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diff --git a/36823.txt b/36823.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d4d547 --- /dev/null +++ b/36823.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6900 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Marjorie Dean, High School Junior, by Pauline Lester + +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: Marjorie Dean, High School Junior + +Author: Pauline Lester + +Release Date: July 23, 2011 [EBook #36823] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank, Katherine Ward and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: MARJORIE ENTERED HER MOTHER'S ROOM AND DROPPED +DISPIRITEDLY AT HER FEET.] + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + MARJORIE DEAN + + High School Junior + + By PAULINE LESTER + + AUTHOR OF + + "Marjorie Dean, High School Freshman" + "Marjorie Dean, High School Sophomore" + "Marjorie Dean, High School Senior" + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + + Publishers--New York + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + Copyright, 1917 + By A. L. Burt Company + + MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + MARJORIE DEAN, + HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR + + + + +CHAPTER I--MARJORIE DECLARES HERSELF + + +"Only to think, next week, at this time, I'll be saying good-bye to you, +Mary Raymond." Marjorie Dean's brown eyes rested very wistfully on the +sunny-haired girl beside her in the big porch swing. + +"You know now, just how dreadfully I felt two years ago when I had to +keep thinking about saying good-bye to you," returned Mary in the same +wistful intonation. "It was terrible. And after you had gone! Well--it +was a good deal worse. Oh, Marjorie, I wish I could live this last year +over again. If only----" + +Marjorie laid light fingers on Mary's lips. "You mustn't speak of some +things, Lieutenant," she said quickly. "If you do I won't listen. Forget +everything except the wonderful summer we've had together." + +Mary caught the soft little hand in both hers. "It _has_ been +wonderful," she agreed rather unsteadily. "I'll have the memory of it to +treasure when I'm away off in Colorado. I can't believe that I am really +going so far away from you. I hope I'll like the West. Next summer you +must come out there and visit me, Marjorie. By that time I'll be a +little bit at home in such a strange, new country." + +"I'd love to do that," responded Marjorie with an eagerness that merged +almost immediately again into regretful reflection. + +A sad little silence fell upon the two in the porch swing. Each young +heart was heavy with dread of the coming separation. This was the second +time in two years that the call to say farewell had sounded for Marjorie +Dean and Mary Raymond. + +Those who have followed Marjorie Dean through her freshman and sophomore +years at high school are already familiar with the details of Mary's and +Marjorie's first separation. In "Marjorie Dean, High School Freshman," +was recorded the story of the way in which Marjorie had come to leave +her chum at the beginning of their first year in Franklin High School, +in the city of B----, to take up her residence in the far-off town of +Sanford, there to become a freshman at Sanford High. In her new home she +had made many friends, chief among them Constance Stevens, to whom she +had been greatly drawn by reason of a strong resemblance between +Constance and Mary. In an earnest endeavor to bring sunshine to the +former's poverty-stricken lot she had thereby involved herself in a +series of school-girl difficulties, which followed her throughout the +year. True to herself, Marjorie met them bravely and conquered them, one +by one, proving herself a staunch follower of the high code of honor she +had adopted for her own. + +With the advent of Mary Raymond into her home for a year's stay, +Marjorie was confronted by a new and painful problem. "Marjorie Dean, +High School Sophomore," found Marjorie enmeshed in the tangled web which +Mary's jealousy of Constance Stevens wove about the three girls. Led +into bitter doubt of Marjorie by Mignon La Salle, a mischief-making +French girl who had made Marjorie's freshman days miserable, Mary +Raymond had been guilty of a disloyalty, which had come near to +estranging the two girls forever. It was not until their sophomore year +was almost over that an awakening had come to Mary, and with it an +earnest repentance, which led to equity and peace. + +It was to this which Mary had been about to refer mournfully when +Marjorie's gentle hand had sealed her repentant utterance. All that +summer the two girls had been earnestly engaged in trying to make up for +those lost days. Constance and Mary were now on the most friendly terms. +The three had spent an ideal month together at the seashore, with no +hateful shadow to darken the pleasure of that delightful outing. Later +Constance had left them to spend the remainder of her vacation with her +family in the mountains. The Deans had lingered in their seaside cottage +until the last of August. Now September had arrived, her hazy hints of +coming Autumn reminding the world at large that their summer playtime +was over. + +To Mary Raymond it was a pertinent reminder that her days under the +Deans' hospitable canopy were numbered. In fact, only seven of them +remained. On the next Friday morning she would say her last farewells to +speed away to Denver, Colorado, where, on her invalid mother's account, +the Raymonds were to make their home. So it is scarcely to be wondered +at that Marjorie and Mary were decidedly melancholy, as they sat hand in +hand, bravely trying to meet the trial which lay before them. + +"I wonder if Jerry will come home to-day." Marjorie rose from the swing +with an abruptness that set it to swaying gently. The weight of parting +had grown heavier during that brief silence and she was very near to +tears. + +"I don't know. Her letter said Thursday or Friday, didn't it?" Mary's +voice shook slightly. She, too, was on the verge of a breakdown. + +"Yes." Marjorie's back was toward Mary as she answered. She walked to +the end of the spacious veranda and gazed down the pebbled drive. Just +then she felt as though the sight of Geraldine Macy's round, +good-humored face would be most welcome. Slowly returning to where Mary +still sat, she said: "As this is Friday, Jerry will surely----" + +"Marjorie!" called a clear voice from within the house. "The telephone +is ringing." + +"Coming, Captain!" Marjorie quickened to sudden action. "I hope it's +Jerry," she flung over her shoulder as she ran to the open door. "Come +on, Mary." + +Mary needed no second invitation. By the time Marjorie had reached the +telephone, she was only a step behind her chum. + +"Hello! Yes, this is Marjorie. Oh, Jerry!" Marjorie gave a little squeal +of delight. "We were just talking of you. We wondered if you'd be home +to-day. Won't you come over now? You will? Well, then, hurry as fast as +ever you can. We're crazy to see you. Mary wants to talk to you. Just +say 'hello' to her and hang up the receiver." Marjorie cast a playful +glance at the girl beside her. "You can talk to her when you get here." + +Marjorie held the receiver toward Mary, who greeted Jerry in brief but +affectionate fashion and obediently hung up. "Always do as your superior +officer tells you," she commented with a smile. + +"That's pure sarcasm," retorted Marjorie gaily. "The question is, am I +your superior officer or are you mine? This business of both being +lieutenants has its drawbacks. We can never know just who's who." + +"I ought to be second lieutenant and you first," demurred Mary soberly. +"I didn't deserve to become a first with you last June after----" + +"Mary!" Marjorie cried out in distressed concern. Her brown eyes were +filled with tender reproach. "Aren't you ever going to forget?" + +"I can't." Mary turned her face half away, then the flood of sadness she +had been fighting back all afternoon overtook her. Stumbling to the +stairs she sat down on the lowest step, her face hidden in her hands, +her shoulders shaking. + +"Poor, dear Lieutenant." Her own eyes overflowing, Marjorie dropped down +beside Mary and wound her arms about the dejected figure. + +"This is a nice reception! I see I shall have to welcome myself. Why, +how are you, Geraldine? Boo, hoo! It's a wonder you wouldn't ring. You +never did have any manners. I don't see why you called, anyway. Boo, +hoo!" + +The first sound of a loud, cheerful voice brought the weepers to their +feet. A loud, anguished "Boo, hoo!" sent them into half tearful giggles. + +"That's more like it," approved the stout girl in the doorway, her round +face alive with kindly solicitude. "If I had sensitive feelings I might +think you were crying because you'd invited me to call. But I haven't. +Hal says I am the most unfeeling person he knows. He only says that when +his little sister can't see things the way he does." + +Jerry rattled off these pleasantries while in the midst of a rapturous +embrace, bestowed upon her plump person by two now broadly-smiling +mourners. + +"It's splendid to see you again, Jerry," caroled Marjorie, hugging her +friend with bearish enthusiasm. Mary echoed Marjorie's fervent greeting. + +"The mere sight of me is always inspiring," grinned Jerry, winding an +arm about each friend. "I hope you have both noticed by this time that I +am a great deal thinner than I was last June. I've lost two pounds. +Isn't that some lose?" + +"Perfectly remarkable," agreed Marjorie mischievously. "Come on out on +the veranda, Jerry. We have such a lot to talk about." + +Four determined, affectionate arms propelled Jerry to the wide, +vine-decked porch, established her in the big porch swing, and climbed +in beside her. + +"Now, tell me, children, why these weeps?" Jerry demanded practically, +still retaining her loving hold of her two friends. + +"They've been on the way all day," confessed Marjorie. "We've both tried +not to cry, but--somehow----" Her voice faltered. "You see, Jerry, this is +Mary's and my last week together. Mary's going away off to Colorado next +week." + +"You don't mean it?" Jerry sat up very straight, looking wide-eyed +concern. "You never said a thing about it in your letter. I mean +letters. I believe you did write me two." Jerry registered comical +accusation. + +"Don't remind me of my sins of omission," Marjorie laughed, flushing a +trifle. "I always mean to write, but somehow I never do. We didn't know +until the week before we came from the seashore that Mary would have to +go so soon. We thought it wouldn't be until November." Again her tones +quavered suspiciously. + +"I see." Jerry frowned to hide her own inclination to mourn. During the +brief time they were thrown together, after the reunion of Marjorie and +Mary, she had learned to know and love the real Mary Raymond. "I'm more +sorry than I can say. I thought we'd all be together for our junior year +at Sanford High." + +"Of course, I am anxious to be with mother and father," put in Mary +loyally, "but I hate to leave Sanford. There are lots of things I meant +to do this year that I didn't do last year." + +"But you can't be in two places at once," was Jerry's blunt consolation. +"Never mind, Mary, you can come back to visit us and we'll write you +lots of letters. Marjorie is such a splendid correspondent." Her +accompanying jolly chuckle robbed this last pertinent fling of offence. +"We'll write you all the news. That reminds me, I've some for you girls. +You'll never guess who stayed at the same hotel with us this summer. I +didn't write about it, because I wanted to have it to tell when I came +home." + +Mary cast a sidelong glance at the stout girl. There had been a faint +touch of disgust in Jerry's intonation. "Was it--Mignon?" she asked, half +hesitant. + +"Right you are. How did you guess it?" + +"Oh, I just wondered," was Mary's brief response. A tide of red had +risen to her white skin, called there by distressing memories. + +"Yes, it was our dear Mignon," continued Jerry briskly. "And she has a +friend, Rowena Farnham, who likewise stayed at our hotel. Believe me, +they were a well-matched pair. You see the La Salles usually go to +Severn Beach every summer, but they always stay at Cliff House. We +always go to the Sea Gull. That's the whole length of the beach from +their hotel. Imagine how pleased I was to see Mignon come parading down +to dinner one evening, after we'd been there about two weeks. I was so +disgusted that I wanted my father to pack up and move us over to Cliff +House. But he wouldn't, the hard-hearted person. + +"That is only part of my tale. The worst now comes trailing along. It's +about this Rowena Farnham. It seems that the Farnhams moved to Sanford +last June just after school closed and----" + +"Is this Rowena Farnham a very tall, pretty girl with perfectly gorgeous +auburn hair and big black eyes?" broke in Mary abruptly. + +"Yes. Where did you ever see her?" demanded Jerry. "Where was I that I +didn't?" + +"Oh, I saw her one day in the post-office with Mignon. It was after you +had gone away. I thought she must be a guest at the La Salles'." + +"You thought wrong. She lives in that big house with the immense grounds +just the other side of the La Salles' home. It's the one with that +terribly high, ornamental iron fence. I always used to call it the Jail. +It made me think of one. But that's not my news, either. This new girl +is going to be a sophomore at Sanford High. I'm sorry for poor old +Sanford High." + +"Why?" A curious note of alarm sprang into Marjorie's question. After +two stormy years at high school, she longed for uneventful peace. +Jerry's emphatic grumble came like a far-off roll of thunder, +prophesying storm. + +"Why?" Jerry warmed to her subject. "Because she is a terror. I can see +it in her eye. Just now she and Mignon are as chummy as can be. If they +stay chummy, look out for trouble. If they don't, look out for more +trouble." + +"Perhaps you may find this new girl quite different," suggested Mary +hopefully. "It's not fair to judge her by Mignon. Very likely she hasn't +any idea that--that----" She was thinking of how completely she had once +fallen under Mignon's spell. + +"That Mignon is Mignon, you mean," interrupted Jerry. "She ought to know +her after being with her all summer. I'll bet she does. That's just why +I think she's a trouble-maker. They always hang together, you know." + +Marjorie slipped from the swing and faced her friends with the air of +one who has suddenly arrived at a definite conclusion. For a moment she +stood regarding Jerry in silence, hands clasped behind her back. + +"There's just one thing about it, Jerry," she began firmly, "and that +is: I _will not_ have my junior year spoiled by Mignon La Salle or her +friends. Last year we tried to help Mignon and our plan didn't work. I +thought once that she had a better self, but now it would take a good +deal to make me believe it. She caused me a great deal of unnecessary +unhappiness and she almost made Constance lose her part in the operetta. +And little Charlie! I can't forgive her for the way she treated that +baby. This year I am going to go on with my school just as though I had +never known her. I hope I won't have to play on the same basket ball +team with her or against any team that she plays on. I've had enough of +Mignon La Salle. I'm going to steer clear of her." + + + + +CHAPTER II--ALL IN HONOR OF MARY + + +"Be sure not to pack your white lace dress, Lieutenant." Marjorie +delivered this reminder from the open doorway of the pretty blue room +which Mary had so long regarded as her own special nook. + +From a kneeling position before her trunk Mary Raymond turned her head, +her eyes two mournful blue stars. "It's over there," she returned, +nodding somberly toward the bed. "Everything else that had to be packed +is packed. I can put my dress in the last thing to-night. I'm so glad +Connie is home in time to see me off on my journey. I hope she and +Charlie will come over early this afternoon." + +"They will." The blithe assurance held a significance which Mary did not +catch. The shadow of the coming separation now hung more heavily upon +her. Marjorie's cheery reply caused her to wonder vaguely if her chum +would really miss her so very much. The next instant she put the thought +away from her as unworthy. Of course Marjorie would miss her. Still she +could scarcely be blamed if she did not. In spite of the long, happy +summer they had spent together, occasionally the past rose to torture +Mary. + +Packing her effects had been a severe trial. Everything she touched +called forth memories. There was the blue linen frock she had worn on +the morning of her first entrance into Sanford High School. The very +sight of it filled her with remorse. And the dress she had worn on +Christmas Day, when the merciful Flag of Truce had bade a halt to the +hostilities which her own unreasonable jealousy had created. More than +one tear had fallen on the various dainty articles of wearing apparel as +she consigned them to her trunk. She wished above all to be brave and +cheerful, even to the very moment of farewell, but she found it hard to +fight back the terrible feeling of oppression that clutched at her +heart. + +From her position in the doorway, Marjorie had watched Mary for a moment +or two before speaking. She had guessed that the work of packing would +be something of a dolorous labor, which Mary might prefer to perform +alone. At heart she, too, was sad, but in her mind lurked a pleasant +knowledge which for the present Mary did not share. It was this +particular bit of knowledge that made it difficult for her to keep a +sober face as she met Mary's doleful gaze. + +"I'm going to wear white, too," she said brightly. "Captain finished my +new lingerie frock yesterday. As long as you're through packing, why not +get dressed for dinner now? I'm going to, even if it is only three +o'clock. Then when Connie and Charlie come we can take a stroll down to +Sargent's. That is, if we care to." Again her lovely face threatened to +break forth into the smiles. + +"All right." Mary's acquiescence came rather listlessly. Rising from the +floor she began somewhat spiritless preparations toward making ready to +receive the expected guests. + +"I'm going to my house now to put on my costliest raiment." Flashing a +mischievous glance toward Mary, Marjorie disappeared from the doorway +and tripped down the hall. Once inside her "house," as she had +whimsically named her pink and white room, she executed a gleeful little +dance for her own benefit. "She doesn't suspect a thing," was her +jubilant comment. + +But while the two girls were engaged in arraying themselves to do honor +to Constance, a most peculiar state of affairs was in progress +downstairs. Through the wide flung hall door, one after another flitted +a mysterious procession of girls, moving with the noiseless tread of a +flock of ghosts. Their bright-eyed, smiling faces and gala attire, +however, marked them as being particularly human. One of the seven +specters bore a strong resemblance to Mary herself, and the diminutive +black-eyed sprite she led by the hand seemed on the verge of breaking +forth into an ecstatic flow of joyful sounds. + +Apparently, Mrs. Dean had also been suddenly bereft of speech. Only her +twinkling eyes and smiling lips gave sign of just how greatly welcome +were her silent guests. Ushering them into the living room she nodded +brightly, laid a warning finger to her lips and softly withdrew, pulling +together the silken portieres. A half-smothered giggle, to which no +self-respecting ghost would have stooped to give utterance, followed +her. Then profound stillness reigned within. + +"Are you ready, Mary?" A bewitching, brown-eyed vision in white pranced +in upon Mary as she was slowly adjusting the soft loops of her wide, +white ribbon sash. "Let me tie your sash." Marjorie's nimble fingers set +themselves to work. "There you are. You do look so perfectly sweet in +white. Now smile and say prettily, 'Thank you for them kind words, Miss +Marjorie.' That's what Delia always says when she dresses up and I tell +her how fine she looks." + +Marjorie's buoyant spirits were so irresistible as to bring the coveted +light into Mary's mournful eyes. "Forward, march! Here we go." Seizing +Mary gently by the shoulders she marched her down the hall to the +stairway. "Break ranks," she ordered. "The gallant regiment can't afford +to tumble downstairs." + +"Halt!" came the order, as Mary reached the lower hall a step ahead of +her commander. "We will now make an invasion on the living room. Two's +right, march!" + +Mary obediently marched. Of her own accord she came to an abrupt halt. +"Oh!" she gasped. Her amazed exclamation was drowned in a chorus of +gleeful shouts as seven very lively apparitions closed in around her. + +"Charlie never said a word!" shrieked a high, triumphant voice. "We +comed to see you. Hooray!" A small, joyful figure hurled itself straight +into Mary's arms. She stooped and hugged him close, her golden head bent +to the youngster's. Straightening, she glimpsed the affectionate circle +of girls through a mist of unbidden tears. "I'm so glad and so surprised +to see all of you," she faltered. "And you knew it all the time!" She +caught Marjorie's hand. + +"Of course I knew it. Now we are even. You gave me a surprise party +once, so I thought I'd return the compliment," laughed Marjorie. "I +could hardly keep it to myself, though. Every time I looked at you I +wanted to say, 'Cheer up, the best is yet to come.'" + +"It's a good thing it wasn't long coming," retorted Jerry Macy. "I never +knew how much I liked to talk until I had to keep still." + +"You must have slipped into the house like shadows," declared Mary +happily. Her sad expression had quite vanished with the unexpected honor +that had been done her. She felt that, after all, she held some small +place in the affections of Marjorie's intimate friends, and the cloud of +doubt that had obsessed her rolled away. + +"We did do that arriving stunt rather well," was Harriet Delaney's +complacent comment. "Of course, Susie giggled. We expected she would, +though. The rest of us were above reproach." + +"No wonder I giggled," defended Susan Atwell. "If you had been the last +one in line you'd have laughed, too. You girls looked as if you were +trying to walk on eggshells, and when Jerry crossed the room in about +three steps, it was too much for me." Susan's cheerful chuckle broke +forth anew and went the rounds. + +"Well, children, what is your pleasure?" inquired Marjorie. "Shall we +stay here, or sit on the veranda, or establish ourselves in the pagoda, +or what?" + +"The pagoda for mine," decided Jerry, "provided the rest of you are of +the same mind. We can sit in a circle and tell sad stories of the deaths +of kings, etc. All those in favor of this lively pastime please say +'Aye;' contrary, keep quiet." + +"Aye," came the willing response. + +"What for is 'Aye?'" calmly demanded Charlie Stevens of Mary, to whom he +had immediately attached himself. + +"Oh, it means that Charlie can go out with us to the summer house and +have a nice time, if he would like to," explained Mary. + +"Charlie don't want to," was the frank response. "Where's Delia?" Fond +recollections of frequent visits to the Dean kitchen, invariably +productive of toothsome gifts, lurked in the foreground. "Delia likes to +see me." + +"You mean you like to see Delia," laughed Constance. "But you know you +came to see Mrs. Dean and Marjorie and Mary," she reminded. + +"I've seen them. Now I have to see Delia." + +"Delia wins the day," smiled Mrs. Dean. "You are all jilted. Very well, +Charlie, you and I will pay our respects to Delia. Come on." She +stretched forth an inviting hand to the little boy, who accepted it +joyfully, and trotted off with her to invade good-natured Delia's +domain. + +"As long as our one cavalier has been lured away from us by Delia we +might as well try to console one another," laughed Marjorie. + +"He's growing terribly spoiled," apologized Constance. "My aunt adores +him and thinks he must have everything he asks for. He's a good little +boy, though, in spite of all the petting he gets." + +"He's a perfect darling," dimpled Susan Atwell. "He says such quaint, +funny things. Has he ever tried to run away since the night of the +operetta?" + +"No." Constance made brief reply. Her gaze wandered to Mary Raymond, who +was talking busily with Harriet Delaney and Esther Lind. The vision of a +fair-haired, blue-eyed girl, leading a small run-away up to the stage +door of the theatre rose before her. Next to Marjorie Dean, Mary ranked +second in her heart. Constance felt suddenly very humble in the +possession of two such wonderful friends. Life had been kinder to her +than she deserved was her grateful thought. + +Susan eyed her curiously. Although she was very fond of Constance, she +did not in the least understand her. Now she said rather timidly, "I +hope you didn't mind because I spoke of the operetta and Charlie's +running away, Connie?" + +Constance promptly came out of her day-dream. "You brought it all back +to me," she smiled. "I was just wondering what I'd ever done to deserve +such friends as I've made here in Sanford. I can't bear to think that +Mary won't be with us this year." + +Before Susan could reply, Jerry interrupted them with, "Come along, +girls. The sooner we get settled the longer we'll have to talk." + +It was a merry, light-hearted band that strolled out of the house and +across the lawn to the honeysuckle-draped pagoda, situated at the far +end of the velvety stretch of green. Mary and Marjorie brought up the +rear, their arms piled high with bright-hued cushions, and the guests +soon disposed themselves on the bench built circular fashion around the +pagoda, or sought the comfort of the several wicker chairs. + +Brought together again after more than two months' separation, a busy +wagging of tongues was in order, mingled with the ready laughter that +high-spirited youth alone knows. Everyone had something interesting to +tell of her vacation and rejoiced accordingly in the telling. Father +Time flew in his fleetest fashion, but no one of the group paid the +slightest attention to the fact. From vacation, the conversation +gradually drifted into school channels and a lively discussion of junior +plans ensued. + +"By the way, girls," remarked Jerry Macy with the careless assumption of +casualty which was her favorite method of procedure when about to retail +some amazing bit of news. "Did you know that Miss Archer almost decided +to resign her position at Sanford High for one in Chicago?" + +"Of course _we_ didn't know it, and _you_ know we didn't," laughed Susan +Atwell. "Whenever Jerry begins with 'By the way,' and tries to look +innocent you may know she has something startling to offer." + +"Where on earth do you pick up all your news, Jerry?" asked Constance +Stevens. "You always seem to know everything about everybody." + +"Oh, it just happens to come my way," grinned Jerry. "I heard about Miss +Archer from my father. He's just been elected to the Board of +Education." + +"She isn't really going to leave Sanford High, is she, Jerry?" An +anxious frown puckered Marjorie's smooth forehead. She hated to think of +high school without Miss Archer. + +"No. At first she thought she would, but afterward she decided that +she'd rather stay here. She told father that she had grown so fond of +the dear old school she couldn't bear to leave it. I'm certainly glad +she's not going to resign. If she did we might have kind, delightful +Miss Merton for a principal. Then--_good night_!" Jerry relapsed into +slang to emphasize her disgust of such a possibility. + +"I shouldn't like that," Marjorie remarked bluntly. "Still, I can't help +feeling a little bit sorry for Miss Merton. She shuts out all the +bright, pleasant things in life and just sticks to the disagreeable +ones. Sometimes I wonder if she was ever young or had ever been happy." + +"She's been a regular Siberian crab-apple ever since I can remember," +grumbled Jerry. "Why, when I was a kidlet in knee skirts she was the +terror of Sanford High. I guess she must have been crossed in love about +a hundred years ago." Jerry giggled a trifle wickedly. + +"She was," affirmed quiet Irma with a smile, "but not a hundred years +ago. I never knew it until this summer." + +"Here is something I don't seem to know about," satirized Jerry. "How +did that happen, I wonder?" + +"Don't keep us in suspense, Irma," implored Muriel Harding. "If Miss +Merton ever had a love affair it's your duty to tell us about it. I +can't imagine such an impossibility. Did it happen here in Sanford? How +did you come to hear of it?" + +A circle of eager faces were turned expectantly toward Irma. "My aunt, +whom I visited this summer, told me about it," she began. "She lived in +Sanford when she was a girl and knew Miss Merton then. They went to +school together. There were no high schools then; just an academy for +young men and women. Miss Merton was really a pretty girl. She had pink +cheeks and bright eyes and beautiful, heavy, dark hair. She had a +sister, too, who wasn't a bit pretty. + +"They were very quiet girls who hardly ever went to parties and never +paid much attention to the boys they knew in Sanford. When Miss Merton +was about eighteen and her sister twenty-one, a handsome young naval +officer came to visit some friends in Sanford on a furlough. He was +introduced to both sisters, and called on them two or three times. They +lived with their father in that little house on Sycamore Street where +Miss Merton still lives. The young ensign's furlough was nearly over +when he met them, so he didn't have much time to get well acquainted +with them. The night before he went away he asked Miss Merton if he +might write to her and she said 'Yes.'" + +"Some story," cut in Jerry. "And did he write?" + +"Don't interrupt me, Jeremiah," reproved Irma. "Yes, he wrote, but----" + +"Miss Merton never got the letter," supplemented the irrepressible +Jerry. "That's the way it always happens in books." + +"All right. You may tell the rest of it," teased Irma, her eyes +twinkling. + +"Someone please smother Jerry's head in a sofa cushion, so she can't +interrupt," pleaded Harriet. + +"Try it," challenged Jerry. "Excuse me, Irma. I solemnly promise to +behave like a clam. On with the miraculous, marvelous memoirs of +meritorious Miss Merton." + +"Where was I? Oh, yes. The young ensign wrote, as he thought, to Miss +Merton, but in some way he had confused the two sisters' first names. So +he wrote to Alice Merton, her sister, instead, thinking it was our Miss +Merton." + +"How awful! The very idea! What a dreadful mistake!" came from the +highly interested listeners. + +"The sister was delighted because she liked the ensign a lot and thought +he didn't care much about her. You can imagine how Miss Merton felt. She +never said a word to anyone then about his asking her if he might write. +She thought he had just been flirting with her when really he had fallen +in love with her. Then his ship went on a trip around the world, but he +kept on writing to the sister, and at last he asked her to marry him. So +they were engaged and he sent her a beautiful diamond ring. They planned +to be married when he received his next furlough. But when he came to +Sanford to claim his bride, he found that he had made a terrible +mistake." + +"What did he do then?" chorused half a dozen awed voices. + +"Oh, he made the best of it and married the sister," Irma replied with a +shrug. "I suppose he felt that he couldn't very well do anything else. +Perhaps he didn't have the courage to. But one day before his wedding he +went to the house and found Miss Merton alone. She had been crying and +he felt so sorry that he tried to find out what was the matter. Somehow +they came to an understanding, but it was too late. Three or four years +after that he was drowned during a storm at sea. Miss Merton never quite +got over it all, and it changed her disposition, I guess." + +"What a sad story." Constance Stevens' blue eyes were soft with +sympathy. + +"That makes Miss Merton seem like a different person, doesn't it?" +Marjorie thoughtfully knitted her brows. + +"I suppose that is why she acts as though she hated young people," +offered Mary. "We probably remind her of her cheated youth." + +"She should have been particular enough to let that stupid ensign know +that she was she," criticized practical Jerry. "I'm glad I haven't a +sister. There's no danger of any future aspirant for my hand and heart +getting me mixed with Hal." + +The sentimental shadow cast upon the group by Irma's romantic tale +disappeared in a gale of laughter. + +"Honestly, Jerry Macy, you haven't the least idea of romance," giggled +Susan. "Here Irma tells us a real love story and you spoil it all about +a minute afterward." + +"Can't help it," asserted Jerry stoutly. "I have to say what I think." + +"Oh, here come Captain and Charlie," cried Marjorie, sighting a gracious +figure in white descending the steps with Charlie in tow. "That means +dinner is about to be served, children. Our farewell feast to Lieutenant +Mary Raymond." + + + + +CHAPTER III--THE SHIELD OF VALOR + + +A chorus of ohs and ahs ascended as the guests filed into a dining room, +the decoration of which spelled Patriotism in large capitals. In honor +of the pretty soldier play to which she and Mary had so long clung, +Marjorie had decreed that the dinner should be a patriotic affair so far +as decorations went. The walls of the large, attractive room were +plentifully festooned with red, white and blue bunting. Flags were in +evidence everywhere. From the center of the large oak table a large doll +dressed as Uncle Sam held gallantly aloft the tri-colored ribbons that +extended to each place. On one side of him stood a smaller doll dressed +in the khaki uniform of the United States soldier. On the other, a +valiant Jackie stood guard. At each cover was a small soldier doll and +the place cards were tiny, folded, silk flags, each guest's name written +in one of the stripes of white uppermost. + +Mary occupied the seat of honor at the head of the table, with Marjorie +at her right and Constance at her left. But at the departing +Lieutenant's place rose an amazing pile of tissue-paper wrapped, +beribboned bundles that smacked of Christmas. + +"Company, attention," called Mrs. Dean from the foot of the table, the +instant the party had seated themselves. "Lieutenant Raymond, you are +ordered to inspect your wealth before mess." + +"I--oh----" stammered the abashed Lieutenant, regarding said "wealth" in +stupefaction. "All those things are not really for _me_!" + +"Open them and see," directed Marjorie, her face radiant with unselfish +happiness. "Every one of them holds an original poetic message. None of +us knows what the other wrote. You are to read them in a loud voice and +satisfy our curiosity. Now hurry up and begin." + +Under a battery of smiling faces, Mary slowly undid a good-sized square +bundle. With slightly shaking fingers she drew forth a white box. When +opened it displayed several sizes of note paper and envelopes bearing +her monogram in silver. Picking up a card she steadied her voice and +read: + + "You say, of course, 'I'll surely write,' + But when you've traveled out of sight, + This nice white box may then remind you + Of Jerry Macy, far behind you." + +"I truly will write you, Jerry. Thank you." Mary beamed affectionately +on the stout girl. "It's a lovely present, and my own monogram, too." + +"See that you do," nodded Jerry gruffly. She loved to give, but she did +not relish being thanked. + +"Next," smilingly ordered Marjorie. "If you don't hurry and open them, +we shall all starve." + +The next package disclosed a dainty little leather combination purse and +vanity case from Muriel Harding with the succinct advice: + + "Don't lose your ticket or your money, + To be stone broke is far from funny. + When wicked cinders seek your eye, + Consult your mirror on the sly." + +After Muriel had been thanked and her practical, poetic advice lauded, +Mary went on with her delightful investigation. An oblong bundle turned +out to be a box of nut chocolates from Susan, who offered: + + "In time of homesick tribulation, + Turn to this toothsome consolation. + To eat it up will be amusin'---- + Here's sweet farewell from giggling Susan." + +"Giggling Susan's" effort brought forth a ripple of giggles from all +sides. + +"That's my present," squealed Charlie, as Mary fingered a tiny package +ornamented with a huge red bow. "It's a----" + +"Shh!" warned Constance, placing prompt fingers on the too-willing lips. + +Mary cast the child a tender glance as she glimpsed a tiny leather +violin case, partially obscured by a card. In this instance it was Uncle +John Roland who had played poet, after receiving Charlie's somewhat +garbled instructions regarding the sentiment. + +"Say it s'loud as you can," commanded the excited youngster. + +Mary complied, reading in a purposely loud tone that must have been +intensely gratifying to the diminutive giver: + + "Once when away from home I ranned + To play my fiddle in the band, + You comed and finded me, 'n then + I never ranned away again. + So now I'm always nice and good + An' do as Connie says I should, + And 'cause you're going to run away + You'd better write to me some day! + Inside the little fiddle box + There is a fountain pen that talks + On paper--it's for you from me, + The great musishun; your friend, C." + +As Mary read the last line she slipped from her place to Charlie and +kissed the gleeful, upturned face. "You darling boy," she quavered. +"Mary won't forget to write." + +"Mine's the best of all," observed Charlie with modest frankness, as he +enthusiastically returned the kiss. + +Back in her place again, Mary finished the affectionate inspection of +the tokens her friends had taken so much pleasure in giving. There was a +book from Harriet, a folded metal drinking cup in a leather case from +Esther Lind, a hand-embroidered pin and needle case from Irma, a pair of +soft, dark-blue leather slippers from Constance, and a wonderful +Japanese silk kimono from Mrs. Dean. The remembrances had all been +selected as first aids to Mary during her long journey across the +country. With each one went a humorous verse, composed with more or less +effort on the part of the givers. + +But one package now remained to be opened. Its diminutive size and shape +hinted that it might have come from the jeweler's. Mary knew it to be +Marjorie's farewell token to her. She would have liked to examine it in +private. She was almost sure that she was going to cry. She thrust back +the inclination, however, flashing a tender, wavering smile at her chum +as she untied the silver cord that bound the box. It bore the name of a +Sanford jeweler and when the lid was off revealed a round, gold +monogrammed locket, gleaming dully against its pale blue silk bed. In a +tiny circular groove of the box was a fine-grained gold chain. + +Mary's changeful face registered many emotions as she took the locket in +her hands and stared at it in silence. Acting on a swift, overwhelming +impulse she sprang mutely from her chair and rushed out of the room. +Marjorie half rose from her place, then sat down again. "Lieutenant will +come back soon," she said fondly. "She hasn't really deserted from the +army, she's only taken a tiny leave of absence. I remember just how I +felt when some of the boys and girls of Franklin High gave me a surprise +party. That was the night this came to me." She patted the butterfly pin +that had figured so prominently in her freshman year at Sanford. "I +almost cried like a baby. I remember that the whole table blurred while +Mary was making a speech to me about my beautiful pin." Marjorie talked +on with the kindly object of centering the guests' attention on herself +until Mary should return. + +Meanwhile, in the living room Mary Raymond was engaged in the double +task of trying to suppress her tears and open the locket at the same +time. Her eyes brimming, she worked at the refractory gold catch with +insistent fingers. Opened at last, she beheld Marjorie's lovely face +smiling out at her. On the inside of the upper half of the locket was +engraved, "Mary from Marjorie." Below was the beautiful Spanish phrase, +"_Para siempre_," literally translated, "for always," but meaning +"forever." + +Within a brief space of time, following her flight, the runaway +reappeared, her eyelids slightly pink. "I hope you will all pardon me," +she apologized prettily. "I--I--couldn't help it. You've been so sweet to +me. I can't ever thank you as you deserve to be thanked for giving me so +many lovely things; the very ones I shall need most when I'm traveling. +I am sure you must know how dear you all are to me; dearer even than my +Franklin High friends. I hope each one of you will write to me. I'll +truly try hard not only to be a good correspondent, but always to be +worthy of your friendship." + +Mary's earnest words met ready responses of good fellowship from those +whom she had once scorned. Everything was so different now. The new Mary +Raymond was an entire opposite to the sullen-faced young person who had +once flouted all overtures of friendship on the part of Marjorie's +particular cronies. Beyond an eloquent hand clasp and, "My picture +locket is wonderful, Lieutenant. Thank you over and over," Mary had +reserved further expression of her appreciation until the two chums +should be entirely by themselves. + +The delightful dinner ended with a general distribution of fancy cracker +bon-bons, which the guests snapped open with a will, to find cunning +caps representing the flags of various nations. They donned these with +alacrity and trooped into the living room for an evening of stunts in +which music played an important part. Constance lifted up her exquisite +voice untiringly, weaving her magic spell about her eager listeners. +Jerry sang a comic song, mostly off the key, merely to prove the +impossibility of her vocal powers. Charlie Stevens, who had trustfully +tugged his faithful fiddle along, insisted on rendering a solo of +anguishing shrieks and squawks, assuming the majestic mien of a +virtuoso. He took himself so seriously that no one dared laugh, although +the desire to do so was throttled with difficulty. Susan was prevailed +upon to perform a scarf dance, her one accomplishment, using a strip of +red, white and blue bunting with graceful effect. Harriet Delaney also +sang a ballad, and Esther Lind offered a beautiful Swedish folk song she +had learned from her father, who had sung it as a boy in far-off +Scandinavia. When the small repertoire of soloists had been exhausted, +everyone turned to with Constance at the piano, and made the living room +ring with school songs. + +Just before the