaimed to
+herself. "I want to believe she will, but I know that terrible Miss
+Leece will make a tremendous fight."</p>
+
+<p>She joined her friends, who were waiting for her outside.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls," she cried, "pray for Anne to-night!"</p>
+
+<p>Nora, good little Catholic that she was, went straight to her church and
+burned two candles before the altar of the Holy Virgin, while she
+offered up a humble petition for Anne's deliverance; while Grace and
+Jessica, in their own bedrooms, that night prayed reverently and
+earnestly that Anne might be saved from her enemies. Thus were Anne's
+three devoted friends working and praying for her while she slept the
+sleep of exhaustion.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FRESHMAN PRIZE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Graduation night in Oakdale High School was one of the great social
+events of the year. The floor and galleries of Assembly Hall were
+invariably packed with an enthusiastic audience; for the two schools
+united at the ceremony of graduation and the senior class formed a mixed
+company on the stage.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the pupils attended commencement and the freshman class of the
+Girls' High School was always there in full to witness the triumph of
+one of its members, who was called forth from the audience to receive
+the usual freshman prize of twenty-five dollars.</p>
+
+<p>The identity of the winner was always kept a secret until the great
+night, when she was summoned from the audience to the stage and
+presented with the money before the entire assembly.</p>
+
+<p>The readers can imagine, therefore, the uncertainty and trepidation that
+fluttered in the hearts of our four girls as they sat together in the
+center of the great hall. Anne had passed through a dozen stages of
+emotions, both hopeful and otherwise, and had finally steeled herself to
+give up all thought of winning either of the prizes.</p>
+
+<p>Miriam, confident and handsome, sat near them. She wore a beautiful
+white dress trimmed with lace, and her thick, black plaits were twisted
+around her head like a coronet.</p>
+
+<p>"She's all dressed up to step up on the stage and get her twenty-five,"
+whispered Nora to Jessica.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps she already knows she's going to get it," answered Jessica
+doubtfully. "Perhaps Miss Leece has told her."</p>
+
+<p>"If Miss Leece knew it, she would certainly have told her," answered
+Grace, leaning over so that Anne could not hear her; "but I feel sure
+Miss Thompson has managed it somehow, although I kept hoping all day she
+would send me a note or something. It may be she hated to tell me the
+bad news."</p>
+
+<p>Hippy Wingate and Reddy Brooks came down the aisle in immaculate attire.
+David followed behind, pale and silent.</p>
+
+<p>Did David suspect anything about his sister? Grace wondered. Certainly
+he had directly or indirectly been the means of balking every one of
+Miriam's schemes for injuring Anne. Perhaps Miriam had told him she was
+to win the prize, and he was thinking of Anne's disappointment. All
+three boys paused when they saw their friends of the Christmas house
+party. Hippy leaned over to say:</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, girls! Can you guess what has brought us here to-night, all
+dressed up in our best?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not unless it was to show off your clothes," replied Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"To see Miss Anne Pierson win the freshman prize. Simply that, and
+nothing more."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't expect to win it, Hippy," protested Anne.</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't, you aren't the girl we took you for, then," replied
+Hippy. "I heard from a young person in your class that you hadn't made a
+mistake in six months."</p>
+
+<p>"But just as many people think Miriam will win," said Anne. "Look at all
+the people congratulating her already."</p>
+
+<p>Surely enough Miriam's friends had rallied around her at the final test,
+and numbers of girls and boys and grown people, too, were already
+prophesying victory.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the audience composed itself, for the exercises were about to
+begin. Soft music was heard and the graduates filed out and took their
+seats.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately they were seated, Mrs. Gray, in a beautiful lavender silk
+gown and a white lace bonnet trimmed with violets, swept down the aisle,
+bowing and smiling right and left.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls!" cried Grace delightedly, looking over her shoulder, "guess who
+is with our precious little Mrs. Gray?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tom Gray!" cried the others in unison, just as Tom Gray himself
+appeared opposite them and waved his hat, regardless of the many eyes
+fastened upon him, for Mrs. Gray was an important personage not only at
+these annual assemblages, but in Oakdale itself, of which she had always
+been a most generous and loyal citizen.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray nodded cordially when she saw the girls, but shook her head
+over Anne's pale, drawn little face.</p>
+
+<p>As the ceremonies proceeded after the opening prayer, Anne felt herself
+drifting further and further away. She was a little boat on a troubled,
+restless sea, with the noise of the waves in her head, and only
+occasionally did she hear some one's voice reading a graduating essay or
+making a speech&mdash;she couldn't tell which. She remembered there was a
+piano solo, very loud and crashing, it seemed to her, and there was a
+tremendous humming sound. The sea was growing very rough, she thought. A
+storm was brewing somewhere. Then the wind died down again, there was a
+complete and utter silence and she seemed to be entirely alone.</p>
+
+<p>"I have great pleasure in announcing," she dimly heard a voice say,
+"that the annual freshman prize, so generously donated always by Mrs.
+Gray, is awarded this year to one of the most brilliant and remarkable
+pupils who has ever studied in Oakdale High School. My language, in this
+instance, may appear to be rather extravagant, but the pupil, who has
+been under the eye of the faculty for many months because of her most
+excellent standing, has achieved a unique success in the history of the
+school. I may say that she has turned in a set of examination papers
+absolutely perfect in every detail, and it is with real delight I
+announce that she has won not only the usual smaller prize of
+twenty-five dollars, but the premium always offered at the same time,
+but never before won by any pupil of this school, of one hundred
+dollars, for a flawless examination. I would, therefore, ask Miss Anne
+Pierson to come to the platform, that I may have the honor of delivering
+both prizes to her."</p>
+
+<p>Such a shout as arose after this remarkable speech had never before been
+heard at a high school graduation. The freshman class was fairly mad
+with joy, while Hippy and Reddy yelled themselves hoarse.</p>
+
+<p>"Anne!" cried Grace. "Wake up, Anne! Are you asleep, child? Go up to the
+platform. Miss Thompson is waiting for you."</p>
+
+<p>Tears of joy and relief were rolling down Grace's cheeks as she urged
+Anne to rise from her seat.</p>
+
+<p>Anne stood up, half dazed, still wondering what it was all about, and
+made her way through a sea of faces to the platform.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" roared the pupils of the High School in one voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Hi-hi-hi! Hi-hi-hi! Oakdale, Oakdale, HIGH SCHOOL!"</p>
+
+<p>This was an honor usually accorded only to football and baseball heroes.</p>
+
+<p>When Anne reached the platform she appeared so small and plain, in her
+simple white muslin frock, that people looked at her wonderingly. It was
+not everyone in Oakdale who was familiar with the little, dark-haired
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," said Miss Thompson, very handsome and imposing in a gray silk
+dress, "I am happy to be the one to hand you these two prizes. You have
+worked hard and richly deserve them both. I am sure everyone in this
+house to-night is glad that your winter's unceasing labors are crowned
+with success, and I now recommend you to take a good rest, for such
+prizes are only earned by earnest and hard application, and hard work
+carries with it, sometimes, its own penalty." (She placed special
+emphasis on these last words.) "You have indeed earned the right to a
+happy vacation."</p>
+
+<p>Two bouquets were handed over the footlights at this point, one a
+beautiful bunch of pink roses and the other of lilies of the valley.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray had sent the roses Grace felt sure. It was her custom always
+to send such a bouquet to the one who carried off the prize. But who had
+sent the lilies of the valley?</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely David," Grace said to herself, watching the boy's face as
+Anne took the flowers from the usher.</p>
+
+<p>Had he known then that his sister had lost the prize, or was his faith
+in Anne so great?</p>
+
+<p>But something had happened.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the waves, which for the last half hour had been roaring and
+tossing about Anne, seemed to submerge her completely. She felt a horrid
+sensation of sickness for a moment; and then down, down she sank to the
+bottom of nothing, carrying her flowers and prizes with her.</p>
+
+<p>"She's fainted!" cried some one. "The poor, little, tired girl has
+fainted!"</p>
+
+<p>A tall young graduate picked up the small, limp figure and carried her
+off the stage as easily as if she had been a child. The closing
+exercises were then resumed, the benediction pronounced and the audience
+filed out somewhat silently.</p>
+
+<p>Grace and her friends hurried around behind the scenes, where they found
+Mrs. Gray in the act of placing a smelling-salts bottle to Anne's
+nostrils, while Tom Gray and David Nesbit were cooling her temples with
+lumps of ice. "She is conscious at last!" exclaimed the old lady, as
+Anne opened her eyes. "It was entirely too much excitement for this
+delicate, worn-out child. Tom, order the carriage. I mean to take her
+straight to my own house and nurse her myself. I am the only person in
+this town who has time to give her all the care and attention she needs.
+I feel like such a lazy, good-for-nothing old woman when I see all these
+bright young people winning prizes and doing so many clever things."</p>
+
+<p>"How you do go on, Mrs. Gray," said David. "You know very well you are
+the brightest, youngest and prettiest girl in Oakdale."</p>
+
+<p>Anne sat up at this moment, and looked into the faces of her best
+friends leaning over her anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought the boat capsized just as I was about to win the race," she
+said faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"The little boat did capsize, dear," answered Mrs. Gray gently, "but not
+until after you had won the race. And now, if you are well enough to let
+this strong nephew of mine carry you, we are going to take you right
+home. Are all my Christmas children here?" she continued, looking about
+her. Hippy and Reddy had joined the group just then. "Yes, here you are.
+Tom and I can't take you all up in the carriage, but I want you to
+follow us, if your parents and guardians have no objections. I have
+arranged a little supper to celebrate Anne's victory. I am sorry she
+can't come to her own party, but she may hear all about it afterwards
+and the rest of you shall make merry for her."</p>
+
+<p>Not long after, six young people strolled up Chapel Hill in the
+moonlight, talking gayly of the happy days they had spent together with
+Mrs. Gray; for Richards, the burglar, seemed now a sort of joke to them,
+and even the terrible recollection of the wolves was softened by time,
+and they could only laugh at poor Hippy's plight when his breath gave
+out and his legs refused their office.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well," exclaimed Hippy, pretending to be much offended, "it is a
+very good idea to remember only the funny things and forget the
+dangerous ones, when all's said and done. But if I'd have had a stroke
+of apoplexy just as that young lady wolf began to lick my heels, you
+wouldn't have been so merry over the recollection."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," retorted Nora, "we would have been just about going into half
+mourning, by now, and that's always a cheerful thought."</p>
+
+<p>"Grace," whispered Jessica, taking advantage of the talk of the others
+not to be overheard, "did you notice Miriam when Miss Thompson began her
+speech?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Grace, "I was too intent upon Anne to look at Miriam.
+Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," continued Jessica, "you remember that Miss Thompson mentioned no
+names until almost the very end of the speech!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered the other; "I remember it particularly, because I kept
+wishing she would hurry and get to the point."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," went on Jessica, "and Miriam thought she had won the prize."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know, Jessica! How could you tell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, in a hundred different ways. I could tell by the smile on her face
+that she took every compliment to herself. Lots of people were watching
+her, too, and I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for her, because
+she is one of those people who just can't stand losing. When Miss
+Thompson reached the place where she was about to ask Anne to step up
+and get the prize, Miriam half rose in her seat. Mrs. Nesbit pulled her
+back in the nick of time. I honestly believe she would have reached the
+stage before Anne did, if her mother hadn't stopped her. Hippy told me
+they left before the benediction. I suppose Miriam was not equal to the
+mortification."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought perhaps Miss Thompson would have mentioned her name as coming
+second in the contest," said Grace. "She usually does, you know. But
+there were good reasons, and plenty, why she shouldn't this time, I
+suppose. And to think, Jessica, that Miriam need never have done that
+dreadful thing. She would probably have passed second in the class
+anyway, and copying the papers didn't help her one little bit."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gray reported Anne to be much better. She had taken some nourishing
+broth and gone to bed, and she was at that moment sleeping soundly.</p>
+
+<p>So there was no cause for anything but good cheer at the supper party.</p>
+
+<p>And here let us leave them around Mrs. Gray's hospitable table. For, is
+it not better to say farewell rejoicing so that no shadows may darken
+the memory we shall carry with us during the long months of separation?</p>
+
+<p>Before Oakdale High School welcomes her children back again, David will
+sail abroad with his mother and sister; Grace and Anne will set off for
+the country to visit Grace's grandmother; the others and their families
+will scatter to various summer resorts, while Mrs. Gray will seek a cool
+spot in the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>However, in the next volume, which will be entitled, "<span class="smcap">Grace
+Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School</span>; Or, the Record of the Girl
+Chums in Work and Athletics," we shall again meet the four girls and
+their friends. This book, the record of the girl chums in athletics,
+tells of the exciting rivalries of the sophomore and junior basketball
+teams, culminating in a final hard-fought battle. Again Grace Harlowe
+distinguishes herself by her bravery and good judgment, and again Miriam
+Nesbit will do her best to thwart her at every point. And we may learn
+what Anne Pierson did with the prize money.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The End</span>.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
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+
+
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+for Boys and Girls</h3>
+
+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
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+will willingly lay down an unfinished book in this series.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Secret of Smugglers' Island.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET;<br /></span>
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+<span class="i2">Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator Swamp.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, A Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
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+<span class="i2">Or, The Flying Dutchman of the Big Fresh Water.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The Range and Grange Hustlers</h2>
+
+<h3>By FRANK GEE PATCHIN</h3>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Boy Shepherds of the Great Divide.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
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+<span class="i2">Or, Following the Steam Plows Across the Prairie.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
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+<span class="i2">Or, The Conspiracy of the Wheat Pit.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>Submarine Boys Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By VICTOR G. DURHAM</h3>
+
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+<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, "Making Good" as Young Experts.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Prize Detail at Annapolis.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dodging the Sharks of the Deep.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Young Kings of the Deep.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Breaking Up the New Jersey Customs Frauds.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The Square Dollar Boys Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Fighting the Trolley Franchise Steal.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, In the Lists Against the Crooked Land Deal.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The College Girls Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S FIRST YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S SECOND YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S RETURN TO OVERTON CAMPUS.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>Dave Darrin Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN AT VERA CRUZ;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Fighting With the U. S. Navy in Mexico.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>Pony Rider Boys Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By FRANK GEE PATCHIN</h3>
+
+<p>These tales may be aptly described the best books for boys and girls.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Secret of the Lost Claim.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Mystery of the Old Custer Trail.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Secret of Ruby Mountain.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Finding a Key to the Desert Maze.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The End of the Silver Trail.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The Boys of Steel Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By JAMES R. MEARS</h3>
+
+<p>Each book presents vivid picture of this great industry. Each story is
+full of adventure and fascination.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder Pits.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The Madge Morton Books</h2>
+
+<h3>By AMY D. V. CHALMERS</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">MADGE MORTON&mdash;CAPTAIN OF THE MERRY MAID.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">MADGE MORTON'S SECRET.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">MADGE MORTON'S TRUST.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">MADGE MORTON'S VICTORY.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>West Point Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
+<p>The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young Americans
+whose doings will inspire all boy readers.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Two Chums in the Cadet Gray.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Finding the Glory of the Soldier's Life.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Standing Firm for Flag and Honor.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Ready to Drop the Gray for Shoulder Straps.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>Annapolis Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
+<p>The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in
+these volumes.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at the U. S. Naval Academy.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy "Youngsters."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Leaders of the Second Class Midshipmen.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Headed for Graduation and the Big Cruise.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The Young Engineers Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
+<p>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 &amp; Co.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Laying Tracks on the "Man-Killer" Quicksand.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>Boys of the Army Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Two Recruits in the United States Army.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Handling Their First Real Commands.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Following the Flag Against the Moros.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>Battleship Boys Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By FRANK GEE PATCHIN</h3>
+
+<p>These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's huge
+drab Dreadnaughts.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Winning Their Grades as Petty Officers.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Earning New Ratings in European Seas.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Upholding the American Flag in a Honduras Revolution.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The Meadow-Brook Girls Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By JANET ALDRIDGE</h3>
+
+<p>Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor life.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS COURTS.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>High School Boys Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co. on the Gridley Diamond.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co. Grilling on the Football Gridiron.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co. Leading the Athletic Vanguard.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<h2>Grammer School Boys Series</h2>
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
+<p>This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar school
+boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co. Start Things Moving.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co. at Winter Sports.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co. Trail Fun and Knowledge.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co. Make Their Fame Secure.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>High School Boys' Vacation Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3>
+
+<p>"Give us more Dick Prescott books!"</p>
+
+<p>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 &amp; Co. are the most popular high school boys in
+the land. Boys will alternately thrill and chuckle when reading these
+splendid narratives.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co.'s Rivals on Lake Pleasant.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Dick Prescott Six Training for the Gridley Eleven.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co. in the Wilderness.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Dick &amp; Co. Making Themselves "Hard as Nails."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The Circus Boys Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON</h3>
+
+<p>Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely
+interesting and exciting life.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Making the Start in the Sawdust Life.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny South.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Afloat with the Big Show on the Big River.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The High School Girls Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.</h3>
+
+<p>These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the reader
+fairly by storm.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshman Girls.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Record of the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Fast Friends in the Sororities.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Parting of the Ways.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>The Automobile Girls Series</h2>
+
+<h3>By LAURA DENT CRANE</h3>
+
+<p>No girl's library&mdash;no family book-case can be considered at all complete
+unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Watching the Summer Parade.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Proving Their Mettle Under Southern Skies.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT WASHINGTON;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or, Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High
+School, by Jessie Graham Flower
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR ***
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Plebe 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 Plebe Year at High School
+       The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls
+
+Author: Jessie Graham Flower
+
+Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20472]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Newman, Sigal Alon, Mary Meehan and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School
+
+                                   OR
+
+              The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls
+
+                      By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.
+
+Author of Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School, Grace Harlowe's
+Junior Year at High School, Etc.
+
+
+
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY
+Copyright, 1910
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A Troop of Black-Robed Figures Were Stealthily
+Approaching.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+       I. The Accident of Friendships
+
+      II. The Sponsor of the Freshman Class
+
+     III. Mrs. Gray Engages a Secretary
+
+      IV. The Black Monks of Asia
+
+       V. Anne Has a Secret
+
+      VI. The Sophomore Ball
+
+     VII. All Hallowe'en
+
+    VIII. Miss Leece
+
+      IX. Thanksgiving Day
+
+       X. Grace Keeps Her Secret
+
+      XI. Mrs. Gray's Adopted Daughters
+
+     XII. Miriam Plans a Revenge
+
+    XIII. Christmas Holidays
+
+     XIV. A Midnight Alarm
+
+      XV. Tom Gray
+
+     XVI. The Marionette Show
+
+    XVII. After the Ball
+
+   XVIII. A Winter Picnic
+
+     XIX. Wolves!
+
+      XX. The Gray Brothers
+
+     XXI. The Lost Letter
+
+    XXII. Danger Ahead
+
+   XXIII. In the Thick of the Night
+
+    XXIV. The Freshman Prize
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+A Troop of Black-Robed Figures Were Stealthily Approaching.
+
+"Miss Pierson, Do You Recognize This Figure?"
+
+"Give That Back! It Is Not Yours."
+
+Tom Gray Escapes from the Wolves
+
+
+
+
+Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ACCIDENT OF FRIENDSHIPS
+
+
+"Who is the new girl in the class?" asked Miriam Nesbit, flashing her
+black eyes from one schoolmate to another, as the girls assembled in the
+locker room of the Oakdale High School.
+
+"Her name is Pierson; that is all I know about her," replied Nora
+O'Malley, gazing at her pretty Irish face in the looking glass with
+secret satisfaction. "She's very quiet and shy and looks as if she would
+weep aloud when her turn comes to recite, but I'm sure she's all right,"
+she added good naturedly. For Nora had a charming, sunny nature, and
+always saw the best if there was any best to see.
+
+"She is very bright," broke in Grace Harlowe decisively. "She went
+through her Latin lesson without a mistake, which is certainly more than
+I could do."
+
+"Well, I don't like her," pouted Miriam. "I never trust those quiet
+little things. And, besides, she is the worst-dressed girl in----"
+
+"Hush!" interrupted Jessica Bright, touching a finger to her lips. "Here
+she is."
+
+A little, brown figure entered the room just as Miriam finished
+speaking. But Jessica was too late with her warning. The young girl had,
+without doubt, heard the cruel speech and her face flushed painfully as
+she pinned on a shabby old hat, slipped her arms into a thin black
+jacket and stepped out again without looking at the crowd of schoolmates
+who watched her silently.
+
+"Miriam, I should think you'd learn to be more careful," exclaimed
+hot-tempered Nora, her soft heart touched by the appealing little
+stranger.
+
+"Well, what difference does it make?" replied Miriam. "If Miss Pierson
+doesn't know already that she's the shabbiest girl in school, it's high
+time she found it out. I have a suspicion her mother takes in washing or
+something, and I mean to find it out right now. We can't invite a girl
+like that to our class parties and entertainments. She would disgrace
+us."
+
+"Miriam," said Grace quietly, "I believe we are all privileged to invite
+whom we please to our homes. I intend to give a class tea next Saturday,
+and I mean to follow Miss Pierson right now and ask her to help me
+receive."
+
+The two girls looked into each other's faces for a moment without
+speaking. Grace was quiet and contained, Miriam flushed and furiously
+angry. They had been rival leaders always at the Grammar School, but the
+rivalry had never come to open battle until now.
+
+Miriam was the first to drop her eyes. She did not reply, but from that
+moment she was the sworn enemy of Grace Harlowe and her two friends,
+Nora and Jessica.
+
+"Well, we had better hurry," said Jessica, trying to calm the troubled
+scene. "Nobody knows exactly where Miss Pierson lives and she will be
+out of sight before we can catch her."
+
+The three girls ran lightly out of the basement of the fine old building
+that was the pride of Oakdale. It was large and imposing, built of
+smooth, gray stone, with four huge columns supporting the front portico.
+A hundred yards away stood the companion building, the Boys' High
+School, exactly like the first in every respect except that a wing had
+been added for a gymnasium which the girls had the privilege of using on
+certain days. A wide campus surrounded the two buildings, shaded by elm
+and oak trees. Certainly no other town in the state could boast of twin
+high schools as fine as these; and especially did the situation appeal
+to the people of Oakdale, for the ten level acres surrounding the two
+buildings gave ample space for the various athletic fields, and the
+doings of the high schools formed the very life of the place.
+
+But we must return to our three girls who were hurrying down the shady
+street, followed in a more leisurely and dignified fashion by Miriam and
+her friends. The shabby figure of the little stranger had just turned
+the corner as the girls left the High School grounds.
+
+"Come on," cried Grace breathlessly, leading the way. Having once made
+up her mind, she always pursued her point with a fine obstinacy
+regardless of opinion.
+
+When they had come to the cross street they saw their quarry again, now
+making her way slowly toward the street next the river. This was the
+shabbiest street in Oakdale, though no one knew exactly why, since the
+river bank might have been the chosen site for all the handsomest
+buildings; but towns are as incorrigible as people, sometimes, and
+insist on growing one way when they should grow another, without the
+slightest regard for future appearances.
+
+And so, when little Miss Pierson stopped in front of one of the smallest
+and meanest cottages on River Street, the girls knew she must, indeed,
+be very poor. The house, small and forlorn, presented a sad countenance
+streaked with tear stains from a leaky gutter. An uneven pavement led to
+the front door, which bore a painted sign: "Plain Sewing."
+
+They paused irresolutely at the gate, and were taking counsel together
+when Miriam Nesbit passed with her friends. She pointed at the door and
+laughed.
+
+"Really, that girl's conduct is contemptible!" exclaimed Grace, giving
+the wooden gate a vigorous push. "I simply won't tolerate her rudeness.
+She is an unmitigated snob!" Grace knocked on the door rather sharply to
+emphasize her feelings. It was opened almost immediately by Miss Pierson
+herself, still in her hat and coat; and in her surprise and
+embarrassment she almost shut the door in their faces. But Jessica's
+gentle smile reassured her, and Grace, who was a born leader, took her
+hand kindly and plunged at once into the subject.
+
+"You left school so quickly this afternoon, Miss Pierson, that I didn't
+have a chance to see you. I have something very particular I want to ask
+you to-day."
+
+"Won't you come in?" said the other, opening the door into the parlor,
+which had an air of refinement about it in spite of its utter poorness.
+
+"Anne!" called a querulous voice down the passage.
+
+"Yes, mother, I'm coming," answered the girl, hurrying out of the room
+with a frightened look in her eyes. In a few moments she was back again.
+
+"Please excuse me for leaving you," she said. "My mother is an invalid
+and needs my sister or me with her constantly."
+
+"Her name is Anne, then," thought Grace. "I shall call her so at once
+and break the ice."
+
+"Anne," she said aloud, "I think you know my friends, don't you--Jessica
+Bright and Nora O'Malley? And I am Grace Harlowe."
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Anne, brightening at the friendly advances of the
+others. "I remember your names from the roll call."
+
+"Of course," replied Grace. "But I think we should all be more to each
+other than roll-call acquaintances, we freshmen. I am very ambitious for
+our class. I want it to be the best that ever graduated from Oakdale
+High School, and for that reason, I think all the girls in it should try
+to be friends and work together to advance the cause. I'm going to start
+the ball rolling by giving a tea to our class next Saturday afternoon.
+Will you come and receive with Jessica and Nora and me?"
+
+Anne clasped her hands delightedly for a moment. Then her eyes filled
+with tears and her lips trembled so that the girls were afraid she might
+be going to cry. Tender-hearted Jessica turned her face away for fear of
+showing too much sympathy.
+
+"I'm sorry," said Anne at last, rather unsteadily, "but I am afraid I
+can't accept your delightful invitation. I----"
+
+"I beg your pardon," said a voice at the door, "I didn't mean to intrude
+on your visitors, Anne, but I couldn't help overhearing Miss Harlowe's
+invitation."
+
+A small woman, much older than Anne, but very like her in face and
+figure, appeared at the door.
+
+"This is my sister," said Anne, taking the other's hand affectionately.
+
+"Anne imagines she can't go, but she certainly can," went on the older
+Miss Pierson, calmly, not in the least embarrassed by the strange young
+girls. "Of course, she must go. I can arrange it easily."
+
+"But, Mary----" protested Anne.
+
+"Never mind, little sister," interrupted Mary, "it will be all right.
+Miss Harlowe, what time must she be there?"
+
+"At four o'clock," answered Grace, rising to go, "and I am delighted
+that she can come. Remember, Anne, I'm counting on you to pour the
+lemonade. The other girls are going to help with the sandwiches and ice
+cream. By the way," she added, as they went down the steps, "be sure and
+come to the basketball meeting at the gym this afternoon."
+
+And so it was arranged that Anne Pierson, the shabbiest and poorest girl
+in Oakdale High School, was to help receive at one of the prettiest and
+most charming houses in town. Miriam Nesbit's rudeness was to bring
+about a friendship between Anne Pierson and her three schoolmates that
+lasted a lifetime.
+
+After the half-past two o'clock dinner, which was the universal custom
+in Oakdale, the chums met again at the gymnasium in the Boys' High
+School. Wednesdays and Saturdays were nicknamed "ladies' days" by the
+High School boys, for on these afternoons the girls were permitted free
+use of the gymnasium.
+
+The meeting to-day was not for gymnastic exercises, however, but an
+important subject was to be discussed--the Freshman Basketball Team.
+Also the captain of the team was to be elected.
+
+Other club meetings were in full force when the girls arrived, and the
+great room vibrated with the hum of voices. The three freshmen, who knew
+better than to interrupt sophomores and juniors at their pow-wows, made
+their way quietly across the hall to the appointed place of rendezvous.
+Of course, the entire Freshman Class did not assemble to discuss this
+subject. Many members were not interested in basketball, except to look
+on. Girls who were overstudious, and not physically strong, could not at
+any rate play on the team, and therefore they seldom attended such
+meetings. Jessica Bright was one of these, nevertheless, she followed
+her two friends, who had always been foremost in athletics at the
+Central Grammar School.
+
+The election of a captain was the first business of the meeting. That
+over, the captain, after due and serious consultation with a friendly
+cabinet, chose the players and their substitutes.
+
+Undoubtedly Grace Harlowe had the coolest head in the class, and was the
+most to be relied upon at critical moments; yet Miriam Nesbit exerted a
+strange influence over her followers, who were almost her slaves. She
+was the richest of all the girls and wore the costliest clothes. The
+parties she gave, from time to time, in her mother's large and handsome
+home were the talk of the place. She was also the cleverest girl in the
+class, and had taken undisputed first place since she was a child. She
+was not a close student, but seemed to absorb her lessons in half the
+time that it took her friends to master them. Popular she certainly was,
+or rather she was feared by her schoolmates. Her masterful, overpowering
+spirit seemed to sweep everything before it.
+
+Grace Harlowe was quite as powerful in her way, but she had a noble,
+unselfish disposition and was much beloved by her friends. She stood
+well in her studies, but had never taken first place. Perhaps this was
+because she had interested herself so much in outdoor sports that she
+had not given enough time to study.
+
+Both girls were handsome--Miriam tall, dark and oriental-looking, with
+flashing eyes and an imperious curve to her lips; Grace was also tall,
+with wavy, chestnut hair, fine gray eyes, regular features, a full,
+generous chin and cheeks glowing with health.
+
+Miriam Nesbit had already done a good deal of lobbying when the three
+girls arrived on the scene. She wished to be elected captain of the team
+at any cost; but Grace's adherents were holding off, quietly waiting for
+her arrival.
+
+"Well, here you are at last!" said Marian Barber, who had been preparing
+the ballots for the coming election.
+
+Marian was the busy girl of the class, and always made herself useful.
+
+"Is everyone here?" demanded Nora, scanning the crowd of freshmen with a
+view to ascertaining what her chum's chances were.
+
+"All that intend coming," replied Miriam. "The softies stayed away, as
+usual."
+
+"Suppose we wait five minutes," said Grace, looking at her watch, "and
+then, if no one comes, we will cast the votes."
+
+"No, no," exclaimed Miriam impatiently. "I have an engagement and can't
+spare any more time. I vote that we have the election at once, without
+waiting another moment."
+
+"Very well," assented Grace. "I only suggested waiting because Anne
+Pierson promised to come, and, of course, every girl in the class has a
+right to vote at the class elections."
+
+"Anne Pierson?" cried Miriam, turning crimson with suppressed rage.
+
+"Yes," answered Grace calmly; "but, if everybody is agreeable, suppose
+we go ahead."
+
+"Agreed!" cried the others and the ballots were cast.
+
+There was not much parliamentary practice in these class elections. Each
+girl wrote the name of her choice on a slip of paper and dropped it in a
+hat. Four of the girls then counted the votes, and the one receiving the
+most slips was declared elected.
+
+The slips were dropped into the hat, amid the silence of the company.
+Some of the sophomores and juniors, perched on parallel bars, watched
+the scene with superior amusement, but no notice was taken of their
+half-whispered jeers.
+
+The four girls then retired to count the votes.
+
+"It's a tie," announced Marian Barber, returning presently; "a tie
+between Grace and Miriam. I wish some of the others would come and
+settle the matter."
+
+"Here's some one," cried Nora. "Here's Anne Pierson. Let her cast the
+decisive vote."
+
+Miriam's eyes blazed, but she held her peace. There was nothing to do
+but submit with an uneasy grace. But who could doubt what the outcome
+would be? However, she felt somewhat relieved when Grace said:
+
+"I think we should cast the votes over again, and, according to the
+rules we made last year, Miriam and I should not vote, since the
+election rests between us."
+
+The votes were cast again, Anne timidly dropping her slip in the hat
+with the others, and, as might have been expected, Grace was elected
+captain of the Freshman Basketball Team of the Oakdale High School.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE SPONSOR OF THE FRESHMAN CLASS
+
+
+"Grace," asked Mrs. Harlowe, the day of the famous freshman tea, "have
+you asked some of the girls to help this afternoon? Bridget can attend
+to the sandwiches, but some one ought to pour the lemonade and generally
+look after the wants of the others."
+
+Grace was arranging a bowl of China asters on the piano in her mother's
+charming drawing room. The shining mahogany chairs and tables reflected
+the glow of the wood fire, for the day was chilly, and bright chintz
+curtains at the windows gave a cheerful note of color to the scene.
+
+"Oh, yes, mother," replied Grace. "Nora and Jessica, of course, and Anne
+Pierson."
+
+"And who is Anne Pierson?"
+
+"I don't know who she is," answered Grace. "I never knew her until she
+entered the High School. But she is terribly poor. Her mother is an
+invalid and her sister takes in plain sewing. I really asked her at
+first because Miriam Nesbit was rude to her one day. But I'm beginning
+to like her so much, now, that I'm glad I did it. She's as quiet as a
+little mouse, but she is fast taking first place in class. I believe she
+will outstrip Miriam before the end of the year. Don't ask me who she
+is, though. I haven't the least idea, but she's all right, I can promise
+you that. I'm sorry for her because she is poor. They live in a little
+broken-down cottage on River Street."
+
+Mrs. Harlowe looked dubious. Grace was always bringing home stray people
+and animals, and the mother was accustomed to her daughter's whims. The
+young girl was familiar to all the ragamuffins of the town slum, and
+when she sometimes found one gazing wistfully through the fence palings
+of her mother's old-fashioned garden, she promptly led him around to the
+kitchen, gave him a plate of food on the back steps, picked him a small
+bouquet and sent him off half-dazed with her gracious and impetuous
+kindness.
+
+"Well, my dear, I shall be prepared for anything," exclaimed Mrs.
+Harlowe; "but remember that feeding people on the back steps and asking
+them into the parlor to meet your friends and acquaintances are two
+different matters altogether."
+
+"Don't be afraid, mother," replied Grace. "You will like Anne as well as
+I do, once you get to know her. You must be careful not to frighten her
+at first. She is the most timid little soul I ever met."
+
+Just then the front gate clicked and two girls strolled up the red-brick
+walk, their light organdie dresses peeping out from the folds of their
+long capes.
+
+"Here come Nora and Jessica," cried Grace excitedly, running to the door
+to meet her friends.
+
+Mrs. Harlowe smiled. In spite of Grace's sixteen years she was still her
+little girl.
+
+There was another click at the gate and Mrs. Harlowe saw through the
+parlor window a little, dark figure, pathetically plain in its shabby
+coat and hat.
+
+"Poor little soul," thought the good woman. "How I wish I could put her
+into one of Grace's muslins, but, of course, I couldn't think of
+offering to do such a thing."
+
+"Mother," said Grace some minutes later, when the girls had laid aside
+their wraps and descended into the drawing room, "this is Anne Pierson,
+our new friend."
+
+Anne Pierson, small and shrinking, was dressed in a queer, old-fashioned
+black silk that had evidently been taken up and made short for the
+occasion. Mrs. Harlowe's heart was touched to the quick and she bent and
+kissed the young girl gently.
+
+"How do you do, my dear?" she said kindly. "I am always glad to meet
+Grace's friends, and you are most welcome."
+
+Anne was too frightened almost to speak. This was the first party she
+had ever attended, and the beautiful room, the girls in their light,
+pretty dresses, the bowls of flowers and the cheery firelight nearly
+stupefied her.
+
+Mrs. Harlowe disappeared into the little conservatory off the dining
+room, returning in a moment with two big red roses which she pinned to
+Anne's dress.
+
+"These red roses have been waiting for you all morning," she said, "and
+they're just in their prime now."
+
+More guests began to arrive, and soon the room was full of young girls
+talking gayly together in groups or walking about, their arms around
+each other's waists after the manner of fifteen and sixteen.
+
+Grace had seated Anne at the dining room table behind a large cut glass
+bowl which almost hid her small figure. Grace knew from experience that
+this would be the most popular spot in the room, and she cautioned many
+of her friends to be kind to the timid little stranger. She knew also
+that giving Anne something to keep her occupied would relieve her
+embarrassment. Anne conscientiously filled and refilled the glasses, and
+in the intervals answered the questions put to her; but never asked any
+herself.
+
+Miriam Nesbit came in late with her two most intimate friends. She wore
+a resplendent dress of old rose crepe and a big black hat. Anne forgot
+her resentment when she caught sight of the vision and was lost in
+admiration. But she was brought sharply to her senses by a rude,
+sneering laugh from the ill-bred girl, who was staring insolently at the
+old black silk gown.
+
+Anne flushed and hung her head.
+
+"I am glad Mrs. Harlowe gave me the flowers," she thought. "They hide it
+a little, I think."
+
+Meantime there was the bustle of a new and important arrival. Grace and
+her mother ushered in a charming little old lady and seated her in the
+place of honor, a big leather chair between the windows. She wore a gray
+silk dress and a lavender bonnet daintily trimmed in lace and white
+ostrich tips.
+
+"Girls," said Grace, as a hush fell over the room, "there is no need for
+me to introduce any of you to Mrs. Gray, who is the sponsor for the
+freshman class."
+
+There was a buzz of laughter and conversation again, and through the
+double doors Anne caught sight of the little old lady, talking gayly to
+her subjects, seated, like a diminutive queen, on a large throne.
+
+"Why is she the sponsor of the class?" Anne asked of Jessica, who was
+hovering near by.
+
+"Oh, have you never heard?" returned Jessica. "Mrs. Gray's daughter died
+during her freshman year at High School, long ago, and ever since then,
+Mrs. Gray has offered a prize of twenty-five dollars for the girl who
+makes the highest average in her examinations at the end of the freshman
+year. She was made sponsor of the freshman class about ten years ago, so
+each year, soon after school opens, some one of the freshmen gives a tea
+and invites her to meet the new girls. You must come in and be
+introduced, too, as soon as you are through here."
+
+"A prize of twenty-five dollars," repeated Anne. "How I wish I might win
+it!"
+
+"It's even more than that," said Jessica. "For a perfect examination she
+offers one hundred dollars. But, needless to say, no one has ever won
+the hundred. It is considered impossible to pass a perfect examination
+in every subject."
+
+"One hundred dollars!" exclaimed Anne. "Oh, if I only could!"
+
+"Well, you may win the twenty-five dollars, anyway, Anne," said Jessica.
+"I suppose the one hundred dollar prize is beyond the reach of human
+beings."
+
+"And now, young ladies," Mrs. Gray was saying, smiling at the group of
+girls who surrounded her, as she examined them through her lorgnette,
+"most of you I have known since you were little tots, and your fathers
+and mothers before you; but I don't know which of you excels in her
+studies. Is it you, Grace, my dear?"
+
+Grace shook her head vigorously.
+
+"No, indeed, Mrs. Gray," she replied. "I could never be accused of
+overstudy. I suppose I'm too fond of basketball."
+
+"It won't hurt you, my dear," said the old lady, tapping the girl
+indulgently with her lorgnette; "the open air is much better than that
+of the schoolroom, and so long as you keep up an average, I daresay you
+won't disappoint your mother. But none of you have told me yet who leads
+the freshman class in her studies."
+
+"Miriam Nesbit," said several voices in unison.
+
+"Ah!" said Mrs. Gray, looking intently at Miriam. "So you are the gold
+medal girl, Miriam? Dear me, what a young lady you are growing to be!
+But you must not study too hard. Don't overdo it."
+
+Mrs. Gray had gone through this same conversation every year since any
+of the girls could remember, and never failed to caution the head girl
+not to overstudy.
+
+"There's no fear of that, Mrs. Gray," replied Miriam boastfully. "My
+lessons give me very little trouble."
+
+"Mrs. Gray," broke in Nora O'Malley mischievously, "Miriam Nesbit has a
+close second in the class. The first girl who has ever been known to
+come up to her."
+
+Miriam flushed, half-angry and half-pleased at the adroit compliment.
+
+"And who may that be, my dear?" queried Mrs. Gray, searching about the
+room with her nearsighted blue eyes.
+
+"It's Anne Pierson" replied Nora.
+
+"Pierson, Pierson?" repeated the little old lady. "Why have I not met
+her? I do not seem to remember the name in Oakdale. But where is this
+wonderful young woman who is outstripping our brilliant Miriam? I feel a
+great curiosity to see her."
+
+"Anne Pierson, Anne Pierson!" called several voices, while Grace began
+to search through the rooms and hall.
+
+At the first mention of her name Anne had darted from her seat behind
+the lemonade bowl, and rushed to the nearest shelter, which was the
+conservatory.
+
+Grace found her, at last, in the conservatory crouched behind a palm.
+
+"Come here, you foolish child!" exclaimed Grace. "You are wanted at
+once. Why did you run and hide? Mrs. Gray--the great Mrs. Gray--wishes
+to meet you. Think of that!"
+
+Anne clasped the girl's strong hand with her two small ones.
+
+"Oh, Grace," she whispered, "won't you excuse me? I--I----"
+
+"You what? Silly, come right along!"
+
+Grace fairly dragged the trembling little figure into the drawing room,
+where a silence had fallen over the group of young girls who watched the
+scene.
+
+"Tut, tut, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Gray gently. "You mustn't be afraid
+of me. I'm the most harmless old woman in the world."
+
+Then she tried to get a glimpse of Anne's downcast, crimson face.
+
+"I wanted particularly to meet you, child," went on Mrs. Gray, "because
+I hear you are a formidable rival of the best pupil in the freshman
+class. That is a great boast for your friends to make for you, my dear.
+Miriam Nesbit is a famously smart girl, I'm told. But I wanted to meet
+you, too, because you bear the name I love best in the world."
+
+Here the old lady's voice became very soft, and the girls suddenly
+remembered that the young daughter had been called Anne. Was there not a
+memorial window, in the chapel of the High School, of an angel carrying
+a lily and underneath an inscription familiar to them all: "In Memory of
+Anne Gray, died in her freshman year, aged sixteen"?
+
+The girls moved off quietly, conversing in low voices, leaving Anne
+alone with her new friend.
+
+"You are a very little girl to be so clever," said Mrs. Gray, patting
+one of Anne's small wrists as she looked into the dark eyes. "Where do
+you live, dear?"
+
+"On River Street," replied Anne undergoing the scrutiny calmly, now she
+found herself alone.
+
+"River Street?" repeated Mrs. Gray, trying to recall whom she had ever
+known living in that strange quarter of the town. "Have you been long in
+Oakdale?" she went on.
+
+"A few years, ma'am," replied Anne.
+
+"And what is your father's business, my child?" continued the old lady
+remorselessly.
+
+Anne blushed and hung her head, and for a moment there was no reply to
+the question. Presently she drew a sharp breath as if it hurt her to
+make the confession.
+
+"My father does not live here," was what she said. "My mother is an
+invalid. My sister supports us with sewing. As soon as I finish in the
+High School, I shall teach."
+
+Mrs. Gray put an arm around the girl's waist and drew her down beside
+her.
+
+"I'm a stupid old woman, child. You must forgive me. Old people forget
+their manners sometimes. Will you come and see me very soon? Perhaps
+to-morrow after church you will take luncheon with me? I want to know
+you better."
+
+She drew a card from the beaded reticule that hung at her side.
+
+"Remember, at half-past twelve," she said, giving the girl's hand an
+extra squeeze as she rose to go.
+
+After Mrs. Gray had taken her departure a free and easy atmosphere was
+restored and the girls began talking and laughing without the
+restriction of an older person's presence. Mrs. Harlowe shortly after
+this also left them to themselves.
+
+"Let's do some stunts," proposed Grace. "Nora, will you give us your
+imitations?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Nora, "if Miriam will promise to sing, and Jessica
+will do her Greek dance, and Georgie will play for us."
+
+"All right!" came a chorus of voices.
+
+"We've done it oft before, but we'll do it o'er again if the company so
+wishes," said Georgie Pine, one of the brightest and gayest girls in the
+class.
+
+The others seated themselves in a semicircle, while each girl gave her
+little performance, and, at the conclusion, was applauded
+enthusiastically. Nora had a real talent for mimicry; she convulsed her
+audience with imitations of some of the High School teachers. When it
+came Miriam's turn she sat down at the piano with a queer look on her
+face.
+
+"I believe she means mischief," thought Grace to herself, as she watched
+the girl curiously.
+
+Miriam ran a brilliant scale up the piano, for music was another of her
+many accomplishments. Then she paused and turned to the others.
+
+"I won't sing," she said, "unless Miss Pierson promises to recite us
+something first, Poe's 'Raven,' for instance."
+
+Grace flushed angrily and was about to interfere when, to her surprise,
+Anne herself replied:
+
+"I shall be glad to if that is the poem you like best. I always
+preferred 'Annabel Lee.'"
+
+Miriam was too amazed to answer. She could never form an idea of what it
+cost Anne in self-control to acquiesce; but the young girl had gained a
+new strength that day. So many people had been kind to her, and what is
+more, interested in her welfare. She rose quietly and walked to the
+middle of the semicircle.
+
+Grace and her chums were in an agony of fear lest poor Anne should break
+down, and so distress them all except the unkind Miriam. However, they
+need not have troubled themselves. Anne fixed her eyes on the far wall
+of the dining room and commenced to recite "The Raven" in a clear,
+musical voice that deepened as she repeated the stanzas. The girls
+forgot the shabby little figure in its ill-fitting black silk and saw
+only Anne's small, white face and glowing eyes. Not Miss Tebbs, herself,
+teacher of English and elocution at the High School, could have improved
+upon the performance.
+
+"It was perfectly done," said Grace afterwards, telling the story to her
+mother. "It was almost uncanny and quite creepy toward the last."
+
+When the performance was over the girls crowded around little Anne with
+eager congratulations; but, strange to say, everyone forgot that Miriam
+had given her promise to sing.
+
+What the crestfallen Miriam kept wondering was: "Wherever did she learn
+to do it?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+MRS. GRAY ENGAGES A SECRETARY
+
+
+Grace and her two friends, Jessica and Nora, were also invited to Mrs.
+Gray's luncheon the next day, after church. Grace had often taken meals
+in the beautiful house on Chapel Hill, but the other girls had never
+been privileged to do more than sit in the large, shady parlors while
+their mothers paid an afternoon call.
+
+It was with some excitement, therefore, that the three girls met in
+front of the Catholic Church, of which Nora was a member, and strolled
+up the broad street together. As they passed the little Episcopal
+Chapel, which had given the hill its name, Anne Pierson joined them. She
+looked grave and excited, and there was a feverish glow in her eyes.
+
+"Anne, my child," exclaimed Grace, who always seemed much older than the
+others, "how late do you study at night? I believe you are working too
+hard. You look tired out."
+
+"I'm not tired," replied Anne. "I don't mind studying. Only so much has
+happened in the last few days! And now we're going to luncheon with Mrs.
+Gray. I've seen her house. It's very beautiful from the outside, more
+beautiful than the Nesbits', I think, because it is older and there is
+such a pretty garden at the side."
+
+"Anne," said Jessica, "we're counting on you to win the prize. There is
+no reason why a rich girl like Miriam Nesbit should get it. She doesn't
+need the money, in the first place; and, in the second, she's already
+had enough glory to turn her head. Being beaten won't hurt her at all."
+
+"I would rather win it," answered Anne, with passionate fervor, "than
+almost anything in the world. And think of the big prize of $100! If I
+could win that----" Words failed to express her enthusiasm and she
+paused and clasped her hands.
+
+"Oh, well, we won't expect that of you," replied Grace, "Nobody could be
+expected to pass a perfect examination. That's an impossible
+achievement."
+
+"_I_ shall try, anyway," said Anne in a low voice.
+
+Just then they were joined by a young man of about eighteen, who lifted
+his hat politely to them.
+
+"May I walk with you?" he asked of Grace. "You seem to be going my way
+this morning."
+
+"Certainly, David, we are going your way. We are lunching with your next
+door neighbor, Mrs. Gray. But you must let me introduce you to Miss
+Pierson. Anne, this is Mr. Nesbit, Miriam's brother."
+
+Anne flushed at the mention of Miriam's name and bowed distantly to the
+newcomer, who was a junior at the High School and quite grown-up to the
+young freshmen.
+
+David Nesbit, like his sister, was tall, dark and handsome; but unlike
+her, he was quiet and unassuming. He, too, stood at the head of his
+classes, but he was not athletic, as Miriam was, and spent most of his
+time in the school laboratory, experimenting, or working at home on
+engines and machinery of his own contriving.
+
+However, there was nothing snobbish in David's attitude. He greeted Anne
+as cordially as he had the others.
+
+"We never see you now, David," continued Grace. "You are always so busy
+with your inventions and contrivances. What is the latest? A flying
+machine?"
+
+"You guessed right the very first time," replied David. "It is just
+that."
+
+"Really?" laughed the girls, incredulously, while Anne's eyes grew large
+with interest.
+
+"Shall you fly around Oakdale in it?" asked Jessica.
+
+"Oh, we are not building big ones yet," answered David. "These are
+little fellows. Models, you know. The big ones may come later. Six of
+the junior and senior fellows have been working on them all summer. We
+started it in the manual training course. After we had learned to hammer
+things out of silver, and do wood carving and a few other little useful
+accomplishments, I suggested a flying machine to Professor Blitz and he
+fell to it like a ripe peach. It was too late to do anything last spring
+except talk, however. But we are almost ready now, after our labors this
+summer."
+
+"Ready for what?" demanded Grace. "If you are not going to fly
+yourselves."
+
+"For our exhibition. Why don't you come and see it at the gym. next
+Friday night?"
+
+"We can't. We aren't invited," answered Nora, tossing back her saucy
+little curls.
+
+"I'll invite you," said David. "This will admit four young ladies to the
+High School gym.," he continued, taking out a card and writing on it,
+"At 7.30 Thursday evening."
+
+"Then everybody isn't invited?" demanded Jessica.
+
+"No, not everybody," replied David. "Just a chosen few. And you must be
+sure to come, too, Miss Pierson," he added, turning to Anne, who, all
+this time, had been silently listening to the conversation.
+
+"I should love to," she answered, giving him a grateful glance.
+
+"I'll leave you here," said David, turning in at a graveled driveway
+that led to the Nesbit house, a very large and ornate building standing
+far back from the street in the midst of a well-kept lawn.
+
+"I wish Miriam would take a few lessons in manners from her brother,"
+murmured Grace, when they were out of hearing distance.
+
+"He is certainly one of the nicest boys in High School," said Jessica.
+
+"If he only played football!" said Grace, with a sigh.
+
+"And danced," added Nora.
+
+"I don't know how to dance, nor did I ever see a game of football," said
+Anne.
+
+"Meaning that Mr. David suits you, Miss Anne," said Grace teasingly.
+
+"It was nice of him to ask me, too," was all Anne said in reply.
+
+"How do you do, my dears?" said Mrs. Gray, a few moments later, when
+John, the aged butler, ushered the girls into the long, old-fashioned
+parlor. "You are most kind to come and cheer up a lonely old woman. I
+shall expect you to be very gay and tell me all the gossip of the
+Oakdale High School, the four of you."
+
+"Luncheon is served, ma'am," announced John, whereat the sprightly old
+lady led the way to the dining room.
+
+Over the delicious broiled chicken and other good things they discussed
+the affairs of the school, the new teacher in mathematics, Miss Leece,
+who was so unpopular; the girls' principal, Miss Thompson, beloved by
+all the pupils; the merits of the Freshman Basketball Team and a dozen
+other schoolgirl topics that seemed to delight the ears of Mrs. Gray.
+
+"The truth is," she said, "I believe this freshman class is going to be
+one of the finest Oakdale High School has ever turned out. I have a
+feeling that I shall be very proud of my new girls, and at Christmas
+time I mean to do something I have never done before, if all goes well."
+
+"Oh, do tell us what it is, Mrs. Gray," cried the girls in great
+excitement.
+
+"I mean to celebrate with the largest Christmas party that's been given
+in Oakdale for many a long year. Grace, you shall manage it for me, and
+all of you shall help me decorate the tree and the house. We'll invite
+the freshmen boys and have a real dance with Ohlson's band for the
+music."
+
+"Oh, oh!" cried the girls ecstatically, even quiet Anne joining in the
+chorus.
+
+"By the way," went on Mrs. Gray, "do you know any girl who would like to
+come up and read to me twice a week, and write my notes for me? I'm
+getting to be an old woman. My eyesight is growing dim. Is there any
+girl who would like to earn a little pocket money? But she must have a
+sweet, soft voice, like Anne's here."
+
+"Anne would be the very girl herself, Mrs. Gray," suggested Grace. "She
+reads and recites beautifully."
+
+"You are not sure it would trespass on your time too much, Anne?"
+observed the wily old lady. "I don't want to impose on you."
+
+Anne's face fairly radiated with happiness. Could those girls possibly
+guess how much it meant to her to earn a little money! Five dollars was
+to her an enormous sum, and perhaps she might earn as much as that in
+time.
+
+"Might I do it?" she exclaimed, beside herself with joy.
+
+Grace turned her face away a moment. She felt almost ashamed of her own
+comfortable prosperity. And how like Mrs. Gray it was to do a kind thing
+in that way, as if Anne would be conferring a favor by accepting the
+position.
+
+"Indeed, you might, my dear. And I feel myself lucky to get the
+brightest girl in her class, and maybe in Oakdale High School, to come
+and entertain me twice a week."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE BLACK MONKS OF ASIA
+
+
+"Who wants to go nutting?" demanded Grace Harlowe in the basement
+cloakroom a few afternoons later.
+
+"We do," came a chorus of voices.
+
+"I don't," answered one.
+
+"Don't you like nutting parties, Miriam?" asked Grace.
+
+"She's too old," put in a sophomore. "This is a young people's party, I
+presume?"
+
+"Well, it's not a sophomore party, at any rate," retorted Nora.
+
+"Ma-ma, ma-ma," cried a number of other sophomores, imitating the cries
+of a baby.
+
+The freshmen were nettled by the superior attitude of the older class,
+but they knew better than to say anything more just then.
+
+"Never mind, girls," said Grace in a low voice, after the sophomores had
+strolled away, "we'll be sophomores ourselves next year. Now, all who
+want to join the party, meet Nora and Jessica and me at the old Omnibus
+House at three-thirty. And, above all, don't give the meeting place
+away."
+
+"Not in a thousand years," said Marian Barber.
+
+It was evident that Miriam Nesbit had hoped to break up the party by
+declining to go herself. But she was not quite strong enough in the
+class to divide it utterly, and she went off in a huff, with the secret
+wish to take revenge on somebody. As she started up Chapel Hill to her
+home she was joined by one of the sophomore girls, who lived across the
+street.
+
+"Your plebes are getting away from you, Miriam," exclaimed the older
+girl in a bantering tone. "You haven't got them well in hand yet.
+Nutting parties should be left behind for the Grammar School pupils."
+
+"They certainly should," replied Miriam in a disgusted tone. "It's Grace
+Harlowe who gets up all these foolish children's games. She's nothing
+but a tomboy, anyhow."
+
+"She's the captain of the basketball team, isn't she?" asked the other
+dryly.
+
+"Yes," admitted Miriam reluctantly, "but she never would have been if
+she hadn't brought along all her friends to vote for her."
+
+"Whew-w-w!" whistled the sophomore. "You don't mean to say it wasn't a
+fair election?"
+
+"Oh, fair enough," said Miriam, "except that I didn't bother to bring
+any of my special friends, and she did. I don't call that exactly fair."
+
+"Oh, well," consoled the other, "you have a few things coming to you
+anyway, Miriam. You're at the head of your class, as usual, I suppose?"
+
+Miriam nodded her head without answering. She was thinking of little
+Anne Pierson and what a close race they were running together. Even
+studying harder than she had ever had to do before, Miriam found it
+difficult to keep up with Anne.
+
+"Where are they going?" asked the other girl suddenly, after they had
+walked along a few minutes in silence.
+
+"Where are who going?" asked Miriam.
+
+"Why, the nutting party, of course."
+
+Here was Miriam's chance for revenge. The sophomores were a famously
+mischievous class, and this girl was one of its ringleaders. Back in
+Grammar School days they had played many pranks on their school fellows,
+and even in their freshman year they had dared to turn off all lights,
+one night at a dance of older schoolmates.
+
+"If I tell, you won't give me away, will you?" asked Miriam.
+
+"I promise," said the older girl.
+
+"Very well, then. They meet at three-thirty at the Omnibus House on the
+River road."
+
+"Good," said the sophomore. "Don't you want to come along and see the
+fun?"
+
+"Don't count on me," answered Miriam, turning in at her gate, with mixed
+feelings of shame and triumph.
+
+The Omnibus House, which had been chosen by Grace as the class meeting
+place, was an old stone building standing in the middle of an orchard.
+It was now in ruins, but tradition set it down as a former inn and stage
+coach station built before the days of railroads, and finally burned by
+the Indians. There was a curious hieroglyphic sign cut in a stone slab
+in the front wall which one of the High School professors interested in
+archaeology had deciphered as follows: "Peace and Justice Reign Over
+Mount Asia Tavern."
+
+Here the crowd of High School "plebes," as the sophomores scornfully
+dubbed them, met in conclave, partly to gather nuts in the woods near
+by, partly to discuss class matters, but chiefly to enjoy the crisp
+autumn weather. The woods were still gorgeous in russets and reds, in
+spite of the recent heavy frosts, and there was a smell of burning
+leaves and dry bracken in the air. The girls skipped about like young
+ponies.
+
+"If this is childish," cried Grace, "then I'd like to be a child always,
+for I shall play in the woods when the notion strikes me, even if I'm a
+grandmother."
+
+There was a smothered snicker at this from the inside of the old stone
+house, but the girls were too intent on their enjoyment to notice it.
+
+"Young ladies," exclaimed Nora O'Malley, trailing her cape after her to
+make her skirts look longer, and twisting her mouth down to give her
+face a severe expression, "you are not in your usual form to-day. I must
+ask for better preparation hereafter."
+
+There was a peal of joyous laughter from the other girls.
+
+"Miss Leece to a dot," cried Jessica.
+
+"Miss Bright," went on Nora, "you will please pay attention to the
+lesson. If you do not, young woman, I shall have to punish you in the
+old-fashioned way."
+
+"You will, will you?" cried Jessica, rushing gayly upon her friend.
+"Come on and try it then!"
+
+The other girls followed, and there was a tussle to pull Nora down from
+the stone upon which she had clambered to protect herself.
+
+Shrieks, struggles and wild laughter followed, while Nora fought
+desperately to hold her position. So absorbed were they in friendly
+battle that they had not noticed a troop of black-robed figures leaving
+the ruined Omnibus House and stealthily approaching.
+
+Nora was the first to see the ominous circle. She stopped short, and
+pointed with unmistakable terror at the masked and hooded persons, who
+were watching them silently. There was a moment of frozen horror when
+the girls turned around. This was a lonely spot, too remote from any
+dwelling to call for help. Besides, the freshmen were outnumbered by
+these weird figures, who appeared not unlike monks in their somber
+cowls, although their faces were absolutely hidden by black masks.
+
+The girls clustered together around the rock like a group of frightened
+chickens. Jessica had turned pale. She was not very robust and often
+overtaxed her strength to keep up with her two devoted friends.
+
+The tallest of the masked figures then spoke in a queer, deep voice.
+
+"Young women, are you not aware that this is a sacred spot, devoted for
+generations past to the Black Monks of Asia, whose home this building
+was before it became a roadhouse for stage coaches? Never invade this
+spot again with your hilarity. And now we will permit you to go,
+marching out single file, without looking back. But first, through your
+leader you must give your word never to mention this meeting to anyone.
+If you refuse this promise we shall punish you as only the Black Monks
+of Asia know how to punish persons who have offended the order. The
+leader will please step forward."
+
+There was a moment's whispered conversation among the freshmen. Then
+Grace, urged by her friends, said:
+
+"We promise."
+
+"Now march out, single file, as agreed," resumed the Black Monk of Asia,
+his voice trembling a little with suppressed emotion of some sort.
+
+The girls started to move out of the enclosure single file, Grace
+leading the procession, when a gust of wind blew the robe of the leading
+monk apart, disclosing a navy blue serge walking-skirt. Grace's quick
+eye caught sight of the skirt at once, and breaking from the line, she
+charged straight into the group of black monks, crying:
+
+"Sophomores! Sophomores!"
+
+The other girls ran after her, screaming at the tops of their voices;
+and there might have been almost a free fight between the two classes
+had not the Black Monks of Asia scattered in every direction, running at
+utmost speed.
+
+"Come on back, girls," cried Grace in a disgusted tone.
+
+She had chased a monk half-way across the orchard; then stopped to
+wonder what she would do if she caught the tall, black-robed individual
+who had indecorously caught up her skirts and was flying well ahead over
+the rough ground.
+
+One by one the plebes returned to their meeting place.
+
+"Well, that was a sell!" uttered Nora disgustedly. "How shall we ever
+manage to get even with those mean sophomores!"
+
+"If we don't," exclaimed Grace, "we shall never hear the last of it in
+Oakdale."
+
+"But who gave us away?" demanded Jessica. "Did anyone drop a hint to the
+sophomores of our secret meeting place?"
+
+"I didn't," said one girl after another.
+
+"Perhaps they followed us," suggested Marian Barber.
+
+"No one followed me," asserted Grace. "I was careful to look behind and
+see."
+
+"Nor me."
+
+"Nor me," exclaimed several of her classmates.
+
+"No," said Nora. "Somebody must have overheard and given the secret
+away."
+
+"Not Mi----" but Grace stopped before she had finished the name.
+
+The girls looked at each other.
+
+Could Miriam Nesbit have been so false to her class?
+
+No one replied, but each made a secret resolution to ferret out Miriam's
+suspected treachery if it were the last act of her life.
+
+"Let's start home, now," said Grace. "It's too late to go nutting
+anyhow, and these foolish sophomores have spoiled the afternoon, for me
+at least. If we don't cook up something to pay them back, the name of
+freshman will be disgraced forever more."
+
+However, the afternoon adventures were not at an end.
+
+As the group of girls started toward the road, some distance away,
+trying not to look crestfallen, a gruff voice from the far side of the
+Omnibus House called:
+
+"Hold up there!"
+
+The girls took no notice, thinking it was more upper-class tricks.
+
+Five rough-looking men emerged from a grove of alders which grew about
+the building.
+
+The young girls were really frightened this time. No sophomore could
+disguise herself like this. These were undoubtedly genuine ruffians of
+the worst type, hungry, blear-eyed and ragged.
+
+"What shall we do?" whispered Jessica, clinging to Grace desperately.
+
+"Everybody run," answered her friend, trying to be calm as the five men
+advanced on them. But when they broke away to run toward the distant
+road they found their retreat cut off by the tramps, who were active
+enough as soon as the girls showed signs of flight. Back of them lay the
+dense woods into which the sophomores must have plunged and departed for
+town by another road. Seeing that escape was impossible, since, if some
+got away, others would be caught--and no girl was willing to desert her
+friends--the frightened plebes paused again and clustered about their
+leader.
+
+"What do you want?" asked Grace of one of the men.
+
+"First your money, then your jewelry," answered the tramp, insolently
+leering at her.
+
+"But suppose we haven't any money or jewelry," replied Grace.
+
+"So much the worse for you, then," answered the tramp in a threatening
+tone.
+
+"He can have this gold bracelet," exclaimed Jessica, slipping the band
+from her arm.
+
+But Grace was not listening. Her attention was absorbed by a group of
+people passing in a straggling line on the road. Lifting up her voice
+she gave the High School yell, which had been familiar to every High
+School boy and girl for the last twenty years:
+
+"Hi-hi-hi; hi-hi-hi; Oakdale, Oakdale, HIGH SCHOOL!"
+
+As she expected, the call was answered immediately, and some of the
+loiterers along the highway vaulted the fence at one bound.
+
+"Help!" cried all the girls in chorus. "Help! Help!"
+
+"It's some of the High School boys!" exclaimed Nora, in a relieved voice
+as the rescuers came bounding through the orchard.
+
+The tramps looked irresolute for a moment, but when they saw that the
+newcomers were five boys they held their ground.
+
+"What do you want?" said the tallest boy, with a flaming head of red
+hair, as he confronted one of the tramps.
+
+"Thank heaven it's Reddy Brooks, pitcher on the sophomore baseball
+team!" whispered Grace, unable to conceal her joy.
+
+"Is that any of your business, young man?" demanded the tramp, showing
+his teeth like an angry dog.
+
+"It's my business to protect these young ladies," answered Reddy Brooks,
+"and I'll do it if I have to shed somebody's blood in the attempt."
+
+"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the big tramp, clapping his hands to his sides and
+almost dancing a jig in his amusement.
+
+In the meantime Reddy had cast his eyes about for some kind of a weapon.
+There was not a stick nor stone in sight. The only thing he could find
+was a pile of winter apples that had evidently been collected by the
+owner of the orchard to be barreled next day.
+
+Reddy made a rush for the pile, to the amazement of his fellow-students,
+who imagined for a moment that he was running away. They soon found out
+his purpose, however, when the apples came whizzing through the air with
+well-aimed precision.
+
+The first one hit the biggest tramp squarely on the chin and almost
+stunned him. Each boy then chose his man and the five ruffians were soon
+running across the orchard to the wood, the boys after them, their
+pockets bulging with apples. Laughing and yelling like wild Indians,
+they pelted their victims until the men disappeared in the forest.
+
+The girls, who had forgotten their fright in the excitement of the
+chase, were laughing, too, and urging on the attacks exactly as they
+would have done at one of the college football games. Perhaps they had
+had a narrow escape, but it was great fun, now, especially when Reddy
+Brooks threw one of his famous curved balls and hit a tramp plump on the
+back of the head.
+
+"Oh," cried Nora, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, "I never had
+such a good time in all my life! Wasn't it great?"
+
+"Wasn't it though?" grinned Reddy, as the boys returned from the field
+of victory. "Lots more fun than throwing balls at dummies at the county
+fair, wasn't it, fellows?"
+
+"You girls ought to be careful how you walk out here alone at this time
+of the year," said Jimmie Burke. "There are a great many tramps around
+now, going south in bunches to spend the winter in Palm Beach, no
+doubt."
+
+"We'll never do it again," answered Grace.
+
+"Never again!" exclaimed Nora, raising her right hand to heaven.
+
+"I suppose Farmer Smithson will wonder what became of his apples,"
+observed Reddy.
+
+"Oh, well, he has so many acres of orchards, I don't suppose he'll miss
+this one little pile."
+
+And the crowd started gayly off to town.
+
+But the girls of the freshman class had not forgotten--or forgiven--the
+Black Monks of Asia.
+
+All along the walk Grace was turning over and over in her mind some
+scheme of revenge. Nothing seemed feasible, however. The sophomores were
+so well up in tricks that it would be difficult to deceive them.
+
+"Suppose," Grace proposed suddenly, aloud, "we ask David Nesbit's advice
+to-morrow night, when we go to the flying machine exhibition."
+
+After that she dismissed the subject from her mind for the time being.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+ANNE HAS A SECRET
+
+
+On the night of the flying machine exhibition, the four chums, for Anne
+had now been formally adopted by Grace and her friends, arrived somewhat
+early at the great arched doorway leading into the gymnasium.
+
+They were all somewhat excited over this new experience. There had been
+many balloon ascensions at the State Fair, and once a dirigible airship
+had sailed over the town of Oakdale. But to see a real flying machine
+with all its grace and elegance and lightness was like stepping onto
+another planet where progress had advanced much faster than it had on
+this.
+
+At least, so thought Anne as she followed her friends into the building.
+There was a sound of puffing and churning, during which David arrived in
+a cloud of smoke on his motor cycle.
+
+"I mean to learn to ride one of those queer machines," exclaimed Grace
+from the doorway, never dreaming what an important part that very
+machine was one day to play in the history of Oakdale.
+
+"All right, you're welcome to," replied David, jumping off as he stopped
+the motor. "Come over to the campus to-morrow afternoon, and I'll give
+you your first lesson."
+
+"Is that really an invitation?" asked Grace. "For I shall accept it, if
+it is."
+
+"It certainly is," answered the young man, "and I shall expect you to
+make a very excellent prize pupil, not like Reddy Brooks, who tumbled
+off and smashed his nose because he suddenly forgot how to manage the
+brakes."
+
+A few other people gathered in the roomy gymnasium to see the
+exhibition, but the girls could see that it was a very exclusive company
+they had been invited to join. There were, in fact, no other girls,
+except Miriam Nesbit, who came late with her mother, a handsome, quiet
+woman to whom her son David bore a marked resemblance.
+
+Grace and her friends spoke to Mrs. Nesbit cordially, while Miriam bowed
+coldly and confined all her attentions to Miss Leece, the unpopular
+teacher of mathematics. Miriam ignored Anne entirely.
+
+"And now, ladies, if you will all be seated, the show will begin,"
+announced David, leading them to the spectators' benches ranged against
+the wall. "Don't expect anything wonderful of mine," he added. "It's
+only in the first stages so far. I'm afraid she'll break down, but she's
+a great little machine, just the same. Isn't she, mother?"
+
+"She is wonderful, I think, David," replied Mrs. Nesbit, who was a very
+shy, quiet woman, almost entirely wrapped up in her only son. Miriam had
+always been too much for her, and she had long since given up attempting
+to rule or direct her brilliant, willful daughter.
+
+"Mrs. Nesbit," said Grace, "this is Anne Pierson, one of the brightest
+girls in the freshman class."
+
+"How do you do?" said Mrs. Nesbit cordially, giving the girl her hand.
+"You are a newcomer, are you not? I haven't heard Miriam speak of you."
+
+"She is a newcomer, mother, but I hear she's giving your daughter Miriam
+a stiff pull for first place," said David teasingly.
+
+"I wish you'd keep quiet, David," exclaimed his sister angrily. "You
+always talk too much."
+
+"Miriam!" remonstrated her mother.
+
+"Miss Nesbit," said Miss Leece in a disagreeable, harsh voice, "will
+have no trouble, I think, in holding her own."
+
+The teacher gave Anne such a glare from her pale blue eyes that the poor
+child shrank behind Grace in embarrassment.
+
+"Dear, dear," murmured Mrs. Nesbit helplessly. She disliked exceedingly
+the scenes to which her daughter often subjected the family.
+
+David only laughed good-naturedly.
+
+"The exhibition is about to begin," he said, and disappeared into the
+room where the ships were to be put through their performances.
+
+In a few moments six young airship builders appeared, each carrying in
+his arms the result of his summer's labors. There was vigorous applause
+from everybody except Miriam, who was too angry with her brother to
+enjoy the spectacle.