farewell party broke up the door bell rang. Its loud, +insistent peal brought a significant exchange of glances, in which Mary +alone did not share. Mrs. Dean hurried into the hall. A moment and she +returned to the living room, escorting Delia, whose broad, homely face +was wreathed in smiles. She advanced toward Mary, holding out a goodly +sheaf of letters. "Special delivery, Miss Mary," she announced. "May yez +have many of the same." She made a little bobbing bow as Mary took them, +bestowed a friendly grin on the company and waddled out. + +"I don't understand." Mary seemed overcome by this fresh surprise. "Are +they all for me?" + +"They're your railway comforts, Lieutenant," laughed Marjorie. "There's +a letter from each of us. You can read one a day. There are enough to +reach to Denver and a few thrown in to cure the blues after you get +there. So you see we won't let you forget us." + +"It's the nicest reminder I could possibly have. I don't need a single +thing to make me remember you, though. You're all here in my heart to +stay as long as I live." Mary had never appeared more sweetly appealing +than she now looked, as her clear tones voiced her inner sentiments. + +"You're a nice girl," approved Charlie Stevens. "If I ever grow to be's +tall's you, Mary Raymond, I'll be married to you and you can play in the +band, too. Uncle John'll buy you a fiddle." + +This calm disposal of Mary's future drove sentiment to the winds. +Unconsciously, little Charlie had sounded a merry note just in time to +lift the pall which is always bound to hang over a company devoted to +the saying of farewells. + +At eleven o'clock Mary and Marjorie accompanied their guests to the +gate, the latter avowing their intention to be at the station the +following morning to see Mary off on her journey. The two girls strolled +back to the house, under the stars, their arms entwined about each +other's waists. + +"We had a beautiful evening, Lieutenant. How I wish General could have +been here. I hate to go away without saying good-bye to him," sighed +Mary. + +"I'm sorry, too. I wish he could always be at home. He has to be away +from Sanford and home so much." Marjorie echoed Mary's sigh. +Brightening, she said: "I've another dear surprise for you, though. Come +up to my house and I'll give it to you. It's his farewell message. He +wanted you to have it the very last thing to-night." + +"We are going upstairs, Captain," called Mary, as they passed through +the living room. "Want to come?" + +"Later," returned Mrs. Dean. She was too good a commander to intrude +upon the last precious moments of confidence her little army still had +left to them. + +Marjorie marched Mary to the pink and white window seat and playfully +ordered, "Sit down and fold your hands like a nice, obedient lieutenant. +Shut your eyes and don't open them until I say so." + +Tripping gleefully to the chiffonier she opened the top drawer, bringing +forth a small package and a square white envelope. Tucking them into +Mary's folded hands she said, "First you may open your eyes; then you +must open your presents. I haven't the least idea what's in the package +or what the letter says. General mailed them to me from Boston." + +Two pairs of eyes, bright with affectionate curiosity, bent themselves +eagerly on the little quaintly enameled box, which Mary hastily +unwrapped. "Oh!" was the concerted exclamation. On a white satin pad lay +an exquisitely dainty gold pin. It was in the form of a shield. Across +the top winked three small jewels set in a row, a ruby, a diamond and a +sapphire. + +"'Three cheers for the red, white and blue,'" sang Marjorie, dropping +down beside Mary and hugging her enthusiastically. "Do read the letter, +Lieutenant. We'll rave about this cunning pin afterward. Oh, I forgot. +Perhaps General didn't mean me to know what he wrote." + +"Of course he did," flung back Mary loyally. "We'll read it together." +Tearing open the envelope, she unfolded the letter and read aloud: + + "Beloved Lieutenant: + + "You are going away to a far country on a long hike, and, as it is + the duty of every good general to look to the welfare of his + soldiers, I am sending you the magic Shield of Valor to protect you + in time of need. It is a token of honor for a brave lieutenant who + fought a memorable battle and won the victory against heavy odds. It + is a magic shield, in that it offers protection only to the soldier + who has met and worsted the giant, Self. It was wrought from the + priceless metal of Golden Deeds and set with the eyes of Endurance, + Truth and Constancy. No enemy, however deadly, can prevail against + it. It is a talisman, the wearing of which must bring Honor and + Peace. + + "Dear little comrade, may happiness visit you in your new barracks. + Let the bugle call 'On duty' find you marching head up, colors + flying, until 'Taps' sounds at the close of each busy day. Though + you have answered the call to a new post, your general hopes with + all his heart that you will some day hurry back to your regiment in + Sanford to receive the sword of captaincy and the enthusiastic + welcome of your brother officers. May all good go with you. + + "Loyally, + "General Dean." + +Mary's voice trailed away into a silence that outrivaled mere speech. +The two girls sat staring at the jeweled token before them as though +fearing to break the spell their general's message had evoked. + +"Isn't it queer?" came from Mary, "I don't feel a bit like crying. When +all the nice things happened to me downstairs I wanted to cry. But this +letter and my wonderful Shield of Valor make me feel different; as +though I'd like to march out and conquer the world!" + +Marjorie's red lips curved into a tender smile as she took the pin from +the box and fastened it in the folds of lace where Mary's gown fell away +at the throat. "That's because it is a true talisman," she reminded +softly. "We never knew when long ago we played being soldiers just for +fun that we were only getting ready to be soldiers in earnest." + + + + +CHAPTER IV--THE NEW SECRETARY + + +"I'm ready to go to school, Captain!" Marjorie Dean popped her curly +head into the living room. "Is the note ready, too? It's simply dear in +you to give me a chance to call on Miss Archer." + +"Just a moment." Mrs. Dean hastily addressed an envelope and slipped +into it the note she had just finished writing. "I could mail it, I +suppose, but I thought you might like to play special messenger," she +observed, handing Marjorie the note. + +"It was a glorious thought," laughed Marjorie. "I wanted to see Miss +Archer yesterday, but I didn't like to go to her office on the very +first day without a good excuse. Do I look nice, Captain?" she inquired +archly. + +"You know you do, vain child." Mrs. Dean surveyed the dainty figure of +her daughter with pardonable pride. "That quaint flowered organdie frock +exactly suits you. Now salute your captain and hurry along. I don't care +to have you tardy on my account." + +Marjorie embraced her mother in her usual tempestuous fashion and went +skipping out of the house and down the stone walk with the joyous +abandon of a little girl. Once the gate had swung behind her she dropped +into a more decorous gait as she hurried along the wide, shady street +toward school. "Oh, goodness!" she murmured. When within two blocks of +the high school building she glimpsed the City Hall clock. Its huge, +black hands pointed to five minutes to nine. "I'll have to run for it," +was her dismayed reflection. "If I hurry, I can make it. I won't have +time to put my hat in my new junior locker, though." + +Decorum now discarded, Marjorie set off on a brisk run that brought her +into the locker room at precisely one minute to nine. Hastily depositing +her dainty rose-trimmed leghorn on a convenient window ledge, she ran up +the basement stairs to the study hall, gaining the seat assigned to her +the previous day just as the nine o'clock bell clanged forth its +warning. She smiled rather contemptuously as she noted the disapproving +glance Miss Merton flung in her direction. She had escaped a scolding by +virtue of a few brief seconds. + +"_She_ hasn't changed a bit," was Marjorie's inward judgment, as she +turned her gaze upon the rows of students; called together again to +continue their earnest march along the road of education. Her heart +thrilled with pride as she noted how few vacant seats the great study +hall held. The freshman class was unusually large. She noticed there +were a number of girls she had never before seen. It looked, too, as +though none of last year's freshmen had dropped out of school. As for +the juniors, they were all present, even to Mignon La Salle. But how +decidedly grown-up the French girl looked! Her black curls were arranged +in an ultra-fashionable knot at the back of her head that made her +appear several years older than she really was. Her gown, too, an +elaborate affair of sage green pongee, with wide bands of heavy +insertion, added to her years. She looked very little like a school girl +Marjorie thought. + +Lost in contemplation of the new Mignon, she was rudely reminded of the +fact that she was staring by Mignon herself. Their eyes meeting, Mignon +made a face at Marjorie by way of expressing her candid opinion of the +girl she disliked. Marjorie colored and hastily looked away, amused +rather than angry at this display of childishness. It hardly accorded +with her grown-up air. She had not realized that she had been guilty of +staring. Her mind was intent on trying to recall something she had heard +in connection with the French girl that now eluded her memory. Shrugging +her shoulders she dismissed it as a matter of small consequence. + +As the members of the four classes were still vacillating between which +subjects to take up and which to exclude from their programs of study, +classes that morning were to mean a mere business of assembling in the +various recitation rooms, there to receive the first instructions from +the special teachers before settling down to the usual routine of +lessons. + +For her junior program, Marjorie had decided upon third year French, +English Literature, Caesar's Commentaries and civil government. As she +had recently begun piano lessons, she had wisely concluded that, with +piano practice, four subjects would keep her sufficiently busy. Her +interest in music had developed as a result of her association with +Constance Stevens. She yearned to be able some day to accompany +Constance's beautiful voice on the piano. Mrs. Dean had long deplored +the fact that Marjorie was not interested in becoming at least a fair +pianist. Herself a musician of considerable skill, she believed it a +necessary accomplishment for girls and was delighted when Marjorie had +announced that she wished to begin lessons on the piano. + +By reciting English literature during the first period of the morning +and French the second, the last period before noon was hers for study. +Civil government and Caesar recitations the first two periods of the +afternoon left her the last hour of that session free. She had always +tried to arrange her subjects to gain that coveted afternoon period, and +now she felt especially pleased at being able to also reserve the last +period of the morning for study. + +It was while she sat in her old place in French class, listening to the +obsequiously polite adjurations of Professor Fontaine, that she +remembered the still undelivered note from her mother to Miss Archer. +"I'm a faithless messenger," was her rueful thought. "I'll hurry to Miss +Archer's office with Captain's note the minute class is over." +Contritely patting a fold of her lace-trimmed blouse where she had +tucked the letter for safe-keeping, Marjorie gave strict attention to +the earnestly-exhorting instructor. + +"Eet ees een thees class that we shall read the great works of the +incomparable French awthors," he announced with an impressive roll of +r's. "Eet ees of a truth necessary that you should become familiar weeth +them. You moost, therefore, stoody your lessons and be thus always +preepaired. Eet ees sad when my pupeels come to me with so many fleemsy +excuses. Thees year I shall nevaire accept them. I most eenseest that +you preepaire each day the lesson for the next." + +Marjorie smiled to herself. The long-suffering professor was forever +preaching a preparedness, which it never fell to his lot to see +diligently practised by the majority of his pupils. Personally, she +could not be classed among the guilty. Her love of the musical language +kept her interest in it unflagging, thereby making her one of the +professor's most dependable props. + +The recitation over, she paused to greet the odd little man, who +received her with delight, warmly shaking her hand. "Eet ees a grand +plaisir thus to see you again, Mees Marjorie," he declared. "Ah, I am +assured that you at least weel nevaire say 'oonpreepaired.'" + +"I'll try not to. I'm ever so glad to see you, too, Professor Fontaine." +After a brief exchange of pleasantries she left the class room a trifle +hurriedly and set off to call on Miss Archer. + +Entering the spacious living-room office, she was forcibly reminded that +Marcia Arnold's high school days had ended on the previous June. The +pretty room was quite deserted. Marjorie sighed as she glanced toward +the vacant chair, drawn under the closed desk that had been Marcia's. +How much she would miss her old friend. Since that day long past on +which they had come to an understanding, she and Marcia had found much +in common. Marjorie sighed regretfully, wondering who Miss Archer's next +secretary would be. + +As there was no one about to announce her, she walked slowly toward the +half-closed door of the inner office. Pausing just outside, she peeped +in. Her eyes widened with surprise as she caught sight of an unfamiliar +figure. A tall, very attractive young woman stood before the principal's +desk, busily engaged in the perusal of a printed sheet of paper which +she held in her hand. It looked as though Miss Archer had already +secured someone in Marcia's place. + +"May I come in, please?" Marjorie asked sweetly, halting in the doorway. + +The girl at the desk uttered a faint exclamation. The paper she held +fluttered to the desk. A wave of color dyed her exquisitely tinted skin +as she turned a pair of large, startled, black eyes upon the intruder. +For a second the two girls eyed each other steadily. Marjorie conceived +a curious impression that she had seen this stranger before, yet it was +too vague to convey to her the slightest knowledge of the other's +identity. + +"You are Miss Archer's new secretary, are you not?" she asked frankly. +"You can tell me, perhaps, where to find her. I have a note to deliver +to her personally." + +A quick shade of relief crossed the other girl's suddenly flushing face. +Smiling in self-possessed fashion, she said, "Miss Archer will not be +back directly. I cannot tell you when she will return." + +"I think I'll wait here for her," decided Marjorie. "I have no +recitation this period." + +The stranger's arched brows arched themselves a trifle higher. "As you +please," she returned indifferently. She again turned her attention to +the papers on the desk. + +Seating herself on the wide oak bench, Marjorie took speculative stock +of the new secretary. "What a stunning girl," was her mental opinion. +"She's dressed rather too well for a secretary, though," flashed across +her as she noted the smart gown of white china silk, the very cut of +which pointed to the work of a high-priced modiste. "I suppose she's +getting examination papers ready for the new pupils. I wonder why she +doesn't sit down." + +As she thus continued to cogitate regarding the stranger, the girl +frowned deeply at another paper she had picked up and swung suddenly +about. "Are you just entering high school?" she asked with direct +abruptness. + +"Oh, no." Marjorie smilingly shook her head. "I am a junior." + +"Are you?" The stranger again lost herself in puzzled contemplation of +the paper. Hearing an approaching footfall she made a quick move toward +the center of the office, raising her eyes sharply to greet a girl who +had come in quest of Miss Archer. Promptly disposing of the seeker, she +returned to her task. Several times after that she was interrupted by +the entrance of various students, whom she received coolly and dismissed +with, "Not here. I don't know when Miss Archer will return." Marjorie +noted idly that with every fresh arrival, the young woman continued to +move well away from the desk. + +Marjorie watched her in fascination. She was undoubtedly beautiful in a +strangely bold fashion, but apparently very cold and self-centered. She +had received the students who had entered the office with a brusqueness +that bordered on discourtesy. Two or three of them, whom Marjorie knew, +had greeted her in friendly fashion, at the same time mutely questioning +with uplifted brows as to whom this stranger might be. + +"This problem in quadratic equations is a terror," the girl at the desk +suddenly remarked, her finger pointing to a row of algebraic symbols on +the paper she was still clutching. "Algebra's awfully hard, isn't it?" + +"I always liked it," returned Marjorie, glad of a chance to break the +silence. "What is the problem?" + +"Come here," ordered the other girl. "I don't call _that_ an easy +problem. Do you?" + +Marjorie rose and approached the desk. The stranger handed her the +paper, indexing the vexatious problem. + +"Oh, that's not so very hard," was Marjorie's light response. + +"Can you work it out?" came the short inquiry, a note of suppressed +eagerness in the questioner's voice. + +"Why, I suppose so. Can't you?" + +"I was trying it before you came in just for fun. I've forgotten my +algebra, I guess. I don't believe I got the right result. It's rather +good practice to review, isn't it?" + +"She must be a senior," sprang to Marjorie's mind. Aloud, she agreed +that it was. "I ought not to have forgotten my algebra," she added. +"It's only a year since I finished it." + +"See if you think I did this right, will you? I'm curious to know." The +stranger thrust into her hand a second paper, covered with figures. + +Marjorie inspected it, feeling only mildly interested. "No; you made a +mistake here. It goes this way. Have you a pencil?" + +The pencil promptly forthcoming, the obliging junior seated herself at a +nearby table and diligently went to work. So busy was she that she +failed to note the covert glances which her companion sent now and then +toward the door. But, during the brief space of time in which Marjorie +was engaged with the difficult equation, no one came. Altogether she had +not been in the office longer than fifteen minutes. To her it seemed at +least half an hour. + +"Here you are." She tendered the finished work to the other girl, who +seized it eagerly with a brief, "Thank you. I can see where I made my +mistake when I have time to compare the two." With a smile, which +Marjorie thought a trifle patronizing, she carelessly nodded her +gratitude. Laying the printed examination sheet on a pile of similar +papers, she placed a weight upon them and walked gracefully from the +office, taking with her the two sheets of paper, bearing the results of +her own and Marjorie's labor. + +Another fifteen minutes went by. Still no one came, except a student or +two in quest of Miss Archer. Marjorie decided that she would wait no +longer. She would come back again that afternoon, before the second +session opened. It was almost noon. Were she to return to the study hall +just then, it meant to court the caustic rebuke of Miss Merton. The +locker room offered her a temporary refuge. Accordingly, she wended her +steps toward it. + +"Where were you that last period?" demanded Jerry Macy, coming up behind +her as she stood at the mirror adjusting her rose-weighted hat. + +"Oh, Jerry! How you startled me." Marjorie swung about. "I was up in +Miss Archer's office." + +"So soon?" teased Jerry, putting on a shocked expression. "I _am_ +surprised." + +"Don't be so suspicious," responded Marjorie, adopting Jerry's bantering +tone. "I had a note, if you please, from Captain, to deliver to Miss +Archer. I saw the new secretary, too." + +"Humph!" ejaculated Jerry. "You must have only thought you saw her. So +far as I know Miss Archer hasn't secured a secretary yet." + +"But she must have," Marjorie insisted. "There was a tall girl in her +office when I went there. She must surely be the girl to take Marcia's +place, for she was standing at Miss Archer's desk, going over some +papers." + +"That's funny. What did she look like? You said she was tall?" + +"Yes; tall and very pretty. She had big, black eyes and perfectly +gorgeous auburn hair----" Marjorie broke off with a puzzled frown. Her own +words had a curious reminiscent ring. Someone else had said the very +same thing about----Who had said it, and about whom had it been said? + +"Now I know you didn't see Miss Archer's new secretary," cried Jerry in +triumph. "There's only one person that can answer to your description. +She's that Rowena Farnham I told you about, Mignon's side partner. I +told you she was going to enter the sophomore class. She was probably +waiting for Miss Archer herself. She has to try her exams, I suppose." + +"But what was she doing at Miss Archer's desk?" asked Marjorie sharply. +"Why did she answer me and make me think she was the secretary? She told +several other girls that