+
+The aeroplanes were all copies of well-known models, except David's,
+which was of an entirely new and original design of his own invention.
+It looked something like a flying fish, the girls thought, with its
+slender, oblong body, gauzy fins at the sides and a funny little forked
+tail at the stern.
+
+The models were too light for machinery, so rubber bands, secured
+cris-cross in the bows, when suddenly released with a snap gave the
+little ships the impetus they needed to fly the length of the gymnasium.
+
+Only four of the six, however, were destined to fly that evening. They
+soared straight down the big room, as easily and gracefully as great
+white birds, and dropped gently when they hit the curtain at the other
+end, their builders running after them as eagerly as boys sailing kites.
+One of the models fluttered and settled down before it reached the other
+side, and David's machine, which had commanded most attention because it
+was different, started out bravely enough, its little propeller making a
+busy humming as it skimmed along. But it had gone hardly ten yards
+before it collapsed and ignominiously crashed to the floor.
+
+"I'm glad of it," said Miriam above the din, for everyone had gathered
+about the young man to offer sympathy and congratulations at the same
+time.
+
+"It's very, very clever, my boy," said Professor Blitz, "and you'll
+succeed yet, if you keep at it."
+
+"She wouldn't go far, David," said Grace, stroking the little model, as
+if it had been a pet dog, "but she's the prettiest of all, just the
+same."
+
+"Did it hurt it when it fell?" Anne asked him.
+
+"I think it broke one of its little fins," laughed David. "It hurt me
+much more than itself, because it wouldn't be good and fly all the way."
+
+"Anne," called Grace, "here is some one looking for you. It's a boy with
+a note."
+
+Anne looked frightened as she opened a soiled looking envelope the boy
+handed her.
+
+"Is anything the matter?" asked Jessica, seeing the expression of fear
+on her face.
+
+"No--yes----," answered poor little Anne, undecidedly. "I must go home,
+or rather I mustn't go the way I came. Don't you think I could leave at
+a side entrance? I don't want to see the person who is waiting for me in
+front."
+
+"Of course, child," spoke up Grace. "We'll see you home ourselves. Won't
+we, girls!"
+
+"Wait until I lock up my motor cycle and I'll go along," called David.
+"We'll all protect Miss Anne."
+
+"Tell him," said Anne to the boy, putting the note back in the envelope
+and giving it to him, "that what he asks is impossible."
+
+"Couldn't you squeeze us into the carriage, mother?" asked David,
+returning presently with his hat.
+
+"I have invited Miss Leece to drive home with us, mother," interrupted
+Miriam, giving her brother a blighting glance. "There is room for only
+one more person. Perhaps Jessica will take it."
+
+"You are very kind," said Jessica coldly, "but I prefer to walk with the
+girls."
+
+"_You'd_ better walk, too, cross-patch, and learn a few manners from
+your friends," was David's parting advice to his sister.
+
+"Children, children!" exclaimed Mrs. Nesbit, "don't, I beg of you,
+quarrel in public."
+
+Presently the five young people had slipped out of a side door of the
+gymnasium and started down a back street in the direction of Anne's
+house. They had not gone far, however, before they became aware that
+they were being followed. Grace was the first to call the attention of
+Nora and Jessica to a long, slim figure stealing after them in the
+shadows.
+
+"Here he comes," whispered Jessica. "What in the world do you suppose he
+wants with our poor little Anne?"
+
+"I believe he's going to stop us," returned Grace. "He is coming nearer
+and nearer."
+
+"Anne, I command you to wait!" called a voice from behind them.
+
+They all stopped suddenly and Anne jumped as though she had received a
+shock.
+
+A tall, theatrical-looking individual had come up to them. He wore a
+shabby frock coat and a black slouch hat, which he raised with an
+elaborate flourish when he saw the young girls.
+
+"Pardon me, ladies," he said, "but I wish to speak with my daughter."
+
+Anne controlled herself with an effort.
+
+"I cannot see you now, father," she said. "It is quite late and I must
+get back."
+
+"You shall not only speak to me but you shall come with me," exclaimed
+the man, with a sudden flare of anger. "I will not submit to
+disobedience again. Come at once!"
+
+"Father, I cannot go with you," cried Anne, clinging to her friends. "I
+would rather be with mother and Mary. They need me more than you do and
+I want to go to school and study to be a teacher."
+
+The man was now beside himself with theatrical rage.
+
+"Miserable child!" he cried, waving his arms wildly. "I shall take you
+if I must by force." Breaking through the group, he seized the hand of
+his daughter and dragged her after him.
+
+"Oh, save me!" cried the poor girl, struggling to release herself.
+
+"I can't stand this! If she doesn't want to go with him, she shan't,
+father or no father," growled David, dashing after the pair.
+
+"Stop, sir!" he cried, seizing Anne's other hand. "I must ask you to
+release this young lady at once."
+
+"Insolent boy!" cried the other, giving each word an oratorical
+flourish, "are you not aware that this young lady, as you call her, is
+merely a child, and that she happens to be my daughter? I cannot see
+that you have a right to interfere in a family matter."
+
+"But I have no proof that Miss Pierson is your daughter," retorted
+David. "It is enough that she doesn't want to go with you. I undertook
+to see her safely to her own home, this evening, and I mean to do it.
+After that you may settle your difficulties as you please."
+
+"Miserable upstart!" cried the man, now so thoroughly angry that he let
+go Anne's hand, "I have a good mind to give you what you deserve. As for
+you, undutiful, wretched girl," he added, his voice rising to an
+emotional tremolo, "you shall be well punished for this!"
+
+"Don't wait," whispered Anne. "If we run, we can get away, now, while he
+is so angry." At that they all took to their heels, David following
+after them, much relieved to have given Anne's father the slip without
+further disagreeable argument.
+
+No one spoke until they had reached the Pierson cottage and had seen
+Anne safely to the front door.
+
+"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed at last, trying not to cry. "I wouldn't
+for anything have had it happen, and just when you were all beginning to
+like me a little. Will you forgive me?"
+
+"Forgive you, Anne!" cried Grace. "It wasn't your fault. We are only
+awfully sorry for you."
+
+"We will just forget all about it, and never speak of it to anyone,"
+promised Jessica, taking the girl's hand kindly.
+
+"But I want you to understand that I was right in not going," protested
+Anne. "Some day I will explain."
+
+"Of course you were right," said David, "and I hope you will never be
+persuaded to go."
+
+"Thank you, all, a thousand times!" came gratefully from Anne; "and good
+night." Then she disappeared into the cottage.
+
+"Well, this was a night's adventure," observed Grace, as they started
+homeward.
+
+"I am afraid Anne's father is a night's adventurer," muttered David. "He
+looks mightily like one of those strolling actors who go barnstorming
+through country towns."
+
+"Poor Anne! Do you suppose he wants her to barnstorm?" asked Nora.
+
+"I haven't a doubt of it," replied the young man. "I think you girls had
+better adopt that poor child and look after her."
+
+"We have already," answered Grace. "Didn't Miriam tell you about it?"
+
+"Miriam? No; she never tells me anything. Besides, what has she to do
+with it?"
+
+The girls were silent.
+
+"By the way," continued Grace, "speaking of barnstorming, we want to ask
+your advice, David. The sophomores played a mean trick on us the other
+day at the old Omnibus House."
+
+"I heard something about the Black Monks of Asia," answered David,
+laughing.
+
+"Can't your inventive brain devise a scheme of revenge?" went on Grace.
+"If we don't get even with them soon, the story will be all over town."
+
+"Well," replied David, "I can tell you a secret I happened to have
+overheard when one of the sophomores was calling on Miriam. I was an
+eavesdropper entirely by accident, but what I heard might help some. The
+sophomores are going to give an initiation mask ball a week from
+Saturday night. Only the class and a few outsiders, among them Miriam,
+are to be present. Everybody is to be in fancy dress, and disguised out
+of all recognition. Can't you work up a scheme with that to go upon,
+girls?"
+
+"We certainly can," cried Nora. "It's the chance of a lifetime."
+
+"Just wait and see!" exclaimed Grace.
+
+"By the way, David, you didn't happen to overhear the password, did
+you?" asked Jessica.
+
+"I did," he replied. "Nothing escaped me, for I was caught in a trap.
+You know I don't care for that large, husky young damsel who leads the
+sophomores, and if I had made my presence behind the screen known, I
+should have had to speak to her. So I just sat still and said nothing.
+The password is 'Asia.'"
+
+"They are trying to rub it in, I suppose," cried Grace. "But I think
+they won't be so ready to use that word after their old ball is over."
+
+"If you want any help," offered David as he left Grace at her front
+door, "you know where to come for it, don't you?"
+
+"You're a true brick, David!" said Grace. "Good night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SOPHOMORE BALL
+
+
+There was an undercurrent of excitement in the air on the day of the
+sophomore ball.
+
+The sophomores themselves were full of secrets, whispering around in
+groups, their faces grave with self-important expressions. This was to
+be their annual Initiation Ball, and many new members, after receiving
+initiation into the various sophomore societies, were to be invited to
+the gymnasium, which had been turned over to the class for the evening.
+
+There was no end to the fun of these balls, according to feminine
+gossip, for no male was ever admitted and only three invitations were
+issued to girls of other classes. It was, in fact, to be nothing but fun
+and frolic, and every costume had been planned weeks ahead.
+
+One teacher was asked to be present to keep order in case of intrusion,
+for the gymnasium door, on that famous night, was always besieged by
+youths from the Boys' High School, who roared and jeered as each cloaked
+and masked figure rushed under the archway and disappeared.
+
+The freshmen, all through the day, were unusually quiet. They kept to
+themselves and had little to say. Miriam and her three particular
+friends were carefully avoided by their classmates. Miriam, herself,
+felt the snub at once. Had she, after all, made a mistake, and was she
+losing ground in the class? But her vanity was like a life buoy to her
+sinking hopes. She refused to see that the other girls regarded her with
+growing dislike.
+
+When school was over, that afternoon, six girls strolled down the High
+School walk arm in arm. They were Grace and her three chums and two
+other girls who were popular in the freshman class.
+
+Anne's small figure seemed almost dwarfed next to Grace, who towered
+half a foot above her. Ever since Anne's trying scene with her father,
+Grace had been doubly tender and kind to her, until the young girl
+seemed to expand under the happy influence.
+
+"Well, girlies, dear, we are the chosen six. I hope we shall be a credit
+to the class."
+
+"Don't talk so loudly, Nora. I feel as if we were surrounded by spies
+to-day. Everybody has been so mysterious and queer."
+
+"One thing is practically certain," whispered Grace: "I believe it was
+Miriam who told the sophomores about the Omnibus House. Why else did
+they invite her to their ball?"
+
+"We can never prove it, though," said one of the others, "unless we get
+her up a tree some day and make her admit it."
+
+"Remember, Anne," cautioned Grace, when they came to the cross street
+leading to the Pierson cottage, "eight o'clock sharp at my house! And
+don't bother about things. We shall have more than enough among us."
+
+At half-past eight that night the sound of a stringed orchestra floated
+out on the breeze as the door of the gymnasium swung back and forth to
+admit disguised sophomores, who each whispered the countersign to the
+doorkeeper, after running the gauntlet of the waiting crowd, and slipped
+in.
+
+The music was furnished by a troupe of women players especially engaged
+to play in this Adamless Eden. What would not the crowd of waiting boys
+have given for one glimpse of the ball room, where ballet girls, clowns
+and courtiers, Egyptian snake charmers, Mephistopholeses and
+Marguerites, priests and priestesses of the Orient, all whirled madly
+together?
+
+Every door had been locked and bolted and every downstairs window
+securely closed. Ventilation was obtained through the half-open windows
+opening on the upper gallery, which ran around the four sides of the
+gymnasium. The doors to this gallery had also been locked and the only
+way to reach it was by steps leading up from the gymnasium.
+
+Six masked and hooded figures swung down High School Street together,
+talking and laughing in low voices. The smallest of the six appeared to
+stumble over her feet, and once tumbled in the road. Her friends gayly
+helped her up, when it was disclosed that she wore a pair of boy's shoes
+much too large for her.
+
+"If we don't break our necks stumbling over these brogans," whispered
+the tallest girl, "we'll be lucky."
+
+As a matter of fact, each one of the six maskers was wearing a pair of
+men's shoes.
+
+"I stuffed my toes with cotton," laughed another, "but even now they are
+hard to manage."
+
+Just then a motor cycle shot past them, slowed down and stopped
+altogether.
+
+The rider rested it against a tree and came back.
+
+"I recognized you by your big feet," he said in a whisper. "Grace,
+here's the duplicate key to the laboratory. I had some trouble getting
+it, but no one knows, and you'll be safe enough. I'll let myself in with
+the other duplicate key and lock the door. They will be sure to try it
+at intervals. If you get into any trouble, early in the evening, make a
+dash for the steps and blow your horn loud. Now, that's all, I think.
+I'll be hidden in the laboratory until my turn comes. Good-bye and good
+luck!"
+
+In another instant he was off on his motor cycle.
+
+Six figures, well disguised in dominoes of as many hues, presently
+appeared on the ball room floor, just in time for the grand march. It
+was a pity no one, except the lone teacher, was permitted to look at the
+brilliant picture. But such was the tradition of the class. After the
+march, ten ballet girls in tarlatan skirts, their faces concealed by
+little black satin masks, gave a performance. Following this, a Spanish
+dancer, whom the six dominoes recognized at once as the treacherous
+Miriam Nesbit, gave an exhibition of her skill.
+
+"I'm going to have some fun with her," whispered the blue domino to the
+red one. "Just follow me and see."
+
+The last speaker joined the dancer as the music struck up a waltz.
+
+"That was a good day's work you did for our class, not long ago," she
+whispered as they danced off together.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked the Spanish dancer.
+
+"I mean the Black Monks of Asia. Now, do you understand?"
+
+"But I thought it was not to be told," exclaimed the dancer, flushing
+under her mask.
+
+"Only to the committee so that you might be rewarded with an
+invitation," whispered the domino, as she slipped away.
+
+"_She_ did confess it, and every freshman in the class shall know it
+to-morrow!" the emissary exclaimed privately to her friend, the red
+domino.
+
+"In spite of what her brother is doing for us to-night?" returned the
+red domino.
+
+"You are quite right, child. I never thought of that. Perhaps that is
+the very reason he is helping us get even to-night."
+
+"I think it is," added the other, quietly.
+
+"Girls, we must hurry up and begin," whispered another of the six
+dominoes. "They are all going to unmask at half-past ten."
+
+So the unrecognized intruders slipped away, stationing themselves about
+the room.
+
+Pretty soon a rumor began to spread among the dancers that there were
+young men present. No one knew exactly how it started, but it grew and
+spread with such persistency that it finally reached the ears of the
+chaperon.
+
+"Some of the girls saw their feet," said her informant, "and not only
+their feet but their trousers, too."
+
+The teacher rose and rapped sharply for order.
+
+"Young ladies," she called in a loud voice, "I am sorry to disturb the
+dancers, but we have every reason to believe there are some men in the
+room. Since it is not yet time for you to unmask, it will be simple to
+find out who does not belong here by having you file past me. I will
+lift each mask myself."
+
+The dancers accordingly arranged themselves in a long line and walked
+single file past the teacher. She saw only girl's faces, however, as she
+peeped under the masks, and the dance proceeded.
+
+The next disturbance came when the maskers had all taken their stand at
+one end of the room at the request of the six dominoes, who managed to
+whisper to each sophomore that there was presently to be a surprise.
+
+An expectant hush fell over the company as the six dominoes filed out of
+a side room and stood, for a moment, in full view of the sophomores.
+Then the six deliberately lifted their dominoes, disclosing trouser legs
+and men's shoes. Instantly the place was in pandemonium; yet before the
+sophomores could rush upon the intruders six long horns were blown in
+unison, and immediately the lights went out. In the darkness the six
+dominoes made for the stairs, rushed along the gallery, and were
+admitted to the laboratory by the duplicate key. But, just before the
+blue domino disappeared, she called out in a loud voice from the
+gallery:
+
+"The freshmen are avenged!"
+
+When the doors were safely closed the lights were turned on again,
+disclosing the sophomores blinking foolishly at each other after the
+sudden startling change from darkness to light.
+
+"They are in the laboratory!" cried one. "Let's cut off their escape!"
+
+The angry sophomores made a rush for the door.
+
+"Hurry girls!" urged David, who had just returned to the laboratory
+after manipulating the lights. "They'll catch us before we know it."
+
+But the young fugitives were too late. Just then there was the sound of
+many feet running up the stairs from the other door.
+
+"How about one of the gallery doors?" asked Grace.
+
+"They are all locked," answered David. "There only remain the skylight
+trap-door and the roof. Do you think you could manage it if I helped
+you?"
+
+"Of course; we could manage anything," protested the freshmen girls.
+
+It was an easy matter to climb up the ladder, and clamber through the
+trap-door on to the roof.
+
+"We're just in time," whispered David. "They have found the right key to
+the gallery door, and they'll be coming in both ways. Crawl carefully
+now, girls, for heaven's sake, and don't slip!"
+
+The seven young people began slowly to draw themselves along the
+gymnasium roof on their hands and knees. Fortunately, it was not a very
+sloping roof, and their only danger lay in their movements being heard
+from below. Meanwhile the gymnasium had emptied itself, and parties of
+enraged sophomores were engaged in searching the adjoining class rooms
+and passages.
+
+"Let's surround the building on the outside," cried one of the class
+leaders. "They can't escape, then, by any of the fire escapes, and we
+are sure to catch them!"
+
+In a few moments, David peeping over the edge of the roof, saw figures
+stationed at every possible exit, waiting patiently.
+
+"Lie low," he whispered, "and crawl on your stomachs, or you're surely
+caught."
+
+Soon after the seven had reached the end of the hundred feet of
+gymnasium, where their flight was stopped short by a blank wall where
+the gymnasium joined the High School building.
+
+"Here's a pretty pass," whispered David. "I forgot about this old school
+wall. The only thing to do, now, is to hide behind this chimney and wait
+for the row to quiet down."
+
+There they lay, as flat as possible, listening with bated breath to the
+sophomores below. Presently there was a sound of footsteps on the
+gymnasium roof and they heard Miriam's voice saying:
+
+"They must have escaped through the trap-door in the laboratory and come
+along here. Wait a minute, girls, and I'll see."
+
+"O Grace, we're caught!" groaned Jessica. "What shall we do?"
+
+"No we aren't yet," answered Grace. "Especially if she is coming alone,
+and that is what I am praying for."
+
+"I'll come with you, Miriam," called the voice of the sophomore leader.
+
+"Why don't you take the other side?" proposed Miriam. "And I'll go
+around and meet you."
+
+"Very well," came the answer.
+
+The freshmen clutched each other and waited.
+
+Miriam ran lightly along the roof, and came upon the seven prostrate
+figures so suddenly that she almost lost her balance.
+
+"Don't speak," said Grace, in a distinct whisper, "and don't give us
+away. If you do, you will regret it. Remember the blue domino who
+waltzed with you!"
+
+She hoped Miriam would understand what she meant and so save her from
+further explanation. In this Grace was right. Miriam was trapped at
+last. She deliberately turned and walked away without a word.
+
+"Come on, girls," they heard her call to the others, "let's waste no
+more time on them." When all was quiet the seven intriguers slipped down
+the fire escape and disappeared in the darkness--safely escaping
+discovery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ALL HALLOWE'EN
+
+
+"Anne," called a chorus of boys' and girls' voices, "come out and have
+some fun. Have you forgotten it's Hallowe'en?"
+
+The door of the Pierson cottage opened and Anne appeared on the
+threshhold.
+
+"I can't," she answered; "I must study to-night."
+
+"Oh, bother lessons!" exclaimed Grace Harlowe. "Skip them, for once, and
+join the crowd. We are going Hallowe'ening. Mother allowed it because
+David Nesbit and Reddy Brooks are along to look after us."
+
+Anne looked longingly at the little company.
+
+"I'll come," she sighed, "although it was my algebra I was working on.
+You know Miss Leece hates me, and, if I slip up, she'll be much harder
+than any of the other teachers."
+
+"Hang Miss Leece!" said David promptly.
+
+"Well, let's hang her, then," exclaimed Nora. "Let's dress her up and
+hang her on a limb of a tree."
+
+"What do you mean by 'hang' her?" asked Grace, while Anne went in to put
+on her hat and coat.
+
+"Don't you know?" replied Nora. "You stuff an old dress full of hay and
+paper, make a head out of any old thing, put a hat on it, and there you
+have her mighty fine."
+
+"That's an old stunt, Nora," observed David. "Let's have something more
+improved and up-to-date. Suppose, for instance, we use Marian's
+Jack-o'-lantern for the head. I'll put some little electric bulbs in the
+eye holes and attach them to a battery so that we can turn her eyes off
+and on. And we'll ride her on a broomstick in good style."
+
+"Only, nobody must know it's Miss Leece whose being effigied," urged
+Grace. "This must be merely for our own private satisfaction. Everybody
+promise not to tell."
+
+Everybody promised; so, with Anne safely in tow, they started for
+Jessica's house to make the figure. Here they were not likely to be
+interrupted. Jessica's mother was dead and her father spent most of his
+evenings in his library.
+
+Half a broomstick, with a small pumpkin attached to one end, formed the
+framework of Miss Leece's effigy. A cross beam gave a human touch to the
+shoulders and with the skeleton ready, the business of stuffing an old
+ulster and hanging it over the figure was simple. Tiny electric bulbs
+were placed in the eyes and a bonnet tied on the head with a green veil
+floating behind. Miss Leece, Nora insisted, always wore one growing out
+of her left ear. There was nothing left to do now, but to place the
+figure in a legless chair that had been nailed to two poles, and the
+procession was ready.
+
+"She's a very fine lady," cried Grace, running ahead to get the effect
+of the absurd lopsided figure whose eyes glared and went out
+alternately. "I wish the real Miss L. could see herself now. She would
+know exactly what she looks like when she glares at poor little Anne in
+class."
+
+"Yes, Anne," said David, "this shall be your party. We are going to give
+you satisfaction for your wrongs in the only way that lies in our
+power."
+
+"Oh, I don't really mind her," replied Anne, "only I'm afraid she'll
+catch me unprepared, some day, and then I _will_ get it in earnest."
+
+"It's a perfect outrage," exclaimed Grace. "Miss Leece is so cruel to
+little Anne, David, that it makes my blood boil. I sometimes think she
+is trying to make Anne lose the freshman prize."
+
+"The old Hessian!" cried David, who was on a sort of rampage that
+evening. "What shall I do to her, Anne? Give her an electric shock?" and
+he pressed the electric button rapidly up and down, which made the eyes
+glare hideously and go out several times in succession.
+
+In a town the size of Oakdale strolling parties of boys and girls, on
+Hallowe'en night, made a not unusual sight, so when our young people
+paraded boldly down the main street, singing and blowing horns, nothing
+was thought of it. What they were doing might be considered exceedingly
+out of place by a few straightlaced persons, but boys and girls will
+have their fun, even if it must sometimes be at the expense of other
+people.
+
+Certainly Miss Leece was the most unpopular teacher ever employed in the
+High School as far back as memory could reach. She was cruel, strict and
+sharp-tongued. Often her violent, unrestrained temper got the better of
+her in the class room; then she gave an exhibition that was not good for
+young girls to see. Anne, especially, was the victim of her rages--poor
+little Anne who never missed a lesson and studied twice as hard as the
+other girls. Miss Leece had but one weakness, apparently, and that was
+Miriam Nesbit.
+
+Twice had the faculty convened in secret session to consider Miss
+Leece's case, but it had been decided to keep her through the year at
+least, since she was engaged by contract and was moreover an excellent
+instructor in mathematics.
+
+So, it was no wonder that even this early in the school year, she was
+the object of dislike to the High School girls. But could our girls have
+foreseen what the evening's fun would bring forth, they would never have
+been so reckless in carrying the effigy about town.
+
+"Suppose we take her across the square," cried Reddy; "then over the
+bridge to the old graveyard and hang her on the limb of the apple tree
+just outside the wall?"
+
+Off they started, singing at the tops of their voices:
+
+    Hang a mean teacher on a sour apple tree,
+    Hang a mean teacher on a sour apple tree.
+
+When they reached the center of the public square, where a big electric
+light shed its rays, who should spring out of the shadows, from nowhere
+apparently, but Miss Leece herself? Nothing escaped her sharp ears and
+her cold blue eyes; neither words of the song nor the figure in detail,
+green veil and all; nor Anne Pierson, who happened to be standing quite
+near the effigy at the moment.
+
+And what was worse, and still more incriminating to the guilty
+merrymakers, the moment they caught sight of her they stopped singing.
+The eyes in the pumpkin suddenly lost their glare, and a silent
+procession wound its way hurriedly from the square.
+
+"Good heavens!" cried Grace. "Why did we stop the song? If we had only
+gone right ahead, it wouldn't have looked half as bad."
+
+"It was a mistake," admitted David, gravely, "especially as she seemed
+to have seen Anne first of all. Anne, if she walks into you to-morrow
+morning, you can just lay the blame on me, do you hear? I got up the
+whole party and I'm willing to stand for it."
+
+"No, no," cried Anne. "That wouldn't be fair, David. I couldn't think of
+doing that."
+
+"Well, you are not to get the blame, at any rate," said David, "if I
+have to go up and make a confession to the principal herself."
+
+"Let's go and hang her now, anyhow," cried Reddy. "We'll take no
+half-way measures with old Queen Bess."
+
+But somehow the spice of the adventure seemed to have gone out of it.
+
+"It really would be dangerous now," said Grace. "She would be certain to
+hear of it and make it worse for all of us."
+
+"Why not burn her," put in Nora, who was afraid of nothing and had often
+looked at the scolding teacher with such cold, laughing eyes, that even
+Miss Leece was disconcerted.
+
+"Good!" cried several of the others. "We will take her down below the
+bridge and burn her as a witch."
+
+No one objected to this, since the ashes of the effigy would tell no
+tales. Once more they started singing: "Merrily we roll along!" as they
+marched out of the village, crossed the bridge over the little river and
+finally paused on the bank below.
+
+"Plant the pole in deep," said David, "so she won't topple, and fix her
+up to suit yourselves, girls, while we get the fagots."
+
+The boys began to search about for dried sticks and twigs, while the
+girls were arranging the figure for her funeral pyre.
+
+Suddenly, there was a wild war whoop. A crowd of boys dashed out of a
+thicket near by, each one carrying a lighted Jack-o'-lantern on top of a
+pole, and surrounded the effigy of the teacher.
+
+"Help!" cried the girls, trying to defend the absurd thing from the
+attack, but they were too late. One of the boys seized the pole and
+rushed off in the darkness.
+
+Miss Leece, in effigy, had been kidnapped in an instant, before David
+and his friends had had time to realize what had happened.
+
+"Which way did they go?" he asked breathlessly.
+
+"Through the thicket," cried Grace.
+
+And the whole crowd dashed after the kidnappers. It was great fun for
+everybody except Anne, who was too tired to keep up the chase for long,
+and was soon lagging behind the others. David saw her and turned back.
+
+"You are too little for all this junketing, Anne," he said kindly.
+"Suppose I take you home? Shall I?"
+
+"I wish you would, David," answered the girl. "I'm just about ready to
+drop, I'm so tired."
+
+Taking her arm, he helped her over the ruts and rough places, until they
+finally emerged from the wood and started on the road to town.
+
+There were many other Hallowe'en parties out that night; singing and
+laughing was heard in every direction.
+
+"It's like a play," said Anne, "only everything is behind the scenes.
+Don't think I haven't enjoyed it, David, just because I got tired. I
+never played with boys and girls of my own age before. What fun it is!"
+
+"Isn't it?" replied the young man, "I love to get out, once in a while,
+and have a good time like this. I find I can work all the better after
+it's over."
+
+Presently the others caught up with them, breathless and laughing.
+
+"Miss Leece is stolen," cried Grace, "before ever she was hanged or
+burned. I do wonder what they'll do with her."
+
+"Oh, leave her in the woods," responded Reddy, "to scare the birds
+away."
+
+"Good night, Anne," continued Grace. "David will take you home. We go
+this way. Don't be frightened about to-morrow. I doubt if she says
+anything; and if she does, we are all implicated."
+
+The young people separated, still singing and laughing; never dreaming
+of the storm brewing from their evening's prank.
+
+"Anne," pursued David, as they strolled down River Street together,
+"when I make my flying machine will you be afraid to take a sail with
+me?"
+
+"Never," replied Anne, "but I wish it had been made in time to carry me
+away from Miss Leece to-morrow morning."
+
+And Anne's words had more meaning than either of them realized at the
+time.
+
+Imagine the surprise and horror of the Hallowe'en party when, next
+morning, they discovered the effigy of Miss Leece planted right in front
+of the Girls' High School!
+
+And the teacher herself was the first to see the impious outrage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+MISS LEECE
+
+
+Yes, there stood the hideous, grotesque effigy just where her abductors
+had left her the night before, her green veil floating in the breezes.
+As a figure of fun and an object of ridicule, she might not have created
+more than a ripple with the faculty. But it was evident that Miss
+Leece's function, even in effigy, was to make trouble.
+
+And trouble was certainly brewing that memorable morning. The figure
+itself might never have been recognized, but a placard which had been
+pinned on the front of the old ulster left no room for doubt. Across it
+had been inscribed in large printed letters:
+
+"THE MOST UNPOPULAR TEACHER IN SCHOOL."
+
+No one dared take the effigy away for fear of being implicated.
+Everybody had seen it, both men and women professors and the boys and
+girls of the two schools. But it was not until Miss Thompson, the
+principal of the Girls' High School, had arrived that the figure was
+removed.
+
+"How could those boys have been so mean!" exclaimed Grace to her three
+friends just before the gong sounded. "They might have known what would
+happen."
+
+There was an ominous quiet in the various class rooms all morning; but
+nothing was said or done to indicate just when the storm would burst.
+When the first class in algebra met, Anne trembled with fear, but Miss
+Leece, in a robin's egg-blue dress, which offset the angry hue of her
+complexion, was apparently too angry to trust herself to look in the
+direction of the young girl and the lesson progressed without incident.
+
+However, she was only biding her time.
+
+"Miss Pierson," she said, toward the end of the lesson, in a voice so
+rasping as to make the girls fairly shiver, "go to the blackboard and
+demonstrate this problem."
+
+Then she read aloud in the same disagreeable voice, the following
+difficult problem:
+
+"'Train A starts from Chicago going thirty miles an hour. An hour later
+Train B starts from Chicago going thirty-five miles an hour. How far
+from Chicago will they be when Train B passes Train A?'"
+
+The girls looked up surprised. The problem was well in advance of what
+they had been studying and Miss Leece was really asking Anne to recite
+something she had not yet learned.
+
+Anne hardly knew how to reply to the terrible woman who stood glowering
+at her as if she would like to crush her to bits.
+
+"I'm sorry," said the girl. "I cannot."
+
+"Miss Nesbit," said the teacher, "will you demonstrate this problem?"
+
+Miriam rose with a little smile of triumph on her face and went to the
+blackboard, where she worked out the problem.
+
+"Why, what on earth does the woman mean?" whispered Grace. "Are we
+expected to learn lessons we have never been taught and has that horrid
+Miriam been studying ahead?"
+
+"I think I must be dreaming," replied Anne, looking sorrowfully at Miss
+Leece.
+
+"Miss Pierson," thundered the teacher, "you are aware, I believe, that I
+permit no conversation in this class. Stupidity and inattention are not
+to be supported in any student, and I must ask you to leave the room."
+
+Anne rose in a dazed sort of way, looking very small and shabby as she
+left the room.
+
+But Miss Leece was not to come off so easily in the fight, and Anne had
+a splendid champion in Grace Harlowe, who could not endure injustice and
+was fearless where her rights or her friends' rights were concerned.
+
+She rose quietly and faced the angry teacher, who already regretted
+having gone so far.
+
+"If Miss Pierson is to be ordered from the room, Miss Leece, I shall
+follow her. I spoke to her first. I was naturally surprised that you
+gave out a problem so far in advance of our regular work. It is doubtful
+if any girl in the class could do it except Miriam, and she must have
+been prepared."
+
+"Miss Harlowe," said Miss Leece, stamping her foot, and again giving way
+to rage, "I must ask you to take your seat at once and never interfere
+again with the way I conduct this class."
+
+"You conduct this class with injustice and violence, Miss Leece," said
+Grace, turning very white, but holding herself in admirable control
+considering the conduct of the older woman.
+
+"I am in no humor to be answered back this morning, Miss Harlowe, and I
+would advise you to be careful," continued the enraged woman. "I have
+had enough to try me since last night and this morning. Miss Pierson
+must answer to the principal for those insults, and her insubordination
+just now has only made matters worse."
+
+"Miss Pierson has nothing to answer for which I have not, and I shall
+join her," replied Grace, and she left the room.
+
+Miss Leece was about to continue the lesson when Jessica, pale and
+trembling, rose and followed her friend. Nora was next to go and in
+another moment there was not a girl left in the algebra class except
+Miriam and her four particular friends. The gong sounded as the last
+pupil closed the door behind her, but there was little doubt that the
+first class in algebra had gone on a strike.
+
+The noon recess gong had sounded before the girls were able to meet and
+talk about the incident, and, during the time that intervened, Anne had
+received a summons in the form of a small note to meet the principal in
+her office at three that afternoon. She said nothing to her friends,
+however, and hid the envelope in her pocket.
+
+The girls in IV. algebra gathered around their friends to hear the
+story. They were indignant and expressed their readiness to join the
+strike out of sympathy in case there was any more trouble.
+
+"They have no right to put such a violent woman over us," said Grace, as
+she nibbled at a pickle and a cracker in the locker room. "I wish they
+would give me the opportunity. I should be more than willing to testify
+to her behavior before the entire faculty and the school board
+combined."
+
+Anne, herself, the center of the whole affair was very quiet. This
+remarkable young girl seemed to possess some secret force that she was
+able to draw upon when she most needed it.
+
+"Anne, you precious child," exclaimed the impetuous Nora, "you must not
+get scared. Whatever happens, the whole class means to stand by you.
+Don't we, girls?"
+
+"Yes," came from all sides.
+
+"I don't think anything in particular will happen," replied Anne. "I
+believe Miss Leece really wants to prevent my winning the prize. That's
+all."
+
+"She has certainly adopted a pet," cried Marian Barber.
+
+"What did Miriam Nesbit mean by studying ahead like that?" exclaimed
+another. "It was disloyal to the whole class."
+
+"It looks very much as if they had fixed it up between them," continued
+Grace. "I'm sorry about the effigy, but I won't stand that kind of
+favoritism. It's mean and underhanded."
+
+After school Anne lingered in the corridor until the other girls had
+gone. Then she made her way slowly to the office of the principal. "Come
+in," came the answer to her timid knock.
+
+Miss Thompson, the principal, was a fine woman, much beloved by the
+people of Oakdale where she had served as principal of the Girls' High
+School for many years. She had adjusted numerous difficulties in her
+time, but never such a knotty problem as the present one. It was
+incredible that Anne Pierson, who stood so well in her classes that she
+had already been mentioned by the faculty, should have engaged in such
+an escapade as Miss Leece had accused her of.
+
+"Sit down," she said kindly to the young girl, whose small, tired face
+appealed to her sympathies. "What is this trouble between you and Miss
+Leece, Miss Pierson?" she continued, plunging into the subject.
+
+"I do not know myself, Miss Thompson," answered Anne quietly.
+
+"But she accuses you of rather terrible things, Miss Pierson," went on
+the principal, picking up a slip of paper and reading aloud,
+"'inattention, insubordination, impertinence and a tendency to make
+trouble.' Have you any answer to make to these charges?"
+
+"No," replied Anne.
+
+"Have you nothing to say?"
+
+"Only that they are untrue."
+
+"Miss Pierson," continued the principal, opening a closet door, "do you
+recognize this figure."
+
+[Illustration: "Miss Pierson, Do You Recognize This Figure?"]
+
+There, hanging by its neck on a coat hook and still wearing its
+fantastic bonnet and green veil, was the famous effigy.
+
+Anne looked at the absurd thing for a moment in silence. Then her eyes
+met Miss Thompson's, and both teacher and pupil burst out laughing.
+
+The young girl never knew how far that laugh went to soften her present
+predicament. As a matter of fact, Miss Thompson had never liked the
+teacher in mathematics, while the small, shabby pupil appealed strongly
+to her sympathy.
+
+"Were you not the originator of this outrageous plot, Miss Pierson?"
+
+Anne was silent. She could hardly say she was the originator and still
+she had participated.
+
+"I will put the question in another form," said the principal. "If you
+were not the originator, who was?"
+
+Still Anne made no reply.
+
+"Miss Leece," continued the principal, "alleges that she distinctly saw
+you standing by the figure. She did not recognize the other faces. Do
+you think, Miss Pierson, that such an escapade as you engaged in last
+night was entirely respectful or worthy of a pupil of Oakdale High
+School?"
+
+"No," replied Anne at last.
+
+"Do you know that suspension or expulsion are the punishments for such
+behavior?"
+
+Anne clasped her hands nervously. She saw the freshman prize floating
+away, and her eyes filled with tears, but she said nothing.
+
+Instead of being angry, however, Miss Thompson was pleased with the
+girl's pluck and loyalty. But she was puzzled to know how to proceed.
+Her judgment and her sympathies revolted against punishing this prize
+pupil, and still it looked as if Miss Leece had everything on her side.
+A tap at the door interrupted her reflections, and Anne opened it,
+admitting Mrs. Gray escorted by David and Grace.
+
+"My dear Miss Thompson," said the old lady, "I know you will consider me
+an interfering old woman, but when I heard that my particular child,
+Anne Pierson, was in trouble, I came straight to you. I want to talk the
+whole matter over comfortably; since it's my own freshman class that's
+on the rampage, I feel as if I had a right to put in a word."
+
+"You are most welcome, Mrs. Gray," replied Miss Thompson, cordially.
+
+She was exceedingly fond of the lonely old lady who had been a
+benefactor to the school in so many ways. "But what's this you say about
+the freshman class? I have heard nothing about it."
+
+"Grace," said Mrs. Gray, "suppose you tell Miss Thompson what you have
+just finished telling me."
+
+Then Grace related the incident in the algebra class and the long
+succession of insults Anne had endured from the terrible Miss Leece.
+
+"Dear, dear," murmured Miss Thompson, "this looks like persecution and
+very strong favoritism on the part of Miss Leece. A thing we wish to
+keep out of the school as much as possible. But what about this!" and
+she opened the door of the closet where the pumpkin face of the effigy
+grinned at them grotesquely from the shadows.
+
+"I have something to say about that, Miss Thompson," declared David. "I
+am the author of this 'crime' and I intend to take the blame for it.
+Miss Pierson had so little to do with it that we had fairly to drag her
+out of her own house to make her join the crowd."
+
+"I think, Miss Thompson," put in Mrs. Gray, "that a teacher must have
+been exceedingly sharp and disagreeable to have inspired such nice
+children to this," and she pointed to the figure.
+
+"I believe you are right," admitted the principal after a moment's
+thought, "and I trust, under the circumstances, that the whole affair
+can be settled without the interference of the School Board. Suppose you
+leave Miss Leece to me. And young people," she added, "if you will
+promise to say nothing more about the subject, I think Miss Leece may be
+persuaded to let the matter drop."
+
+And so ended the Hallowe'en escapade. Miss Thompson paid a visit to Miss
+Leece that evening, at the teacher's rooms in Oakdale, and was closeted
+with her for more than an hour. No one ever knew what happened. Miss
+Thompson was a woman to keep her own counsel; but the affair never came
+up before the School Board and Miss Leece, after that, though somewhat
+stiff in her manner, had no more outbursts of rage for some time.
+Undoubtedly her display of favoritism in the algebra class had lost her
+the day.
+
+Miss Thompson was a woman of fine judgment and broad and just views. She
+was proud of the Oakdale High Schools and the splendid classes they
+turned out year after year. She realized perfectly what a disturbance a
+woman like Miss Leece could cause and she determined to check her at
+every point, especially when the most prominent and finest pupils of the
+two schools were implicated.
+
+Therefore the offenders went scot-free and Anne was once more safe to
+pursue the freshman prize.
+
+Miss Leece, however, was only biding her time. While Anne had won this
+battle she might lose the next.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THANKSGIVING DAY
+
+
+"Oh, how I love Thanksgiving!" cried Grace.
+
+"Oh, how you love turkey, you mean," exclaimed her bosom friend, Nora
+O'Malley.
+
+"Yes," admitted Grace, "the turkey is a grand old bird, bless him, but
+football is what I really love, delightful, thrilling football. I wish I
+could play center on the home team. I know I could make a touchdown as
+well as the best of them."
+
+The crowd of young people were seated on straw in the bottom of a large
+road wagon that was slowly making its way from Grace's house out to the
+football grounds. It was decorated with the colors of the Oakdale High
+School, sea-blue and white, and the girls wore blue and white rosettes
+and carried long horns from which dangled ribbon streamers. Numbers of
+Oakdale people were hurrying down the road toward the field, and the
+crisp autumn air vibrated with the sounds of talk and laughter. In the
+distance could be heard the music of the town band, which always gave a
+concert before the Thanksgiving game.
+
+"And to think that little Anne has never in her life seen a football
+game!" exclaimed Jessica.
+
+Anne blushed.
+
+"Yes," she replied reluctantly, "I'll have to admit this is my very
+first game, but I understand the rules. Grace has explained them to me.
+I hope our boys will win."
+
+"If the Dunsmore boys are in good trim, I'm afraid they'll give us a
+stiff pull," observed David, "but the stiffer the pull the more
+interesting it is to watch, so long as they don't lick us."
+
+Just then the wagon drew up at the grounds and the boys and girls jumped
+out and made their way through the crowd to their seats.
+
+Everybody in Oakdale turned out for the annual Thanksgiving football
+game. The professors and their wives, the teachers from the Girls' High
+School and all the pupils were there in full force, besides the citizens
+of Oakdale and their families. There was really a very large assemblage
+in the semicircular ampitheater which was hung with bunting and flags in
+honor of the great occasion, and probably not one in the whole cheerful
+company but had enjoyed a good Thanksgiving dinner that afternoon, so
+good humor beamed from every face.
+
+"Don't you think this is a thrilling sight, Anne?" demanded Grace, for
+there was not a soul in Oakdale who was not vain of the High School
+football team, which had won for itself honors all over the state.
+
+"Wonderful!" exclaimed Anne, clasping her hands and waiting impatiently
+for the performance to commence.
+
+Just then the band struck up again, and under cover of the music David
+whispered to Jessica:
+
+"Do you see that man over there to the right on the back seat, with
+long, dark hair and a slouch hat?"
+
+Jessica found the individual presently, starting slightly when she saw
+his face.
+
+"I do believe it's Anne's father," she whispered.
+
+"It just is," said David, "and he's looking hard at Anne, too. I wonder
+if he means to make another scene."
+
+"Poor Anne!" sighed Jessica. "She seems to have more than her fair share
+of troubles."
+
+The two teams then filed out for warming-up practice; the excitement of
+the ensuing game drove all thought of the sinister looking Mr. Pierson
+out of their heads, for the time being. The first half ended in a
+brilliant touchdown for the High School boys, though the kick for goal
+failed. Immediately the place rang with the cheers of the spectators.
+Crowds of boys rushed up and down giving the High School yell and when
+the noise died down somewhat the girls started the High School song:
+
+    "Here's three cheers for dear old Oakdale,
+    God bless her, everyone!"
+
+Anne was thrilled. Never had she enjoyed herself so much. She stood upon
+the seat beside Grace and waved a blue and white banner as frantically
+as anybody else.
+
+"I don't think I quite understand what it's all about," she confided to
+David, who sat next to her, "but I am very happy all the same."
+
+David smiled down into the radiant face. What a new dress and hat can do
+for one small, insignificant little person is quite wonderful sometimes.
+And Anne, with the money she had earned from Mrs. Gray, had replenished
+her wardrobe. In her neat brown suit and broad-brimmed hat she was
+really pretty, in a queer, quiet sort of way, David thought. He wondered
+if the father, hidden by rows of people, in the back, would be able to
+see how prosperous and well his daughter was looking. But his attention
+was recalled to the football field, for the next half was going against
+the High School, and there was apprehension among the sons and daughters
+of Oakdale.
+
+"Dunsmore! Dunsmore!" cried a delegation from Dunsmore College.
+
+But Dunsmore was not to be the victor that Thanksgiving Day. It was
+ordained that, just as hope had almost expired, a slender, fleet-footed
+young junior of the High School team should seize the ball and fly like
+the wind across the line. Score 10 to 1--Oakdale's score!
+
+Immediately a terrific hubbub began. Surely the place had gone mad, Anne
+thought. The hundreds of spectators, including Grace and her party, had
+rushed from the ampitheater, clambered over the railing and dashed into
+the field of glory. Such yelling and roaring, such blowing of horns
+while the hero of the afternoon was carried about on the shoulders of
+his fellows, made her heart palpitate wildly. Her friends had forgotten
+all about her, evidently, or perhaps they thought she had followed.
+
+"Anne," said a voice in her ear, "don't make any disturbance. I want you
+to come with me."
+
+Anne turned around quickly and faced her father.
+
+"Come at once!" he said. "I want to get out of this howling mob as soon
+as possible. We can talk later."
+
+He took her hand, not ungently, and presently they found themselves on
+the other side of the fence surrounding the field. Anne had not meant to
+go, but she knew her father was quite capable of making a scene and she
+felt she couldn't endure it just then. Once outside, she thought she
+might escape. Never once, however, did he release her hand until he had
+her safe in one of the town hacks and they had started down the road.
+
+When Grace and her friends finally recovered from their wild joy and
+excitement there was no Anne to be found.
+
+"Perhaps she stayed in her seat," exclaimed Grace, but the place was
+quite empty.
+
+David and Jessica looked about them uneasily.
+
+"What chumps we were!" said the young man presently. "We never bothered
+to look after her, and now probably that old parent of hers has actually
+gone and kidnapped the poor child."
+
+They searched through the crowds everywhere, but Anne was nowhere about.
+
+At last David and Jessica confessed their suspicions to Grace.
+
+"Oh, oh!" cried Grace, "I feel as if we were personally responsible for
+her! What shall we do?"
+
+David thought a minute.
+
+"Is there a play at the Opera House to-night?" he asked presently.
+
+"I believe there is," replied Grace. "Why?"
+
+"Ten to one Anne's father is acting in it," said David, "and that is the
+reason he happens to be in Oakdale to-day."
+
+"That's a very brilliant idea if it happens to be true," said Jessica.
+"But don't you think we had better see Miss Mary Pierson before we do
+anything?"
+
+"No," exclaimed Grace decisively. She was in the habit of thinking
+quickly and her friends usually let her have her way; but it was
+generally the best way. "It would be a pity to alarm her unnecessarily
+if we can avoid it. Anne isn't expected home until late, anyway. She is
+invited as are all of you to eat supper at my house. Suppose we go right
+to town, while David makes some inquiries at the Opera House. Then, if
+Anne's father is really acting in town to-night, we shall know what to
+do."
+
+Accordingly, they tumbled into the road wagon, whipped up the horse and
+drove back to Oakdale as fast as they could go. On the way in, they saw
+a new bill posted on a wall, advertising a play entitled "Forsaken." It
+showed, in vivid colors, a young girl very ragged and tired looking,
+asleep on the steps of a large church.
+
+"Let's go to the show," cried Nora, who always managed to combine
+amusement with duty; "that is," she added, "if Anne's father is in it.
+Of course, Anne will probably be somewhere about, in that case, and we
+could spirit her away while he is acting."
+
+"That isn't a bad idea," answered David. "But I'd better find out a few
+things first. I'll come over to your house, Grace, and report," he
+called as he jumped out of the back of the cart.
+
+The girls waited impatiently for his return, feeling that every moment
+Anne might be speeding away in some outgoing train, and they were losing
+valuable time. Grace had thought of consulting her mother, her best and
+wisest counsellor at all times, but Mr. and Mrs. Harlowe had gone on a
+long drive to the home of Mrs. Harlowe's mother and would not return
+until late that night. In half an hour their patience was rewarded; the
+gate clicked and David ran breathlessly up the walk, joining them
+presently in the parlor.
+
+"It's true," he cried excitedly. "Anne is at the Spencer Arms, probably
+locked up in a room. Her father is acting to-night in 'Forsaken,' and
+the whole company leaves town on the 11.30 train. I suppose Anne must go
+to the theater, for there will be no time to go back to the hotel after
+the play. I got the whole thing out of the clerk."
+
+"Then we can all go to the theater," cried Nora triumphantly.
+
+"What good will that do Anne?" demanded practical Grace.
+
+"It may do her no good whatever," said David, "but it would be well not
+to lose sight of the father, even, if we must follow him to the train.
+And if Anne knows we are near, she will be able to get back her nerve."
+
+"Children," cried Grace suddenly, "I have a scheme. I won't put it into
+action unless it's absolutely necessary, but it's bound to work."
+
+"What is it?" demanded the others.
+
+"I won't tell," replied Grace mysteriously, "because I may not have to
+use it, and I'll warn you that it's rather dangerous. But it will save
+Anne, and we just mustn't get caught."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+GRACE KEEPS HER SECRET
+
+
+The "best" Oakdale people did not often see the melodramas that appeared
+from time to time at the small opera house. Occasionally, if something
+really good came along, Oakdale society turned out in force and filled
+the boxes and the orchestra seats; but, generally speaking, the little
+theater was only half filled.
+
+And such was the case on this Thanksgiving night. Most of the audience
+was made up of farmers out holiday-making with their families, factory
+girls from the silk mills and a few storekeepers and clerks.
+
+"I am glad there are so few people here," observed Grace, looking around
+the scanty audience; "because, if we have to resort to my scheme, it
+will make it much easier and less dangerous."
+
+"What in the world is it?" pleaded Jessica.
+
+"Never mind," answered her friend. "I'm afraid you'll object, so I won't
+tell until the last minute."
+
+Just then a wheezy orchestra struck up a march and the High School party
+settled down in their seats, each with a secret feeling that it was
+rather good fun, in spite of the peculiar reason that had taken them
+there.
+
+"Here he is," said Nora, pointing to the name on the programme. "He
+takes the part of Amos Lord, owner of the woolen mills."
+
+At that moment the lights went down and the music stopped short. The
+curtain rolled up slowly disclosing the front of a church. It was night
+and lights gleamed through the stained glass windows. Snow was falling
+and from the church came the sound of organ music playing the wedding
+march. The picture was really very impressive, although the music was
+somewhat throaty and the flakes of snow were larger than life-size.
+
+But who was it half lying, half sitting on the church steps, shivering
+with cold?
+
+The girls had not been so often to the theater that they could afford to
+be disdainful over almost any passable play, and from the very moment
+the curtain went up their interest was aroused. Certainly, there was
+something extremely romantic and interesting about the lonely little
+figure on the church steps.
+
+"That's the heroine," whispered Jessica. "Her name is Evelyn Chase."
+
+Then people began to go into the church. It was a wedding evidently,
+although the groom was a tall, lean, middle-aged individual with gray
+hair.
+
+"It's Mr. Pierson himself," exclaimed Nora in a loud whisper.
+
+The bride-to-be was young and quite pretty. She was not dressed in
+white, but it was plain she was the bride because she carried a bouquet
+and hung on the arm of Anne's incorrigible parent. As they started up
+the steps, what should they stumble over but the half-frozen form of the
+young girl!
+
+Then, there was a great deal of acting, not badly done at all, thought
+David, who had had more experience in these matters than his friends.
+The bride refused to go on with the ceremony until the poor little thing
+was taken care of. The groom would brook no delay, for, oh, perfidy, he
+had recognized in the still figure his own child by a former wife
+deserted years before.
+
+Slowly the forsaken girl regained consciousness, lifted her head from
+the steps, threw back her shawl, and----
+
+"Heavens and earth, it's Anne herself!" exclaimed Grace.
+
+It was Anne. They were so startled and amazed they nearly tumbled off
+their seats.
+
+"As I live, it is Anne, and acting beautifully!" whispered David.
+
+"Where did she learn how?" demanded Jessica. "Strange she never told
+it."
+
+But they were too interested to reply, for the action of the play was
+excellent and the interest held until the curtain rang down on the first
+act.
+
+"No wonder he wants to keep her with him," ejaculated David when the
+lights went up. "She is the star performer in the show."
+
+"She is wonderful," declared Grace. "To think that little, brown, quiet
+thing could be so talented! I always imagined acting was the hardest
+thing in the world to do, but it seems as though she had always been on
+the stage."
+
+"Are we still going to try to save her?" asked Nora.
+
+"Of course," replied David. "She doesn't want to act. Didn't you hear
+her say so that night? She wants to go to school."
+
+"But it seems a pity, somehow, when she is so talented."
+
+"She's just as talented in her studies," said Grace, "and I've often
+heard that stage life is very hard. No, no! I intend to do my best to
+get Anne away this very night, if it upsets the entire town of Oakdale."
+
+When the second act was over, and Anne had actually so moved her
+audience that one old farmer was audibly sobbing into a red cotton
+handkerchief, and the girls themselves were secretly wiping their eyes,
+Grace whispered to David:
+
+"I'm going to write a note, if you'll lend me a pencil and a slip of
+paper, and wrap it around the stem of this chrysanthemum. When Anne
+appears in the next act, you go up in the box, and if she's alone an
+instant pitch it to her. Then she will know what she's to do."
+
+"But what is she to do?" demanded the others.
+
+"I won't tell," persisted Grace. "You'll object, if I do."
+
+"All right," said David. "I'll obey you Mistress Grace, although I wish
+you would confide in me."
+
+But Grace was obdurate. She would tell no one.
+
+The last act disclosed an attic at the top of an old tenement, with
+dormer windows looking out on a wintry scene. Anne appeared, more ragged
+than ever, carrying a little basket of matches. It was evident that she
+was a match girl by trade, and that this was her wretched domicile. As
+she crept down the center of the stage, ill and wretched, for she was
+supposed to be about to die--David saw his opportunity. From behind the
+curtain of the box he tossed the chrysanthemum, which fell right at her
+feet.
+
+"If she only sees it," he thought.
+
+But apparently she didn't. Going wearily to an old cupboard, she took
+out a crust of bread. Then she drew the ragged curtains at the windows
+and lit a candle. Simultaneously the entire attic was illuminated, for
+stage candles have remarkable powers of diffusing light.
+
+"Why doesn't she pick up the flower?" exclaimed Grace. "If she doesn't
+the scheme won't work at all."
+
+"I believe she's going to die," whispered Nora in a broken voice.
+
+Just then the Irish comedian appeared, puffing and blowing from the long
+climb he had had to the top of the house. He had come to bring help to
+the dying girl, but he was funny in spite of the dreary tragedy, and
+Nora changed her tears to laughter and began to giggle violently,
+burying her face in her handkerchief in her effort to control her mirth.
+Her laughter was always contagious, and presently her two friends were
+giggling in chorus.
+
+"Do hush, Nora O'Malley!" whispered Jessica nervously. "You know that if
+you once get us started we'll never stop."
+
+A countryman, sitting back of Nora, touched her on the shoulder.
+
+"Be you laughing or crying, miss?" he asked. "It ain't a time for
+laughing nor yet for crying, since the young lady ain't dead yet and I
+don't believe she's goin' to die, either."
+
+"She just is," exclaimed Nora, wiping the tears from her eyes. "She'll
+die before she gets off that bed to-night, I'll wager anything."
+
+All this while, the chrysanthemum with the note twisted and pinned to
+its stem lay in the middle of the stage. In the meantime, Anne had
+fallen into a stupor from cold and hunger. The kind little comedian
+rushed about the stage, making a fire, putting on the tea kettle and
+stumbling over his own feet in an effort to be useful.
+
+"Now, all the others will enter in a minute," whispered Grace
+disgustedly, "and she'll never get it at all."
+
+Just then Anne turned on her pillow and opened her eyes. They looked
+straight at David, who was sitting in the front of the box. He pointed
+deliberately at the chrysanthemum.
+
+"She sees it," said Jessica, for Anne's eyes were now fixed on the
+flower.
+
+When the kind Irishman departed to spend his last cent on medicine and
+food for the dying girl, she rose, staggered across the stage, seized
+the chrysanthemum and rushed back again, just in time to be lying prone
+when her father entered, now a repentant and sorrowful sinner.
+
+"It's all right," whispered Grace in a relieved tone. "I feel sure that
+the plan will work to perfection."
+
+Anne _did_ die a stage death, and there was not a dry eye in the house
+when she forgave her father, bade farewell to the entire company, who
+had now gathered in the attic, and her soul passed out to soft music
+while the lights were turned very low.
+
+"Fire! Fire!" rang out a voice from the darkened house.
+
+Where did the voice come from? Nora and Jessica were so startled they
+could only clutch each other and wonder, while Grace whispered:
+
+"Don't move from your seats."
+
+"Grace, was that your voice?" whispered David, who had joined the girls
+during the death-bed scene.
+
+But Grace made no reply. She only put her finger to her lips as she held
+his arm with a detaining hand.
+
+There was a panic in the house. The audience rushed for the doors while
+the actors leaped over the footlights in their mad scramble to escape.
+Several women's voices took up the cry of fire and the place was in wild
+confusion. Evidently the man who managed the lights had been too
+frightened to turn them on again, for the theater still remained in
+semi-darkness.
+
+The four young people did not move while the audience was crowding out
+of the aisles.
+
+"We might as well be suffocated as crushed," observed David. "It's a
+much more comfortable death, and besides I can't smell any smoke."
+
+Grace smiled but was silent.
+
+"I'm here at last," announced Anne's well-known voice behind them.
+
+And there she was, still in her ragged stage dress, carrying her hat and
+coat on her arm.
+
+"Why, Anne Pierson!" cried Nora, "I thought you were dead and gone."
+
+Anne laughed.
+
+"Not dead," she said. "But I would certainly have been gone in another
+half hour. We needn't hurry," she continued. "I don't believe he would
+ever think of looking for me inside the theater, and, for the time
+being, this is the safest place."
+
+"Anne, why did you never tell us you were an actress!" demanded David.
+
+"I was afraid to," faltered the girl. "I was afraid you would all hate
+me if you knew the truth. Besides, I never acted but six months in all
+my life. We toured in this play a year ago, and I knew the part
+perfectly. It would have been cruel of me not to have played to-night.
+The girl who usually does it was sick and there was no one to take her
+part. When father told me that, I knew I should have to do it this once,
+but if the fire panic hadn't started I couldn't have gotten away from
+him very easily. He would have made a terrible scene. And even then, it
+might have been difficult. No stranger would have helped me run away
+from my own father, who is determined that I shall go on the stage. He
+thinks I have the making of an actress. But I don't like the stage life.
+It is hard and ugly. I want to study, and be with girls like you." A
+charming smile radiated her small, intelligent face.
+
+"Where do I come in?" asked David, looking at her.
+
+"I think you are the best friend I have in the world, David," declared
+Anne. "I can never forget your kindness."
+
+"And now, Mademoiselle Annette Piersonelli," asked David, secretly much
+pleased at the girl's earnestness, "can't you divest yourself of your
+ragged dress before we go?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," she replied. "I am fully clothed underneath." She slipped
+off the stage dress and put on her hat and coat.
+
+Meanwhile, not a soul was left in the theater except two of the ushers,
+who were sniffing around trying to find out where the fire scare had
+originated.
+
+"There comes father," whispered Anne. "Can't we hide behind the seats?"
+
+"Quick," cautioned David. "He's coming down the center aisle."
+
+The five young people crouched low while the actor stalked down the
+aisle. But it was plain he was not looking for his daughter in the
+theater, for he called out to one of the ushers moving about at a
+distance:
+
+"Have you seen anything of the young girl who was with the company? I
+lost her during the panic and I haven't been able to locate her since. I
+must be leaving town in a few minutes," he added, consulting his watch.
+"It's almost time for the train now."
+
+"The company all left with the audience," said the usher. "I guess she
+went along with 'em."
+
+"Now is our time," said Anne, when the actor had disappeared. "Suppose
+we go out the stage entrance and down that side street!"
+
+Whereupon she led the way back of the boxes and into the wings, followed
+by her friends, who looked curiously about them at the unusual sight.
+
+"What a queer place," said Grace, "and how smudgy the scenery looks! Are
+these little places dressing rooms, Anne?"
+
+"Yes," answered Anne. "You see, it's all horrid when you are close. And
+the life is worse--riding almost every day on smoky trains and spending
+each night in a different place. The people are so different, too. I
+would rather go to Oakdale High School," she exclaimed, "than be the
+greatest actress in the world."
+
+They were standing in one of the larger dressing rooms while Anne
+endeavored to wipe the powder and rouge from her face with a pocket
+handkerchief.
+
+A tall figure darkened the doorway, and in the glass Anne saw the
+reflection of her father's face. Without a word, she ran to the open
+window and jumped out on the fire escape. The others followed nimbly
+after her. Mr. Pierson turned and rushed down the passage to the side
+entrance.
+
+"Hurry, Anne!" called David. "He will meet you at the bottom if you
+don't."
+
+They climbed quickly down the ladder, almost treading on each other's
+fingers in their haste, and in another moment they were running down an
+alleyway.
+
+"Another narrow escape," cried Anne, when they were out of danger. "How
+shall I ever thank you, dear friends?"
+
+"You have already discharged the debt, Anne, by letting us see you act,"
+answered Grace.
+
+"By the way, Grace," commanded David, "own up now. It was you, wasn't
+it, who started the fire panic?"
+
+"I told you I wouldn't tell," answered Grace, "and I never shall."
+
+"Anne, did she say anything about it in her note?" asked Nora.
+
+"No," said Anne mysteriously, "she never mentioned the word 'fire' at
+all."
+
+"I feel certain it was you who called 'fire,' Grace," said Jessica.
+
+"I'll never, never tell," cried Grace teasingly; "so you'll never, never
+know."
+
+She turned in at her own gate and to this day the mystery is still
+unsolved.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MRS. GRAY'S ADOPTED DAUGHTERS
+
+
+After Mrs. Gray's luncheon party in honor of Grace and her three friends
+a tiny little idea had implanted itself in her mind. As the weeks rolled
+on, and Christmas holidays approached, it grew and spread into a real
+plan which occupied her thoughts a considerable part of every day.
+
+As a secretary Anne had turned out admirably. The only drawback was that
+Mrs. Gray could not see enough of her. The lonesome old lady almost
+lived on Anne's semi-weekly visits, but the girl was too busy to give
+any more of her time to reading aloud or driving with her benefactor.
+
+Finally Mrs. Gray took a bold step. She invited the four girls to meet
+at another Sunday luncheon, and announced her intentions from the head
+of the table.
+
+"My dear children," she said, "you are aware that I am a very old
+woman."
+
+"We are not aware of anything of the sort, Mrs. Gray," interrupted
+Grace.
+
+"Nevertheless I am," pursued Mrs. Gray. "A very old, lonesome person
+with few pleasures. I have decided, therefore, to do an exceedingly
+selfish thing, and give myself a real treat."
+
+"You deserve it if anyone in the world does, Mrs. Gray," put in Jessica.
+"You who are always giving other people treats."
+
+"Wait until you hear the plan, child, before you pass judgment,"
+answered Mrs. Gray. "It's been too many years to count since I have had
+a really, jolly Christmas," she continued. "I have just sat here in this
+quiet old house, and let the holidays roll over me without even noticing
+them."
+
+"Now, Mrs. Gray," exclaimed Grace, "the poor people in Oakdale would not
+agree with you on that point. Only last Christmas I saw your carriage
+stopping in front of the Flower Mission, and it was simply bursting with
+presents."
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear. It is the easiest thing in the world to give
+presents and not so much pleasure after all. What I want is some actual
+fun, good Christmas cheer and plenty of young people. But I shall have
+to be selfish if I'm to get it all, because it will mean that I'm to rob
+mothers and fathers for a whole week of their children. Mr. and Mrs.
+Harlowe will have to learn to do without you, Grace, for seven days and
+nights. Your father, Jessica, must keep his own house. Nora, your
+brothers and sister must not expect to see you at all while you belong
+to me. As for my precious Anne, here, I should just like to steal her
+away altogether from her mother. In fact, my dears, I am going to adopt
+you for a whole week during the holidays and then--such larks!"
+
+And the charming old lady looked so gay and pretty that the girls all
+laughed joyously.
+
+"Do you mean that you really want us to make you a visit, Mrs. Gray?"
+
+"I do indeed. That is the exceedingly selfish wish I have been
+entertaining for the last six weeks. I not only want it, but I have
+arranged for it already. I have made secret calls, my dears, and mothers
+and fathers, brothers and sisters are all most agreeable. You are to
+come to me a week before Christmas and must settle yourselves exactly as
+if you were my own children. I mean to punish any homesick girl severely
+by giving her an overdose of chocolate drops. Families may be visited
+once a day, if necessary, though I shall frown down upon too frequent
+absences. But, young ladies, before we get any further, tell me what you
+think of the plan?"
+
+The girls were almost speechless with amazement and pleasure. To visit
+Mrs. Gray's beautiful home and live in a whirl of parties and funmaking
+such as would be sure to follow was more than any of them had ever
+dreamed of.
+
+"It's perfectly delightful, Mrs. Gray!" they cried almost in one breath.
+
+"And we shall give the Christmas party together, my four daughters and
+I, and we'll do exactly as we choose and invite whom we please."
+
+"Oh, oh!" exclaimed the four young girls. "Won't it be fun?"
+
+"It will for me," said the little old lady. "And I need to have a good
+time. I am getting old before my time for lack of amusement. And now, my
+lady-birds, who else shall we invite to the house party?"
+
+"Who else?" said Grace, somewhat crestfallen; for four intimate girl
+chums are invariably jealous of admitting other girls to the charmed
+circle.
+
+"Do you mean what other girls, Mrs. Gray?" asked Jessica.
+
+"No, no, child; I mean what other boys, of course. Do you think I want
+any more than my four nice freshmen to amuse me? But I don't think this
+party would be complete without four fine fellows to look after us. Who
+are the four nicest boys you know?"
+
+"David," exclaimed all four voices in unison.
+
+Mrs. Gray laughed.
+
+"There seems to be no difference of opinion on that score," she replied;
+"but is David the only boy in Oakdale?"
+
+"He's the nicest one," said Anne, who could never forget how kind David
+had been to her when his sister was her bitter enemy.
+
+"Reddy Brooks is nice, too," said Nora. "He threw apples at some tramps
+once, and saved us from being robbed."
+
+"Very good," said Mrs. Gray. "Reddy Brooks shall certainly be invited to
+the house party. I admire courage above all things."
+
+"Then there's 'Hippopotamus' Wingate," said Jessica.
+
+"Who?" demanded Mrs. Gray.
+
+"His name is really 'Theophilus', but the boys have always called him
+'Hippopotamus,' and now the name sticks to him and everybody forgets he
+has any other."
+
+"Are you agreed on Hippopotamus, my adopted daughters?" demanded Mrs.
+Gray.
+
+It was voted by acclamation, that Hippopotamus was agreeable to the
+company.
+
+"And now, I have a fourth to propose," announced Mrs. Gray. "I think I
+should like to import my great-nephew, Tom Gray, from New York. He is a
+little older than these boys, perhaps. Nineteen is his age, I think, and
+I haven't seen him since he was a child; but he's obliged to be nice
+because he bears the name of one beloved by all who knew him."
+
+"Whose name, Mrs. Gray?" asked Nora.
+
+"That of my husband," said the old lady, softly. "The nicest Tom Gray
+this world has ever known." And she looked at a portrait over the
+sideboard of a very handsome young man dressed in the uniform of an Army
+officer.
+
+"He loved his country, my dears, and fought for it nobly. He was a
+soldier and a gentleman," went on the old lady proudly, "and I am sorry
+he left no son to follow in his footsteps. He was a great hunter and
+traveler, too. I used to tell him if he had not loved his family so
+dearly, he would certainly have been a gypsy. He liked camping and
+tramping, and used to wander off in Upton Woods for hours at a time. He
+knew the names of all the trees and birds and animals that exist, I
+believe. But he loved his home, too, and no woods had the power to draw
+him away from it for long. I used to tell him he had brought a piece of
+the forest and put it in our front yard, for he planted all those
+beautiful trees you now see growing on my lawn, which my old gardener,
+who has been with me since I was first married, cherishes as he would
+his own children."
+
+"And is young Tom Gray like him, Mrs. Gray?" interposed Grace.
+
+"I hope so, my dear," sighed the old lady. "If he has inherited the
+beautiful traits of his uncle, his wholesome tastes for the outdoors and
+nature, he can't help being a fine fellow. But I have not seen my nephew
+since he was a child. He has been living here and there all these years,
+sometimes in America and sometimes in England. His mother and father are
+both dead, and he has been brought up by his mother's unmarried sisters,
+who are half English themselves. But he must be a nice boy, even if he
+has only one drop of his uncle's blood in his veins."
+
+The girls sighed and said nothing. It was touching and beautiful to see
+the old lady's loyalty and devotion after all these years of loneliness;
+for her husband had been dead since she was a young woman. Still Mrs.
+Gray never brooded. She was always cheerful and happy in doing
+kindnesses for other people.
+
+"If ever I marry," sentimental Jessica was thinking, "I hope it will be
+somebody like Mrs. Gray's husband."
+
+"I should like to have a brother like Tom Gray," observed Grace aloud.
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Gray, "we shall have to wait and see what the new Tom
+Gray is like. He may be utterly unlike _my_ Tom Gray."
+
+And the old lady sighed.
+
+"We shall all have to get new party dresses," exclaimed Nora to change
+the subject. "I have been wanting one for an age and now I have a good
+excuse."
+
+"Oh, yes," cried Grace enthusiastically. "Now, at last, I shall be able
+to get the blue silk mother promised I could have if at any time there
+was an occasion worthy of it."
+
+"I'm going to ask papa to give me a lavender crepe for a Christmas
+present," said Jessica.
+
+"O Mrs. Gray," continued Nora, "we are going to have such fun Oakdale
+can't hold us."
+
+"I think we should have a surprise for Mrs. Gray," announced Grace. "She
+is doing so much for us. O girls! I have an idea."