Miss Archer was out!" + +"Search me," replied Jerry inelegantly. "If she's much like Mignon it's +hard to tell what she was up to. Believe me, they're a precious pair of +trouble-makers and don't you forget it." + +"I ought to have recognized her," faltered Marjorie. A curious sense of +dread had stolen over her. "Don't you remember Mary described her almost +as I did just now, that day you came to see us, when first you got back +to Sanford?" + +"Well, nobody's going to kill you because you didn't, are they?" +inquired Jerry with a grin. "What's the matter? What makes you look so +solemn?" + +"Oh, I was just wondering," evaded Marjorie. Outwardly only slightly +ruffled, tumult raged within. She had begun to see clearly what had +hitherto been obscure and the revelation was a severe shock. All she +could hope was that what she now strongly suspected might not, after +all, be true. + + + + +CHAPTER V--A STORMY INTERVIEW + + +Marjorie returned to school that afternoon in a most perturbed state of +mind, occasioned by Jerry Macy's identification of Rowena Farnham as the +girl whom she had assisted in the working out of the problem in +quadratic equations. She was now almost certain that she had unwittingly +assisted in a most dishonest enterprise. If the papers on Miss Archer's +desk comprised the trial examination to sophomore estate, then Rowena +had no doubt been guilty of tampering with what should concern her only +at the moment when the test began. If they were the sophomore +examination papers, why had Miss Archer left them thus exposed on her +desk? And now what was she, Marjorie, to do about it? She felt that when +she delivered her mother's note to Miss Archer, she ought to inform the +principal of what had occurred during her absence. Yet she hated to do +this. It was tale bearing. Besides, her suspicions might prove +unfounded. + +She was still juggling the trying situation when she entered Miss +Archer's office to deliver her captain's note. Should she speak of it or +not? The fact that Miss Archer was now accessible but extremely busy, +with several girls occupying the office benches, caused her to put off +her decision for a time. She stopped only long enough to receive a +kindly welcome from the principal and to perform her mission as +messenger. Then she went dejectedly to her recitation in civil +government, wondering resentfully if the event of the morning was the +beginning of an unpleasant year. + +By a determined effort of will, Marjorie put the whole thing aside to +attend strictly to her recitations. But during the study hour that +preceded dismissal for the day, a way of settling the difficulty +presented itself to her. It was not an agreeable way, but her +straightforward soul welcomed it as a means toward settlement. She was +resolved to seek Rowena Farnham and learn the truth. The question of +where to find her was next to be considered. She had not yet made an +appearance into the study hall. Doubtless she was in the little +recitation room on the second floor that was seldom used except in the +case of pupils with special examinations to try. Marjorie mused darkly +as to whether the problem she had obligingly solved would figure in +Rowena's algebra paper. + +Half-past three saw Marjorie on her way to the locker room, keeping a +sharp lookout for a tall figure crowned with luxuriant auburn hair. Her +vigilance met with no reward, however, and she left the school building +in company with Irma, Jerry, Constance and Susan, deliberating as to +what she had best do next. Outside the high school she caught no glimpse +of her quarry among the throng of girls that came trooping down the wide +stone steps. Although she took part in her friends' animated +conversation, she was steadily thinking of the self-imposed task that +lay before her. + +"Let's go down to Sargent's," proposed Susan, gleefully jingling a +handful of silver that clinked of sundaes and divers delicious cheer. + +"You girls go. I can't. I've an errand to do." Marjorie's color rose as +she spoke. + +"Do your errand some other time," coaxed Susan. "I may not have any +money to spend to-morrow." + +"I'll treat to-morrow," Marjorie assured her. "I can't possibly put off +my errand. You can imagine I'm with you. Always cultivate your +imagination." + +Four voices rose to protest her decision, but she remained firm. +"To-morrow," she compromised. "Please don't tease me. I can't really go +with you to-day." + +"We'll try to get along without you, just this once," agreed tactful +Constance. Something in Marjorie's manner told her that her friend +wished to go on her way alone. + +"Go ahead then, Marjorie. Do your errand, faithful child," consented +Jerry, who had also scented the unusual and shrewdly speculated as to +whether it had anything to do with their conversation of the morning. + +Anxious, yet regretful, to be free of her chums, Marjorie said good-bye +and hurried off in an opposite direction. Jerry had said that the +Farnhams lived in the beautiful residence that adjoined Mignon La +Salle's home. It was not a long walk, yet how Marjorie dreaded it. Given +that Rowena were at home, Mignon would, perhaps, be with her. That would +make matters doubly hard. Yet she could do no less than carry out the +interview she felt must take place at the earliest possible moment. + +It was a very grave little girl who opened the ornamental iron gate and +proceeded reluctantly up the long driveway to the huge brown stone +house, set in the midst of a wide expanse of tree-dotted lawn. For all +the residence was a magnificent affair, Marjorie shivered as she mounted +the massive stone steps. There was little of the atmosphere of home +about it. + +"Is Miss Rowena Farnham here?" was her low-voiced question of the +white-capped maid who answered the door. + +"She hasn't come home from school yet, miss," informed the maid. "Will +you step into the house and wait for her?" + +"Yes, thank you." Marjorie followed the woman into a high-ceilinged, +beautifully appointed, square hall and across it to a mammoth +drawing-room, very handsomely furnished, but cheerless, nevertheless. +She felt very small and insignificant as she settled herself lightly on +an ornate gilt chair, to await the arrival of Rowena. + +Her vigil was destined to be tedious, unbroken by the sight of anyone +save the maid, who passed through the hall once or twice on her way to +answer the bell. Even she did not trouble herself to glance through the +half-parted brocade portieres at the lonely little figure in the room +beyond. Consulting her wrist watch, Marjorie read five o'clock. She had +been waiting for over an hour. She guessed that the girl on whom she had +come to call must be with Mignon La Salle. There was at least a grain of +comfort for her in this conjecture. If Mignon were at home now, there +was small chance that she would be present at the interview. + +An impatient hand on the bell sent a shrill, reverberating peal through +the great house. An instant and she heard the maid's voice, carefully +lowered. There came the sound of quick, questioning tones, which she +recognized. Rowena had at last put in an appearance. Immediately there +followed a flinging back of the concealing portieres and the girl who +had sprung into Marjorie's knowledge so unbecomingly that morning walked +into the room. + +"You wished to see----Oh, it's you!" The tall girl's black eyes swept her +uninvited guest with an expression far from cordial. + +"Yes, it is I," Marjorie's inflection was faintly satirical. "I made a +mistake about you this morning. I thought you were Miss Archer's new +secretary." She lost no time in going directly to the point. + +For answer Rowena threw back her auburn head and laughed loudly. "I +fooled you nicely, didn't I?" According to outward signs her conscience +was apparently untroubled. + +"Yes," returned Marjorie quietly. "Why did you do it?" + +Rowena's laughing lips instantly took on a belligerent curve. The very +evenness of the inquiry warned her that trouble was brewing for her. +"See here," she began rudely, "what did you come to my house for? I'm +not pleased to see you. Judging from several things I've heard, I don't +care to know you." + +Marjorie paled at the rebuff. She had half expected it, yet now that it +had come she did not relish it. At first meeting she had been irritated +by the other girl's almost rude indifference. Now she had dropped all +semblance of courtesy. + +"I hardly think it matters about your knowing or not knowing me," she +retorted in the same carefully schooled tone. "You, of course, are the +one to decide that. What does matter is this--I must ask you to tell me +exactly why you wished me to work out that quadratic problem for you. It +is quite necessary that I should know." + +"Why is it so necessary?" + +"Because I must believe one of two things," was Marjorie's grave +response. "I must have the truth. I won't be kept in the dark about it. +Either you only pretended to play secretary as a rather peculiar joke, +or else you did it purposely because----" She hesitated, half ashamed to +accuse the other of dishonesty. + +"What will you do if I say I did it on purpose?" tantalized Rowena. "Go +to your Miss Archer, I suppose, with a great tale about me. I understand +that is one of your little pastimes. Now listen to me, and remember what +I say. You think I was prying into those examination papers, don't you?" + +"I'd rather not think so." Marjorie raised an honest, appealing glance +to meet the mocking gleam of Rowena's black eyes. + +"Who cares what _you_ think? You are a goody-goody, and I never saw one +yet that I'd walk across the street with. Whatever I want, I always get. +Remember that, too. If your dear Miss Archer hadn't been called to +another part of the building, I might never have had a chance to read +over those examinations. She went away in a hurry and left me sitting in +the office. Naturally, as her desk was open, I took a look to see what +there was to see. I wasn't afraid of any subject but algebra. I'm n. g. +in that. So I was pretty lucky to get a chance to read over the +examination. I knew right away by the questions that it was the one I'd +have to try. + +"My father promised me a pearl necklace if I'd pass all my tests for the +sophomore class. Of course I wanted to win it. That quadratic problem +counted thirty credits. It meant that without it I'd stand no chance to +pass algebra. I couldn't do it, and I was in despair when you came into +the office. If you hadn't been so stupid as to take me for Miss Archer's +secretary and hadn't said you were a junior, I'd have let you alone. +That secretary idea wasn't bad, though. It sent those other girls about +their business. I thought _you_ could do that problem if _I_ couldn't. +It's a good thing you did. I copied it in examination this afternoon and +I know it's right," she ended triumphantly. + +Sheer amazement of the girl's bold confession rendered Marjorie silent. +Never in all her life had she met a girl like Rowena Farnham. Her calm +admittance to what Marjorie had suspected was unbelievable. And she +appeared to feel no shame for her dishonesty. She gloried in it. Finding +her voice at last, the astounded and dismayed interviewer said with +brave firmness: "I can't look at this so lightly, Miss Farnham. It +wasn't fair in you to deceive me into doing a thing like that." + +"What's done can't be undone," quoted Rowena, seemingly undisturbed by +the reproof. "You are as deep in the mud as I am in the mire. You helped +me, you know." + +"I will not be included in such dishonesty." Marjorie sprang angrily to +her feet and faced Rowena. "If Miss Archer knew this she would not +accept your algebra paper. She might not wish to accept you as a pupil, +either. I hoped when I came here this afternoon that everything would +turn out all right, after all. I hoped that paper might not be the +algebra test you were to have. I don't wish to tell Miss Archer, yet +it's not fair to either of us that you should masquerade under false +colors. You have put me in a very hard position." + +It was now Rowena who grew angry. During the interview she had remained +standing, looking down on the girl in the chair with amused contempt. +Marjorie's flash of resentment unleashed a temper that had ever been the +despair of Rowena's father and mother. Her dark eyes glowed like live +coals, her tall, slender body shook with fury. "If you dare go to Miss +Archer with what I've told you, I'll put you in a much harder position. +I'll make you lose every friend you have in school. I know all about +you. You've bullied and snubbed poor Mignon La Salle and made her lose +_her_ friends. But you can't bully or threaten or snub me. I didn't want +to come to Sanford to live. It's nothing but a little, silly country +town. I didn't want to go to your old school. My father and mother make +me go. My father doesn't believe in select boarding schools, so I have +to make the best of it. If I pass my examinations into the sophomore +class I'll make it my business to see that I get whatever I take a +notion to have. You can't stop me. I've always done as I pleased at home +and I'll do as I please in school. If you tell Miss Archer about this +morning, I'll see that you get more blame than I. Don't forget that, +either." + +Marjorie felt as though she had been caught in a pelting rain of +hail-stones. Yet the furious flow of vituperation which beat down upon +her did not in the least intimidate her. "I am not afraid of anything +you may do or say," she returned, a staunch little figure of dignified +scorn. "I came to see you in all good faith, willing to give you the +benefit of the doubt. Now that I understand exactly how you feel about +this affair, I won't trouble you further. Good afternoon." + +"Stop! What are you going to do?" called Rowena. Marjorie had already +passed into the hall. "You've got to tell me before you leave this +house." She darted after her steadily retreating caller, cheeks flaming. + +At the outer door, Marjorie paused briefly, her hand on the dead latch. +"I said 'good afternoon,'" was her sole response. Then she let herself +out and walked proudly away from the house of inhospitality, oblivious +to the torrent of hot words which the irate Rowena shrieked after her +from the veranda. + + + + +CHAPTER VI--A QUESTION OF SCHOOL-GIRL HONOR + + +"I've something to report, Captain." Marjorie entered her mother's room +and dropped dispiritedly at her feet. Unpinning her flower-decked hat, +she removed it with a jerk and let it slide to the floor. + +"Well, dear, what is it?" Mrs. Dean cast a half anxious look at her +daughter. The long strip of pink crochet work, destined to become part +of an afghan for Marjorie's "house" dropped from her hands. Reaching +down she gave the dejected curly head at her knee a reassuring pat. +"What has happened to spoil my little girl's second day at school?" + +Marjorie flashed an upward glance at her mother that spoke volumes. +"I've had a horrid time to-day," she answered. "Last year, when things +didn't go right, I kept some of them to myself. This year I'm going to +tell you everything." Her voice quivering with indignation at the +calamity that had overtaken her unawares, she related the disturbing +events that had so recently transpired. "I don't know what to do," she +ended. "Do you think I ought to go to Miss Archer and tell her +everything?" + +"That is a leading question, Lieutenant." Mrs. Dean continued a +sympathetic smoothing of Marjorie's curls. "It is one thing to confess +one's own faults; it is quite another to make public the faults of +someone else. It is hardly fair to Miss Archer to allow this girl to +profit by her own dishonesty. It is not fair to the girl herself. If she +is allowed to pursue, unchecked, a course which will eventually lead to +a great dishonesty, then you would be in a measure responsible. On the +other hand, I abhor a talebearer. I can't decide at once what you ought +to do. I shall have to think it over and give you my answer later. Your +rights must be considered also. You were an innocent party to a +despicable act, therefore I do not believe that you owe the author of it +any special loyalty. I am not sure but that I ought to go to Miss Archer +myself about it. You have suffered a good deal, since you began going to +Sanford High School, through Mignon La Salle. I do not propose that this +new girl shall spoil your junior year for you. Come to me to-morrow at +this time and I will have made up my mind what is best for you. I am +glad you told me this." + +"So am I," sighed Marjorie. "I know that whatever you decide will be +best for me, Captain. I am not afraid for myself. It's only that I hate +to make trouble for this girl, even though she deserves it. You see it +may mean a good deal to her father and mother to have her get along well +in school. She said her father wouldn't let her go away to boarding +school. That sounds as though he wanted her to be at home where he could +look after her." + +"That must also be considered," agreed Mrs. Dean. "Now don't worry about +this affair any more. I am sure we shall find the wisest way out of it +for everyone concerned. You had better run along now and get ready for +dinner. It's almost half past six." + +Marjorie reached for her discarded hat. Scrambling to her feet she +embraced her mother and went to her room, infinitely cheered. As she +left the room, Mrs. Dean sent after her a glance freighted with motherly +protection. She had no sympathy for a girl such as Marjorie had +described Rowena Farnham to be, and she uttered a mental prayer of +thankfulness that her own daughter was above reproach. + +No further mention of the affair was made between mother and daughter +that evening. Nevertheless, Marjorie went to school the next morning in +a far from buoyant mood. She had been wakened by a reverberating roll of +thunder, followed by the furious beating of rain against her windows. A +true child of sunshine, the steady tapping of the heavy drops filled her +with a dread sense of oppression which she could not shake off. + +By noon, however, it had passed away with the storm. When she went home +to luncheon the sun was high in the sky. The rain-washed streets were +rapidly succumbing to his warm smile. Only a puddle here and there, or a +shower of silver drops from a breeze-shaken tree remained to remind her +of the morning deluge. + +Returning from luncheon, she had hardly gained her seat when Miss Merton +stalked down the aisle to her desk. "Report to Miss Archer at once, Miss +Dean," she commanded in her most disagreeable manner. + +Marjorie's thoughts immediately flew to yesterday. Was it possible that +Rowena Farnham had gone to the principal of her own volition? It was +hardly to be credited. Remembering her mother's note, Marjorie jumped to +the conclusion that this was the most probable reason for the summons. + +"Good afternoon, Marjorie," greeted Miss Archer from her desk, as the +pretty junior appeared in the doorway. "Come here, my dear. I have +something rather unusual to show you." She motioned Marjorie to draw up +a chair beside her own. "I wonder if you can throw any light upon this." + +"This" was an open letter, which she now tendered to the puzzled girl. +Marjorie read: + + "Miss Archer: + + "Yesterday morning, at a little after eleven o'clock, Marjorie Dean + and a girl with red hair and black eyes, whose name I do not know, + meddled with the examination papers on your desk while you were in + another part of the building. Marjorie Dean showed the girl how to + do one of the examination problems in algebra. This I know because I + heard them talking about it and saw them have the list of questions. + Such dishonesty is a disgrace to Sanford High School. + + "The Observer." + +Marjorie allowed the letter to fall from her nerveless hands. She felt +herself grow hot and cold as she forced herself to meet Miss Archer's +intent scrutiny. Yet she said nothing. Only her brown eyes sent forth +agonized signals of distress. + +Noting her strange demeanor, Miss Archer's pleasant face hardened. Was +Marjorie Dean really guilty of such dishonor? If innocent, why did she +not hotly proclaim the fact? "I am waiting for you to explain the +meaning of this note, Marjorie," she reminded sternly. "Can you do so?" + +"Yes," came the low monosyllable. + +"Then do so at once," crisply ordered the principal. + +Marjorie drew a long breath. "I can't explain my part of it without +bringing in someone else," she faltered. + +"You mean Miss Farnham, I suppose?" + +Marjorie hesitated, then nodded. It appeared that Miss Archer had +already put two and two together. + +"I happen to know that Miss Farnham is the only one who could possibly +answer to the description this letter gives," continued Miss Archer +impatiently. "She was also the only one to be interested in the papers +on my desk. I sent for you first, however, because I wished to give you +a chance to explain how you happened to figure in this affair. I have +always had a great deal of faith in you, Marjorie. I do not wish to lose +that faith. Now I must insist on knowing exactly what occurred here +yesterday morning. Did you or did you not assist Miss Farnham in solving +a problem in algebra, which she culled from the examination paper in +that subject?" + +"Miss Archer," Marjorie said earnestly, "I did help Miss Farnham with +that problem, but I had no idea that she was trying to do anything so +dishonorable. It all came about through a mistake. I'd