+
+"What!" demanded the others breathlessly, including Mrs. Gray herself,
+who was as full of curiosity as a young girl.
+
+"No, no," cried Grace, "it wouldn't be a surprise if I gave it away. But
+it's going to require a lot of work and planning to carry it out."
+
+"Is it big or little?" asked the dainty old lady as eager as a child to
+find out the secret.
+
+"It's rather small," answered Grace.
+
+"Fine or superfine?"
+
+"Both," laughed Grace. "But you'll not know till Christmas night; so
+stifle your curiosity."
+
+"I suppose I must wait, but it's going to be very hard," replied Mrs.
+Gray plaintively.
+
+And so the party was arranged. Notes, written by Anne, were dispatched
+to the four boys; plans were discussed for the week's amusements, and
+the four girls finally started home in a state of great excitement to
+look over their wardrobes and furbish up their party dresses.
+
+Only Anne had looked somewhat dubious during the conversation. How could
+she spend a week in a beautiful house, with parties every night and
+company all the time, and nothing to wear but that hideous black silk?
+
+"Anne," called Mrs. Gray, as the young girl was about to close the front
+door and follow the others down the steps. "Wait a moment. I want to see
+you." She led Anne into the big drawing room. "Do you know that I am
+greatly in your debt, my child?" continued the old lady, as she drew
+Anne down beside her on the sofa. "I don't think I could ever possibly
+repay you for the good you have done me this autumn. But I am going to
+try, nevertheless, by making you a Christmas present before Christmas
+arrives. Now, when I was your age, I preferred clothes to other things.
+I think all young girls do; or, if they don't they are most unnatural.
+Therefore, child, I have decided to pay off some of my indebtedness to
+you by getting my dressmaker to make you some dresses, if it is
+agreeable to you. Why, what is this! My little girl crying?"
+
+The tears were streaming down Anne's cheeks.
+
+"You mustn't cry, my own child," sobbed Mrs. Gray. "For I always cry
+when I see other people doing it, and it's very bad for my old eyes, you
+know."
+
+"You are so good to me!" said Anne. "It makes me cry because I'm so
+happy."
+
+"Well, well!" exclaimed Mrs. Gray, drying her eyes and beginning to
+laugh. "What a couple of sillies we are, to be sure. Now go, Anne, to my
+dressmaker, Mrs. Harvey, who has orders to make you four dresses, two
+for evening and two for afternoon. Mrs. Harvey has good taste and will
+help you select them. But perhaps you will like the ones she and I
+looked at the other day. One of them I am sure you will admire. I chose
+it specially because it will give color to your pale cheeks."
+
+"What is it, Mrs. Gray?" asked Anne eagerly.
+
+"It's pink crepe de Chine, my dear."
+
+And Anne held her breath to keep from crying again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MIRIAM PLANS A REVENGE
+
+
+For weeks Miriam Nesbit had felt a sullen resentment toward her brother,
+David, because he persisted in being friends with at least two of the
+girls in Oakdale High School whom she disliked most.
+
+When he announced, one morning at breakfast, that he had been included
+in Mrs. Gray's house party, his sister suddenly burst into tears of
+passionate rage.
+
+"Please don't cry, Miriam, old girl," said David, who was not of a
+quarrelsome disposition. "I'm awfully sorry if I hurt you, but, you
+know, Mrs. Gray was one of my earliest sweethearts."
+
+Which was perfectly true. When David was a little boy he used to crawl
+through the garden hedge and call on the charming old lady nearly every
+day.
+
+David had hoped that Miriam would laugh at this, but she stormed all the
+more, while poor Mrs. Nesbit looked wretched.
+
+"It isn't Mrs. Gray," sobbed Miriam. "But to think that my own brother
+would associate with Grace Harlowe, who is always working against me,
+and that common little Pierson girl whose sister takes in sewing!"
+
+"Miriam, Miriam!" exclaimed Mrs. Nesbit, "I am shocked to hear you say
+such things. Because the girl is poor she is not necessarily common.
+Your grandfather was a poor man, too. He started his career as a
+machinist. You would never have had the money and position you have now
+if he had not become an inventor. Is it possible you would try to keep
+some one else from rising in life, when your own family struggled with
+poverty years ago?"
+
+Miriam was silenced for a moment. She had seldom heard her mother speak
+so forcibly; but Mrs. Nesbit had seen, with growing misgivings, the
+innate snobbishness in her daughter's character, and for a long time she
+had been looking for an opportunity like the one that now presented
+itself.
+
+David had risen during Miriam's contemptuous speech, and had turned very
+white; which was always a signal that his slow wrath had been kindled at
+last; but since he was a child he had had such admirable control of his
+feelings that it had often been remarked by older people. Miriam,
+however, knew the sign and resorted again to tears to draw attention to
+her own sufferings.
+
+"You and mother have turned against me," she cried. "Mother, you have
+always loved David best, anyhow."
+
+"Nonsense!" replied David. "You are a willful, selfish girl, jealous
+because a poor girl is getting ahead of you in your classes and because
+you are not included in the house party. Do you think Mrs. Gray would
+ask you to join those four nice girls in her house after that Miss Leece
+business? If you had learned to be polite and agreeable you would never
+have gotten into this state now." Having delivered himself of his
+opinion, and spent his rage, David walked out of the room and quietly
+closed the door after him.
+
+"You see what you have done, Miriam," exclaimed Mrs. Nesbit. "You have
+made your brother angry. I have seldom seen him like that before, not
+since the stable man beat his dog. But don't cry, my child. It's all
+over now," and Mrs. Nesbit drew her daughter to her and stroked her hot
+forehead. "Why don't you give a house party, too?" she added after a
+moment's thought. "Would it give you any pleasure or help to heal your
+hurt feelings?"
+
+"O mother!" exclaimed Miriam, looking up quickly. "I believe I _will_
+invite four girls and boys to spend Christmas week with me. Wouldn't it
+be fun?"
+
+And it was in this manner that a plan for an opposition house party
+sprang into existence; although the son of the house had joined the
+other side.
+
+All through her preparations Miriam carefully guarded the secret that
+she was bitterly hurt at having been left out of Mrs. Gray's party, and
+she meditated a revenge that was still only a half-formed idea. In the
+first place, she chose Julia Crosby as one of the guests of the
+Christmas house party; Julia Crosby the tall, mischievous sophomore who
+had originated the "Black Monks of Asia." Surely the two together could
+work out some scheme which would bring her enemies to her feet and
+humble little Mrs. Gray, who had dared to slight her.
+
+Meanwhile, the holidays were approaching. The crisp, cold air resounded
+with the jingle of sleigh bells, for snow had fallen the first week in
+December and all the sleighs in Oakdale were taken from their summer
+quarters.
+
+The four chums were full of secret preparations. Grace had devised a
+scheme of entertainment which, in the town of Oakdale, would be unique,
+but it required much work and practice to perfect it. In the meantime
+Nora O'Malley had decided to entertain her friends at a bobbing party to
+start the Christmas holidays. And it was at this party that Miriam
+seized her first opportunity to make trouble.
+
+"Anne, you are learned in many things, but not in outdoor fun," said
+Grace as the young people in mufflers and sweaters started to climb the
+long hill where the coasting was best.
+
+"Do you mean to say you have never been coasting, Anne?" demanded David.
+
+"I'm afraid I'll have to admit it," replied Anne. "To tell the truth, I
+never did have any fun, except reading, until I started in the High
+School and met all of you. You see, little city children are denied all
+these nice things unless they go to the parks, but it's no fun going
+alone."
+
+"Well, you won't be alone now," said Hippy Wingate. "There are four to a
+sled, and we'll put you in the middle to keep you from getting lost in
+the snow."
+
+"Look out, here comes some one!" called Grace, just as a small sled shot
+past them like a flash, with a laugh and a cheer from its occupants,
+Miriam and Reddy Brooks.
+
+"They ought not to have done that," exclaimed David. "We couldn't see
+them over the knob of the hill and they might have run us down."
+
+By this time they had reached the top of the hill, and Anne's heart
+bounded at the sight of the long, white track made by the sled which had
+just passed them and disappeared far below across a flat meadow now
+smooth and hard as a table top.
+
+"Don't be frightened, Anne," said David, who sat behind her on the sled.
+
+He pinioned her arms with his own and with a wild whoop the four young
+people skimmed down the hill.
+
+There was no time to be frightened, no time even to think, as they shot
+through the fine bracing air like a ball from a cannon. Before they knew
+it, they were landed at the bottom.
+
+"O Hippy," cried Grace, her cheeks glowing like winter berries, "I feel
+as if I were riding the comet. But look out for the others," for the
+remaining sleds followed in quick succession and the air resounded with
+the whoops of the boys and girls as they shot past. "Is there any sport
+in the world that can touch it?" she demanded of the world in general.
+
+Three or four more such rides, and Anne felt an exhilaration she had
+never before known. She was climbing the hill for a final trip before
+the party returned to Nora's for hot chocolate and sandwiches, when she
+heard some one cry out just behind her. She had lingered a little to
+watch the sleds pass, and had failed to notice a small sled with a
+single occupant come over the brow of the hill well out of the beaten
+path and make straight for her. It was Miriam Nesbit, riding flat on her
+stomach and going like the wind.
+
+"Jump to the left, Anne," cried Grace's voice, "or you'll be hurt!"
+
+Anne looked up and saw the sled. It all happened in a flash, and how
+David managed to get there first she never knew; but the next instant
+the two were rolling over and over in the snow with Miriam on top of
+them and a broken sled skidding on its back down the hillside.
+
+"It was Miss Pierson's fault," exclaimed Miriam as she pulled herself
+out of the snow, and the others came running to the scene of the
+accident. "Why didn't she get out of the way? Inexperienced people ought
+not to come to bobbing parties. They always get hurt."
+
+David was binding up a cut in his wrist, which was sprinkling the snow
+with blood. He was too angry to trust himself to answer his sister
+before the others just then. They had pulled Anne out of a snowdrift and
+she was leaning limply against Jessica, trying to collect her senses. It
+seemed to her that she had been walking well out of the sled track, out
+of everybody's way; but it didn't make any difference since nobody was
+killed.
+
+"All I can say now, Miriam," said Grace, "is that you are entirely
+mistaken. If you hadn't hit Anne you'd have knocked me over. I was
+walking just ahead of her and nobody can say I am inexperienced."
+
+"Grace Harlowe, do you think I did it on purpose?" demanded Miriam
+furiously.
+
+"I haven't insinuated anything, Miriam," replied Grace. "I simply wanted
+to disabuse your mind of a mistake. That was all." And she turned away
+from the angry girl.
+
+All this time the other young people had said nothing. It was really an
+embarrassing situation, considering that David had not said a word
+either for or against his sister.
+
+"I think we had better not coast any more to-night," said Nora, after a
+pause. "David has hurt his hand and Anne is so shaken that it would be
+well to give her something hot to drink. Come on, everybody."
+
+"David, are you much hurt?" asked Grace uneasily.
+
+"Nothing but a little cut," he said shortly, so shortly that Grace
+flushed. Perhaps he was angry with her for having spoken out to Miriam.
+
+"I hope you aren't hurt much, David," said Miriam.
+
+David made no reply.
+
+"David," she repeated in a louder voice.
+
+But her brother had started down the hill, his hands in his pockets.
+Nobody took much notice of Miriam as the young people followed after
+him. Reddy Brooks was secretly congratulating himself that he hadn't
+been riding behind her on the sled as she had wished, insisting that she
+wanted to do the guiding herself. It was curious, he thought, and might
+have resulted in a serious accident, at least to Anne if David hadn't
+pulled her away. If Miriam had only thought to throw herself to the
+right when she saw Anne in the way. Girls had no heads, anyway, that is,
+most girls. Grace, he decided, was almost equal to a man for coolness
+and good judgment. But there were few girls who could touch Grace
+Harlowe; and he did a series of cartwheels in the snow to emphasize his
+feelings, to the relief of everybody present, for the silence was
+becoming uncomfortable.
+
+"Nora," said Anne when they had reached town, "if you'll excuse me I
+think I'll go home. I'm a little tired."
+
+"I'll take you home, Anne," said David, who had heard her remark. "I
+don't feel much like partifying either after this jolt. Come along,
+little girl," and he tucked Anne's arm in his and marched her off
+without another word.
+
+"All my party is leaving before the party," cried Nora in despair.
+
+"No, not all," replied Hippy Wingate. "There are still a few of us left,
+and I promise to drink any extra chocolate you may happen to have."
+
+"Don't give the animals sweets, Nora," exclaimed Reddy. "Especially the
+hippopotamus. He has a delicate stomach. You see, his keeper used to
+feed him chocolate drops three times a day."
+
+Hippy grinned good-naturedly. He was a round roly-poly boy, famous for
+his appetite.
+
+"Get away from here, Red Curls," he cried, hitting Reddy in the back
+with a snowball.
+
+"Oh, you coward," cried Reddy, talking in a high falsetto voice, "to hit
+a man when his back is turned. I'll slap you for that," and he landed a
+snowball on Hippy's chest.
+
+Hippy crouched behind the girls.
+
+"I was a fool to throw at a pitcher," he cried; "he'll be sending me one
+of his curves in a minute."
+
+"Hiding behind the ladies, hey?" returned Reddy, beginning to pitch
+snowballs at the girls.
+
+"Let's wash his face," cried Nora to the other boys and girls coming up
+just then. They chased Reddy all the way to Nora's house and rolled him
+in the snow until he cried "enough."
+
+Once inside Nora's cozy home, the coasters were soon doing ample justice
+to the good things to eat, which Nora's sister had prepared for them.
+Although all three of Anne's chums regretted deeply the unpleasant
+affair on the hill it was not mentioned again during the evening. Still,
+each girl felt in her heart that poor little Anne had, in Miriam Nesbit,
+a dangerous enemy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
+
+
+"Here's the tack-hammer, Hippy, and don't fall off the ladder, please,"
+cautioned Grace, as she assisted Hippy Wingate to tack up an evergreen
+garland in Mrs. Gray's drawing room.
+
+Not in twenty years had the old house taken on such holiday attire.
+Great bunches of holly and cedar filled the vases and bowls and
+decorated the chandeliers. Fires blazed on every hearth and the warm
+glow from many candles and shaded lamps brightened the fine old rooms.
+
+"My dear young people," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, coming in just then, "how
+happy you make me feel! I do wish you were all really my children and
+could forever stay just the ages you are now."
+
+"This house would be like the palace of everlasting youth, then,
+wouldn't it, Mrs. Gray?" suggested Anne.
+
+"Until some meddlesome little Pandora came along, opened the box and let
+all the troubles out," interposed David, who was still feeling very
+bitter toward his sister Miriam, and glad to leave home for a time until
+his anger had cooled.
+
+"Ah, well, we have no Pandoras here," answered Mrs. Gray, smiling on the
+young guests. "You are all girls and boys after my own heart, and I
+trust we shall have a beautiful time together. But here comes that
+nephew of mine, Tom Gray. I wonder if he's grown out of all
+recollection."
+
+While she was speaking one of the town hacks had driven up to the steps,
+and there was a violent ring at the bell.
+
+"Mr. Thomas Gray," announced the old butler at the door and Tom Gray,
+who had been the subject of endless speculation and conjecture, entered
+the room.
+
+"If he turns out to be disagreeable or stupid or anything," the girls
+had been whispering, "it would be such a pity because everybody else is
+so nice."
+
+Neither had the boys felt inclined to be prepossessed in Tom Gray's
+favor. He was a stranger, from New York, older than themselves and in
+college.
+
+"I wish he wasn't going to butt in with his city manners," Reddy Brooks
+was thinking regretfully. "He is sure to have a swelled head and try to
+boss the crowd."
+
+They had pictured him as a sort of dandy, with needle-toed patent
+leather shoes and a coat cut in at the waist and padded over the
+shoulders.
+
+Even David had voiced a few thoughts on the subject of Tom Gray.
+
+"I'll bet he's an English dude," he said. For Mrs. Gray's nephew had
+spent most of his life in England. "He'll probably carry a cane and wear
+a monocle."
+
+They were not surprised, therefore, when a young man entered the room
+who bore out somewhat the picture they had conjured. He was tall and
+slender, very dapper and rather ladylike in his bearing. His alert, dark
+eyes were set too close together, and his face had a narrow, sinister
+look that made them all feel uncomfortable. He spoke with a decided
+English accent, in a light, flippant voice which sent a quiver of
+dislike up and down David's spine, and made Reddy Brooks give his right
+arm a vigorous twirl as if he would have liked to pitch something at the
+young man's head.
+
+Mrs. Gray was the most surprised person in the room. It must be
+remembered that she had not seen her nephew since he was a child, and
+she had hoped for better things than this. However, always the most
+courteous and loyal of souls, she now made the best of the situation and
+greeted the newcomer cordially, though she did not bestow upon him the
+motherly kiss she had been saving.
+
+Tom Gray bowed low over his aunt's hand.
+
+"You are so much changed, Tom; I should hardly have known you,"
+exclaimed the old lady, trying to conceal her disappointment and dismay.
+"England has weaned you away from your own country. You look as if you
+had just stepped out of Piccadilly."
+
+"And so I have, aunt," replied the young man, using a very broad "a." "I
+have been in this country only a few months. England is the only place
+in the world for me, you know. I can't bear America."
+
+Hippy Wingate gave himself an angry shake, which made all the ornaments
+on the mantelpiece rattle ominously.
+
+"You must let me introduce you to my young friends, Tom," said Mrs.
+Gray, changing the subject quickly.
+
+The introductions having been accomplished, she took his arm and led the
+way back to dinner.
+
+"Do you think we can stand him for a week?" whispered David to Grace, as
+they followed down the hall.
+
+"We'll have to," replied Grace, "or hurt Mrs. Gray's feelings. But isn't
+he the limit?"
+
+"Asinine dandy!" hissed Hippy.
+
+"I knew he'd be a Miss Nancy," exclaimed Reddy.
+
+The girls did not express their disappointment, but as the meal
+progressed the conversation was strained and stupid.
+
+"How did you leave your cousins in England, Tom?" asked Mrs. Gray,
+trying to keep the ball rolling and inwardly wishing she had never asked
+her nephew down.
+
+"Quite well, thank you, aunt," replied Thomas Gray. "I expect to leave
+this beastly country and join them very soon."
+
+"Indeed?" answered Mrs. Gray, flushing and with difficulty keeping back
+the tears of disappointment. To think a nephew of hers could have turned
+out like this!
+
+"Do you play football?" demanded Hippy abruptly.
+
+"Really, I don't care for the game," answered Thomas. "It's awfully
+rough, don't you know."
+
+"Perhaps you prefer baseball?" suggested Grace.
+
+"No," continued the young man, "I can't say I do. The truth is, I don't
+like outdoor games at all."
+
+"What do you like, then?" demanded Nora, giving him a glance of
+ineffable scorn.
+
+"I like afternoon tea," he answered, "and bridge."
+
+Reddy almost groaned aloud, but he remembered his manners and choked his
+outburst of disgust.
+
+"It is a pity," said Tom's aunt, turning her nearsighted blue eyes on
+him in amazement and displeasure. "Our Oakdale boys are all athletes.
+Even David here, the scholar and inventor, I'll venture to say, knows
+football and baseball as well as his friends."
+
+"I'm not much of an inventor, Mrs. Gray," protested David. "You know my
+airship tumbled down before it got half way across the gym. But I shall
+never lose hope."
+
+"Ah, airships?" exclaimed Thomas Gray, and deliberately taking a monocle
+from his pocket, he stuck it in his eye and stared at David, who choked
+and sputtered in his glass of water, while Hippy dropped a fork that
+fell on his plate with a great clatter.
+
+Mrs. Gray raised her lorgnette and looked at her nephew.
+
+"Thomas," she said sternly, "don't wear that thing here. It's not the
+custom in this town or in this country, for that matter. If you are
+nearsighted, buy yourself a pair of spectacles."
+
+"Certainly, aunt, certainly; it shall be as you wish," replied Thomas,
+without a tinge of embarrassment. "I am so unused to America, you know."
+
+Then Nora relieved the painful situation by laughing. She was taken with
+the giggles and she laughed till the tears rolled down her cheeks. The
+others laughed, too, even Mrs. Gray, who felt that she might give way to
+hysterics at any moment.
+
+After dinner Thomas Gray detained his aunt in another room, while the
+girls and boys returned to the parlor. The two were closeted together
+for some time, and when they finally appeared, Mrs. Gray looked
+strangely flushed and nervous. But there was a smile on her nephew's
+thin lips and a dangerous flicker in his crafty eyes.
+
+"I'll stake my last cent he's been getting money out of his poor little
+aunty," said David to Grace. "He's just the kind to do it."
+
+"Poor Mrs. Gray!" exclaimed Grace. "I am so sorry for her. You can't
+think how she's been planning this party for months. Why did she ever
+ask down that wretch of a nephew? David, do try and make friends with
+him. Maybe there's something good in him after all, and it will help
+things along if Mrs. Gray feels that we want to like him."
+
+"All right," promised David. "It goes against my grain to talk with a
+Miss Nancy dandy like that. It gives me a feeling in my chest like
+indigestion and bronchitis combined--but I'll make the effort."
+
+So he went over and joined the Anglo-American, and began to talk with
+him in an easy, friendly sort of way.
+
+"Won't you come over by the fire," he said. "I think we are going to
+play some games the girls have planned."
+
+"Thanks, no," said the other, stifling a yawn. "I think I'll retire.
+I've had a long journey and I'm awfully knocked out. By the way, old
+chap," he continued, coming closer to David and whispering in his ear,
+which made that sensitive young man draw back with a quiver of dislike,
+"you couldn't favor me with a few dollars, could you? I left my check
+book in my portmanteau, which is still on the way and I find I haven't a
+cent. I'll return it to-morrow."
+
+David regarded him with amazement. Here was a man whom he had met only
+an hour before, already trying to borrow money from him. Schoolboys are
+not likely to have money about them, but David did happen to have five
+dollars in his pocket.
+
+"Certainly," was all he said, as he handed over the money.
+
+The transaction had only taken a moment and when David drew out the five
+dollar bill, he was careful not to let anyone see him do it. However,
+Mrs. Gray, who had been out of the room, returned at the very moment the
+money was changing hands. In a flash she saw what her nephew had done.
+Without stopping to think she made straight for the two young men.
+
+"Tom Gray," she said, speaking too low for anyone except her nephew and
+David to hear, "how dare you ask me for money and then borrow from one
+of my guests? You are a disgrace to your father, and to the name of
+Gray! I am ashamed of you and I command you to give that money back to
+David instantly."
+
+Tom Gray was as angry as his aunt. His face went from red to white, and
+he looked as if he would like to break a vase or tear something to
+pieces.
+
+"'Eavens, awnt, don't make a scene. I wouldn't a' awsked 'im, h'if I
+'adn't needed more money. I'll pay him to-morrow."
+
+Mrs. Gray and David were too surprised to speak. It was plain that, when
+Tom Gray was angry, he dropped his h's.
+
+David looked at him curiously, then he drew the old lady's arm through
+his.
+
+"Don't bother, Mrs. Gray," he said. "It was only a small loan, and I was
+glad to be of service. I believe Mr. Gray wants to go to bed now. He
+just said he was very tired. Shall I take him up?"
+
+"If you will," replied Mrs. Gray, quieting down. "His room is next
+yours, David. Will you show him the way?"
+
+"Young people," she said, going across to the boys and girls, who had
+gathered around the fire and were laughing and talking in low voices,
+"would you mind if we all went up early to-night? I feel a little out of
+sorts--bewildered--I don't know what. Children change so as they grow
+up," she added, sighing.
+
+The poor old lady's eyes filled with tears. She slipped her arm around
+Anne's waist.
+
+"You will never change, my dear boys and girls. You will all grow into
+fine men and women, I feel certain, and be devoted citizens of this
+splendid country of ours, which has always been good enough for our
+mothers and fathers, and ought to be quite good enough for us."
+
+"Three cheers for America!" cried Hippy Wingate, giving his plump figure
+a twist like a whirling dervish.
+
+Mrs. Gray laughed.
+
+"Yes, indeed, my dears, America is a splendid country and every American
+should be proud to say so."
+
+"And Oakdale is one of the nicest places in America," piped up Anne.
+
+"Hurrah for Oakdale!" cried Hippy again.
+
+"And Oakdale High School!" added Anne.
+
+"And hurrah for the sponsor of the freshman class!" exclaimed Grace.
+
+Whereupon they formed a circle, with Mrs. Gray in the middle, and danced
+about her laughing and singing:
+
+"Hurrah for Mrs. Gray!"
+
+The pretty, little old lady beamed happily upon her adopted family, as
+she called them.
+
+"My darling children!" she cried. "Kiss me good night, every one of you,
+and we'll all go up to our beds."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A MIDNIGHT ALARM
+
+
+The dry, cold air of the outdoors, and the warm fires inside the old
+house, certainly had the effect of making a very sleepy crowd of boys
+and girls who were not sorry, after all, to turn in early.
+
+Grace and Anne occupied a room together so large that it could easily
+have been turned into two apartments and each have been the size of
+ordinary bedrooms.
+
+"I'm glad our beds are close together, anyway," said Grace. "The rest of
+the furniture in this room seems to be miles apart."
+
+Mrs. Gray's room was just in front; Nora and Jessica were in a smaller
+one back of theirs, and across the hall were the boys' rooms.
+
+"Isn't it a wonderful old house?" replied Anne. "I never slept in such a
+big room in all my life. And how kind Mrs. Gray is! There is nothing she
+hasn't remembered."
+
+Each girl had found on her bed a pretty dressing gown of silk and wool
+and beside it a pair of bedroom slippers. There was a bowl of fruit on a
+table, and just before they dropped off to sleep a maid brought in a
+tray of glasses with a pitcher of hot milk.
+
+"Mrs. Gray says this will warm you up before you go to bed," explained
+the maid.
+
+"Dear, sweet Mrs. Gray," continued Anne, as she curled up on a rug
+before the fire to sip the warm drink, "she has planned so many things
+for this party. I am so sorry she has been disappointed."
+
+"He's not a bit like her, Anne," replied her friend, not caring to
+mention names. "I do wish she had never asked him."
+
+"My only hope," said Anne, "is that we will all seem so young and
+childish to him that he will get bored and leave."
+
+"Well, just strictly between us and as man to man, as David is always
+saying, don't you think he is horrid? He has no manners at all, and it's
+hard to believe he's a product of the Gray family."
+
+"He has such shifty eyes," said Anne, "and I had a feeling that his
+dislike for America was all put on to shock us. I feel so warm and
+sleepy," she continued drowsily when the lights were put out and they
+had snuggled down in the soft, comfortable beds.
+
+"I heard him drop an 'h' once," whispered Grace, in a sleepy voice.
+
+But there was no reply. Anne was already dreaming of her four beautiful
+new dresses.
+
+It might have been midnight, perhaps a little later when Grace awoke
+with a start. Not a sound disturbed the peace of the old house except
+the ticking of the clock on the mantel and the occasional crackling of
+dying embers in the fireplace. Yes; there was one sound and it aroused
+her. A loose board creaked in the floor, or was it a door which opened
+and closed softly? Perhaps it was nothing after all. And she closed her
+eyes and drew the eiderdown quilt close about her shoulders.
+
+No; there it was again. A distinct footfall. She raised herself on her
+elbow and peered into the shadows. Far over at the other side of the
+chamber--it seemed an infinite distance just then--stood a figure. Grace
+looked at it calmly. She had never been a coward and she was not
+frightened now, only she wondered who could be invading their room at
+this hour. Perhaps Mrs. Gray; perhaps one of the servants. No, it was
+neither; of course it couldn't be because it was the figure of a man.
+She saw him now plainly enough hovering over the dressing table.
+
+A small, cold hand slipped into hers. Anne was awake too. She had seen
+the figure and lay quite still watching it. Grace silently returned the
+pressure; then the two lay watching the man's stealthy motions for a
+moment, while Grace's mind was busy devising a plan by which the robber
+might be caught.
+
+Oakdale was a quiet, prosperous place, and burglars were unusual.
+Occasionally the hands in the silk mills made a disturbance, and there
+had been a few highway robberies, but an actual house-breaker seldom
+troubled the law-abiding town. The two girls, as they lay watching him
+from under the covers, guessed that this man was a real burglar. He wore
+a black soft hat and carried a small electric lantern, while, with a
+practised hand, he picked the lock of a small drawer in the dressing
+table where the girls had put their purses. Once he turned the light
+toward the beds. Instantly the girls' eyelids dropped and they lay as
+still as mice. Having satisfied himself that all was well, the prowler
+went on with his work, finally tiptoeing into the front room where Mrs.
+Gray was sleeping. Evidently he had made a circuit of the three bedrooms
+on that side of the house. As he slipped out Grace leaped from the bed.
+Now was the time for action. Putting on her dressing gown and slippers
+she dashed to the door leading into the hall, only to come upon the
+burglar again who had probably been frightened in his last venture and
+had retired to the hall for safety.
+
+Fortunately he was standing with his back to her while he closed the
+door, and feeling that she was safe for the moment, she crouched in the
+shadow of the doorway. The thief evidently thought he also was safe, for
+he seized a large, heavy-looking valise from the floor and made straight
+for the steps without looking to right or left.
+
+Now a door across the hall opened and another figure appeared. Grace
+trembled for a moment, fearing it might be another thief. She had always
+heard they traveled in pairs. But it was David, wrapped in a long gray
+dressing gown, looking for all the world like a monk.
+
+He glanced up and down the hall for a moment, then tapped on the door of
+the next room and without waiting for an answer walked in. In an instant
+he was out again and had started swiftly down the stairs, Grace
+following him. She had intended to speak to him, but it had all taken
+place so quickly there was no time. David made straight for the dining
+room, opening the heavy door. The room was brightly lighted. In a flash,
+Grace saw on the table a pile of the beautiful Gray silver, brought over
+from England by past generations of Grays. Grace never knew what
+instinct prompted her to enter the dining room by the butler's pantry at
+the very end of the long hall. As she pushed the swinging door, she
+heard David say:
+
+"You low blackguard, what do you mean by stealing your aunt's silver?"
+
+Grace started at the mention of the word "aunt." It was, then, the
+wretched Tom Gray who was robbing his own relative!
+
+"Get out!" returned the other coldly, "and attend to your own business.
+You are only a kid."
+
+"Give up those things you have stolen, or I'll pound you to a jelly!"
+cried David, making a rush at the burglar, who dodged nimbly.
+
+Then Grace had an inspiration, which assuredly saved David from very
+disagreeable consequences. Real burglars, like rattlesnakes, are not
+likely to be dangerous except when they are disturbed. It is then that
+they become dangerous characters. Grace slipped back into the pantry,
+swiftly opened one of the linen drawers and drew forth what turned out
+later to be a breakfast cloth, which was lucky because it was small and
+easy to manage.
+
+When, in the next instant, she had pushed the door open, what she saw
+made her blood run cold. Tom Gray had whipped out a small pistol and
+pointed it straight at David's head.
+
+"Get out of here, quick!" he said just as Grace opened the table cloth
+with a jerk and flung it over his head. A pistol shot rang out, but
+David had dodged in time and the bullet was buried in the mahogany
+wainscot back of him. The astonished burglar dropped the weapon, and
+began to struggle violently to release himself.
+
+Instantly David pinioned his arms from the back. But the fellow might
+even then have struggled free, if Reddy Brooks and Hippy Wingate had not
+burst into the room, followed by Anne, who had roused them after Grace
+had gone. The three boys swiftly overpowered Tom Gray and tied him to a
+chair with cord Grace had found in the pantry.
+
+But now, what was to be done? Undoubtedly the noise would awaken Mrs.
+Gray and she would have to be told that her nephew was a burglar about
+to make off with the family silver.
+
+Perhaps the loss of the silver would hurt less than family disgrace.
+
+In the midst of their council Mrs. Gray herself appeared.
+
+"What in the world is the matter?" she demanded.
+
+No one replied for a moment. It was a very uncomfortable situation for
+the young guests of the house party. If only the burglar had not been a
+member of the Gray family!
+
+Then Tom Gray himself spoke.
+
+"I must say this is a nice 'ospitable way to treat a guest and a
+relation. 'Ere I am taken by a lot of silly children for a burglar. I,
+your own nephew, awnt, who 'ad come down stairs on the h'innocent
+h'errand of finding some h'ice water."
+
+Mrs. Gray looked from one to another of the silent group. Her eyes took
+in the silver piled on the table, the pistol on the floor and the
+burglar's tools and lantern.
+
+"You are a burglar," she said, "a wretched, common thief. I knew it as
+soon as you entered my house last night. I could not then explain the
+feeling of repugnance I had, but I know now what it meant. I shall not
+offer hospitality to a coward, for all thieves are cowards. Boys, take
+what he has stolen from his pockets."
+
+Reddy and Hippy searched the bulging pockets of the thief's coat and
+waistcoat, and brought forth a quantity of jewelry, watches and purses.
+
+"Now, David," continued Mrs. Gray, firmly, "be kind enough to give me
+that pistol."
+
+David obeyed her, wondering if she meant to shoot her own nephew.
+
+Mrs. Gray pointed the pistol at the thief with as steady a hand as if
+she had been shooting at targets all her life.
+
+"Untie the cords," she commanded.
+
+They cut the cords with a carving knife.
+
+"Now, go!" said the old lady, still pointing the pistol at his head.
+"Leave my house quickly. I shall not punish you, because a thief is
+always punished sooner or later."
+
+Tom Gray looked immensely relieved, Grace thought, in spite of his
+crestfallen, hangdog air. They followed him down the hall, Mrs. Gray in
+the lead, until he slammed the front door after him and disappeared in
+the night.
+
+Then, turning with her old, sweet manner, she continued:
+
+"My dear children, I want to thank you for helping me rid my house of
+this man. I know I can depend on all of you never to mention it to
+anyone. It would have been a great blow to me if I had not been so
+angry; but now let us all go to our beds and forget this horrid episode.
+To-morrow we shall be as happy as ever. I am determined it shall not
+interfere with our good time."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+TOM GRAY
+
+
+The company which met around the breakfast table, next morning, was
+entirely restored to its old gayety. There was not one member of the
+house party, including Mrs. Gray herself, who did not feel unbounded
+relief that the place was so well rid of Tom Gray.
+
+David was glad there had been no arrest, and that the mistress of the
+house had with so much dignity and spirit turned out the culprit. It
+would have been a bad business, testifying in court against Mrs. Gray's
+nephew when he had been visiting in her house.
+
+"Mrs. Gray," suggested Grace, "if you haven't made any plans this
+morning for us, I think we had better spend an hour or so rehearsing our
+surprise."
+
+"Very well, my dear, you may spend as much time as you like at it; but
+if I peep over the transom, or listen through a crack in the door, you
+mustn't scold. I don't know that I can wait much longer to find out what
+it is."
+
+"No, no! You're not to come near the third story," protested Grace. "We
+shall nail down the transom and stuff the keyhole with soap if you do."
+
+"I never could stand suspense," exclaimed the old lady, shaking her head
+until her lace breakfast cap, with its little bows of lavender ribbon,
+quivered all over. "I fear I shall be tempted to break into the room
+before Christmas night and unearth the whole business. But tell me this
+much. Who is in the surprise?"
+
+"All of us," declared Nora. "But now we'll have to get somebody to take
+the place of----"
+
+She paused and blushed scarlet.
+
+"Mr. Thomas Gray," announced the old butler at the door, with a peculiar
+expression on his countenance.
+
+There was a dead silence. Mrs. Gray sat as if turned to stone, while
+David half rose from his seat and Hippy seized a bread and butter knife
+to plunge into the heart of his enemy, if necessary.
+
+"Aunt Rose," cried a voice outside, "aren't you glad to see me?"
+
+A broad-shouldered, well-built young man walked into the room and kissed
+the old lady right in the mouth, before she could say a word. He had a
+sunburned, wholesome face, kindly gray eyes, light-brown hair, and wore
+a heavy suit of rough, blue cloth. He carried no cane; neither were his
+shoes pointed at the toes, and there wasn't a tinge of English in his
+accent except that his enunciation was unusually good.
+
+Mrs. Gray rose from her chair and examined the young man long and
+carefully.
+
+"The very image of your uncle," she cried at last, and gave him a good
+hug. "The very image, my dear Tom. Your old aunty has been a most
+egregious fool. Why didn't you come last night?"
+
+"Didn't you get my telegram? I sent it in good time. I was delayed and
+had to take the night train up. I am awfully sorry if it inconvenienced
+you."
+
+"You haven't inconvenienced me, my boy, except for a slight loss of
+sleep, and a fright and a narrow of escape from losing the family
+silver, which David and Grace, here, prevented."
+
+Then Mrs. Gray sat down and burst out laughing. The others joined in and
+for a few minutes the breakfast table was in an uproar.
+
+The real Tom Gray, who was the image of his uncle's portrait over the
+sideboard, looked from one to another of the strange faces and then
+began to laugh too, since it seemed to be the proper thing to do. He had
+one of those delightful, hearty laughs that ring out in a whole roomful
+of voices. When Mrs. Gray heard it she stopped short, patting her nephew
+on the cheek; for he was sitting beside her now in a place hastily
+arranged by the butler.
+
+"Exactly your uncle's laugh. It's good to hear it again. You're a Gray,
+every inch of you; and, thank God, you're a fine fellow! If you had come
+down here with an English accent and no 'h's' and a monocle, I should
+have shut the door in your face. I should, indeed."
+
+"Who, me?" demanded her nephew, forgetting his grammar in his surprise
+at such a state of affairs. "Not me, dear aunt. America's good enough
+for me. I've had lots of good times with my English cousins, but
+America's my home and country."
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Hippy, dashing around the table and seizing the young
+man's hand. "We're glad to know you. We're proud and happy to make your
+acquaintance."
+
+There was such an uproar of fun and laughter at this that Tom Gray began
+at last to see that something had really happened, and that his sudden
+and unheralded appearance had brought immense relief to the assembled
+company.
+
+"Don't you think it's time somebody put me on?" he asked finally when
+the noise had quieted down a little.
+
+"Tom," replied his aunt, "did you tell anyone you were coming to Oakdale
+for Christmas to visit me!"
+
+"Why, yes," answered Tom after a moment's thought. "I believe I did. In
+fact I know I did. I was staying for a week in New York, with an English
+friend, Arthur Butler. I told him all about it. It was on his account
+that I stayed over one night. I sent the telegram by his servant,
+Richards."
+
+"Ah, ha!" cried Mrs. Gray. "And pray tell us what that wretch of a
+servant looked like."
+
+Tom laughed.
+
+"Richards is quite an unusual fellow, a good servant I believe, but
+rather effeminate and a kind of a dandy----"
+
+"That's the man!"
+
+"He's the one!"
+
+"The very fellow!"
+
+Half a dozen voices interrupted at once.
+
+Then Mrs. Gray explained the rather serious adventure of the night
+before. She ended by saying:
+
+"I never, in my heart of hearts, really believed he was you, Tom, dear."
+
+"The scoundrel!" exclaimed the young man. "Can't we set the police on
+him?"
+
+"The police in Oakdale are slow, Tom," replied his aunt. "Slow from lack
+of occupation. Robbers do not flock here in great numbers."
+
+"At least, I'll telegraph to Arthur Butler," said Tom, "and warn him.
+They may catch him from that end."
+
+The telegram was accordingly sent. Likewise the police were notified,
+but Richards, who turned out to be a well-known English crook, made good
+his escape and was heard from no more.
+
+It did not take our young people long to make the acquaintance of the
+real Tom Gray, nor to decide he was a fine fellow and one they could
+admit to their circle without regret.
+
+"He's like a breath of fresh air," thought Grace, and indeed it was
+disclosed later that he intended to study forestry because he loved the
+country and the open air, and spent all his vacations camping out and
+taking long walking trips. But there was nothing of the gypsy in him. He
+was full of energy and ambition and infused such a wholesome vigor into
+whatever he did that the young people felt a new enthusiasm in his
+presence.
+
+"I propose to celebrate the return of the real Tom Gray," announced Mrs.
+Gray, "by sending my boys and girls off on a sleighing party this
+afternoon. The big old sleigh holds exactly eight. Reddy, you may drive,
+since the roads are so familiar to you. You must all be back at six
+o'clock, for, remember, to-night we decorate the Christmas tree and
+every girl freshman in Oakdale High School must have a present on it."
+
+Just after lunch, therefore, after a hard morning's work over Mrs.
+Gray's "surprise," the young people bundled into the big side-seated
+sleigh, and tucked the buffalo robes tightly around them. The horses
+snorted in the crisp, dry air; there was a jingle of merry sleigh bells
+as off they started down the street toward the open country.
+
+    Jingle bells, jingle bells,
+    Jingle all the way.
+    Oh, what fun 'tis to ride
+    In a one-horse open sleigh.
+
+they sang as they bowled over the well-beaten track; and Tom Gray
+breathed a sigh of pure delight.
+
+"Isn't this great!" he exclaimed. "Wouldn't you rather do this than
+write an essay or study Latin prose composition?"
+
+"Next to riding in an airship and skating, it's the finest thing I know
+of," answered David.
+
+"Have you ever ridden in an airship?" demanded Tom.
+
+"No, but I intend to," replied the other; for David had never for a
+moment relinquished his pet scheme, but worked on his experiments
+whenever he had a spare moment; little dreaming that one day he was to
+become the talk of the town.
+
+As the sleigh passed the Nesbit house, Miriam and some of her friends
+were just entering her front gate. She saw the party and a shadow of
+black jealousy darkened her face.
+
+"Why don't we do the same thing?" she exclaimed aloud, and in another
+twenty minutes she had bundled her own guests into the Nesbit sleigh,
+while she herself took the reins and guided the pair of spirited black
+horses.
+
+"Miriam, I do wish you would let one of the boys drive," said her
+mother, who had come to the door to see her off.
+
+"I prefer to do the driving, mother," replied the spoiled girl, and with
+a crack of the whip, the second sleighful was off after the first. It
+was not long before the Nesbit sleigh had met and passed the other,
+which was not going at a very great rate of speed. Mrs. Gray's carriage
+horses were much older and more staid than Miriam's pair of young
+blacks.
+
+"Who is the girl in front?" asked Tom, as the sleigh flashed past.
+
+"My sister," answered David shortly.
+
+"She must be a pretty good driver," observed Tom.
+
+David made no reply. He knew perfectly well that Miriam was not strong
+enough to hold in the black team, once the horses got the upper hand;
+but he hoped one of the boys would take the reins if they showed any
+symptoms of running away.
+
+The early twilight was just falling when the Gray house party came to a
+narrow, rickety old bridge spanning the bed of a creek. Here they
+stopped the horses for a time, while Grace and Hippy gathered some
+branches of evergreen growing on the edge of a wood, just over the
+bridge.
+
+Suddenly the stillness was broken by the sound of bells ringing so
+violently that it seemed as if all Bedlam had broken loose. Around a
+curve and down the road in front of them loomed Miriam's blacks, making
+straight for the other group. They were going like the wind, and the
+empty sleigh, lying on its side, was clattering behind them.
+
+"Jump, girls!" cried Tom, while with the other boys he started to cross
+the bridge to intercept the horses.
+
+If Grace had paused to reflect she might never have attempted
+accomplishing the daring deed that suggested itself to her. Quickly
+snatching off her scarlet cape, she dashed into the middle of the road,
+waving it before her. Perhaps the horses also thought Bedlam had been
+let loose. At sight of the terrifying apparition, they slackened up,
+snorted and reared backward.
+
+"She is a brave girl," thought Tom Gray, as he leaped at the nearest
+rearing, plunging animal, while David seized the other. Far down the
+road came the sound of a faint halloo.
+
+"I'll pick up the others. I suppose they are in a drift," said Reddy, as
+he drove off and in a few minutes returned carrying Miriam and her
+party. Miriam herself looked white and frightened, although she
+pretended to treat the affair lightly.
+
+"A rabbit scared the horses," was all she said. "I'll let one of the
+boys drive us home."
+
+"Indeed, I shan't go back in that sleigh," cried Julia Crosby.
+
+"Perhaps you'll accept a ride in the freshman sleigh, Miss Crosby,"
+suggested Nora; and the other girl, somewhat ashamed, was obliged to
+place herself at the mercy of her enemies.
+
+"All of you girls get into Mrs. Gray's sleigh," commanded David, "and
+Tom and I will drive the other sleigh back." No one ever cared to
+disobey David when he spoke in this tone. Even his wilful sister took
+her seat between Grace and Anne without a word and never spoke during
+the entire drive back, except to say good night at her own front gate.
+
+But Grace could not refrain from one sharp little thrust.
+
+"You seem to be unlucky with sleighs and sleds both, Miriam," she said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE MARIONETTE SHOW
+
+
+Do you remember your first party dress? How it gave a glimpse of the
+throat and neck, and seemed to sweep the ground all around, although it
+merely reached your shoe tops?
+
+Did you feel a thrill of pleasure when the last hook and eye was
+fastened and you surveyed yourself in the longest mirror in the house?
+
+So it was with Anne in her pink crepe de Chine. Or was it really Anne,
+this little vision in rose color with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes?
+She stood spellbound before the glass on that memorable Christmas night,
+and no one disturbed her for awhile. Mrs. Gray and the girls had stolen
+out so as not to embarrass the young girl who, for the first time, saw
+herself in a beautiful new silk dress exactly the color of pink rose
+petals, which hung in soft folds to the tips of her small pink satin
+slippers.
+
+"Give her a chance, girls," whispered Mrs. Gray. "We mustn't be too
+enthusiastic about the difference. It might hurt her tender little
+feelings. But she _does_ look sweet, doesn't she?"
+
+"As pretty as a picture, Mrs. Gray," answered Grace, kissing the old
+lady's peach blossom cheek. "But they are coming. I hear them on the
+walk. We must get behind the scenes and see that everything is all
+ready."
+
+The big drawing room of the Gray house was soon full of young people
+watching the folding doors leading into the library with expectant
+faces. In the hall a string orchestra was discoursing soft music and the
+place was filled with the hum of conversation and low laughter. Mrs.
+Gray, seated on the front row, in the place of honor, occasionally
+looked about her and smiled happily.
+
+"Why didn't I do this long ago?" she said to herself. "But then, were
+there ever before such nice girls as my four adopted daughters?"
+
+Miriam sat near, with the other members of her house party. It had been
+a source of much discussion whether or not to admit Julia Crosby to the
+freshman party. But, since she was Miriam's guest, what else was there
+to do?
+
+"We shall be only heaping coals of fire on her head at any rate," hinted
+Jessica, "and that certainly ought to make her feel worse than if she
+had been left out."
+
+After everyone was comfortably seated three loud raps were heard from
+behind the folding doors. Some one began to play "The Funeral March of a
+Marionette" on the piano, and the doors slid slowly back.
+
+There was a murmur of surprise and wonder.
+
+Two curtains had been stretched across the door opening above and below
+and two hung down at each side, leaving an oblong space in the middle in
+which stood a little doll theater nearly a yard and a half long and a
+yard high. A row of footlights across the miniature stage presently
+blossomed into light, and the freshman girls smiled as they recognized
+some of those same little bulbs that had served to illuminate the
+pumpkin face of Miss Leece's effigy. The music ceased and the curtains
+rolled back. There sat Cinderella by the kitchen fire, very stiff and
+straight, but weeping audibly with her little fists in her eyes. She was
+ten inches high and, on careful examination, it could be seen that two
+threads attached to her arms, and another to the back of her neck, made
+it possible for her to move about and use her hands in a remarkably
+life-like manner.
+
+Wild applause from the audience. Well there might be, for the scene was
+perfect, from the old brick fireplace with an iron pot steaming on the
+coals to the rows of shining pans and blue dishes on a shelf at the
+side, all of which came from a toy shop, along with a little kitchen
+bench and chairs.
+
+The cruel sisters swept in, dressed for the ball. When they spoke there
+were convulsive titters among the guests for the voices of the cruel
+step-sisters were those of Nora and Hippy. Anne read the lines of
+Cinderella so plaintively that Mrs. Gray shed a secret tear or two when
+Cinderella was left alone in the gloomy old kitchen. When the fairy
+godmother appeared, in a peaked red hat and a long red cape, it was
+Jessica who spoke the lines in a sweet, musical voice. How Cinderella
+rolled out the pumpkin and displayed six white mice in a trap, and how,
+after a brief interval of total darkness, could be seen through the open
+door a coach of gold in which sat Cinderella in a silken gown, need not
+be related here. It all took place without a single slip and the dolls
+went through their parts with such funny life-like motions that the boys
+and girls forgot they were not watching real actors.
+
+It was the scene of the ballroom, however, which was the real triumph of
+the evening.
+
+"How did those clever children ever do it?" exclaimed Mrs. Gray, aloud,
+when the curtain rolled back and disclosed the ballroom of the palace,
+with a drop curtain at the back showing a vista of marble columns and
+pillars. A gilt chandelier was suspended in the middle, from which
+stretched garlands of real smilax. There were rows of little gilt chairs
+against the walls filled with dolls in stiff satins and brocades. And
+one large throne chair with a red velvet cushion in it, on which sat the
+prince, who spoke with the voice of David Nesbit, and entertained his
+guests in royal state. After the exciting arrival of Cinderella, Nora
+played a minuet on the mandolin, the tinkling music of which seemed best
+suited to the doll drama, and the prince and Cinderella executed a dance
+of such intricate steps and low bows that the audience was convulsed
+with laughter. There were even suppressed titters from behind the
+scenes. This dance, which had been devised by Tom Gray and Grace,
+necessitated two extra threads to manipulate the feet. It was most
+difficult and had required long and tedious practice, but the results
+were quite worth all the time and trouble.
+
+Mrs. Gray laughed till the tears rolled down her cheeks and made a
+personal appeal for an encore, which was given; but there was a mishap
+this time; Cinderella's threads became entangled and she came near to
+breaking her china nose. Audiences are invariably most pitiless when
+they are most pleased, and have no mercy on exhausted actors. At the cry
+of "Speech! Speech!" the Prince stepped forward and made a low bow.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "we thank you for your approval and if
+strength and breath permitted us, and the lady had not injured her nose,
+we would gladly dance again for you."
+
+Then came the last scene. The step-sisters made desperate efforts to
+wear the slipper; Cinderella finally retired triumphantly on the
+prince's arm, and the curtains closed only to open again a few moments
+later upon a scene which bore a strong resemblance to Oakdale High
+School. The fairy godmother occupied the center of the stage while the
+entire company of dolls were lined up on either side. Cinderella and the
+prince, each held the end of an open scroll, which bore a printed
+inscription that could be seen by the audience. It read:
+
+"A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THE FAIRY GODMOTHER OF THE FRESHMAN CLASS."
+
+A scene of wild enthusiasm followed. The young people gave three cheers
+for Mrs. Gray and ended with the High School yell. The actors came out
+and were cheered each in turn.
+
+Grace, Tom Gray and Reddy had worked the marionettes, it seemed,
+standing on the back of the table where the theater was placed, while
+the others, sitting on low stools at the sides where they could see and
+not be seen, read their lines which had been composed by Anne.
+
+"It wasn't so hard as you might think," said Grace, explaining the
+marionettes to a group of friends. "Dressing the dolls was easy; we
+glued on most of their clothes, and we made the step-sisters ugly by
+giving them putty noses. Hippy painted the scenery and David supplied
+the electric lights. The threads that moved the arms and bodies were
+tied to little cross sticks something like a gallows, so that they could
+be held from above without being seen."
+
+But the marionette show was only the beginning of the party. There was
+to be feasting and dancing, and, lastly, a big Christmas tree loaded
+with presents.
+
+The floors were cleared. The notes of a waltz rang out, and away whirled
+the happy boys and girls. Anne and David, who did not dance, retired to
+a sofa in the library to look on.
+
+"Are you happy, Anne, in your beautiful pink dress?" asked David,
+regarding her with open admiration.
+
+"How can I help being happy?" she replied. "This is the first pretty
+dress that I have ever had and I never went to a party before, either."
+
+"I never enjoyed a party before," said David, "but I'm enjoying this
+one. I hope, for Mrs. Gray's sake, it goes off without a hitch."
+
+Just then Tom Gray waltzed by with Grace. They stopped when they saw
+their friends, and came back.
+
+"Our efforts are certainly crowned with success," exclaimed Grace. "It's
+the most beautiful ball ever given in Oakdale. Everyone says so. By the
+way," she added, "get your partners and fall in line for the grand march
+to supper."
+
+"I already have mine, all right," declared Tom Gray.
+
+"And I think I have mine," observed David. "She's wearing a pink dress
+and is just about as tall as a marionette."
+
+Anne laughed and stood on tiptoe to make herself look taller. Suddenly
+she caught the eye of Miriam Nesbit, who was lingering in the doorway,
+watching the scene with an expression that the circumstances and holiday
+surroundings hardly seemed to justify.
+
+"I wonder if the party will go off without a hitch," thought Anne, as
+they joined the grand march into the dining room.
+
+When the beautiful, illuminated tree had been disburdened of all its
+presents and the guests were well advanced on their supper, Mrs. Gray
+approached Anne, carrying an oblong box, neatly done up in white tissue
+paper tied with red ribbons. Pinned to the ribbon with a piece of holly
+was a Christmas card on which was printed in fancy lettering "A
+Christmas Thought."
+
+"Why, what is this, Mrs. Gray?" demanded Anne, rather excited, while
+many of the boys and girls gathered around her and some stood on chairs
+in order to see what the mysterious box contained.
+
+"I know no more than you, dear," replied the old lady. "A man left it at
+the door a moment ago, and one of the servants gave it to me. Why don't
+you open it and see?"
+
+Anne hesitated. Something told her not to open the box, but how could
+she help it with dozens of her friends waiting eagerly to see what was
+in it?
+
+"Hurry up, Anne, aren't you curious to see what it is?" some one called.
+
+"It looks like flowers," said another.
+
+"Or candy," observed a third.
+
+And still Anne's fingers lingered on the bow of red ribbon. Was there
+anyone in the world who could be sending her a box that night? Certainly
+not her mother nor her sister, nor any of her friends who had exchanged
+presents in the morning. Mrs. Gray evidently had not sent it and there
+was no one else in her small list of friends who would have taken the
+trouble.
+
+"Anne, you funny child, don't you see we are all waiting impatiently?"
+said Grace at last.
+
+Anne slipped off the ribbons and opened the package. In the box was some
+object, carefully done up in more tissue paper.
+
+"It looks like a mummy," exclaimed Hippy.
+
+Untying the wrappers, Anne held up to the curious view of the others a
+large doll.
+
+At first she hardly comprehended what it was and held it out at arms'
+length looking at it wonderingly. It was dressed as a man in a black
+suit with a long Prince Albert coat, very crudely made on close
+inspection, but still cut and fitted to give the right effect. The face
+had been cleverly changed with paint and putty, and pinned on the head
+was a black felt hat, constructed out of the crown of an old one
+evidently, in which had been sewn some lank black hair.
+
+A card was tied around the doll's neck, and some one looking over Anne's
+shoulder read aloud the following inscription written upon it:
+
+"Why have imitation actors when you can get real ones?"
+
+Anne gave a gasp.
+
+Who could have played this cruel trick upon her? She knew her four
+friends had never spoken of the happenings of Thanksgiving night, but
+such secrets would leak out in spite of everything, and there may have
+been others in the audience who had recognized her. Moreover, her father
+himself would not have hesitated to tell who she was, so that it was not
+difficult to understand how the story had spread.
+
+But who would have the heart to hold her father up to ridicule in this
+way, and to cause her such secret pain and unhappiness? While her
+thoughts were busy, David had seized the doll and wrapped it up again.
+He was very angry, but it was wiser to keep silent.
+
+"What was it, dear?" demanded Mrs. Gray, who had not been able to hear
+the message written on the card.
+
+"Just a silly trick on Anne, Mrs. Gray," replied David, for Anne was too
+near to tears to trust the sound of her own voice.
+
+"Something about actors, wasn't it?" asked Julia Crosby, who was
+hovering near, and before she could be stopped, she had snatched the
+doll from Anne's lap. The covers fluttered to the floor and the others
+pressed eagerly around to get a glimpse of it.
+
+David leaped to his feet so vigorously that he upset a chair.
+
+"Give that back!" he commanded. "It is not yours."
+
+[Illustration: "Give That Back! It Is Not Yours."]
+
+"I will not," answered Julia Crosby. "Neither is it yours."
+
+"I say you will," cried David, furiously, losing his temper completely.
+
+"Get it if you can!" challenged the girl, darting through the crowd with
+David at her heels.
+
+Suddenly there was a crash, a startled cry and the great fir tree with
+all its ornaments and lighted candles fell to the floor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AFTER THE BALL
+
+
+Yes, here was the hitch that Anne had secretly dreaded and which the
+other girls had anxiously hoped to avoid.
+
+She had not dreamed what it would be, but she had felt it coming all
+evening, ever since she had seen Miriam hovering near the library door.
+And, in a way, Miriam was connected with the disaster. Had not Miriam's
+guest and chum exceeded all bounds of politeness by prying into other
+people's affairs? No doubt, as she fled from David, her dress had caught
+in one of the branches of the tree and so pulled it over.
+
+All this darted through Anne's head as she stood leaning against the
+wall while the room was fast filling with smoke and the pungent odor of
+burning pine.
+
+Suddenly, some one at her elbow deliberately called "Fire! Fire!" These
+were the same ominous words she had heard Thanksgiving night, only they
+seemed now more alarming, more threatening. Who could be so foolish, so
+ill-advised as to scream those agitating words in a roomful of girls and
+boys already keyed up to a high pitch of excitement? Anne turned quickly
+and confronted Miriam.
+
+"Don't do that!" exclaimed Anne. "You will only make matters worse."
+
+Miriam looked at her scornfully, although it was evident she had not
+noticed her before.
+
+"Be quiet, spy," she hissed, "and don't make trouble."
+
+"I suspect you of making a great deal," returned Anne, calmly.
+
+She was not afraid of this passionate, spoiled girl, and only the fact
+that Miriam was the sister of David, her devoted friend, kept Anne from
+saying more.
+
+In another moment, the entire Christmas tree was in a bright blaze. Anne
+had climbed up to a chair, and thence to the table that the crowd had
+pushed against her as it ran. Anne was about to leap to the floor when
+Grace and Tom Gray dashed in with an armful apiece of wet blankets. With
+the help of the others they spread the blankets over the burning tree
+and the blaze was extinguished almost as soon as it was born.
+
+"No harm has been done," said Tom. "The canvas covering saved the floor
+and fortunately all the furniture has been taken out anyhow. It's all
+right, Aunt Rose. Nobody hurt; nothing damaged. I never heard of a more
+accommodating fire in my life."
+
+"Open the windows now and let out the smoke," ordered Mrs. Gray, "and,
+if you have all finished eating, I think you had better come into the
+drawing room while the servants clear out this debris. Tom, please tell
+the musicians to play a waltz. I do not want my guests to carry away any
+unpleasant impressions of this house."
+
+The music struck up and the dance began again.
+
+"Well," said Grace, "no one need feel badly about the fire, because a
+Christmas tree generally has to be burned, anyway, and nothing of value
+but the ornaments was destroyed. So everything is all right."
+
+"It was all my fault," exclaimed David, in a contrite voice. "Mrs. Gray,
+you will have to forgive me before I can enjoy a clear conscience again.
+If it hadn't been for that lumbering sophomore, Julia Crosby, I should
+never have lost my temper the way I did."
+
+"My dear David," cried Mrs. Gray, patting him affectionately on the arm,
+"you couldn't do anything I would disapprove of. If you wanted to rescue
+Anne's doll I am sure you had some excellent reason for it."
+
+Mrs. Gray had not heard the history of Anne's father, for Grace and her
+friends had kept the secret well, and Anne, herself, had never cared to
+tell the story. She was a quiet, reserved girl who talked little of her
+own affairs.
+
+"He _did_ have a good reason, Mrs. Gray," put in Grace, "and it was
+enough to make him lose his temper. Julia Crosby is everlastingly
+playing practical jokes and getting people into trouble. However, I
+don't suppose she upset the tree on purpose," she added, thoughtfully.
+
+"Well, well," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, "let us forget all about it and wind
+up the party with a Virginia reel. Tom and Grace must lead it off, and
+Anne, you and David watch the others so that when it comes your turn you
+will be able to dance it yourselves."
+
+So it was that Mrs. Gray's freshman Christmas ball ended as gayly as it
+had started, with a romping, joyous Virginia reel. There was not a soul,
+except the little old lady herself, who did not join the two long lines
+stretching from one end of the rooms to the other and when it came
+Anne's turn, she was not afraid to bow and curtsey as the others had
+done, for she had quickly mastered the various figures of the dance.
+Moreover, was she not wearing a beautiful dress of pink crepe de Chine?
+After all a pretty dress does make a great difference. Anne felt she
+could never have danced so well in the old black silk.
+
+When the reel was over the boys and girls joined hands and formed an
+immense circle about their charming hostess, whirling madly around her
+as they cried:
+
+"Three cheers for Mrs. Gray!"
+
+The old lady was very happy. She waved her small, wrinkled hands at them
+and called out over the din:
+
+"Three cheers for my dear freshmen boys and girls!"
+
+At length, when the hands of the clock pointed to two, and the last of
+the dancers had departed, Mrs. Gray sank into a chair exhausted.
+
+"I am tired," she said, "but I never in my life had such a good time!"
+
+Was there ever a girl in the world who did not want to exchange
+confidences with her best friends after a party?
+
+Grace and Anne, therefore, were not surprised when two figures in
+dressing gowns and slippers stole into their room, crouching on the rug
+before the fire.
+
+"We've all sorts of things to say," exclaimed Nora, "else we wouldn't
+think of keeping you up so late. In the first place, wasn't it perfectly
+delightful?"
+
+"Grand!" sighed the others.
+
+"Everything except that one accident, and the thing that caused it,"
+answered Grace.
+
+"By the way, Anne, where is the doll?" asked Jessica.
+
+Anne produced it from its box.
+
+"Here it is," she said sadly. "But it was a cruel joke. Can you imagine
+who could have done it?"
+
+"I have several suspicions," answered Grace, "but I make no accusations
+without grounds."
+
+The four girls examined the doll carefully.
+
+"My poor father!" exclaimed Anne, her eyes filling with tears.
+
+"I'll tell you what, girls," cried Nora suddenly, "there's more to this
+than just Anne's secret. How did anyone know we were going to have a
+marionette show? Didn't we keep it dark?"
+
+"Yes," they answered.
+
+"Perhaps it got out through the servants," suggested Jessica.
+
+"It certainly is rather an underhanded business," cried Grace, "for
+whoever did this not only must have bribed one of Mrs. Gray's servants,
+but also must have some way or other raked up Anne's secret. It was
+evidently some one who had a grudge against you, poor dear," she added,
+patting Anne on the cheek.
+
+"Girls!" exclaimed Jessica, who all this time had been looking the doll
+over carefully, "where have you seen this material before?" She pointed
+at the fancy red waistcoat the doll was wearing.
+
+"It has a familiar look," answered Nora.
+
+"It looks to me very much like a red velveteen suit I saw somewhere once
+upon a time," observed Grace.
+
+"You did see it, Grace. But it was--how long ago? Two or more years,
+wasn't it?"
+
+"I know," cried Nora. "Miriam Nesbit's!"
+
+"Sh-h-h!" warned Grace. "Remember David. He's just across the hall."
+
+"And he must never know," added Anne, "not if she sent me a dozen
+dolls."
+
+"But I haven't finished," continued Jessica. "I feel exactly like a
+detective on the scent. This doll is wearing something else that is
+familiar to us all. Anne, you have seen it, I am sure."
+
+They scanned the doll eagerly. The shabby black suit was made of some
+indescribable material that might have come from anywhere. The red
+velveteen waistcoat they had already identified. Then came a little
+white cotton dickey, with a high standing collar and then----
+
+"The tie!" cried Nora. "The green tie! Is that it, Jessica?"
+
+"You are right," answered Jessica. "Have you never seen that green silk
+before?"
+
+Grace was in a brown study.
+
+Anne could not recall it and Nora was groping in the dark.
+
+"I'll tell you this much," said Jessica, who loved a mystery; "It just
+matches a certain veil----"
+
+"Miss Leece!" exclaimed Grace. "It's a piece of the trimming on an old
+dress she sometimes wears."
+
+"Exactly," said Jessica. "Who, having once seen it could ever forget
+it?"
+
+And so Miss Leece and Miriam had combined forces against poor little
+Anne!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A WINTER PICNIC
+
+
+"Aunt Rose," exclaimed Tom Gray, several mornings after the Christmas
+dance, "I have a scheme; but, before I ask your permission to carry it
+out, I want you to grant it."
+
+"Why do you ask it at all, then, Tom, dear?" answered his aunt.
+
+"Because we want your seal and sanction upon the undertaking," replied
+Tom, giving the old lady an affectionate squeeze. "Is it granted, little
+Lady Gray?" he asked.
+
+"I am merely groping about in the dark, my boy, but I trust to your good
+sense not to ask me anything too outrageous. Tell me what it is quickly,
+so that I may know exactly how deeply I am implicated."
+
+"Well," said Tom, "here's the scheme in a nutshell. I want to give a
+picnic."
+
+Mrs. Gray groaned.
+
+"A picnic, boy? Whoever heard of a picnic in mid-winter. What mad notion
+is this?"
+
+"But you have given your consent, aunty, and no honorable woman can go
+back on her word."
+
+"So I have, child, but explain to me quickly what a winter picnic is so
+that I may know the worst at once."
+
+"A winter picnic is a glorious tramp in the woods, with a big camp-fire
+at noon, for food, warmth and rest, and then a tramp back again."
+
+"And can I trust to you to take good care of my four girls? Anne and
+Jessica are not giants for strength. You must not walk them too far, or
+let them get chilled; and, if you find they are growing tired, you must
+bring them straight back."
+
+"On my word of honor, as a gentleman and a Gray, I promise," said Tom,
+solemnly.
+
+"And you will all be in before dark?" continued Mrs. Gray.
+
+"We promise," continued the young people.
+
+"Wear your stoutest shoes and warmest clothing," she went on.
+
+"We promise," they cried.
+
+"And we want a lot of lunch, aunt," said Tom coaxingly, "and some nice
+raw bacon for cooking and eating purposes."
+
+"You shall have everything you want," said Mrs. Gray, "but who will
+carry the lunch?"
+
+"We will distribute it on the backs of our four pack mules," replied
+Grace. "But Hippy must carry the coffee-pot. He's not to be trusted with
+food."
+
+"Now, wouldn't it be a remarkable sight to see a pack mule eating off
+his own back!" observed Hippy. "There are several animals that can turn
+their heads all the way around, I believe, but not the human animal."
+
+"We had better start as soon as possible," broke in Tom. "Hurry up,
+girls, and get ready, while the servants fix the lunch."
+
+In half an hour eight young people, well muffled and mittened, started
+off toward the open country. It was a clear, cold day and the
+snow-covered fields and meadows sparkled in the sunshine.
+
+"If I were a gypsy by birth, as well as by inclination," declared Tom,
+as they trudged gayly along, "I should take to the road in the early
+spring, and never see a roof again until cold weather."
+
+"But being a member of a respectable family and about to enter college,
+you have to sleep in a bed under cover?" added David.
+
+"It's partly that," said Tom, "and partly the cold weather that is
+responsible for my good behavior two thirds of the year. If I lived in a
+warm climate all the year around, every respectable notion I had would
+melt away in a week and I'd take to the open forever."
+
+"I have never been in the woods in the winter time," said Anne. "Are
+they very beautiful?"
+
+"One of the finest sights in the world," cried Tom enthusiastically, his
+wholesome face glowing from his exercise.
+
+Just then they climbed an old stone wall and entered a forest known as
+"Upton Wood," which covered an area of ten miles or more in length and
+several miles across.
+
+"It is beautiful," said Anne as she gazed up and down the wooded aisles
+carpeted in white. "It is like a great cathedral. I could almost kneel
+and pray at one of these snow covered stumps. They are like altars."
+
+"The fault I find with the woods in winter," observed Grace, "is that
+there is nothing to do in them, no birds and beasts to make things
+lively, no flowers to pick, no brooks to wade in. Just an everlasting
+stillness."
+
+"I admit there's not much social life," replied Tom. "The inhabitants
+either go to sleep or fly south, most of them. But don't forget the
+rabbits and squirrels and----"
+
+"And an occasional bear," interrupted Reddy. "They have been seen in
+these parts."
+
+"Worse than bears," said Hippy. "Wolves!"
+
+"Goodness!" ejaculated Tom. "You are doing pretty well. I didn't know
+this country was so wild. But that's going some."
+
+"Oh, well, as to that," said David, "nobody has ever really seen
+anything worse than wildcats, and we have to take old Jean's word for it
+about the wolves. He claimed to have seen wolves in these woods three
+years ago. As a matter of fact they chased him out, and he was obliged
+to turn civilized for three months."
+
+"Who is old Jean?" asked Tom, much interested.
+
+"He is a French-Canadian hunter who has lived somewhere in this forest
+for years. He comes into town occasionally, looking like Daniel Boone,
+dressed in skins with a squirrel cap, and carrying a bunch of rabbits
+that he sells to the butchers."
+
+"He's a great sight," said Grace. "I saw him on his snowshoes one day.
+He was coming down Upton Hill, where we coasted, you know, Anne, and he
+sped along the fields faster than David's motor cycle."
+
+They had been walking for some time over the hard-packed snow and were
+now well into the forest, which hemmed them in on every side and seemed
+to stretch out in all directions into infinite space.
+
+"Reddy, are you perfectly sure we won't get lost in this place?"
+demanded Jessica at last.
+
+They had been walking along silently intent on their own thoughts.
+Perhaps it was the grandeur of the great snow-laden trees that oppressed
+them; perhaps the vast loneliness of the place, where nothing was
+stirring, not even a rabbit.
+
+"We're all right," returned Reddy. "My compass tells me. We go due north
+till we want to start home and then we can either turn around and go
+back due south or turn west and go home by the road."
+
+"I have neither compass nor watch," said Hippy, "but nature's timepiece
+tells me that it's lunch time. This cold air gives me an appetite."