rather she would +explain that part of it. The reason I happened to be in this office was +because of the note my mother asked me to bring you. Miss Farnham was +here when I came in. While I sat waiting for you she asked me to help +her with that problem. I solved it for her and she took it and went +away. I waited a little longer, then left the office." + +Miss Archer's stern features gradually relaxed as Marjorie made this +straightforward account of her own actions. The principal noted, +however, that she had revealed considerably less regarding the other +girl. "That is a somewhat indefinite statement," she said slowly. "You +have not been frank as to Miss Farnham. You are keeping something back. +You must tell me all. I prefer to know the absolute facts from you +before sending for the other party to this affair." + +"Please don't ask me to tell you, Miss Archer," pleaded Marjorie. "I'd +rather not." + +Miss Archer frowned, This was not the first time that Marjorie had taken +such a stubborn stand. She knew the young girl's horror of telling +tales. Yet here was something that she deemed it necessary to uncover. +She did not relish being thus balked by a too rigid standard of +school-girl honor. It suddenly occurred to her to wonder how Marjorie +could have been so easily deceived. + +"Do you think this is fair to me?" she questioned sharply. "I feel that +I have behaved very fairly to you in thus far assuming that you are +innocent. There are gaps in your story which must be filled. I wish you, +not Miss Farnham, to supply them. Suppose I were to say, it is very +strange that you did not suspect this girl of trickery." + +"But I didn't, truly I didn't," sounded the half-tearful protest. + +"I am not actually saying that you suspected her. Tell me this, at +least. Did you know that the problem she asked you to solve for her was +from the examination sheet?" + +"I--she----" stammered the unfortunate junior. + +"You did know it, then!" exclaimed Miss Archer in pained suspicion. +"This places you in a bad light. If you knew the source of the problem +you can hardly claim innocence now unless you give me absolute proof of +it." + +"You have my word that I am not guilty." Her desire to cry vanished. +Marjorie now spoke with gentle dignity. "I try always to be truthful." + +Miss Archer surveyed the unobliging witness in vexed silence. At heart +she believed Marjorie to be innocent, but she was rapidly losing +patience. "Since you won't be frank with me, I shall interview Miss +Farnham as soon as she finishes her examinations of the morning. I shall +not allow her to go on with this afternoon's test until I have reached +the bottom of this affair. Come to my office as soon as you return from +luncheon. That is all." The principal made a dignified gesture of +dismissal. + +The beseeching glance poor Marjorie directed toward Miss Archer was lost +upon the now incensed woman. She had already begun to busy herself at +her desk. If she had glimpsed the reproach of those mournful eyes, it is +doubtful whether she would have been impressed by them. Secretly she was +wondering whether she had made the mistake of reposing too much +confidence in Marjorie Dean. + + + + +CHAPTER VII--FAITH AND UNFAITH + + +On reaching home that noon Marjorie's first impulse was to hurry to her +mother with a recital of the morning's events. Greatly to her dismay, +Delia met her at the door with the announcement that her mistress had +motored to a neighboring town to meet Mr. Dean, who had telegraphed her +from there. They would not arrive home in time for luncheon, probably +not until late in the afternoon. + +Divided between the pleasure of seeing her father and distress +occasioned by Miss Archer's implied disbelief, Marjorie ate a lonely and +most unsatisfactory luncheon. She could think of nothing other than the +impending session in which she and Rowena Farnham would so soon figure. +She pondered gloomily on the strange way in which the knowledge of +Rowena's unscrupulous behavior had been borne to Miss Archer. Who could +have written that letter? Could it be laid at the door of one of the +several girls who had inquired for the principal and promptly retired +from the scene? If this were so, then some one of them must have +lingered just outside to spy upon herself and Rowena. She knew the +majority of those who had sought the office while she lingered there. +Only one or two had been strangers. Of those she knew, she could recall +no one of them she would deem guilty of spying. + +As she left her home for the high school, Marjorie smiled in wry fashion +at the thought of Rowena's anger when she learned that her unfair +tactics had been discovered and reported. If she treated Miss Archer to +a scene similar to that which Marjorie had undergone in Rowena's home, +she was very likely to find herself out of high school before having +actually entered. As it was, Rowena stood a strong chance of forfeiting +the privilege to try the remainder of her examinations. + +Twenty minutes past one found Marjorie on the threshold of the +principal's office. At sight of her Miss Archer bowed distantly and went +on with her writing. As yet Rowena had not put in an appearance. Ten +minutes later she strolled nonchalantly in, her bold, black eyes +registering supreme contempt of the world in general. Her smart gown of +delft blue crepe set off her dazzlingly fair skin and heavy auburn hair +to perfection. She was a stunning young person, and well aware of her +good looks. + +"I understand you wish to see me," she drawled in a tone bordering on +impatience. Ignoring Marjorie, save for one swift, menacing glance, she +addressed herself to the woman at the desk. + +Miss Archer had already risen. Now she fixed the newcomer with stern, +searching eyes. "Sit over there, Miss Farnham." She waved her to a seat +beside Marjorie on the oak bench. + +With an insolent shrugging of her shoulders, Rowena sat down, placing +the length of the bench between herself and its other occupant. "Well, +what is it?" she asked unconcernedly. + +Miss Archer's lips compressed themselves a trifle more firmly. "Your +manner is distinctly disrespectful, Miss Farnham. Kindly remember to +whom you are speaking." + +Rowena's shoulders again went into eloquent play. "Oh, excuse me," she +murmured. + +Ignoring the discourtesy, Miss Archer reached to her desk for the +letter, the contents of which Marjorie already knew. Handing it to +Rowena she said: "Read this letter. You will then understand why I sent +for you." + +Looking distinctly bored, the girl perused the letter. A tantalizing +smile curved her red lips as she finished. "This is your work," she +accused, turning to Marjorie. + +The latter opened her brown eyes in genuine amazement. The accusation +was totally unexpected. "You know very well it is not," she flung back, +the pink in her cheeks deepening. + +"Whatever you have to say, Miss Farnham, you may say to me," reproved +the principal. "I have already gone over the contents of this letter +with Miss Dean." + +"I have nothing to say," replied Rowena serenely. + +"But _I_ have several things to say to you," reminded Miss Archer +sharply. "I demand a complete explanation of what occurred here during +my absence yesterday morning." + +"I am afraid you've come to the wrong person, then." Rowena was coolly +defiant. "Miss Dean can answer your question better than I. No doubt she +has already said a number of pleasant things about me." + +"Miss Dean has said nothing to your discredit. In fact she has refused +to commit herself. She prefers that you do the explaining." +Unconsciously Miss Archer sprang into irritated defense of Marjorie. + +Rowena's black eyebrows lifted themselves. So the goody-goody had +refused to betray her! This was decidedly interesting. Her clever brain +at once leaped to the conclusion that with Marjorie's lips sealed it +would be hard to establish her own dishonesty. In itself the letter +offered no actual proof. It was merely signed "The Observer." A cunning +expression crept into her eyes. "Someone must have been trying to play a +joke," she now airily suggested. "The very fact that the letter isn't +properly signed goes to prove that." + +"_Miss Farnham!_" The principal's authoritative utterance betrayed her +great displeasure. "You are overstepping all bounds. Miss Dean herself +has admitted that she solved an algebraic problem for you. I insist on +knowing whether or not that problem was taken from an examination sheet +that lay among others on my desk. If so, there is but one inference to +be drawn. During my absence you tampered with the papers on my desk. No +such thing has ever before occurred in the history of this school. Now I +ask you pointblank, did you or did you not meddle with my papers?" + +Without replying, Rowena's eyes roved shrewdly to Marjorie, as though +trying to discover what the latter intended to do. Were she to reply to +the question in the negative, would this baby of a girl, whom she +already despised, still maintain silence? + +Apparently, Marjorie read her thought. "Miss Farnham," she broke in, her +soft voice ringing with purpose, "if you do not answer Miss Archer +truthfully, I, at least, will." + +That settled it. Nevertheless, Rowena determined that Marjorie should +pay for her interference. "If you must know," she said sullenly, "I did +glance over them. You had no business to leave them on the desk. Miss +Dean saw me do it, too, but she didn't seem to mind. I even showed her +that problem in quadratics and told her I couldn't do it. So she did it +for me." + +"Is this true?" To the distressed listener Miss Archer's amazed question +came as a faint and far-off sound. Driven into a corner by Rowena's +spiteful misrepresentation, Marjorie determined to clear herself of the +opprobrium. "I saw Miss Farnham with the papers," she affirmed. "She +pointed out to me the one she couldn't do and I solved it for her. I +thought----" + +"That will do." Never to Marjorie's recollection had Miss Archer's voice +carried with it such unmeasured severity. For once she was too +thoroughly displeased to be just. Only that morning Marjorie had +earnestly proclaimed her innocence. Brought face to face with Rowena, +she had renigged, or so it now seemed to the affronted principal. +Abhoring deceit and untruthfulness, she rashly ticketed her hitherto +favorite pupil with both faults. + +"But Miss Archer," pleaded Marjorie desperately, "won't you allow me +to----" + +"It strikes me that too much has already been said that might better +have been left unsaid," cut in the principal coldly. "You two young +women are guilty of a most despicable bit of work. If it lay within my +power I would expel both of you from the school you have disgraced. This +matter will be taken up by the Board of Education. All I can do is to +send you both home, there to await the decision of those above me. Your +parents shall be informed at once of what has taken place. As for you, +Miss Farnham, in case the Board decides to give you another chance you +will be obliged to take an entirely new set of examinations. In a +measure I hold myself responsible for this. I should have locked my +desk. I have always trusted my pupils. Dishonesty on the part of two of +them is a severe blow. You may both leave the school at once. _You_, +Miss Dean, need not return to the study hall." + +Rowena Farnham received her dismissal with an elaborate shrug that +plainly indicated how little she cared. Without deigning a reply she +strolled out of the office, apparently as self-possessed as when she had +entered. Marjorie, however, remained rooted to the bench on which she +sat. She could not believe the evidence of her own ears. Neither could +she credit the principal's sudden unjust stand. + +"Miss Archer," she faltered, "won't you----" + +"The subject is closed, Miss Dean. Kindly leave my office." Miss Archer +refused to meet the two pleading eyes that persistently sought hers. +This self-revelation of the girl's guilt had dealt her a hurt which she +could not soon forget. To uncover treachery and dishonesty in a friend +is an experience which carries with it its own bitterness. The very fact +that it is unexpected makes it infinitely harder to bear. Miss Archer's +disappointment in Marjorie was so great as to obscure her usually clear +insight into matters. She had trusted her so implicitly. She felt as +though she could not endure her presence in the office. Now she kept her +gaze resolutely fixed on her desk, nor did she alter it until the echo +of the misjudged lieutenant's light footfalls had entirely died away. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII--FOR THE GOOD OF THE ARMY + + +Marjorie could never quite recall the details of that dreadful walk +home. Only once before in her short life had she been so utterly +crushed. That was on the day she had rushed from the little gray house, +believing that her beloved Constance was a thief. Now it came back to +her with force. Just as she had felt on that terrible afternoon, so must +Miss Archer be feeling now. Miss Archer thought that she, Marjorie Dean, +was unworthy to be a pupil of Sanford High. "If only Miss Archer had +listened to me," surged through her troubled brain as she walked the +seemingly endless road home. What would Captain and General say? + +Yet with this thought a gleam of daylight pierced the dark. Her Captain +already knew all. She knew her daughter to be innocent of wrongdoing. +General would believe in her, too. They would not see her thus disgraced +without a hearing. She would yet be able to prove to Miss Archer that +she was blameless of such dishonesty. + +"Well, well!" She had mounted the steps of her home when a cheery voice +thus called out to her. The next instant she was in her father's arms. +Delight in seeing him, coupled with all she had just undergone, broke +down the difficult composure she had managed to maintain while in Miss +Archer's presence. With a little sob, Marjorie threw herself into her +father's arms, pillowing her curly head against his comforting shoulder. + +"My dear child, what has happened?" Mrs. Dean regarded her daughter's +shaking shoulders with patient anxiety as she cried out the startled +question. + +"There, there, Lieutenant." Mr. Dean gathered the weeping girl close in +his protecting arms. "Surely you aren't crying because your worthy +general has come home?" + +"No-o-o," came the muffled protest. "I'm--glad. It's--not--that. +I've--been--suspended--from--school." + +"What!" Mr. Dean raised the weeper's head from his shoulders and gazed +deep into the overflowing brown eyes. + +"It's true," gulped Marjorie. "I'm not--to--blame--though. It's +all--a--misunderstanding." + +"Then we'll straighten it out," soothed Mr. Dean. "Come, now. You and +Captain and I will go into the living room and sit right down on the +nice comfy davenport. Then you can wail your troubles into our +sympathetic ears. Your superior officers will stand by you. You take one +arm, Captain, and I'll take the other." + +Resigning herself to the guidance of those who loved her best, Marjorie +suffered herself to be led into the living room and deposited on the +friendly davenport, a solicitous parent on either side. + +"You're wonderful, both of you," she sighed, possessing herself of a +hand of each. Her brief gust of grief had spent itself. Her voice was +now almost steady. + +Mrs. Dean had already made a shrewd guess regarding the reason for +Marjorie's tears. "Is that affair of yesterday responsible for your +suspension from school, Lieutenant?" she questioned abruptly. + +"Yes." With an occasional quaver in her speech, Marjorie went over the +details of both visits to the principal's office. + +"Hm!" ejaculated Mr. Dean, his eyes seeking his wife's. "Suppose you +tell your general the beginning of all this." + +"It strikes me that Miss Archer behaved in a a rather high-handed +manner," he observed dryly when Marjorie had ended her sad little story. + +"I can't blame her so much." Marjorie was loyal to the death. "I know +just how terribly it must have hurt her. I suppose I should have told +her everything in the first place." + +Mrs. Dean released Marjorie's hand and rose from the davenport, intense +determination written on every feature. "Miss Archer will listen to +_me_," she announced grimly. "I shall go to Sanford High School at once. +My daughter is entitled to justice and she shall receive it. I am +surprised at Miss Archer's unfair attitude. Go upstairs and bathe your +face, Marjorie. General, will you see to the car?" + +"But she won't see me, I am afraid." + +"Nonsense," returned her mother with unusual brusqueness. Stepping into +the hall, she consulted the telephone directory. "Give me Sycamore 213," +she called into the transmitter. "Miss Archer? This is Mrs. Dean. +Marjorie has just come from school. I am sure you will accept my word +that she has done nothing dishonest. Will it be convenient for you to +see us at once? Thank you. We will be at the high school within the next +half hour." + +During the short telephone conversation, Marjorie stood at her mother's +side, hardly daring to breathe. Mrs. Dean hung up the receiver to the +accompaniment of her daughter's wild embrace. "Go and make yourself +presentable," she chided. Disengaging the clinging arms, she gave +Marjorie a gentle shove toward the stairs. + +Youth's tears are quickly dried, its sorrows soon forgotten. Ten minutes +afterward, a radiant-faced lieutenant presented herself in the hall, +renewed buoyancy in her step as she and her captain passed through the +gate to where the automobile awaited them with Mr. Dean at the wheel. + +"I'll stay here," he decided as they drew up before the high school. +"Let our valiant captain lead the charge. You can fall back on your +reserves if you are routed with slaughter." + +"Captain's won half the battle," joyfully declared Marjorie. "Now I am +sure I can win the other half." Blowing a kiss to her father she set her +face toward vindication. + +Miss Archer greeted Mrs. Dean in a friendly, impersonal fashion, which +showed plainly that she was not displeased with the latter for taking +such prompt action. Her bow to Marjorie was distinctly reserved, +however. She had yet to be convinced of the girl's innocence. + +"According to Marjorie's story, Miss Archer," began Mrs. Dean with +gentle directness, "she has been the victim of circumstantial evidence. +I am not here to criticize your stand in this affair. I understand that +you must have been severely tried. I merely wish to ask you to allow +Marjorie to tell her story from beginning to end. She came to me +yesterday with it, and asked my advice. I deferred decision until +to-day. It seems I was a day too late. However, I wish her to do the +explaining." + +A faint, embarrassed flush stole to Miss Archer's face as she listened. +She was beginning to realize that she had for once been too quick to +condemn. Mrs. Dean was too high-principled a woman to attempt to smooth +over her own child's offences. Under the battery of her friend's clear +eyes, the principal found herself penitently responding: "Mrs. Dean, I +must admit that I am at fault. Had I stopped to listen to Marjorie, I am +now certain that I should have found her explanation satisfactory." + +"Thank you." Mrs. Dean extended a gracious hand in which the principal +laid her own with a smile. The two women understood each other +perfectly. + +Marjorie's sensitive lips quivered as Miss Archer's hand went out to her +also. "I am only too glad to be able to apologize for misjudging you, +Marjorie," she said with grave gentleness. "The truest atonement which I +can make is to say 'I believe in you' without a hearing." + +"But I wish to tell you everything, Miss Archer," assured Marjorie +earnestly. "It was only because I hated the idea of tale-bearing that I +didn't tell you this morning. I thought that Miss Farnham----" + +"Would tell me," supplemented the principal. "I quite understand. +Frankly it would help me very much if you put me in complete possession +of the facts of the case. I hardly believe you owe it to Miss Farnham to +conceal anything." + +With a charitable striving toward placing the other girl in the least +obnoxious light, Marjorie gave Miss Archer a true but unmalicious +version of all that had passed between herself and Rowena Farnham. + +"This is simply outrageous," was Miss Archer's emphatic verdict. "Miss +Farnham is a menace to Sanford High School. In all my experience with +young women I have never met with her equal. I shall recommend the Board +that she be not allowed to enter the school. A firebrand such as she has +shown herself to be is more than likely to spread her devastating +influence throughout the school. We have a duty to perform to the +parents who intrust their daughters to us which cannot be overlooked." + +"I agree with you," was Mrs. Dean's grave response. "Still, I am very +sorry for this girl, and for her parents. We all wish to be proud of our +children. It must be dreadful to be disappointed in them." + +"You, at least, will never be called upon to bear such a +disappointment." Miss Archer's hearty reply caused an exchange of +affectionate glances between her hearers. + +"I hope I shall always prove worthy of Captain's and your trust." +Marjorie's little speech rung with modest sincerity. Hesitatingly she +added: "Miss Archer, couldn't you possibly give Miss Farnham another +chance? When I was at her house the other day she said that her father +and mother wanted