+
+"Gives you one?" cried David. "You old anaconda, you were born with an
+appetite. You started eating boiled dumplings when you were two years
+old."
+
+"Who told you so?" demanded Hippy.
+
+"Never mind," said David. "It's an old story in Oakdale."
+
+"Let's feed the poor soul," interposed Grace. "It would be wanton
+cruelty to keep him waiting any longer."
+
+"He'll have to make the fire, then," said Reddy. "Make him pay for his
+dumplings if he wants 'em so early."
+
+"All right, Carrots," cried Hippy. "I'll gather fagots and make a fire,
+just to keep you from talking so much."
+
+"I'll help you, Hippy," said Nora. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I am
+very hungry too. It's the people who are never able to eat at the table,
+and then go off and feed up in the pantry, who always manage to shirk
+their work."
+
+The others all laughed.
+
+"Let's make a fair division of labor," put in Grace, "so as to prevent
+future talk."
+
+While some of them gathered sticks and dried branches, the others began
+clearing away the snow in an open space, where the fire could be built.
+
+Anne and Jessica unpacked the luncheon and poured some coffee from a
+glass jar into a tin pot to be heated, while Tom peeled several long
+switches and impaled pieces of bacon on the ends to be cooked over the
+fire, which was soon blazing comfortably.
+
+"How do you like this, girls?" he asked presently, when the broiling
+bacon began to give out an appetizing smell and the hot coffee added its
+fragrance to the air. "How's this for a winter picnic?"
+
+"I like it better than a summer picnic," interposed Hippy. "The food is
+better and there are no gnats."
+
+"Gnats are very fond of fat people," said Reddy. "They drink down their
+blood like--circus lemonade."
+
+"Get busy and give me some coffee, Red-head," said Hippy, who sat on a
+stump and ate energetically, while the others were broiling their slices
+of bacon.
+
+"Here, Hippy," said Nora, pouring out a steaming cupful, "if it wasn't
+interesting to watch you store it away, perhaps I wouldn't wait on you
+hand and foot like this."
+
+"This is the best way in the world to cook bacon," said Tom, holding his
+wand over the fire with several pieces of bacon stuck on the forked
+ends.
+
+"A very good method, if your stick doesn't burn up," replied Anne.
+"There! Mine fell into the fire. I knew it would."
+
+Meantime, Jessica and Grace were frying the rest of the slices in a pan.
+
+"That's good enough, but this is better and quicker," said Grace.
+"There's no reason for dispensing with all the comforts of a home just
+because you choose to be a woodsman, Tom."
+
+They never forget how they enjoyed that luncheon, devouring everything
+to the ultimate crumb and the final drop of hot coffee.
+
+Although it was bitterly cold, they did not feel the chill. The brisk
+walk, the warm fire and their hearty meal had quickened their blood, and
+even Anne, the smallest and most delicate of them all, felt something of
+Tom's enthusiasm for the deep woods.
+
+At last it was time to start again.
+
+The boys were trampling down the fire while the girls began stowing the
+cups and coffee-pot into a basket. The woods seemed suddenly to have
+grown very quiet.
+
+"How still it is," whispered Anne. "I feel as if everything in the world
+had stopped. There is not a breath stirring."
+
+"Perhaps it has," answered Grace. "But we mustn't stop, even if
+everything else has, now that the fire is out, or we'll freeze to
+death."
+
+She was just about to call the others briskly, for the air was beginning
+to nip her cheeks, when something in the faces of the four boys made her
+pause.
+
+They were standing together near the remains of the fire, and seemed to
+be listening intently.
+
+Not a sound, not even the crackling of a branch disturbed the stillness
+for a moment and then, from what appeared to be a great distance, came a
+long, howling wail, so forlorn, so weird, it might have been the cry of
+a spirit.
+
+"What is it?" whispered the other girls, creeping about Grace.
+
+"I think we'd better be hurrying along, now, girls," said David in a
+natural voice. "It's getting late."
+
+"You can't deceive us, David," replied Grace calmly. "We know it's
+wolves."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+WOLVES!
+
+
+Wolves! The name was terrifying enough. But their cry, that
+long-drawn-out, hungry call, gave the picnickers a chill of
+apprehension.
+
+"We must take the nearest way out of the wood, Reddy," exclaimed Tom.
+"They are still several miles off, and, if we hurry, we may reach the
+open before they do."
+
+All started on a run, David helping Anne to keep up with the others
+while Reddy looked after Jessica. Nora and Grace were well enough
+trained in outdoor exercise to run without any assistance from the boys.
+Indeed, Grace Harlowe could out-run most boys of her own age.
+
+"Go straight to your left," called Reddy, consulting his compass as he
+hurried Jessica over the snow.
+
+Again they heard the angry howl of the wolves, and the last time it
+seemed much nearer.
+
+"It's a terrible business, this running after a heavy meal," muttered
+Hippy, gasping for breath as he stumbled along in the track of his
+friends. "I'll make a nice meal for 'em if they catch me," he added,
+"and it looks as if I'd be the first to go."
+
+"Reddy, are you sure you're right?" called Tom. "The woods don't seem to
+be thinning out as they are likely to do toward the edge."
+
+"Keep going," called Reddy, confident of the direction. "You see, we had
+gone pretty far in, but I believe the open country is about a mile this
+way."
+
+A mile? Good heavens! Jessica and Anne were already stumbling from
+exhaustion, while Hippy was quite winded. Another five minutes of this
+and at least three of the party would be food for wolves, unless
+something could be done. So thought David, who, breathless and light
+headed, was now almost carrying Anne.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Grace, who had been running ahead of the others. "Here's
+Jean's hut!"
+
+There, sure enough, right in front of them, was a little house built of
+logs and mud.
+
+Had it been put in that particular spot years ago just to save their
+eight lives now? Anne wondered vaguely as she blindly stumbled on.
+
+As Grace lifted the wooden latch of the door, she looked over her
+shoulder. Not three hundred yards away loped five gaunt, gray animals.
+Their tongues hung limply from the sides of their mouths and their eyes
+glowered with a fierce hunger.
+
+"Hurry!" she cried, in an agony of fear. "Oh, hurry!"
+
+Tom and David were carrying Anne now, while Jessica was half staggering,
+assisted by Nora and Reddy. Hippy, the perspiration pouring from his
+face, brought up the rear, and they had scarcely pulled him in and
+barred the door before the wolves had reached the hut and were leaping
+against the walls howling and snarling.
+
+Nobody spoke for some time. Those who were not too tired were busy
+thinking.
+
+What was to be done? Eight young people, on a bitter cold winter
+afternoon, shut up in a hut in the middle of a forest while five
+half-starved wolves besieged the door.
+
+Presently Tom Gray began to look about him.
+
+There was a fireplace in the hut, which, by great good luck, contained
+the remains of a large backlog. More fuel was stacked in the corner,
+chiefly brushwood and sticks. He made a fire at once and the others
+gathered around the blaze, for they felt the penetrating chill now,
+after their rapid and exhausting flight through the forest.
+
+"Here's a rifle," exclaimed Grace, who was also exploring, while Tom
+kindled the fire.
+
+"Good!" cried Tom. "Let's see it. It may be our salvation."
+
+He seized the gun and examined the barrel, but, alas, there was only one
+shot left in it. They searched the hut for more cartridges, but not one
+could they find.
+
+In the meantime the wolves, which might have been taken for large collie
+dogs at a little distance, were trotting around the house, leaping
+against the door and windows and occasionally giving a blood-curdling
+howl.
+
+"Suppose you feed me to them?" groaned Hippy. "You could get almost to
+Oakdale before they finished me."
+
+The suggestion seemed to break the apprehensive silence that had settled
+down upon them, and they burst out laughing, one and all; even Anne, who
+was lying on a bearskin in front of the fire.
+
+"I suppose the beasts were driven down from the hills by hunger, and
+when they smelled the fat bacon frying, the woods couldn't hold them,"
+observed David. "I have always heard that a hungry wolf could smell
+something to eat on another planet."
+
+"Well, what are we going to do?" demanded Nora. "If we leave this
+charming abode of Jean's, we shall be eaten alive, and if we stay in it
+we shall starve."
+
+"You won't starve for a while yet, child. You have only just eaten. You
+remind me of the story of the people who were locked up in a vault in a
+cemetery. They divided the candle into notches and decided to eat a
+notch apiece every day. They had just finished the last notch, and were
+expecting to die at any moment of starvation, when somebody unlocked the
+door, and how long do you suppose they had been shut up!"
+
+"Several days, I suppose," answered Nora, "since they appeared to have
+eaten several notches."
+
+"Not at all," replied David. "Only three hours."
+
+"I'd rather be in a vault, with the dead, than out here," observed
+Hippy.
+
+"Are we such poor company as all that, Fatty!" laughed Reddy.
+
+"I've made a great find," announced Tom Gray in the midst of their
+chatter. He was standing on a bench examining something on a shelf
+suspended from the ceiling.
+
+"What?" demanded the others in great excitement.
+
+"A pair of snowshoes," he answered.
+
+There was a disappointed silence.
+
+"Well, don't all speak at once," said Tom at last. "Don't you agree with
+me that it's a great find?"
+
+"We are sorry we can't enthuse," answered David, "but we fail to see how
+snow shoes can help us out of our present predicament."
+
+"Nobody here knows how to use them," continued Reddy, "and even if he
+did, he couldn't out-run a pack of wolves."
+
+"I know how to use them," exclaimed Tom. "I learned it in Canada a few
+winters ago, but I will admit I couldn't beat the wolves in a race.
+However, the shoes may come in handy yet."
+
+Just then one of the wolves threw his body against the door and the
+small cabin shook with the force of the blow.
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed David, "I thought they had us then. Another blow
+like that and the old latch might give way."
+
+They looked about them for something to place against the door, but
+there was not a stick of furniture in the room. Even the bed, in one
+corner, was made of pine boughs and skins.
+
+"I wonder how there happens to be only five wolves," said Anne. "I
+thought they went about in large packs."
+
+"They are probably mama and papa and the whole family," replied Hippy.
+"The smallest, friskiest ones, I think, are young ladies, by the way
+they switched along behind the others and hung back kind of shy-like."
+
+"Now, Hippy Wingate, don't tell us such a romance as that," warned
+Grace, "when you were so winded you could hardly look in front of you,
+much less behind you."
+
+At that moment there was another crash against the door while two gray
+paws and the tip of a pointed muzzle could be seen on one of the window
+sills.
+
+"It's almost three o'clock," said Tom Gray, looking at his watch. "I
+think we'll have to do something, or we shall be penned here all night.
+Now, what shall it be? Suppose we have a friendly council and consider."
+
+"All right," said David; "the meeting is open for suggestions. What do
+you advise, Anne?"
+
+Anne smiled thoughtfully.
+
+"I have no advice to offer," she said, "unless you shoot one of the
+wolves and let the others eat him up. Perhaps that would take the edge
+off their appetites."
+
+"No, that would only serve as an appetizer," answered David. "After they
+had eaten one member of the family they would be still hungrier for
+another."
+
+"And yet that isn't a half bad idea," said Tom, "and for two reasons.
+Did you notice a path which began at the hut and which was evidently
+Jean's trail? I saw it from the corner of my eye as I ran."
+
+No, the others had not noticed anything of the sort. But who would stop
+to think of trails with a pack of hungry wolves at his heels?
+
+Tom's training in the woods had taught him to take in such details, and
+consequently he had noticed it particularly. Moreover, the trail led
+straight to the left, presumably toward the west.
+
+"Now, this is what I propose to do," he continued, taking down the
+snowshoes and looking over their straps and fastenings carefully.
+"Reddy, who, I hear, is a good shot, must climb up at one of the windows
+and shoot the first wolf he sees. Eating the dead wolf would probably
+occupy the attention of his brothers for some ten minutes or so--perhaps
+longer. While they are busy I shall make off on the snowshoes. With that
+much of a start, and with plenty of tasty human beings close at hand, I
+doubt if they even follow me. If they do, why I'll just shin up a tree.
+But I believe I can beat them. I'm pretty good on snowshoes."
+
+"Tom Gray, you shan't do it!" cried Grace. "It may mean sure death. How
+do you know the wolves won't seize you the moment you open the door?
+Besides, you don't know the way. Suppose you should get lost?"
+
+"No, no," insisted Tom. "None of these things will happen. I know
+positively that a hungry wolf will stop chasing a human being and eat up
+a dead wolf, or a shoe, or a rug, or anything that happens to be thrown
+to him. I never was surer of anything in my life than that I can get
+away from here before the beasts know it."
+
+There was a storm of protestation from the others, but Tom Gray finally
+overruled every objection and they reluctantly consented to let him go.
+
+It was arranged that Reddy should stand on a bench by one of the small
+windows and attract the attention of the wolves by throwing out a rabbit
+skin that was nailed to one of the walls. While the beasts were tearing
+this to pieces he was to shoot one of them. Furthermore, the instant the
+live wolves had finished devouring the dead one, Reddy was to pitch out
+another skin, of which there were many about the hut, of foxes, rabbits
+and other small animals, which the trapper had collected.
+
+This, they agreed, would probably keep the wolves occupied for awhile,
+until Tom had got a good start down the trail.
+
+Tom slipped his feet in the snowshoes and stood by the door waiting.
+While the wolves howled and fought over the rabbit skin, bang went the
+rifle.
+
+"I got him!" cried Reddy.
+
+In an instant Tom Gray had flung open the door and was off down the
+trail.
+
+As he had expected, the live wolves were hungrily eating the dead one
+and had not apparently even noticed his departure.
+
+The boys and girls in the hut sat breathlessly waiting, while Reddy
+watched the famished animals gorge themselves with the blood and fresh
+meat of their comrade.
+
+Reddy had rolled up a fox skin into a small bundle, and was prepared to
+pitch it out to them the moment they had finished.
+
+Just as they had lapped the last drop of blood, he cast out the skin.
+They sniffed at it a moment, gave a long, disapproving howl, that sent
+the cold chills down the spines of the prisoners, and then made off down
+the trail after Tom Gray.
+
+Reddy gave a loud exclamation and jumped down from the bench.
+
+"_They have followed Tom!_" he cried, in a high state of excitement.
+
+There was a long pause.
+
+"We'll have to go, then," said David finally. "Girls, you are safe as
+long as you stay inside the hut, and some of us at least will be able to
+bring help before long."
+
+With that, all three of the boys, for Hippy was no coward, in spite of
+his size and appetite, rushed out of the hut and disappeared in the
+wood.
+
+The afternoon shadows were beginning to lengthen when Grace fastened the
+latch and returned to the fire where her three friends sat silent,
+afraid to speak for fear of giving way to tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE GRAY BROTHERS
+
+
+The four girls never knew how long they waited that afternoon in the
+hunter's cabin. It might have been only minutes, but the minutes seemed
+to drag themselves into hours. The uncertain fate of the boys, the
+tragedy that surely awaited perhaps all of them made the situation
+almost unbearable.
+
+Grace piled the fireplace high with the remaining wood, but the blaze
+could not keep away the chill that crept over them as the sun sank
+behind the trees. They shivered and drew nearer together for comfort.
+
+Should they ever see their four brave friends again?
+
+And David?
+
+Anne could endure it no longer. She rose and began to move about the
+hut. There lay her coat and hat. Almost without knowing what she did she
+put them on, pulled on her mittens and tied a broad, knitted muffler
+around her ears.
+
+"Girls," she said suddenly. She had gone about her preparations so
+quietly the other three had not even turned to see what she was doing.
+"I'm going. I don't want any of you to go with me, but I would rather
+die than stay here all night without knowing what has happened to David
+and the others."
+
+"Wait a moment," cried Grace, "and I'll go, too. It would be unbearable
+not to know--and if we meet the wolves, why, then, as Tom said, we can
+climb a tree. Poor Tom!" she added sadly. "I wonder where he is now."
+
+Nora and Jessica rose hastily.
+
+"Do you think I'd stay?" cried Nora. "Not in a thousand years!"
+
+"Anything is better than this," exclaimed Jessica, as she drew on her
+wraps and prepared to follow her friends into the woods.
+
+Grace opened the door, peering out into the gathering darkness.
+
+"There is not a living thing in sight," she said. "We'd better hurry,
+girls; it will soon be dark." Then the four young girls started down the
+trail and were soon out of sight.
+
+When Tom Gray left old Jean's hut, with nothing between him and the
+ravenous wolves, except the angle of a wall, he took a long, gliding
+step, his body swinging gracefully with the motion, and was off like the
+wind, under a broad avenue of trees. But he had not gone far before one
+of the straps loosened and his foot slipped. He fell headlong, but was
+up instantly.
+
+It took a few moments to tighten the strap, and it must have been then
+that the wolves caught the scent, and after hurriedly finishing the meal
+in hand, galloped off for another without taking the slightest notice of
+the fox skin that Reddy had tossed to them. Tom made a fresh start,
+feeling more confident on his feet than he had at first, and he was well
+under way when he heard the howl of the wolves behind him. Gathering all
+his energies together he managed to keep ahead of them until the woods
+became less dense, and he saw through the interlacing branches the open
+meadows and fields.
+
+"They are too hungry to leave off now," he said to himself as he
+hurriedly searched the valley below for the nearest farmhouse. In front
+of him was a very high, steep hill, that same hill, in fact, where
+Nora's coasting party had taken place. Glancing behind him, he caught a
+glimpse of the gray brothers trotting through the forest.
+
+"I'll take the hill," he thought. "It's quickest and there must be some
+kind of a refuge below." With long, swift glides he reached the knob
+which had hidden Miriam's sled from view as she bore down on Anne the
+night of the coasting party.
+
+The wolves were right behind him now, and unless something turned up he
+hardly dared think what would happen.
+
+But Tom Gray had always possessed an indomitable belief that things
+would turn out all right. It seemed absurd to him that he was to be food
+for wolves when he had still a long and delightful life before him.
+Certainly he would not give up without a struggle.
+
+Perhaps it was this fine confidence that his destiny was not yet
+completed that gave him the strength which now promised to save him. As
+he fled down the hill he saw below an old oak tree whose first branches
+had been lopped off. Exerting every atom of strength in him, just as he
+reached the bottom Tom gave a leap. He caught the lowest limb with one
+hand, pulled himself up and calmly took his seat in the crotch of the
+tree.
+
+He was just in time. The wolves were at his heels, snarling and snapping
+like angry dogs. The boy regarded them from his safe perch and burst out
+laughing.
+
+[Illustration: Tom Gray Escapes from the Wolves.]
+
+"So I fooled you, did I, you gray rascals?" he said aloud. "You think
+you'll keep me here all night, do you, old hounds? Well, we'll see who
+wins out in the long run."
+
+Meanwhile, the wolves ran about howling disconsolately while Tom sat in
+the branches of the tree, rubbing his hands and arms to keep warm. He
+had removed the snowshoes and was just contemplating climbing to the top
+of the tree to keep his blood circulating, when three figures appeared
+on the brow of the hill.
+
+"As I live, it's the boys," he said to himself. "Go back!" he yelled,
+waving a red silk muffler. "Climb a tree quickly!"
+
+They had seen and heard him, and making for the nearest tree, each
+shinned up as fast as he could.
+
+"Here's a howdy-do," said Tom to himself. "Four boys treed by wolves and
+night coming on."
+
+Yet he swung his legs and whistled thoughtfully, while the others
+shouted to him, but he could not hear what they said, for the wind was
+blowing away from him. In the meantime the wolves did not all desert him
+and he could only wait patiently, with the others, for something to turn
+up.
+
+What did turn up was a good deal of a shock to all of them.
+
+Grace, Jessica, Nora and Anne suddenly emerged from the forest, standing
+out in bold relief on the brow of the hill.
+
+The three boys at the top of the hill all jumped to the ground at once.
+
+"Run for the trees," cried David, for the wolves had caught the new
+scent and had started toward them on a dead run.
+
+"Crack, crack," went a rifle. Instantly the first wolf staggered and
+fell backward.
+
+How was it that the boys had not noticed before that the girls were not
+alone?
+
+Another shot and a second wolf ran almost into their midst, gave a leap
+and fell dead. One more dropped; and the sole surviving wolf beat a
+frenzied retreat.
+
+"We found old Jean!" cried Grace. "Wasn't it the most fortunate thing in
+the world? And now nobody is killed and we are all safe and I'm so
+happy!" She gave the old hunter's arm a squeeze.
+
+Old Jean, enveloped in skins from top to toe, smiled good-naturedly.
+
+"It was the Bon Dieu, mademoiselle, who have preserve you. Do not t'ank
+ole Jean. It was the Bon Dieu who put it in ole Jean's haid to set
+rabbit trap to-night."
+
+He would accept neither money nor thanks for shooting the wolves.
+
+"I will skin them. It is sufficient."
+
+It was not long before eight very tired and very happy young people were
+seated around Mrs. Gray's dinner table. Grace was a little choky and
+homesick for her mother, now that all the danger was over, but the week
+of the house party was almost up, so she concealed her impatience to be
+home again.
+
+The softly shaded candles shed a warm glow over their faces, and the
+logs crackled on the brass andirons. They looked into each others' eyes
+and smiled sleepily.
+
+Had it all been a dream, their winter picnic, or was old Jean at that
+very moment really nailing wolf skins to his wall?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE LOST LETTER
+
+
+Spring was well advanced, full of soft airs and the sweet scents of
+orchards in full bloom.
+
+Through the open windows of the schoolroom Grace could hear the pleasant
+sounds of the out of doors. The tinkle of a cow bell in a distant meadow
+and the songs of the birds brought to her the nearness of the glorious
+summer time.
+
+She chewed the end of her pencil impatiently, endeavoring to withdraw
+her attention from the things she liked so much better than Latin
+grammar and algebra. Examinations were coming, those bugbears of the
+young freshman, and then vacation. A vision of picnics crossed her mind,
+of long days spent out of doors, with luncheon under the trees and
+tramps through the woods. Yet, before all these joys, must come the
+inevitable final test, the race for the freshman prize. Although, after
+all, only two would really enter the race, Miriam and Anne. Nobody else
+would think of competing with these two brilliant students.
+
+How tired Anne looked! She had done nothing but study of late. No party
+had been alluring enough to beguile her from her books. She had even
+discontinued her work with Mrs. Gray, and early and late toiled at her
+studies.
+
+"She will tire herself out," Grace thought, and made a resolution to
+take Anne with her on a visit to her grandmother's in the country just
+as soon as the High School doors were closed for the summer.
+
+Miriam was not studying so hard. But then she never did anything hard.
+She simply seemed to absorb, without taking the trouble to plod. She had
+been very defiant of late, Grace thought, and more insolent than ever
+before. She and Miss Leece were "thicker" than was good for Miriam,
+considering that teacher's peculiar disposition to flatter and spoil
+her. However, that was none of Grace's business, and certainly Miss
+Leece had been careful since the sound rating Miss Thompson had given
+her.
+
+Just then the gong broke in upon Grace's reflections. With a sigh of
+relief she closed her book and strolled with her friends down to their
+usual meeting place in the locker room.
+
+There was but one topic of conversation now, the freshman prize.
+
+"Anne," predicted Nora, "you just can't help winning it! I don't believe
+it's in you to make a mistake. Miss Leece always gives you the hardest
+problems, too, but she can't stump little Anne."
+
+Anne smiled wearily. It was well examinations were to begin in two days.
+In her secret soul she felt she could not hold out much longer.
+Moreover, Anne was worried about family affairs. She had received a
+letter, that morning, which had troubled her so much that she had been
+on the point, a dozen times, of bursting into tears. However, if she won
+the prize--not the small one, but the _big_ one--the difficulty would be
+surmounted.
+
+Another worry had crept into her mind. She had lost the letter. A
+little, wayward breeze had seized it suddenly from her limp fingers and
+blown it away. She knew the letter was lurking somewhere in a corner of
+the schoolroom, and she had hoped to find it when the class was
+dismissed. But the missing paper was nowhere in sight when she had
+searched for it during recess. Perhaps it had blown out the window, in
+which case it would be brushed up by the janitress and never thought of
+again. Not for worlds would Anne have had anyone read that letter.
+
+It was during the afternoon session, in the middle of one of the
+schoolroom recitations, that she caught sight of her letter again. But
+after the class was dismissed and she had made haste to the corner of
+the room, where she thought she had seen it under a desk, it was not
+there. Disappointed and uneasy Anne put on her hat and started home.
+
+All afternoon she worried about it. Perhaps it was because she was so
+tired that she was especially sensitive about the letter being found by
+some one else. If that some one else should read the contents, she felt
+it would mean nothing lees than disgrace.
+
+"You look exhausted, child," said Anne's sister Mary, who was weary
+herself, having worked hard all day on a pile of spring sewing Mrs. Gray
+had ordered. "Why don't you take a walk and not try to do any studying
+this afternoon?"
+
+"I think I will, sister," replied Anne; and, pinning on her hat, she
+left her small cottage and started toward High School Street.
+
+Turning mechanically into the broad avenue shaded by elm trees, she
+strolled along, half-dreaming and half-waking. She was so weary she felt
+she might lie down and sleep for twenty years, and like Rip Van Winkle
+awaken old and gray. It was foolish of her to be so uneasy about that
+letter.
+
+Was it a premonition that compelled her to return to the schoolroom and
+search again for it? Perhaps the old janitress might have found it. The
+young girl quickened her pace. She must hurry if she wanted to catch the
+old woman before the latter closed up for the night.
+
+Anne had not thought of looking behind. Her mind, so trained to
+concentration, was now bent only upon one object. But would it have
+swerved her from her present purpose, even if she had noticed Miss Leece
+following her?
+
+The High School was still open, although Anne could not find the
+janitress. Perhaps the old woman was asleep somewhere. On several
+occasions she had been found sleeping soundly when she should have been
+brushing out schoolrooms and mopping floors. Anne was determined,
+however, to give one good, thorough search for her letter and she
+accordingly mounted to the floor where the freshmen class room was
+situated and entered the large, empty recitation room.
+
+She looked long and carefully under the desks and benches, even going
+through the scrap baskets, but there was no sign of the letter. Then she
+went into some of the other class rooms, but her search was unrewarded.
+
+"What's the use?" she asked herself at last. "It's sure to have been
+destroyed. I think I'll just have to give it up, and try to rest a
+little before to-morrow, or I'll never be fit to try for that prize."
+
+As she started down the broad staircase she heard the rasping voice of
+Miss Leece mingling with the principal's cool, well-modulated tones.
+Anne paused a moment, watching the two figures below. Miss Leece looked
+up and caught her eye, but Miss Thompson was engaged in unlocking the
+door, and did not see the little figure lingering on the steps.
+
+Just as the door opened, another door slammed violently, and the next
+moment Anne heard footsteps running along a small passage that crossed
+the corridor. Leaning far over the rail she caught a glimpse of a
+figure. It was--no, Anne could not be certain of the identity. But it
+looked like--well, never mind whom. Anne meant to keep the secret, for
+it was evident that the person had been bent on mischief, else why slam
+a door and run at the approach of Miss Thompson! And now Anne heard the
+door open again and Miss Thompson's voice calling: "Who is there?" But
+there was no answer. Deep down in Anne's heart there crept a vague
+suspicion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+DANGER AHEAD
+
+
+     MY DEAR GRACE:
+
+     Will you come and see me at my office after school to-day? I have
+     something very important to discuss.
+
+     Sincerely yours,
+
+     EMMA THOMPSON.
+
+Grace read the letter over twice. What in the world could Miss Thompson
+want to discuss with her? Perhaps she had not been doing well enough in
+her classes. But Grace rejected the idea. She always kept up to the
+average, and it was only those who fell below who ever received warnings
+from the principal.
+
+Perhaps it was--well, never mind, she would wait and see. As soon as
+school was over she hurried to the principal's office and tapped on the
+door.
+
+"Well, Grace, my dear," said Miss Thompson, as the young girl entered,
+"did my note frighten you?"
+
+"No, indeed," replied Grace; "I had a clear conscience and I don't
+expect to fail in exams to-morrow, although I am not so studious as Anne
+Pierson or Miriam."
+
+"Of course you don't expect to fail, my dear," said the principal,
+kindly, for, of all the girls in the school, Grace was her favorite. "I
+didn't bring you here to scold you. But I have something very serious to
+talk about. While I have threshed out the matter with myself, I believe
+I might do better by talking things over with one of my safest and
+sanest freshman."
+
+"Why, what has happened, Miss Thompson?" asked Grace curiously.
+
+"First, let me ask you a few questions," answered the principal. "Tell
+me something about the competition for the freshman prize. Which girl do
+you think has the best chance of winning it?"
+
+"I know whom I want to win," replied Grace innocently. "Anne, of course,
+and I believe she will, too. While Miriam is more showy in her
+recitations, Anne is much more thorough, and she studies a great deal
+harder. The fact is, I am afraid she is making herself ill with
+studying. But she is determined to win not the little prize, but the big
+one, which is more than even Anne can do, I believe. Whoever heard of
+having every examination paper perfect?"
+
+"It has not been done so far," admitted Miss Thompson, "but why is Anne
+so bent on winning the prize? Is it all for glory, do you think?"
+
+"Anne is very poor, you know, Miss Thompson," said Grace simply.
+
+"So she is," replied the principal, "and the child needs the money."
+Miss Thompson paused a moment, looking thoughtfully out over the smooth
+green lawn. "Grace," she resumed, finally, "I have something very
+serious to tell you. Two days ago I made a discovery that may change the
+fate of the freshman prize this year considerably. You know I keep the
+examination questions here in my desk. That is, the originals. A copy is
+now at the printers. So, you see, I have only one set of originals. I
+had occasion to come back to my office quite late the day of the
+discovery, and, as I let myself in at that door," she pointed to the
+door leading into the corridor, "what I thought was a gust of wind
+slammed the door leading into the next room which I usually keep shut
+and bolted on this side. My desk was open and the freshman examination
+papers undoubtedly had been tampered with. I could tell because they are
+usually the last in the pile and they were all on top and quite
+disarranged. Whoever had been here, had heard my key in the lock, and
+without waiting to close the desk had fled by the other door. I feel
+deeply grieved over this matter. I should never think of suspecting any
+of my fine girls of such trickery; and, yet, who else could it have been
+except one of the freshmen?"
+
+"Oh, Miss Thompson, this is dreadful," exclaimed Grace, distressed and
+shocked over the story. "I don't believe there's a girl in the class who
+would have done it. There must be some mistake."
+
+"That is why I sent for you, Grace," said the principal. "I want your
+advice. Now Anne----"
+
+"_Anne?_" interrupted Grace horrified. "You don't suppose, for a minute,
+Anne would be dishonest? Never! I won't stay and listen any longer," and
+she rushed to the door.
+
+Miss Thompson followed, placing a detaining hand on her arm.
+
+"You are right, Grace, to be loyal to your friend," said the principal,
+always just and kind under the most trying circumstances; "but Anne, I
+must tell you, is under suspicion."
+
+"Why?" demanded Grace, almost sobbing in her anger and unhappiness.
+
+"The afternoon of the discovery Anne was here long after school hours.
+She was seen by two people wandering about the building."
+
+"Who were the people?" demanded Grace incredulously.
+
+"The janitress, who saw her from the window of another room, and--Miss
+Leece."
+
+"I thought so," exclaimed Grace, with a note of triumph in her voice.
+"It is Miss Leece, is it, who is trumping up all this business? I tell
+you, I don't believe a word of it, Miss Thompson. Anne would no more do
+such a thing than I would, and I am going to fight to save her if it
+takes my last breath. Do you know how hard she has worked to win this
+prize? Simply all the time. I believe, if she knew what you suspected,
+it would kill her. I believe it's some tale Miss Leece has made up. And
+besides, why shouldn't she have come back to the building? Perhaps she
+forgot a book or something. I'd just like to know what Miss Leece was
+doing here at that time of day."
+
+"She came here to meet me on business," answered Miss Thompson. "That is
+why she knows something of the unfortunate affair. She was with me when
+I found my desk had been broken open and the papers disturbed. She also
+heard the other door slam and it was then she told me of having seen
+Anne wandering about the building for which, as you say, there might
+have been a dozen reasons; I believe, as firmly as you do, that the
+child is incapable of cheating, and I intend to leave no stone unturned
+to get at the truth. But there is still another fact against Anne that
+is very black." The speaker took from a drawer a slip of folded paper.
+"This was found in the building," she continued, "and since it was an
+open letter, without address and under the circumstances, so important,
+it was read and the contents reported to me. I have since read it myself
+and I now ask you to read it."
+
+     DEAR ANNE:
+
+     I must have one hundred dollars at once, or go somewhere for a long
+     time. I foolishly signed a friend's name to a slip of paper. I
+     didn't know he would be so hard, but he threatens to prosecute
+     unless I pay up before the end of next week. I know you have rich
+     friends. I have been hearing of your successes. Perhaps the old
+     lady, Mrs. G., will oblige you. I trust to your good sense to see
+     that the hundred must be forthcoming, or it will mean disgrace for
+     us all.
+
+     Your father,
+
+     J. P.
+
+Grace limply held the letter in one hand.
+
+"Oh, poor, poor Anne!" she groaned, wiping away the tears that had
+welled up into her eyes and were running down her cheeks.
+
+"I feel just as you do, my child," went on Miss Thompson. "I am deeply,
+bitterly sorry for this unfortunate child. But you will agree with me
+that she has had a very strong motive for winning the prize."
+
+Grace nodded mutely.
+
+"By the way," she asked presently, when she had calmed herself, "who was
+it that found the letter?"
+
+"Miss Leece again," replied Miss Thompson, hesitatingly.
+
+"There, you see," exclaimed Grace excitedly, "that woman is determined
+to ruin Anne before the close of school. I tell you, I won't believe
+Anne is guilty. It has taken just this much to make me certain that she
+is entirely innocent. Is there no clue whatever to the person who copied
+the papers?"
+
+"Yes," answered Miss Thompson, "there is. This had been shoved back in
+the desk under the papers. It does not belong to me, and it could not
+have gotten into my desk by any other means. I suppose, in her hurry to
+copy the freshmen sheets, whoever she was, laid it down and forgot it."
+
+Miss Thompson produced a crumpled pocket handkerchief. Grace took it and
+held it to the light. There were no marks or initials upon it whatever;
+it was simply a cambric handkerchief with a narrow hemstitched border, a
+handkerchief such as anyone might use. It was neither large nor small,
+neither of thin nor thick material.
+
+"There's nothing on it," said Grace. "I suppose the stores sell hundreds
+of these."
+
+"That's very true," answered the principal, "but I hoped you would be
+familiar enough with your friends' handkerchiefs to recognize this one."
+
+"No," replied Grace, "I haven't the least idea whose it is. Wait a
+moment," she added quickly, smelling the handkerchief; "there is a
+perfume on it of some sort. Did you notice that?"