her to go to high school. She'd rather go to boarding +school, but they won't let her. If she isn't allowed to enter Sanford +High she will have to go away to school. That might not be the best +thing for her." Marjorie paused, blushing at her own temerity. + +"You are a very forgiving little girl." Miss Archer eyed the pleader in +a whimsical fashion. "There is a great deal in your view of the matter, +too. It is a question of one girl's parents against many, however. So +far as I can remember this is the first case in the history of the +school that warranted dismissal. As you have been the chief sufferer in +this tangle, your plea for clemency should be respected. It shall be +mentioned to the members of the Board of Education. That is all I can +promise now. Personally, as _you_ are great-spirited enough to plead for +her, I am willing to do my part. But only on your account. I doubt the +advisability of allowing her to go on with her examinations. However, +'forewarned is forearmed.' Should she be permitted to enter the school, +I shall keep a watchful eye on her." + +Real admiration of Marjorie's readiness to help one who had treated her +so shabbily caused the principal to speak as confidentially to her pupil +as she might have to a member of the Board. Marjorie, as well as her +mother, was aware of this. Yet far from being elated at the mark of +confidence, the pretty junior bore her honors almost humbly. She merely +thanked Miss Archer in the sweet, gracious fashion that set her apart +from all other girls with whom the principal had come in contact during +her long service on the field of education. + +Almost immediately afterward the Deans said farewell and departed +happily to convey the good news to their somewhat impatient chauffeur, +who sat in the automobile pondering whimsically on the length and +breadth of women's chats. Long after they had gone, Marjorie's winsome, +selfless personality haunted the busy principal. To be truly great one +must be truly good was her inner reflection. Remembering past +circumstances in which Marjorie had figured ever as a force for good, +she marveled that she could have doubted her. And as a vision of the +girl's lovely face, animated by the light from within, rose before her +she mentally prophesied that Marjorie Dean was destined one day to reach +the heights. + + + + +CHAPTER IX--A SUDDEN ATTACK + + +"Where were you yesterday afternoon?" demanded Jerry Macy, as Marjorie +walked into the locker room at the close of the morning session. + +Marjorie considered for a moment. Should she tell Jerry or should she +not? She decided in the negative. "I was at home a part of the +afternoon." + +Jerry measured her with a calculating eye. "You don't want to tell me, +do you?" was her blunt question. "All right. Forget it. Anyway, we +missed you. You're a mysterious person. One day you march off on a dark, +secret errand after making lavish promises to treat on the next. When +that day rolls around you don't appear at all. Never mind. I saved your +face by treating for you." Jerry delivered her opinion of her friend's +peculiar behavior good-humoredly enough. Underneath, however, she was a +tiny bit peeved. She was very fond of Marjorie and prided herself that +she was entirely in the latter's confidence. + +"You're not cross with me, are you, Jerry?" Marjorie regarded the stout +girl rather anxiously. She could not conceive of being on the outs with +funny, bluff Geraldine Macy. + +"No; I'm not a silly like Mignon," mumbled Jerry gruffly. "You ought to +know that by this time without asking me." + +"Jerry Macy, I believe you are angry with me," declared Marjorie, +looking still more troubled. + +"No, I'm not," came the quick retort. "I'm not blind, either, and my +head isn't made of wood." + +"What do you mean?" It was Marjorie's turn to speak quickly. + +"Just what I say," asserted Jerry. "You've had some sort of trouble over +that Farnham girl. Rowena--humph! It ought to be Row-ena with a special +accent on the _Row_. I knew by the way you looked and spoke of her day +before yesterday that something had gone wrong. I'll bet I know where +you went on that errand, too. You went to her house. Now didn't you?" + +Marjorie gave a short laugh. It held a note of vexation. "Really, Jerry, +you ought to be a detective. How did you know where I went yesterday +after I left you?" + +"Oh, I just guessed it. It's like you to do that sort of thing. I'm +dying to hear what it's all about. Are you going to tell me _now_?" She +accented the "now" quite triumphantly. + +"I hadn't intended to mention it to anyone, but I might as well tell +_you_. You seem to know quite a little bit about it already. I can't say +anything more now. Here come Susan and Muriel. We'll talk of it after we +leave them at their street. By the way, where is Constance? She wasn't +in school this morning." + +"Don't know. I wondered about her, too. She didn't say yesterday that +she wasn't coming to school to-day. Maybe her father marched into Gray +Gables without notice." + +"Perhaps. I'll ask the girls if they know." + +Neither Susan, Muriel nor Irma, the latter joining the quartette +immediately after, knew the reason for Constance Stevens' absence. The +five girls trooped out of the building together, chatting gaily as they +started home for luncheon. Marjorie gave a little shiver as it occurred +to her how near she had come to losing her right to be a pupil of +Sanford High. She felt that nothing save the loss of her dear ones would +have hurt her more than to have been dismissed from school under a +cloud. + +"Now tell me everything," began Jerry, the moment they had parted from +the three girls to continue on up the pleasant, tree-lined avenue. + +"I think that was simply _awful_," burst forth the now irate Jerry, as +Marjorie concluded her narration. "Talk about Mignon--she's an angel with +beautiful feathery wings, when you come to compare her with Row-ena. I +hope the Board says she can't set foot in school again. That's what I +hope. I'll tell my father to vote against letting her try any more +examinations. That's what I'll do." + +"You mustn't do that." Marjorie spoke with unusual severity. "What I've +said to you is in confidence. Besides, it wouldn't be fair. For her +father's and mother's sake I think she ought to have another chance. It +might be the very best thing for her to go to high school. She will be +far better off at home than away at boarding school. If she could go +away to a college it would be different. Colleges are more strict and +dignified. A girl just has to live up to their traditions. General says +that even in the most select boarding schools the girls have too much +liberty. So you see it wouldn't be a good place for this girl." + +"I see you're a goose," was Jerry's unflattering comment. "You're a dear +goose, though. You certainly have the reform habit. I can tell you, +though, that you are all wrong about this Farnham girl. You remember how +beautifully we reformed Mignon, and how grateful she was. Mignon's a +mere infant beside gentle, little Row-ena. You notice I still say _Row_. +It's a very good name for her. Of course, we could change off +occasionally and call her Fightena, or Quarrelena, or Scrapena." Jerry +giggled at her own witticism. + +Marjorie could not forbear joining her. Jerry's disapproval of things +was usually tinged with comedy. "You're a heartless person, Jeremiah," +she reproved lightly. "I'm not going to try to reform Miss Farnham. I +can't imagine her as taking kindly to it. I'm only saying that she ought +to have another chance." + +"Well, if you can stand it I can," Jerry sighed, then chuckled as her +vivid imagination pictured to her the high-handed Rowena struggling in +the clutches of reform. "Miss Archer ought to have thought twice and +spoken once," she added grimly. "That's what she's always preaching to +us to do." Jerry was no respecter of personages. + +"I can't blame her much," Marjorie shook her head. "It's dreadful to +think that someone you've trusted is dishonorable. It hurts a good deal +worse than if it were someone you had expected would fail you. I +_know_." + +"I suppose you do." Jerry understood the significant "I know." Rather +more gently she continued: "Perhaps you're right about Fightena, I mean +Row-ena. You generally are right, only you've got into some tangled webs +trying to prove it. Anyway, she won't be a junior if she does manage to +get into school. She'll be a sophomore. I hope she stays where she +belongs. You'd better look out for her, though. If she really thinks you +wrote that anonymous letter--I don't believe she does--she'll try to get +even. With Mignon La Salle to help, she might bother you a good deal. I +hope they have a falling out." + +"You are always hoping some terrible thing," laughed Marjorie. "You have +the hoping habit, and your hopes about other people are really +horrifying." + +"Never mind, they never amount to much," consoled Jerry with a chuckle. +"I've been hoping awful things about people I don't like for years and +that's all the good it's ever done." + +"I think I'll run over to Gray Gables after school," Marjorie changed +the subject with sudden abruptness. "Want to go with me?" + +"I'll go," assented Jerry. "I owe Charlie a box of candy. I promised it +to him the night of Mary's farewell party. Mary wrote me a dandy letter. +Did I tell you about it?" + +"No. I've had one from her, too; eighteen pages." + +"Some letter. Mine was only ten." + +The introduction of Mary's name into the conversation kept the two girls +busy talking until they were about to part company. + +"Don't forget you are going with me to see Constance," reminded Marjorie +as Jerry left her at the Macys' gate. + +"Do you believe that I could possibly forget?" Jerry laid a fat hand +over her heart in ridiculous imitation of a certain sentimental high +school youth whom Marjorie continually endeavored to dodge. + +"See that you don't," was her laughing retort. "Shall we ask Muriel, +Susan and Irma to go with us?" + +"None of them can go. Muriel has to take a piano lesson. Susan has a +date with her dressmaker, and Irma's going shopping with her mother. You +see I know everything about everybody," asserted Jerry, unconsciously +repeating Constance Stevens' very words. + +"You surely do," Marjorie agreed. "Good-bye, then. I'll meet you in the +locker room after school to-night." + +"My name is Johnny-on-the-spot," returned the irrepressible Jerry over +her shoulder. + +"Oh, dear!" Marjorie exclaimed in impatience, as she walked into the +locker room at the end of the afternoon session to find Jerry already +there ahead of her. "I've left my Caesar in my desk. I'll have to go back +after it. That lesson for to-morrow is dreadfully long. Somehow I +couldn't keep my attention on study that last hour, so I just bundled +all my books together and thought I'd put in a busy evening. I don't see +how I missed my Commentaries. It shows that my mind was wandering." + +"Come on over to my house this evening. You can use my Caesar. We'll put +one over on the busy little bee and have some fun afterward. Besides, +Hal will be grateful to me for a week. I'll make good use of his +gratitude, too," grinned wily Jerry. + +Marjorie's cheeks grew delightfully pink. In her frank, girlish fashion +she was very fond of Jerry's handsome brother. Although her liking for +him was not one of foolish sentimentality, she could not help being a +trifle pleased at this direct insinuation of his preference for her. + +"All right. I'm sure Captain will say 'yes,'" she made reply. "I won't +bother to go back after my book. If I did Miss Merton might snap at me. +I try to keep out of her way as much as I can. Where are the girls? Have +they gone?" + +"Yes, they beat it in a hurry. Come on. Let's be on our way." Though +deplorably addicted to slang, Jerry was at least forcefully succinct. + +It was a fairly long walk to Gray Gables, but their way led through one +of the prettiest parts of Sanford. Situated almost on the outskirts of +the town, the picturesque dwelling was in itself one of the beauty spots +of the thriving little city. + +"There's the Jail." Jerry indexed a plump finger toward the inhospitable +stone house which Marjorie had so lately visited. The two girls had +reached the point where a turn in the wide, elm-shaded avenue brought +them within sight of the La Salle and Farnham properties. "It would be a +good place for Row-ena, if she had to stay locked up there. She could +think over her sins and reform without help. I hope----" + +"There you go again," laughed Marjorie. "Don't do it. Suppose some day +all these things you have hoped about other people were to come back to +you." + +"I won't worry about it until they do," Jerry made optimistic answer. +"If I----" She checked herself to stare at a runabout that shot past them, +driven at a reckless rate of speed by an elfish-faced girl. "There they +go!" she exclaimed. "Did you see who was in that machine? Oh, look! +They're slowing up! Now they've stopped! I hope they've had a +break-down." + +Marjorie's eyes were already riveted on the runabout which they were now +approaching. A tall figure whom she at once recognized as belonging to +Rowena Farnham was in the act of emerging from the machine. Hatless, her +auburn head gleaming in the sun, her black eyes flaming challenge, she +stood at one side of the runabout, drawn up for battle. + +"She's waiting for us!" gasped Jerry. "Let's turn around and walk the +other way, just to fool her. No; let's not. I guess we can hold our +own." + +"I shall have nothing to say to her," decided Marjorie, a youthful +picture of cold disdain. "Don't you say a word, either, Jerry. We'll +walk on about our own business, just as though we didn't even see her." + +Jerry had no time to reply. Almost immediately they caught up with the +belligerent Rowena. Realizing that her quarry was about to elude her, +she sprang squarely in front of them with, "Wait a minute. I've +something to say to _you_." The "you" was directed at Marjorie. + +Marjorie was about to circle the lively impediment and move on, when +Mignon La Salle called from the runabout, "I told you she was a coward, +Rowena." A scornful laugh accompanied the insult. + +That settled it. Marjorie's recent resolution flew to the winds. "I will +hear whatever you have to say," she declared quietly, stopping short. + +"I don't very well see how you can do anything else," sneered Rowena. "I +suppose you think that you gained a great deal by your tale-bearing +yesterday, don't you? Let me tell you, you've made a mistake. I'm going +to be a sophomore in Sanford High School just the same. You'll see. You +are a sneaking little prig, and I'm going to make it my business to let +every girl in school know it. You can't----" + +"_You_ can't talk like that to Marjorie Dean." Before Marjorie could +reply, Jerry Macy leaped into a hot defense. "I won't have it! She is my +friend." + +"Shh! Jerry, please don't," Marjorie protested. + +"I will. Don't stop me. You," she glared at Rowena, "make me sick. I +could tell you in about one minute where you get off at, but it isn't +worth the waste of breath. Marjorie Dean has more friends in a minute in +Sanford High than you'll ever have. You think you and Mignon La Salle +can do a whole lot. Better not try it, you'll wish you hadn't. Now get +busy and beat it. You're blocking the highway." + +"What a delightful person you are," jeered Rowena. "Just the sort of +friend I'd imagine Miss Dean might have. As I have had the pleasure of +telling her what I think of her, you may as well hear my opinion of +yourself. You are the rudest girl I ever met, and the slangiest. My +father and mother would never forgive me if they knew I even spoke to +such a girl." Having delivered herself of this Parthian shot, Rowena +wheeled and stepped into the runabout with, "Go ahead, Mignon. I don't +care to be seen talking with such persons." + +As the runabout started away with a defiant chug, Jerry and Marjorie +stared at each other in silence. + +"I hope----" began Jerry, then stopped. "Say," she went on the next +instant, "that was what Hal would call a hot shot, wasn't it?" + +"It was," Marjorie admitted. In spite of her vexation at the unexpected +attack, she could hardly repress a smile. Quite unknowingly Rowena had +attacked Jerry's pet failing. Her constant use of popular slang was a +severe cross to both her father and mother. Over and over she had been +lectured by them on this very subject, only to maintain that if Hal used +slang she saw no reason why she shouldn't. To please them she made +spasmodic efforts toward polite English, but when excited or angry she +was certain to drop back into this forceful but inelegant vernacular. + +"I suppose I do use a whole lot of slang." Jerry made the admission +rather ruefully. "Mother says I'm the limit. There I go again. I mean +mother says I'm--what am I?" she asked with a giggle. + +"You are a very good friend, Jerry." Marjorie looked her affection for +the crestfallen champion of her rights. "I wouldn't worry about what +she--Miss Farnham says. If you think you ought not to use slang, then +just try not to use it." Marjorie was too greatly touched by Jerry's +loyalty to peck at this minor failing. "What a strange combination those +two girls make!" she mused. "I can't imagine them being friends for very +long. They are both too fond of having their own way. I must say I +wasn't scared by all those threats. It isn't what others say about one +that counts, it's what one really is that makes a difference." + +"That's just what I think," agreed Jerry. "We all know Mignon so well +now that we can pretty nearly beat her at her own game. As for this +Rowena, she'd better wait until she gets back into Sanford High before +she plans to do much. All that sort of thing is so silly and useless, +now isn't it? It reminds me of these blood-and-thunder movies like 'The +Curse of a Red Hot Hate,' or 'The Double-dyed Villain's Horrible +Revenge,' or 'The Iron Hand of Hatred's Death-Dealing Wallop.'" Jerry +saw fit to chuckle at this last creation of fancifully appropriate +title. "You're right about those two, though. Don't you remember I said +the same thing when I first told you of this Farnham girl? Mignon has +met her match, at last. She'll find it out, too, before she's many weeks +older, or my name's not Jerry Macy." + + + + +CHAPTER X--A CRUSHING PENALTY + + +As Jerry had guessed, Constance Stevens' absence from school was due to +the fact that her foster-father had descended upon Gray Gables for a +brief visit. He was delighted to see both Marjorie and Jerry. Constance +insisted that they should remain to dinner, whereupon the tireless +telephone was put into use and the two remained at Gray Gables, there to +spend a most agreeable evening. At about eleven o'clock Hal Macy +appeared to take them home in the Macy's smart limousine. Thus, in the +pleasure of being with her friends, Marjorie quite forgot the +disagreeable incident that had earlier befallen herself and Jerry. +Strange to say, Caesar's Commentaries, also, faded from recollection, and +it was not until they were driving home that the estimable Roman was +tardily remembered along with previous good intentions. "It's unprepared +for ours," was Jerry's doleful cry, thereby proving that the will to +abolish slang was better than the deed. + +Due to placing pleasure before duty, Marjorie felt it incumbent upon her +to make an early entrance into school the next morning for the purpose +of taking a hasty peep at her neglected text books. She was lucky, she +told herself, in that the last hour in the morning would give her an +opportunity to go over her Caesar lesson. She, therefore, confined her +attention to her English literature, deciding that she could somehow +manage to slide through her French without absolute failure. Civil +government would also have to take its chance for one recitation. + +When at fifteen minutes past eleven she came into the study hall from +French class and settled herself to begin the business of Latin, she was +for once glad to lay hold on the fat, green volume devoted to the doings +of the invincible Caesar. Opening it, a faint cluck of surprise fell from +her lips as she took from it a square, white envelope addressed to +herself. It was unsealed and as she drew forth the folded paper which it +held she wondered mightily how it had come to be there. She was very +sure she had not placed it in the book. Her bewilderment deepened as she +read: + + "Miss Dean: + + "After what occurred the other day in the principal's office it is + surprising that you were not expelled from Sanford High School. It + proves you to be a special pet of Miss Archer. Such unfairness is + contemptible in a principal. It should be exposed, along with your + dishonesty. Sooner or later even that will be found out and you will + receive your just deserts. It is a long lane that has no turning. + + "The Observer." + +Marjorie emitted a faint sigh of pure amazement as she finished reading +this sinister prediction of her ultimate downfall. It was a piece of +rank absurdity, evidently penned by someone who had no intimate +knowledge of inside facts. Still it filled her with a curious sense of +horror. She loathed the very idea of an anonymous letter. Once before +since she had first set foot in Sanford High the experience of receiving +one of these mysterious communications had been hers. It had pertained +to basket ball, however. She had