+
+"I did," replied Miss Thompson. "It was one of the first things I did
+notice. I am very sensitive to perfumes; perhaps because I dislike them
+on clothing. But I waited for you to find it out for yourself. In fact,
+my dear, this will be the only means of trapping the person. Now, what
+perfume is it, and who in the class uses it? I am not familiar with
+perfumes, but I thought perhaps you were. And now, I will tell you that
+this is the reason I sent for you. The reason I showed you this letter,
+which has only been seen by one other person besides myself--Miss Leece,
+of course. I do not wish to tell anyone else about this matter. I do not
+care to put the subject before the School Board for discussion. I do not
+believe, any more than you, that Anne is guilty and I have taken you
+into my confidence because I believe you are the one person in the world
+who can help me in this predicament. Miss Leece, of course, intends to
+do everything in her power to bring the child 'to justice.' But, until I
+give her permission, she will hardly dare to speak of it. So far, we
+three are the only people who know what has happened. In the meantime, I
+shall turn over this handkerchief to you. Keep it carefully and be very
+guarded about what you do and say. You are a young girl," she continued,
+taking Grace's hand and gazing full into her honest eyes, "but I have a
+great respect for your judgment and discretion, and that is the reason I
+am asking for your help in this very delicate matter. You may rest
+assured that I shall do nothing whatever; at least, not until after
+examinations. I have an idea that we may get a clue through them. We
+must save Anne, whose life would be utterly ruined by such a false
+accusation as this. And I feel convinced that it is false."
+
+"Well, I can tell you one thing, Miss Thompson," returned Grace as she
+opened the door, "and that is Anne Pierson never used any perfume in her
+life. She hasn't any to use."
+
+Miss Thompson nodded and smiled.
+
+"I was sure of that," she called.
+
+Grace had little time to lose. The examinations, which took place the
+next day and the day after, would undoubtedly bring matters to a crisis.
+
+She took the handkerchief from her pocket and sniffed at it. Neither was
+she familiar with perfumes, and this odor was new to her. Suddenly an
+idea occurred to her and she made straight for the nearest drugstore.
+
+"Mr. Gleason," she demanded of the clerk in charge, "could you tell me
+what perfume this is?"
+
+The druggist sniffed thoughtfully at the handkerchief for some seconds.
+
+"It's sandalwood," he said at last. "We received some in stock a week
+ago."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT
+
+
+How examinations loom up on the fatal day, like monstrous obstacles that
+must be overcome! How the hours slip past, with nothing to break the
+stillness save the scratching of pens on foolscap paper, while each
+student draws upon the supply of knowledge stored up during the winter
+months!
+
+A fly buzzes on the window pane; a teacher rises, tiptoes slowly about
+the room and sits down again. She can do nothing, now, but keep watch on
+the pairs of drooping shoulders and the tired, flushed faces.
+
+Anne was so absorbed in her work that she was oblivious to everything
+about her. Her pen moved with precision over her paper and her copy was
+neat and clear.
+
+It was the second day of the examinations and she felt that her fate
+would soon be decided; but she was too tired now to worry. She worked on
+quietly and steadily. She had almost finished, and, as she answered one
+question after another, she was more and more buoyed up by the
+conviction that she would win the prize.
+
+Miriam had finished her work. Her impatient nature would not permit her
+to do anything slowly. As she gave a last flourishing stroke with her
+pen, she leaned back, looking about her. She smiled contemptuously as
+her eyes rested on Anne.
+
+"What a shabby, slow little creature she is!" Miriam murmured. "It would
+be a disgrace for a girl like me to be beaten by her. I'll never endure
+it in the world."
+
+It was not long before the girls had all finished and turned in their
+papers to the teacher in charge.
+
+"Oh, glorious happy day!" cried Nora, as she sped joyously down the
+corridor. "Examinations are over, and now for a good time!"
+
+A dozen or more of the freshman class had been invited to Miriam's to a
+tea to celebrate the close of school. Anne, of course, was not invited;
+but Grace and her friends had received invitations and promptly accepted
+them.
+
+Grace had taken Nora and Jessica into her confidence to some extent. She
+needed their help, but she had not mentioned the letter from Anne's
+father. The three girls met early by appointment, at the Harlowe house,
+to discuss matters before going to Miriam Nesbit's.
+
+"Here's a list of the people in Oakdale," said Nora, "who have bought
+sandalwood perfume. I have been to four drug stores and all the dry
+goods stores."
+
+Grace took the list and read:
+
+"'Mrs. I. Rosenfield, Miss Alice Gwendolyn Jones, Mr. Percival Butz,
+etc.' Good heavens!" she cried, "there's not a single person on this
+list who has anything to do with Oakdale High School. Mr. Percival
+Butz," she laughed. "The idea of a man buying perfume. Really, girls,"
+she added in despair, "we've been wasting our time. I can't see that any
+of us has made the least headway. I have called on almost every freshman
+in the class and inquired what her favorite perfume is, and I know some
+of them thought I was silly. Anyway, not one of them claimed to use
+sandalwood."
+
+"The stupidest girls would be the ones who would be most likely to want
+to copy the papers," observed Jessica, "but those girls are much too
+nice to believe such horrid things about. I went to see Ellen Wiggins
+and Sallie Moore yesterday afternoon. Neither of them use perfume.
+Sallie Moore told me she had an orris root sachet that had almost lost
+its scent. Which reminds me," she continued, "why couldn't this
+handkerchief have been scented by some other means than just perfume.
+Perhaps it was put into a mouchoir case with sandalwood powder."
+
+"Why, of course," exclaimed Grace. "Jessica, I never thought of asking
+who had been buying sachet powders. You have a great head."
+
+"Must I go back and ask all those storekeepers for more lists?" demanded
+Nora.
+
+"No, child," replied Grace. "Just give us time to think first."
+
+"It's time to go to Miriam's anyhow," observed Jessica. "Perhaps some
+sort of inspiration will come on the way," and the three girls set out
+for the tea party.
+
+As they paused to admire the beautiful flower beds on the Nesbit lawn
+Jessica said:
+
+"Have you inquired Miriam's favorite perfume?"
+
+"Oh, yes," answered Grace. "She said she liked them all and had no
+favorites."
+
+"Why are all these strange young women breaking into my premises?"
+demanded a voice behind them.
+
+"David Nesbit," cried Grace, "where have you been all this time? You
+never seem to find the time to come near your old friends any more."
+
+"I have been busy, girls," replied David. "Never busier in my life. But
+I believe I've struck it at last. It will not be long, now, before I
+turn into a bird."
+
+"Oh, _do_ show it to us!" cried Grace. "Where is the model?"
+
+"In my workroom," he replied. "If you are very good, and will promise to
+say nothing to the others, I'll give you a peep this afternoon. When I
+signal to you from the music room, by sounding three bass notes on the
+piano, start upstairs and I'll meet you on the landing. You may ask why
+this mystery? But I know girls, and if all those chattering freshmen are
+allowed to come into my room they are sure to knock over some of the
+models, or break something, and I couldn't stand it."
+
+The three girls entered the large and imposing drawing room where
+Miriam, in a beautiful pink mulle, trimmed with filmy lace insertions,
+received them with unusual cordiality; and presently they all repaired
+to the dining room where ice cream and strawberries were served with
+little cakes with pink icing. It was, as a matter of fact, a pink tea,
+and Miriam's cheeks were as pink as her decorations. She looked
+particularly excited and happy. Each of the three chums had just
+swallowed her last and largest strawberry, saved as a final relish, when
+three low notes sounded softly on the piano in the adjoining room.
+
+In the hum of conversation nobody had noticed David's signal except
+Grace and her friends, who strolled into the music room where he was
+waiting.
+
+"Come along," he said, leading the way up the back stairs, "and please
+consider this as a special mark of attention from the great inventor who
+has never yet made anything go. Where's Anne?"
+
+"I suppose she is resting," answered Grace. "She had just about reached
+the end of her strength to-day."
+
+"But she'll win the prize, I hope," continued David.
+
+"We are all sure of it," answered Grace, in emphatic tones.
+
+David opened the door into his own private quarters, which consisted of
+a large workroom with a laboratory attached, where he had once worked on
+chemical experiments until he had become interested in flying machines.
+
+"Here they are," he exclaimed, walking over to a large table in the
+workroom. "I have three models, you see, and each one works a little
+better than the other. This last one, I believe, will do the business."
+He pointed to a graceful little aeroplane made of bamboo sticks and rice
+paper.
+
+"Isn't it sweet?" exclaimed the girls in unison.
+
+"And it has a name, too," continued David unabashed. "I've called her
+'Anne,' because, while she's such a small, unpretentious-looking little
+craft, she can soar to such heights. There is not room here to show you
+how good she is, but we'll have another gymnasium seance some day soon,
+Anne must come and see her namesake."
+
+"There!" cried Grace in a tone of annoyance. "I have jagged a big place
+in my dress, David Nesbit, on a nail in your table. Why do you have such
+things about to destroy people's clothes?"
+
+"But nobody who wears dresses ever comes in here," protested David,
+"except mother and the maid, and they know better than to come near this
+table. Can't I do something? Glue it together or mend it with a piece of
+sticking plaster?"
+
+"No, indeed," answered the girl. "Just get me a needle and thread,
+please. I don't want to go downstairs with such a hideous rent in my
+dress."
+
+"Why, of course," assented David. "Why didn't I think of it sooner?
+Mother will fix you up," and he opened the door into the hall and called
+"mother!"
+
+Mrs. Nesbit came hurrying in. She never waited to be called twice by her
+son, who was the apple of her eye.
+
+"My dear Grace," she exclaimed when she saw the tear, "this is too bad.
+Come right into my room and I'll mend it for you."
+
+So it happened that Grace was presently seated in an armchair in Mrs.
+Nesbit's bedroom, while the good-natured woman whipped together the
+jagged edges of the rent.
+
+"What a beautiful box you have, Mrs. Nesbit," said Grace, pointing to a
+large carved box on the dressing table.
+
+"Do you like it?" replied the other. "I'm fond of it, probably because I
+was so happy when I bought it years ago while traveling abroad with my
+husband. It smells as sweet as it did when it was new," she added,
+placing the box in Grace's lap.
+
+Nora and Jessica, who had been hovering about the room, now came over to
+see the sweet-scented box. How strangely familiar was that pungent
+perfume which floated up to them. Where had they smelled it before?
+
+"It is made of carved sandalwood," continued Mrs. Nesbit, opening the
+lid, "and I have always kept my handkerchiefs in it, you see----"
+
+"Mother!" called David's voice from the hall, and Mrs. Nesbit left the
+room for a moment.
+
+"Sandalwood!" gasped Grace.
+
+Yes, it was the same perfume that now faintly scented the famous
+handkerchief.
+
+There was a pile of handkerchiefs in the box. Grace lifted the top one
+and sniffed at it. She examined the border carefully and the texture.
+
+"It looks like stealing," she whispered, "but I must have this
+handkerchief. I'll return it afterwards," and she slipped the
+handkerchief into her belt.
+
+Nora and Jessica had exchanged significant glances, while Nora's lips
+had formed the words, "exactly like the other one."
+
+In the meantime Miss Thompson had been closeted with Anne Pierson for
+half an hour in the principal's office. By special request she had
+arranged to have Anne's examination papers looked over immediately and
+sent to her. The papers were therefore the first to receive attention
+from each teacher, and were then turned over to Miss Thompson, who
+hurried with them into her office and locked the door behind her.
+
+"It would be a pity if they were too perfect," she said to herself.
+"That would tell very much against Anne, I fear."
+
+But, as her eyes ran over them, she shook her head dubiously. They were
+marvels of neatness and not one cross or written comment marred their
+perfection. At the foot of each sheet the word "perfect" had been
+written. Some of the teachers had even added notes stating that no
+errors of any sort had been found, while one professor had paid Anne the
+very high compliment of stating that the perfection of her examination
+papers had not been a surprise. Never in that teacher's experience had
+he taught a more brilliant pupil. Miss Thompson looked with interest at
+the algebra papers. If this had not come up, she thought, Miss Leece
+would certainly have managed to find a flaw somewhere, even if she had
+had to invent one. But under the circumstances, it was more to that wily
+woman's purpose to give Anne her due. For Miss Leece knew that a perfect
+examination paper would tell more against the young girl than for her.
+
+It was after this that Miss Thompson had her talk with Anne, a very
+kindly, interested talk, in which the young girl's prospects, her work
+and health had all come under consideration. And then in the gentlest
+possible way Miss Thompson had produced the letter.
+
+"Is this yours, Anne?" she asked.
+
+Anne started violently.
+
+"O Miss Thompson," she cried, making a great effort to keep back her
+tears, "where did you find it? I spent one entire afternoon here looking
+for it. It was the very day you and Miss Leece were here."
+
+"Oh, you saw us then," replied the principal. "And where were you?"
+
+"I was outside on the steps," replied Anne. "Didn't Miss Leece mention
+it? She looked up and saw me just as you unlocked the door. Then the
+other door slammed and some one hurried down the passage. I saw her,
+too, but----"
+
+"But what, Anne?" asked the principal slowly.
+
+"But I am not sure who it was."
+
+"Have you an idea?"
+
+"I could only guess from the outline of her figure," replied Anne. "And
+it wouldn't be fair to tell her name unless I had seen her plainly. It
+might have been some one else."
+
+Anne had a suspicion that something had happened, and that Miss Thompson
+had brought her here to find out what she knew. But she never dreamed
+that she herself was under suspicion.
+
+One thing had struck Miss Thompson very forcibly. Miss Leece had known
+all along that Anne was on the staircase at the very moment the other
+person was slamming the door in their faces. And yet Miss Leece was
+determined to condemn Anne to the faculty that very night. She had said
+so in as many words, in defiance of the principal's arguments against
+such a course.
+
+"Well, good night, my child," she said at last, giving Anne a motherly
+kiss. "You have done a good winter's work and I am proud of you."
+
+Anne hurried away, clutching the letter in her hand. She wondered if
+Miss Thompson had read it, and somehow she didn't mind so much after
+all. The principal seemed to her the very embodiment of all that was
+good and kind.
+
+Miss Thompson was destined to have several callers that afternoon. In a
+few moments Grace hurried in, breathless and excited.
+
+"Look at that, Miss Thompson," cried the girl, thrusting a handkerchief
+into her hand. "Look at it and smell it."
+
+"Well," replied the principal, "I've seen it before and smelled it
+before, too. Only you've had it washed and ironed, haven't you!"
+
+Grace took a crumpled handkerchief from her pocket.
+
+"Here's the real one," she cried triumphantly.
+
+The two handkerchiefs were certainly identical in shape and material and
+both were perfumed with sandalwood.
+
+"Where did you get this one?" demanded the principal.
+
+"From Mrs. Nesbit's sandalwood handkerchief box," whispered Grace
+slowly.
+
+"You think it was then----?"
+
+"Yes," replied Grace. "I'm certain of it. It's as plain as daylight. She
+borrowed her mother's handkerchief."
+
+"Dear, dear!" exclaimed the principal. "How very foolish! How very
+unnecessary! And all because she couldn't endure to be beaten! Do you
+know," she continued presently, "that Miss Leece intends to denounce
+Anne before the faculty to-night? My authority can't stop her, and I
+don't believe the similarity of these two handkerchiefs will either."
+
+"Miss Thompson," exclaimed Grace, "I tell you I know perfectly well that
+woman is going to try to ruin Anne for the sake of Miriam. I have known
+it for months. Why, at Mrs. Gray's Christmas party she did a thing that
+is too outrageous to believe," and here Grace opened a bundle she had
+brought with her and produced the marionette of James Pierson.
+
+Miss Thompson was shocked at the recital of the story. She, too,
+recognized the green silk tie, although she had no recollection of
+Miriam's red velveteen suit, a piece of which formed the waistcoat. But
+there was something about that green silk which stuck in the memory.
+Probably because it was so ugly, having a semi-invisible yellow line
+running through it.
+
+"Yes," she said, "I remember it very well. It was the trimming on a
+blouse Miss Leece wore last autumn. I do not believe anyone could forget
+such a hideous piece of material."
+
+Miss Thompson paused a moment and considered.
+
+"My dear," she continued presently, "I believe this is all I shall need
+to confront Miss Leece with. Your bringing it to me at this moment shows
+most excellent judgment. It may prevent a painful scandal in the school,
+as well as saving Anne from disgrace. As for the two handkerchiefs, the
+evidence is too slight to make any open accusations; but at any rate you
+may leave both with me. I may need them in my interview with Miss Leece.
+I may as well tell you I am anticipating a pretty stiff battle with her.
+I don't believe I should have won with only the handkerchiefs."
+
+"Oh, I hope we can save Anne, Miss Thompson," cried Grace.
+
+"I earnestly hope so, too," replied the principal. "It would be too
+heart breaking to have the child go down under this false accusation;
+and aside from that, such scandals are bad for the school and I would
+rather deal with them privately than have them made public. But run
+along now, dear. You have done nobly and deserve a prize yourself."
+
+A knock was heard, and as Grace departed through one door Miss Leece
+opened the other.
+
+"If Miss Thompson only wins this battle!" the young girl exclaimed to
+herself. "I want to believe she will, but I know that terrible Miss
+Leece will make a tremendous fight."
+
+She joined her friends, who were waiting for her outside.
+
+"Girls," she cried, "pray for Anne to-night!"
+
+Nora, good little Catholic that she was, went straight to her church and
+burned two candles before the altar of the Holy Virgin, while she
+offered up a humble petition for Anne's deliverance; while Grace and
+Jessica, in their own bedrooms, that night prayed reverently and
+earnestly that Anne might be saved from her enemies. Thus were Anne's
+three devoted friends working and praying for her while she slept the
+sleep of exhaustion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE FRESHMAN PRIZE
+
+
+Graduation night in Oakdale High School was one of the great social
+events of the year. The floor and galleries of Assembly Hall were
+invariably packed with an enthusiastic audience; for the two schools
+united at the ceremony of graduation and the senior class formed a mixed
+company on the stage.
+
+Most of the pupils attended commencement and the freshman class of the
+Girls' High School was always there in full to witness the triumph of
+one of its members, who was called forth from the audience to receive
+the usual freshman prize of twenty-five dollars.
+
+The identity of the winner was always kept a secret until the great
+night, when she was summoned from the audience to the stage and
+presented with the money before the entire assembly.
+
+The readers can imagine, therefore, the uncertainty and trepidation that
+fluttered in the hearts of our four girls as they sat together in the
+center of the great hall. Anne had passed through a dozen stages of
+emotions, both hopeful and otherwise, and had finally steeled herself to
+give up all thought of winning either of the prizes.
+
+Miriam, confident and handsome, sat near them. She wore a beautiful
+white dress trimmed with lace, and her thick, black plaits were twisted
+around her head like a coronet.
+
+"She's all dressed up to step up on the stage and get her twenty-five,"
+whispered Nora to Jessica.
+
+"Perhaps she already knows she's going to get it," answered Jessica
+doubtfully. "Perhaps Miss Leece has told her."
+
+"If Miss Leece knew it, she would certainly have told her," answered
+Grace, leaning over so that Anne could not hear her; "but I feel sure
+Miss Thompson has managed it somehow, although I kept hoping all day she
+would send me a note or something. It may be she hated to tell me the
+bad news."
+
+Hippy Wingate and Reddy Brooks came down the aisle in immaculate attire.
+David followed behind, pale and silent.
+
+Did David suspect anything about his sister? Grace wondered. Certainly
+he had directly or indirectly been the means of balking every one of
+Miriam's schemes for injuring Anne. Perhaps Miriam had told him she was
+to win the prize, and he was thinking of Anne's disappointment. All
+three boys paused when they saw their friends of the Christmas house
+party. Hippy leaned over to say:
+
+"Hello, girls! Can you guess what has brought us here to-night, all
+dressed up in our best?"
+
+"Not unless it was to show off your clothes," replied Nora.
+
+"To see Miss Anne Pierson win the freshman prize. Simply that, and
+nothing more."
+
+"But I don't expect to win it, Hippy," protested Anne.
+
+"If you don't, you aren't the girl we took you for, then," replied
+Hippy. "I heard from a young person in your class that you hadn't made a
+mistake in six months."
+
+"But just as many people think Miriam will win," said Anne. "Look at all
+the people congratulating her already."
+
+Surely enough Miriam's friends had rallied around her at the final test,
+and numbers of girls and boys and grown people, too, were already
+prophesying victory.
+
+Just then the audience composed itself, for the exercises were about to
+begin. Soft music was heard and the graduates filed out and took their
+seats.
+
+Immediately they were seated, Mrs. Gray, in a beautiful lavender silk
+gown and a white lace bonnet trimmed with violets, swept down the aisle,
+bowing and smiling right and left.
+
+"Girls!" cried Grace delightedly, looking over her shoulder, "guess who
+is with our precious little Mrs. Gray?"
+
+"Tom Gray!" cried the others in unison, just as Tom Gray himself
+appeared opposite them and waved his hat, regardless of the many eyes
+fastened upon him, for Mrs. Gray was an important personage not only at
+these annual assemblages, but in Oakdale itself, of which she had always
+been a most generous and loyal citizen.
+
+Mrs. Gray nodded cordially when she saw the girls, but shook her head
+over Anne's pale, drawn little face.
+
+As the ceremonies proceeded after the opening prayer, Anne felt herself
+drifting further and further away. She was a little boat on a troubled,
+restless sea, with the noise of the waves in her head, and only
+occasionally did she hear some one's voice reading a graduating essay or
+making a speech--she couldn't tell which. She remembered there was a
+piano solo, very loud and crashing, it seemed to her, and there was a
+tremendous humming sound. The sea was growing very rough, she thought. A
+storm was brewing somewhere. Then the wind died down again, there was a
+complete and utter silence and she seemed to be entirely alone.
+
+"I have great pleasure in announcing," she dimly heard a voice say,
+"that the annual freshman prize, so generously donated always by Mrs.
+Gray, is awarded this year to one of the most brilliant and remarkable
+pupils who has ever studied in Oakdale High School. My language, in this
+instance, may appear to be rather extravagant, but the pupil, who has
+been under the eye of the faculty for many months because of her most
+excellent standing, has achieved a unique success in the history of the
+school. I may say that she has turned in a set of examination papers
+absolutely perfect in every detail, and it is with real delight I
+announce that she has won not only the usual smaller prize of
+twenty-five dollars, but the premium always offered at the same time,
+but never before won by any pupil of this school, of one hundred
+dollars, for a flawless examination. I would, therefore, ask Miss Anne
+Pierson to come to the platform, that I may have the honor of delivering
+both prizes to her."
+
+Such a shout as arose after this remarkable speech had never before been
+heard at a high school graduation. The freshman class was fairly mad
+with joy, while Hippy and Reddy yelled themselves hoarse.
+
+"Anne!" cried Grace. "Wake up, Anne! Are you asleep, child? Go up to the
+platform. Miss Thompson is waiting for you."
+
+Tears of joy and relief were rolling down Grace's cheeks as she urged
+Anne to rise from her seat.
+
+Anne stood up, half dazed, still wondering what it was all about, and
+made her way through a sea of faces to the platform.
+
+"Hurrah!" roared the pupils of the High School in one voice.
+
+"Hi-hi-hi! Hi-hi-hi! Oakdale, Oakdale, HIGH SCHOOL!"
+
+This was an honor usually accorded only to football and baseball heroes.
+
+When Anne reached the platform she appeared so small and plain, in her
+simple white muslin frock, that people looked at her wonderingly. It was
+not everyone in Oakdale who was familiar with the little, dark-haired
+girl.
+
+"My dear," said Miss Thompson, very handsome and imposing in a gray silk
+dress, "I am happy to be the one to hand you these two prizes. You have
+worked hard and richly deserve them both. I am sure everyone in this
+house to-night is glad that your winter's unceasing labors are crowned
+with success, and I now recommend you to take a good rest, for such
+prizes are only earned by earnest and hard application, and hard work
+carries with it, sometimes, its own penalty." (She placed special
+emphasis on these last words.) "You have indeed earned the right to a
+happy vacation."
+
+Two bouquets were handed over the footlights at this point, one a
+beautiful bunch of pink roses and the other of lilies of the valley.
+
+Mrs. Gray had sent the roses Grace felt sure. It was her custom always
+to send such a bouquet to the one who carried off the prize. But who had
+sent the lilies of the valley?
+
+"Very likely David," Grace said to herself, watching the boy's face as
+Anne took the flowers from the usher.
+
+Had he known then that his sister had lost the prize, or was his faith
+in Anne so great?
+
+But something had happened.
+
+Suddenly the waves, which for the last half hour had been roaring and
+tossing about Anne, seemed to submerge her completely. She felt a horrid
+sensation of sickness for a moment; and then down, down she sank to the
+bottom of nothing, carrying her flowers and prizes with her.
+
+"She's fainted!" cried some one. "The poor, little, tired girl has
+fainted!"
+
+A tall young graduate picked up the small, limp figure and carried her
+off the stage as easily as if she had been a child. The closing
+exercises were then resumed, the benediction pronounced and the audience
+filed out somewhat silently.
+
+Grace and her friends hurried around behind the scenes, where they found
+Mrs. Gray in the act of placing a smelling-salts bottle to Anne's
+nostrils, while Tom Gray and David Nesbit were cooling her temples with
+lumps of ice. "She is conscious at last!" exclaimed the old lady, as
+Anne opened her eyes. "It was entirely too much excitement for this
+delicate, worn-out child. Tom, order the carriage. I mean to take her
+straight to my own house and nurse her myself. I am the only person in
+this town who has time to give her all the care and attention she needs.
+I feel like such a lazy, good-for-nothing old woman when I see all these
+bright young people winning prizes and doing so many clever things."
+
+"How you do go on, Mrs. Gray," said David. "You know very well you are
+the brightest, youngest and prettiest girl in Oakdale."
+
+Anne sat up at this moment, and looked into the faces of her best
+friends leaning over her anxiously.
+
+"I thought the boat capsized just as I was about to win the race," she
+said faintly.
+
+"The little boat did capsize, dear," answered Mrs. Gray gently, "but not
+until after you had won the race. And now, if you are well enough to let
+this strong nephew of mine carry you, we are going to take you right
+home. Are all my Christmas children here?" she continued, looking about
+her. Hippy and Reddy had joined the group just then. "Yes, here you are.
+Tom and I can't take you all up in the carriage, but I want you to
+follow us, if your parents and guardians have no objections. I have
+arranged a little supper to celebrate Anne's victory. I am sorry she
+can't come to her own party, but she may hear all about it afterwards
+and the rest of you shall make merry for her."
+
+Not long after, six young people strolled up Chapel Hill in the
+moonlight, talking gayly of the happy days they had spent together with
+Mrs. Gray; for Richards, the burglar, seemed now a sort of joke to them,
+and even the terrible recollection of the wolves was softened by time,
+and they could only laugh at poor Hippy's plight when his breath gave
+out and his legs refused their office.
+
+"Oh, well," exclaimed Hippy, pretending to be much offended, "it is a
+very good idea to remember only the funny things and forget the
+dangerous ones, when all's said and done. But if I'd have had a stroke
+of apoplexy just as that young lady wolf began to lick my heels, you
+wouldn't have been so merry over the recollection."
+
+"Well," retorted Nora, "we would have been just about going into half
+mourning, by now, and that's always a cheerful thought."
+
+"Grace," whispered Jessica, taking advantage of the talk of the others
+not to be overheard, "did you notice Miriam when Miss Thompson began her
+speech?"
+
+"No," answered Grace, "I was too intent upon Anne to look at Miriam.
+Why?"
+
+"Well," continued Jessica, "you remember that Miss Thompson mentioned no
+names until almost the very end of the speech!"
+
+"Yes," answered the other; "I remember it particularly, because I kept
+wishing she would hurry and get to the point."
+
+"Exactly," went on Jessica, "and Miriam thought she had won the prize."
+
+"How do you know, Jessica! How could you tell?"
+
+"Oh, in a hundred different ways. I could tell by the smile on her face
+that she took every compliment to herself. Lots of people were watching
+her, too, and I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for her, because
+she is one of those people who just can't stand losing. When Miss
+Thompson reached the place where she was about to ask Anne to step up
+and get the prize, Miriam half rose in her seat. Mrs. Nesbit pulled her
+back in the nick of time. I honestly believe she would have reached the
+stage before Anne did, if her mother hadn't stopped her. Hippy told me
+they left before the benediction. I suppose Miriam was not equal to the
+mortification."
+
+"I thought perhaps Miss Thompson would have mentioned her name as coming
+second in the contest," said Grace. "She usually does, you know. But
+there were good reasons, and plenty, why she shouldn't this time, I
+suppose. And to think, Jessica, that Miriam need never have done that
+dreadful thing. She would probably have passed second in the class
+anyway, and copying the papers didn't help her one little bit."
+
+Mrs. Gray reported Anne to be much better. She had taken some nourishing
+broth and gone to bed, and she was at that moment sleeping soundly.
+
+So there was no cause for anything but good cheer at the supper party.
+
+And here let us leave them around Mrs. Gray's hospitable table. For, is
+it not better to say farewell rejoicing so that no shadows may darken
+the memory we shall carry with us during the long months of separation?
+
+Before Oakdale High School welcomes her children back again, David will
+sail abroad with his mother and sister; Grace and Anne will set off for
+the country to visit Grace's grandmother; the others and their families
+will scatter to various summer resorts, while Mrs. Gray will seek a cool
+spot in the mountains.
+
+However, in the next volume, which will be entitled, "Grace
+Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School; Or, the Record of the Girl
+Chums in Work and Athletics," we shall again meet the four girls and
+their friends. This book, the record of the girl chums in athletics,
+tells of the exciting rivalries of the sophomore and junior basketball
+teams, culminating in a final hard-fought battle. Again Grace Harlowe
+distinguishes herself by her bravery and good judgment, and again Miriam
+Nesbit will do her best to thwart her at every point. And we may learn
+what Anne Pierson did with the prize money.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
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+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
+
+1326-1336 Vine 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.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC;
+      Or, The Secret of Smugglers' Island.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET;
+      Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND;
+      Or, A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS;
+      Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA;
+      Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator Swamp.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE;
+      Or, A Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog.
+
+    THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES;
+      Or, The Flying Dutchman of the Big Fresh Water.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH;
+      Or, The Boy Shepherds of the Great Divide.
+
+    THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP;
+      Or, Pitting Their Wits Against a Packers' Combine.
+
+    THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS;
+      Or, Following the Steam Plows Across the Prairie.
+
+    THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO;
+      Or, The Conspiracy of the Wheat Pit.
+
+
+
+
+Submarine Boys Series
+
+By VICTOR G. DURHAM
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY;
+      Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP;
+      Or, "Making Good" as Young Experts.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES;
+      Or, The Prize Detail at Annapolis.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES;
+      Or, Dodging the Sharks of the Deep.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE;
+      Or, The Young Kings of the Deep.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG;
+      Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam.
+
+    THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS;
+      Or, Breaking Up the New Jersey Customs Frauds.
+
+
+
+
+The Square Dollar Boys Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+    THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP;
+      Or, Fighting the Trolley Franchise Steal.
+
+    THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING;
+      Or, In the Lists Against the Crooked Land Deal.
+
+
+
+
+The College Girls Series
+
+By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S FIRST YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S SECOND YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S RETURN TO OVERTON CAMPUS.
+
+
+
+
+Dave Darrin Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+    DAVE DARRIN AT VERA CRUZ;
+      Or, Fighting With the U. S. Navy in Mexico.
+
+
+
+
+Pony Rider Boys Series
+
+By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+These tales may be aptly described the best books for boys and girls.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES;
+      Or, The Secret of the Lost Claim.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS;
+      Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA;
+      Or, The Mystery of the Old Custer Trail.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS;
+      Or, The Secret of Ruby Mountain.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI;
+      Or, Finding a Key to the Desert Maze.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO;
+      Or, The End of the Silver Trail.
+
+    THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON;
+      Or, The Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch.
+
+
+
+
+The Boys of Steel Series
+
+By JAMES R. MEARS
+
+Each book presents vivid picture of this great industry. Each story is
+full of adventure and fascination.
+
+    THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES;
+      Or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft.
+
+    THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN;
+      Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift
+
+    THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS;
+      Or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes.
+
+    THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS;
+      Or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder Pits.
+
+
+
+
+The Madge Morton Books
+
+By AMY D. V. CHALMERS
+
+    MADGE MORTON--CAPTAIN OF THE MERRY MAID.
+
+    MADGE MORTON'S SECRET.
+
+    MADGE MORTON'S TRUST.
+
+    MADGE MORTON'S VICTORY.
+
+
+
+
+West Point Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young Americans
+whose doings will inspire all boy readers.
+
+    DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT;
+      Or, Two Chums in the Cadet Gray.
+
+    DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT;
+      Or, Finding the Glory of the Soldier's Life.
+
+    DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT;
+      Or, Standing Firm for Flag and Honor.
+
+    DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT;
+      Or, Ready to Drop the Gray for Shoulder Straps.
+
+
+
+
+Annapolis Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in
+these volumes.
+
+    DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;
+      Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at the U. S. Naval Academy.
+
+    DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;
+      Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy "Youngsters."
+
+    DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;
+      Or, Leaders of the Second Class Midshipmen.
+
+    DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;
+      Or, Headed for Graduation and the Big Cruise.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO;
+      Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest.
+
+    THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA;
+      Or, Laying Tracks on the "Man-Killer" Quicksand.
+
+    THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA;
+      Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick.
+
+    THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO;
+      Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS;
+      Or, Two Recruits in the United States Army.
+
+    UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY;
+      Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons.
+
+    UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS;
+      Or, Handling Their First Real Commands.
+
+    UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES;
+      Or, Following the Flag Against the Moros.
+
+
+
+
+Battleship Boys Series
+
+By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's huge
+drab Dreadnaughts.
+
+    THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA;
+      Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy.
+
+    THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD;
+      Or, Winning Their Grades as Petty Officers.
+
+    THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE;
+      Or, Earning New Ratings in European Seas.
+
+    THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS;
+      Or, Upholding the American Flag in a Honduras Revolution.
+
+
+
+
+The Meadow-Brook Girls Series
+
+By JANET ALDRIDGE
+
+Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor life.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA.
+
+    THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS COURTS.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN;
+      Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER;
+      Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football Gridiron.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Leading the Athletic Vanguard.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Start Things Moving.
+
+    THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND;
+      Or, Dick & Co. at Winter Sports.
+
+    THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and Knowledge.
+
+    THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Make Their Fame Secure.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB;
+      Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake Pleasant.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP;
+      Or, The Dick Prescott Six Training for the Gridley Eleven.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP;
+      Or, Dick & Co. in the Wilderness.
+
+    THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE;
+      Or, Dick & Co. Making Themselves "Hard as Nails."
+
+
+
+
+The Circus Boys Series
+
+By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON
+
+Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely
+interesting and exciting life.
+
+    THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS;
+      Or, Making the Start in the Sawdust Life.
+
+    THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT;
+      Or, Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark.
+
+    THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND;
+      Or, Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny South.
+
+    THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI;
+      Or, Afloat with the Big Show on the Big River.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;
+      Or, The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshman Girls.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;
+      Or, The Record of the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;
+      Or, Fast Friends in the Sororities.
+
+    GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;
+      Or, The Parting of the Ways.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT;
+      Or, Watching the Summer Parade.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES;
+      Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON;
+      Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO;
+      Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH;
+      Or, Proving Their Mettle Under Southern Skies.
+
+    THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT WASHINGTON;
+      Or, Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High
+School, by Jessie Graham Flower
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR ***
+
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