easily guessed its origin and it had +troubled her little. This letter was of an entirely different character. +It proved that among the girls with whom she daily met and associated +there was one, at least, who did not wish her well. + +As she reread the spiteful message, her thoughts leaped to Rowena +Farnham as the person most open to suspicion. Yet Rowena had made a +direct attack upon her. Again there was Mignon. She was wholly capable +of such a deed. Strangely enough, Marjorie was seized with the belief +that neither girl was responsible for it. She did not know why she +believed this to be true. She simply accepted it as such, and cudgelled +her brain for another more plausible solution of the mystery. + +As she studied it the more she became convinced that the writing was the +same as that of the similarly signed letter Miss Archer had received. +The stationery, too, was the same. The words, "The Observer," were the +crowning proof which entirely exonerated Rowena. She had certainly not +written the first note. Therefore, she had not written the second. +Marjorie was in a quandary as to whether or not she should go frankly to +the principal and exhibit the letter. She felt that Miss Archer would +wish to see it, and at once take the matter up. She could hardly charge +Rowena with it, thereby lessening her chances of entering the school. +This second note made no mention of Rowena. Its spitefulness was +directed entirely toward Marjorie herself. As it pertained wholly to +her, she believed that it might be better to keep the affair locked +within her own breast. After all, it might amount to nothing. No doubt, +Rowena had related her own version of the algebra problem to Mignon. +Mignon was noted for her malicious powers of gossip. A garbled account +on her part of the matter might have aroused some one of her few allies +to this cowardly method of attack. Still this explanation would not +cover the writing of the first letter. + +Quite at sea regarding its source, Marjorie gave the distasteful missive +an impatient little flip that sent it fluttering off her desk to the +floor. Reaching down she lifted it, holding it away from her as though +it were a noisome weed. She burned to tear it into bits, but an inner +prompting stayed her destroying hands. Replacing it in the envelope, she +tucked it inside her silk blouse, determining to file it away at home in +case she needed it for future reference. She hoped, however, that it +would never be needed. Whoever had slipped it into her Caesar must have +done so after she had left her desk on the previous afternoon, following +the close of the session. She wished she knew those who had lingered in +the study hall after half-past three. This she was not likely to learn. +Her own intimate friends had all passed out of the study hall at the +ringing of the closing bell. She resolved that she would make casual +inquiries elsewhere in the hope of finding a clue. + +During the rest of the week she pursued this course with tactful +assiduousness, but she could discover nothing worth while. What she did +learn, however, was that due to a strenuous appeal to the Board of +Education on the part of Mr. Farnham, his daughter had been allowed, on +strict promise of future good behavior, to try an entirely new set of +examinations. Fortune must have attended her, for on the next Monday she +appeared in the study hall as radiantly triumphant as though she had +received a great honor, rather than a reluctant admission into the +sophomore fold. + +"Well, she got there!" hailed Jerry Macy in high disgust, happening to +meet Marjorie in the corridor between classes on the morning of Rowena's +retarded arrival. "My father said they had quite a time about it. She +got into school by just one vote. He wouldn't tell me which way he +voted, but he said he was glad she wasn't his daughter." + +"I'm honestly glad for hers and her parents' sake that she was allowed +another trial." Marjorie spoke with sincere earnestness. "She's had a +severe lesson. She may profit by it and get along without any more +trouble." + +"Profit by nothing," grumbled Jerry. "She can't change her disposition +any more than a cat can grow feathers or an ostrich whiskers. Row-ena, +Scrapena, Fightena, Quarrelena she is and will be forever and forever. +Let's not talk about her. She makes me--I mean I feel somewhat languid +whenever her name is mentioned." Jerry delivered her polite emendation +with irresistible drollery. "Did you know that there's to be a junior +basket ball try-out next Tuesday after school?" + +"No." Marjorie's interest was aroused. "Who told you? It certainly +hasn't been announced." + +"Ellen Seymour told me. She's going to help Miss Davis manage the team +this year in Marcia Arnold's place. I imagine she'll do most of the +managing. I guess Miss Davis had enough of basket ball last year. She +told Ellen that it took up too much of her time. She knew, I guess, that +the upper class girls wouldn't relish her interference. Ellen says you +must be sure to be at the try-out. She hopes you----" Jerry left off +speaking and looked sheepish. + +"Well, why don't you finish? What does Ellen wish me to do?" + +"You'll find out at the try-out. Now don't ask me any more questions +about it." Jerry's cheerful grin belied her brusque words. + +"You're a very tantalizing person," smiled Marjorie. "There goes the +second bell. I'll see you later." She scudded away, wondering what it +was that Jerry had stoutly refused to reveal. Evidently, it must be +something of pleasant import, else Jerry would have frowned rather than +smiled. + +The next day, directly after opening exercises, Miss Merton dryly read +out the official call to the try-out. It was received by the junior +section with an audible joy which she sternly quenched. Miss Merton was +in even less sympathy with "that rough-and-tumble game" than she was +with the girls who elected to play it. It was directly due to her that +Miss Davis had lost interest in it. + +To those intimately interested in making the junior team, the Tuesday +afternoon session seemed interminable. Eager eyes frequently consulted +the moon-faced study-hall clock, as its hands traveled imperturbably +toward the hour of reprieve. Would half-past three never come? At ten +minutes past three Muriel Harding's impatience vented itself in the +writing of a heart-felt complaint to Marjorie. She wrote: + + "This afternoon is one hundred years long. Darling Miss Merton + wishes it was two hundred. The very idea that we are going to the + try-out gives her pain. She hates herself, but she hates basket ball + worse. If I should invite her to the try-out she would gobble me up. + So I shall not risk my precious self. You may do the inviting." + +This uncomplimentary tribute to Miss Merton was whisked successfully +down the section and into Marjorie's hands. As note-passing was +obnoxious to the crabbed teacher, Muriel had neither addressed nor +signed it. She had craftily whispered her instructions to the girl ahead +of her, who had obligingly repeated them to the next and so on down the +row. Unfortunately, Miss Merton's eyes had spied it on its journey. She +instantly left her desk to pounce upon it at the moment it was delivered +into Marjorie's keeping. + +"You may give me that note, Miss Dean," she thundered, extending a thin, +rigid hand. + +"Pardon me, Miss Merton, but this note is for _me_." Her fingers closing +about it, Marjorie lifted resolute, brown eyes to the disagreeable face +above her. + +"Give it to me instantly. You are an impertinent young woman." Miss +Merton glared down as though quite ready to take Marjorie by the +shoulders and shake her. + +Back in her own seat, Muriel Harding was divided between admiration for +Marjorie and fear that she would yield to Miss Merton's demand. Despite +lack of signature, the latter would have little trouble in identifying +the writer were she given a chance to read the note. Muriel saw trouble +looming darkly on her horizon. + +"I am sorry you think me impertinent. I do not mean to be." The soft +voice rang with quiet decision. "But I cannot give you this note." +Marjorie calmly put the note in her blouse, and, folding her hands, +awaited the storm. + +"You will stay here to-night until you give it to me," decreed Miss +Merton grimly. Beaten for the time, she stalked back to her desk, quite +aware that she could hardly have imposed a more crushing penalty. True, +her effort to obtain the note had been fruitless, but one thing was +patent: Marjorie Dean would not be present at the junior basket ball +try-out. + + + + +CHAPTER XI--AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR + + +Left to herself for a brief respite, Marjorie drew out the note and read +it. An expression of amused consternation flashed into her eyes as she +took in its spirit. Knowing the writing to be Muriel's she was now glad +she had stood her ground. Note writing was not forbidden in Sanford High +and never had been. Miss Merton alone, of all the teachers, strenuously +opposed it. To be sure, it was not regarded by them with special favor. +Nevertheless, in the class-rooms no one was ever taken to task for it +unless it seriously interfered with the recitation. Marjorie did not +know Miss Archer's views on the subject, but she believed her principal +too great-minded to cavil at such trifles. + +The instant she had finished reading the note, she reduced it to +unreadable bits, leaving them in plain sight on her desk. Not by so much +as a backward glance did she betray the writer. Knowing Miss Merton to +be on the alert, she took no chances. Should the latter send her to Miss +Archer, she would very quickly express herself on the subject. As a +junior she believed that the time for treating her as a member of the +primary grade had long since passed. + +It was not until she had effectually blocked all possibility of the note +falling into Miss Merton's possession that she remembered the try-out. +Her heart sank as she recalled what a lengthy, lonely stay in the study +hall meant. The try-out would go on without her. She would lose all +chance of obtaining a place on the junior team. Her changeful face paled +a trifle as she sadly accepted this dire disaster to her hopes. If only +Muriel had not written that note. + +The first closing bell sent a tremor of despair to her heavy heart. She +wondered how long Miss Merton would detain her. She had said, "You will +stay here to-night until you give it to me." Even in the midst of +misfortune the edict took a humorous turn. She had a vision of herself +and Miss Merton keeping a lonely, all-night vigil in the study hall. + +At the second bell the long lines of girls began a decorous filing down +the aisles to the great doors. Marjorie watched them go, vainly +pondering on why, thus far, her junior year had been so filled with +mishaps. A bad beginning sometimes made a good ending was her only +comforting reflection. She hoped that in her case it would prove true. + +"Why are you staying, Miss Harding?" rasped forth Miss Merton when the +big room had at last emptied itself. + +Marjorie faced about with a start. She had not reckoned on this. She +made a desperate sign to Muriel to go. Muriel merely shook an obstinate +head. Then she announced bravely, "I wrote that note to Miss Dean." + +"Then you may remain in your seat," snapped the frowning teacher. "Miss +Dean, do you intend to give me that note?" + +"I have destroyed it," came the calm reply. + +"You are determined to defy me, I see. Very well, you may tell me the +contents of it. I saw you read it after I had returned to my desk." + +"I have nothing to say," Marjorie replied with terse obstinacy. + +"Miss Harding, _you_ may tell me what you wrote." Miss Merton suddenly +swung her attack from Marjorie to Muriel. + +"I will not." Muriel spoke with hot decision. "Neither Miss Dean nor I +are grammar school children. I see no reason why we should be treated as +such. I think it very ridiculous, and I will not submit to it. You may +send me to Miss Archer if you like. I am quite ready to say to her what +I have just said to you." + +As Muriel's challenge of defiance cut the storm-laden atmosphere, a most +unexpected thing happened. Almost as if the mere mention of her name had +served to bring her to the scene, Miss Archer walked into the study +hall. She had come in time to catch Muriel's last sentence, and her +quick faculties had leaped to conclusion. + +"What is it that you are quite ready to say to me, Miss Harding?" was +her grave interrogation. + +Miss Merton's sallow cheeks took on a lively tinge of red. She was not +specially anxious to bring Miss Archer into the discussion. Had the +recipient of the note been other than Marjorie Dean, she would have +allowed the incident to pass with a caustic rebuke. But her dislike for +the winsome girl was deep-rooted. She could never resist the slightest +opportunity to vent it publicly. + +"I wrote a note to Miss Dean, Miss Archer," burst forth Muriel. "Miss +Merton asked Miss Dean for it and she wouldn't give it to her. So Miss +Merton said she must stay here until she did. Miss Dean tore the note +up. I stayed because I wrote it. Miss Merton says we must tell her what +was in that note. I won't do it. Neither will Marjorie. I just said that +I did not think we ought to be treated like grammar-school children. I +said, too, that I would be willing to say so to you, and I have." + +Miss Archer's quizzical gaze traveled from Muriel's flushed face to +Marjorie's composed features. Here was, indeed, a problem in that +unknown quantity, girl nature. Miss Archer was too thoroughly acquainted +with the ways of girls not to comprehend what lay beneath this out and +out defiance of Miss Merton's commands. She understood, if Miss Merton +did not, or would not, the rather overdrawn sense of school-girl honor +which prompted the rebellion. She knew that except in extreme cases, +there was little to be obtained by using force. It was all too likely to +defeat its own object. + +"The attitude of these two young women toward me is insufferable." Miss +Merton now took up a harsh stand. She did not intend the principal +should allow the matter to be passed over lightly. "Miss Dean, in +particular, has been most disrespectful. In fact, ever since she became +a pupil of this school she has derived an especial delight from annoying +me." + +Miss Archer's face wore an inscrutable expression as she listened. Years +of association with Miss Merton had taught her to read between the +lines. Yet she knew she must now proceed with the utmost diplomacy. As a +teacher Miss Merton was entitled to the respect of her pupils. She had +an inner conviction, however, that the irate woman was piling injustice +upon Marjorie's shoulders. She herself was beginning to understand the +girl's motives could never be classed as unworthy. Young in years, she +possessed already a breadth of mind which Miss Merton could never hope +to attain. + +"You are entitled to the utmost respect on the part of your pupils, Miss +Merton," she levelly acknowledged. "I am sorry to hear bad reports of +any of my pupils. I am sure that Miss Harding and Miss Dean will rectify +the matter with an apology. As for the note, perhaps it might be wiser +to allow the matter to drop." + +"Girls," she now addressed the belligerents, "it seems to me that, as +long as note-writing has proved a source of trouble to you, you might +better give up the practice. Let me ask you a question. Was there any +grave and important reason for writing that note?" + +Muriel Harding hung her head. "No, Miss Archer," came her low answer. + +Marjorie's pale face took on a faint glow of pink. "It was not +necessary," she admitted. + +"Very well. You have both agreed that it was unnecessary. My advice to +you is to discontinue the practice. I must insist that both of you make +apology to Miss Merton for the annoyance you have caused." + +"Miss Merton, I regret that you should have been annoyed by me." +Marjorie made an immediate and dignified apology, which was perfectly +sincere on her part. For more reasons than one she deplored the +annoyance. + +Muriel, however, hesitated a second or two before committing herself. +Suddenly it dawned upon her that Miss Archer's demand for apology had a +deeper significance. She thereupon made haste to repeat Marjorie's exact +words. + +Miss Merton received both apologetic speeches in black silence. She was +inwardly furious with the principal, not only for her unexpected +intrusion, but for the lax manner in which she had administered +discipline. At least, Miss Merton considered it distinctly lax. Still, +she knew that it would be in bad taste to try to overrule the +principal's decision. "You are dismissed," she said stiffly. "See to it +that you conduct yourselves properly hereafter." She could not resist +this one touch of authority. + +The ex-culprits lost no time in leaving the study hall behind them. Not +a word passed between them until the door of the junior locker room had +closed upon them. Their eyes meeting, they burst into laughter, +discreetly subdued, but most expressive of their feelings. Each mind +held the same thought. What would Miss Merton have said had she read the +note? + + + + +CHAPTER XII--A DOUBTFUL VICTORY + + +"Marjorie Dean, you are true blue!" exclaimed Muriel. "Whatever +possessed me to write that awful note? If Miss Merton had read it--well, +you can guess what would have happened. I shook in my shoes when I heard +her ask you for it." + +"I'm glad I didn't give it to her." An angry sparkle leaped into +Marjorie's soft eyes. "She only made a fuss about it because it was I +who had it. I think Miss Archer understood that. I love her for it. She +treats us always as though we were young women; not as naughty children. +But we mustn't stand here. It's four o'clock now. I am afraid we won't +have a chance to play. Only about fifteen or twenty juniors are going to +try for the team. It may be made already." Marjorie picked up the bag +which contained her basket ball suit and tennis shoes. + +"Let us hustle along then," urged Muriel. Seizing her friend by one +hand, her luggage in the other, the two raced for the gymnasium, hoping +against hope. + +"It's all over." Muriel cried out in disappointment as they entered the +great room. + +"I am afraid so," faltered Marjorie, as she noted the group of +bloomer-clad girls standing idle at one end of the gymnasium. Here and +there about the floor were others in uniform. Altogether she counted +eighteen. Ellen Seymour and two other seniors were seated on the +platform, their chairs drawn together, their attention apparently fixed +on a pad on Ellen's knee. Spectators had been firmly but politely denied +admission. Ellen had pronounced them a detriment to the try-out and +elected that they should remain away. + +"Hello, Marjorie Dean," joyfully called out Harriet Delaney. As she +hailed Marjorie she ran toward the two girls. "We thought you were lost +to us forever. Where were you, Muriel? You surely didn't have to stay." + +"Did you make the team?" was Muriel's excited query. + +"Not yet." Harriet's eyes twinkled. "The try-out hasn't begun yet." + +"Hasn't begun!" echoed two voices. + +"No. Ellen was awfully cross about the way Miss Merton acted, so she +said we'd wait for Marjorie. Then, when Muriel didn't appear, she said, +that if neither of you materialized, she would have the try-out put off +until to-morrow. Miss Davis is so busy with that new system of +gymnastics she's going to adopt this year that she's left basket ball to +Ellen. I don't see how she could help herself, though. Last year the +juniors and seniors ran their own teams." + +"Ellen's a dear," exulted Muriel. "We are lucky to have her for manager. +Marjorie and I will be her grateful slaves for the rest of the year. I +wrote that note; so, naturally, I had to stay and face the music." + +"You did!" It was Harriet who now registered surprise. "What was in it?" + +Muriel giggled. She could now afford to laugh. "Oh, a lot of sweet +things about Miss Merton. You can guess just how sweet they were." + +"Goodness!" breathed Harriet. "No wonder Marjorie wouldn't give it up. +She--why, she's gone!" + +Marjorie had stopped only to greet Harriet. While Muriel was explaining +matters, she slipped away to the platform where Ellen Seymour sat. "It +was splendid in you, Ellen!" she burst forth, as she reached the +senior's side. "Thank you, ever so much." + +"Hurrah! Here's Marjorie." Ellen sprang up, her pleasant face breaking +into a smile. "I'm so glad you came at last, and so sorry for what +happened. You must tell me how you came out. But not now. We shall have +to hustle to make up for lost time. I suppose you know Miss Elbert and +Miss Horner. No?" Ellen promptly performed introductions. + +"Pleased to meet you," nodded both young women. Neither looked specially +delighted. Miss Elbert, a small, plump girl with near-sighted, gray +eyes, bowed in reserved fashion. Miss Horner, a rather pretty brunette, +acknowledged the introduction with languid grace. Marjorie had long +known both by sight. On two different occasions she had been introduced +to Miss Horner. Afterward, on meeting her in the street, the latter had +made no sign of recognition. + +"I suppose you are satisfied now, Ellen," drawled Miss Horner sweetly. +"You are lucky, Miss Dean, to have Ellen for a champion. She insisted +that we must wait for you." + +"I am very grateful to her," Marjorie made courteous reply. Had there +lurked a touch of sarcasm in the other's polite comment? + +"Miss Merton is altogether too fussy," remarked Miss Elbert. Her blunt +tone quite belied her reserved nod. "She tried that with me last year. +It didn't work, though." Her air of constraint vanished in a bright +glance, which indicated friendliness. + +"You must remember that she has a great deal to try her," reminded Miss +Horner softly. + +Again Marjorie thought she sensed hostility. She laid it to the +supposition that Miss Horner was, perhaps, a trifle peevish at being +delayed. Yet she could not resist the quiet comment, "Miss Merton is +also very trying." + +"Of course she is," agreed Ellen warmly. "You know it as well as we do, +Charlotte Horner. _You_ have no cause to love her. Just remember how +cranky she was to you during your freshman year." + +"That was a long time ago," shrugged the senior. "I understand her much +better now than then." The placid answer held a suspicion of +condescending approval of Miss Merton. + +"I'm glad someone does," flung back Ellen with careless good humor. +"Hurry along, Marjorie, and get into your basket ball suit. I shouldn't +have kept you talking." Drawing her aside, she whispered: "I'd rather +see you play center on the team than any girl I know." + +"It seems to me, Ellen," drawled Charlotte Horner, as her indolent gaze +followed Marjorie across the floor to the dressing room, "that you are +babying that Miss Dean entirely too much. Someone told me the other day +that she has a bad attack of swelled head. I must say, I think her +self-opinionated. She answered me very pertly." + +"If you mean her remark about Miss Merton, she only spoke the truth," +defended Ellen hotly, completely astonished by this unexpected attack on +Marjorie. "She is not in the least self-opinionated nor vain. It's +remarkable that she isn't. She is very pretty and awfully popular." + +"Glad you told me," murmured the other, lazily unbelieving. "I know +several girls with whom she is not particularly popular." + +To this Ellen made no response. With vexation at her own stupidity, she +now remembered too late that Charlotte Horner had always been rather +friendly with Mignon La Salle. Remembering only Charlotte's undeniable +prowess as a basket ball player, she had asked her to act with herself +and Leila Elbert as one of the three judges at the try-out. This +explained why Charlotte had not been in favor of postponing the try-out +in case Marjorie were detained indefinitely. Ellen found herself hoping +that personal prejudice would not influence Charlotte to decry +Marjorie's work on the floor. + +"I think Miss Dean is very nice." It was Leila Elbert who made this +announcement. Her reserved manner had arisen merely from shyness. She +was a quiet, diffident girl, who, beyond an enthusiasm for basket ball, +had mixed little with the social side of high school. She was an expert +player who had been on the same team with Ellen during her freshman, +sophomore and junior years. Accordingly, she was eminently fitted to +judge the merits of the respective contestants. + +"That's sweet in you." Ellen flashed her a grateful look. It would be +two against one in Marjorie's favor. + +Within ten minutes after seeking the dressing room Marjorie issued from +it ready for the fray, wearing her sophomore basket ball uniform. +Running up to Ellen she announced: "I am ready. So is Muriel." In a +lower tone she added: "It was dear in you to wish me well." Then she +trotted over and joined the contestants, who had gradually collected in +one spot. + +"All right." Ellen left the platform and approached the fruitful +material for junior honors. "Girls," she began, with an elaborate bow, +"behold your stern manager." + +She was interrupted by giggling applause. Cheerful Ellen Seymour was +beloved throughout Sanford High School. + +"Much obliged," she nodded gaily. "As I was saying when interrupted by +your heart-felt appreciation, _I_ am your manager. This year there will +be no senior team. The seniors have soared to heights beyond mere basket +ball. I had to soar with them, though I wasn't in a soaring mood. Since +I can't play the good old game alone, I've decided to bury my +disappointment in managership. Of course, you know that you can't all +play. So if you're not chosen, don't be disappointed. It's going to be +an absolutely fair try-out. If you're chosen, it is because you are a +better player than the girl who isn't. Now please line up until I count +you over." + +It was a nondescript line that whipped itself promptly into position. +There were the five gray-clad girls who had made up Mignon La Salle's +famous team. There were also the five black-garbed players who had +comprised Marjorie's squad. Besides these were ten new applicants in +blue gymnasium suits who had not been fortunate enough to make either of +the two teams that had striven against each other in the sophomore year. +These girls had decided to try again, hoping that better luck would be +theirs. + +Marjorie thrilled with excitement as she cast a quick glance up and down +the line. Every face was set in determined fashion. It was going to be +much harder than ever before to make the team. + +Ellen Seymour walked up and down the row of girls with the air of a +general. She was shrewdly calculating the best plan of action. It would +hardly be fair to try out the black and scarlet girls against the grays, +leaving the other ten of lesser experience to play against each other. +Among the new girls there was, undoubtedly, some excellent material +which contact with the regular players was sure to bring out. She, +therefore, chose five blues to play against two grays and three black +and scarlet girls. Mignon and Daisy Griggs represented the grays, +Marjorie, Susan and Harriet Delaney the black and scarlet. + +Clearing the floor of the others, Ellen signaled the two teams to their +places and soon had the ball in play. It seemed very strange to Marjorie +to find herself once more on the same team with Mignon La Salle. She was +too busy attending to her own affairs, however, to give it more than a +passing thought. Centering her whole mind on her work she played with +her usual snap and brilliancy. + +After twenty minutes' energetic work, the warning whistle sounded +retreat. Then the other ten girls remaining were ordered to the floor to +show what they could do. When, after the same allowance of time, they +had been called off, the three judges went into consultation with the +result that ten names were struck from the list Ellen held. These names +Ellen read out, expressing a regret for the failure of their owners to +make good that was in a measure quite consoling. They left the floor to +their more fortunate sisters apparently with the best possible grace, +considering the disappointment that was theirs. + +There were still left Susan, Muriel, Marjorie, Mignon, Daisy Griggs and +Anne Easton of the seasoned teams. The other were four of the blue-clad +girls who had done surprisingly well. These ten were again divided into +opposing fives and went at it with a will. + +T-r-ill! Ellen's whistle at last called an end to the spirited fray. The +girls pattered off the playing floor. Grouped together they breathlessly +awaited the verdict. + +This time it was longer in coming. Up on the judge's stand, Ellen +Seymour found herself participating in the wrangle with Charlotte +Horner, which she had anticipated. But Marjorie was not alone subject of +it. It was Mignon's basket ball future, too, that now tottered. Four +names had been struck off the list of ten. It lay between Mignon and +Marjorie Dean as to whom the fifth should be. + +"Mignon is a better player than this Dean girl," sharply argued +Charlotte Horner. "But poor Mignon simply wasn't up to her usual form +to-day." + +"But it's to-day that counts, else why have a try-out?" protested Ellen. +"Marjorie has completely outplayed her in this last test. I consider +Marjorie the better player at any time. She is reliable. Mignon isn't. I +insist that Marjorie shall have the position. I think she's the best +player of the whole team." + +"And _I_ insist that Mignon must have it." In her anger Charlotte forgot +her usual languid drawl. + +"It rests with Leila." Ellen shrugged her shoulders. "What is your +opinion, Leila?" + +"Miss Dean is the better player," declared Leila stolidly. "Anyone can +see that." + +"Two against one. The ayes have it." Ellen drew a firm pencil through +Mignon's name. + +And thus Marjorie Dean won a victory over Mignon La Salle, which was +destined to bring her a great deal of unhappiness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII--UNSEEN; UNKNOWN; UNGUESSED + + +Outside the school building Jerry Macy and Irma Linton were holding a +patient vigil. Not permitted to witness the try-out they had declared +their intention of waiting across the street for their friends. +Confidently expecting that their wait would be long, they had set off +for Sargent's directly after school, there to while away at least a part +of the time. It was twenty minutes after four when they returned to the +school and determinedly perched themselves upon the top step of the long +flight where they proposed to remain stationed until the try-out should +be over. As ardent fans, they had a lively curiosity to know as soon as +possible the results of the contest. They were also deeply concerned as +to what had transpired between Marjorie and Miss Merton. + +"Good gracious!" grumbled Jerry, as she frowningly consulted her wrist +watch. "When do you suppose it will be over? It's half-past five now. I +hope----" + +"Hark!" Irma raised a warning hand. "I hear voices. Here they come at +last." + +As she spoke the heavy door behind her swung open. One after another the +contestants began issuing forth to unite into little groups as they +passed down the steps to the street. Jerry and Irma were now on their +feet eagerly watching for their friends. Jerry's shrewd power of +observation had already been put to good use. Thus far she glimpsed +defeat in the faces of those who passed. Among them was Mignon La Salle. +Her arm linked in that of Charlotte Horner, the French girl was carrying +on a low-toned monologue, the very nature of which could be read in the +stormy play of her lowering features. + +Jerry gave Irma a significant nudge as Mignon switched past them without +sign of recognition. Irma nodded slightly to show that she understood +its import. She, too, had guessed that Mignon had not made the team. + +"At last!" Jerry sighed relief, as Marjorie stepped across the +threshold, followed by Susan, Muriel and Daisy Griggs. "What's the good +word?" She hailed. + +"We are the real people," boasted Muriel Harding, a throbbing note of +triumph in her light tones. "Marjorie, Susan, Daisy and I made the team. +The fifth girl is Rita Talbot. She was the only one of the blues chosen. +Poor Harriet didn't make it. Neither did Esther. Harriet's been chosen +as a sub, though. She has that queer little green-eyed Warner girl. +She's such a quiet mouse, I never even dreamed she could play basket +ball. She can, though." Muriel rattled off all this, hardly stopping to +take breath. + +"So dear Miss Merton changed her mind," burst forth Jerry irrelevantly. +"How long did she keep you, Marjorie? What did she say?" They had now +progressed as far as the sidewalk and had halted there to talk. + +Marjorie entered into brief details, giving Muriel the lion's share of +credit for her blunt explanation to Miss Archer. "If Muriel hadn't +spoken so plainly, Miss Archer might not have seen things in the right +light," she ended. + +"Don't you believe it," disagreed Jerry. "Miss Archer knows Miss Merton +like a book. It's a real comfort to have a principal like her. Say, I'll +bet Mignon is so mad she can't see straight. You should have seen her +when she passed us. She was talking a blue streak to that Miss Horner. +She was one of the judges, wasn't she?" + +"Yes." Marjorie's face clouded at mention of the languidly spoken +senior. It now occurred to her that she had not been at fault in +believing that Charlotte Horner disliked her. No doubt Mignon was the +motive for her dislike. Like Ellen, she, too, tardily recalled that the +two had been occasionally seen together last year. It might account also +for the emphatic wagging of heads that had gone on among the three +judges before the final result of the try-out had been announced. + +"I suppose you are going to play the sophomores." Irma's soft intonation +brought Marjorie out of her brown study. + +"Of course." It was Daisy Griggs who answered. "They are to have their +try-out to-morrow afternoon. I don't believe we will be ready to play +them before November. We have a lot of practice ahead of us. We'll have +to have new suits, too. But we won't know until we have a meeting what +colors to choose. We ought to ask the subs what they'd like. We can't +very well go by the junior colors this year. They are deep crimson and +white, you know. We couldn't possibly have white suits with a crimson J, +and crimson suits wouldn't be pretty, either." + +"_I_ think they _would_," put in Muriel Harding stoutly. "We could have +our suits of a little darker crimson than the class color. They would be +stunning with a white J on the blouse and a wide, rolling collar of +white broadcloth. Besides, crimson is a victorious color. We'd just have +to win. It would be inspiring." + +"It sounds good to me," approved Susan. "They'd certainly be different +from any we've ever had. We could all put together and buy the cloth. +Then have them made by one person instead of each going to our own +dressmaker." + +"I think that would be nice," nodded Marjorie. "But we want to please +Daisy, too, so perhaps----" + +"Oh, I don't mind. Just so they aren't a glaring red," hastily amended +Daisy. "I suppose the subs will want to have new suits, too. We ought to +call a meeting of the team some time this week. That reminds me, we +don't know yet who is to be captain. You ought to be, Marjorie. I think +Ellen will ask you." + +"No." Marjorie shook a decided head. "To be given center is honor enough +for me. Girls, I'd love to have Muriel for captain. She'd be simply +splendid." + +"Oh, no, not me," protested Muriel in ungrammatical confusion. +Nevertheless, she flushed with pleasure at Marjorie's generous proposal. + +"That would be fine," asserted Susan Atwell heartily. She was not in the +least jealous because Marjorie had not proposed her for the honor. She +had long since learned that Marjorie Dean was incapable of showing +favoritism. She had selected Muriel strictly with the good of the team +in mind. + +"Let's ask Ellen if we can't have Muriel," said Daisy Griggs earnestly. + +"You see three of us are of the same mind," Marjorie pointed out with a +smile. "I know Rita will say so, too. But where are she and Harriet?" + +"Still in the gym, I guess, with Ellen. Harriet lives next door to +Ellen," reminded Susan. "They'll be along presently." + +"I can't wait for them," Marjorie demurred. "It's almost six. Captain +will wonder why I'm so late. Come on, Jerry and Irma," she called. Jerry +and Irma had wandered a little away from the group and were deeply +engaged in earnest discussion. "How many of you are going our way?" + +"I'm going to my aunt's for dinner," said Muriel. "So I'll say good-bye. +Daisy goes my way, too. See you to-morrow. Come along, Daisy." + +Left to themselves, Susan, Marjorie, Irma and Jerry swung off toward +home, four abreast. + +"See here, Marjorie," began Jerry. "You want to look out for Mignon. I +told you how mad she looked when she passed us. Irma saw, too. She'll +try to do something to get you off the team and herself on. See if she +doesn't." + +"I'm not going to bother my head about her," Marjorie made careless +reply. "She has never really hurt anyone she's tried to hurt since I've +known her. With Ellen Seymour managing the teams, we are all sure of +fair play." + +"Don't be too sure," muttered Jerry. She added in a louder tone, +"Ellen's not much protection with Mignon on the job. If she can't play, +she'll try to fix it so somebody else can't. Not you, perhaps. Anyway, +it won't do any harm for you to keep your eyes open." + +"Don't croak, Jeremiah." Marjorie laid a playful hand on Jerry's lips. +"Didn't I tell you long ago that I should not allow Mignon La Salle to +trouble me this year? I am going to keep at a safe distance from her." + +"I hope you stick to that," was Jerry's ungracious retort. Under her +breath she added, "but I doubt it." + +Jerry Macy's well-meant warning was destined, however, to come back most +forcibly to Marjorie no later than the following morning. As she ran +down the steps of her home and on down the walk on her way to school, +she encountered the postman at the gate. He handed her two letters, +which she received with a gurgle of girlish delight. On the top envelope +she had glimpsed Mary's familiar script. The gurgle changed to a +dismayed gasp as she examined the other. Only too quickly had she +recognized the handwriting. Shoving Mary's letter into the pocket of her +pretty tan coat, she hastily opened the other envelope. Her evil genius +had again come to life. A wave of hot resentment swept her as she +unfolded the one sheet of heavy white paper and read: + + "Miss Dean: + + "No doubt you think yourself very clever to have made the junior + team. You could never have done so had partiality not been shown. + Others at the try-out were much more worthy of the choice. You + believe because you can dress like a doll and are popular with a few + rattle-brained girls that everyone likes you. But you are mistaken. + A few persons, at least, know how vain and silly and deceitful you + are. You pretend to hate snobbery, but you are a snob. Some day + _everyone_ will know you for what you really are. The time is not + far off. Beware. + + "The Observer." + +Turning, Marjorie went slowly back to the house and climbed the stairs +to her room. Pausing before her desk, she opened it. From a pigeon-hole +she extracted another letter. Carefully she compared it with the one +that had come by post. Yes, they must have both emanated from the same +source. Stationery, writing and signature were unmistakable proofs. With +a sigh she shoved them both into the pigeon-hole. Who could her +mysterious enemy be? These letters were certainly of the variety she had +heard classed as "poison pen." + +Thus far she had flouted the idea of Mignon La Salle as the writer of +them. Now she was forced to wonder if she had been wrong. Was it +possible that Mignon had lurked outside Miss Archer's office on the +morning when she had solved the problem for Rowena Farnham? If this were +so, the letter Miss Archer had received might then be accredited to her, +as well as the two now in her desk. Barring Rowena Farnham, Marjorie +knew no one else who would be likely to engage in such a despicable +enterprise. If Mignon were guilty of this, Jerry Macy's warning had not +been an idle one. It, therefore, behooved her, Marjorie Dean, to be on +her guard. Yet how could she guard herself against a shadow, an enemy +unseen; unknown; unguessed? + + + + +CHAPTER XIV--A SOLDIER IN EARNEST + + +Absorbed in a vain attempt to find a clue to the mysterious prophesier +of evil, Marjorie forgot Mary Raymond's letter until she happened to +thrust a hand into her coat pocket on the way home from school at noon. +Mary's long, cheery epistle partially atoned for the hateful sentiments +expressed by the unknown. On her return home in the afternoon, a second +comforter was accorded her in a letter from Constance Stevens. The day +after Marjorie and Jerry had spent the evening at Gray Gables Mr. +Stevens had gone to New York. Constance had accompanied him. + +Since the great change had taken place in the girl's life her school +days had been more or less broken. Still she managed to keep up in her +classes despite frequent short absences from school. It was tacitly +understood, not only by Miss Archer, but also by Constance's other +teachers, that she intended to study for a grand opera debut as soon as +her high school days were over. The mere possession of so remarkable a +voice as was hers rather set her apart in some indefinite fashion from +her schoolmates. Where others would have been taken to strict account +for absence, she was allowed an unusual amount of consideration. +Undoubtedly, the fact that when actually in school she invariably +acquitted herself with credit in her various studies had much to do with +the leniency accorded her. From a very humble person, she was rapidly +becoming a personage from whom Sanford expected one day to hear great +things. + +Marjorie Dean felt Constance's absences more keenly than anyone else. +She had been particularly lonesome for her friend during this latest +one, and the news that Constance would return to Sanford and to school +on the following week banished for the time the shadow of the morning's +unpleasant incident. + +"Constance will be home on Sunday, Captain," she caroled gleefully, as +she danced about the living room by way of expressing her jubilation. + +"I am glad to hear it. You really need the child to cheer you up. You've +been looking rather solemn lately, my dear. Aren't you happy in your +school? Sit down here and give an account of yourself," commanded Mrs. +Dean with a smile. + +"Oh, yes." The answer was accompanied by a faint sigh, as Marjorie +curled up on the floor beside her mother. "So far, this has been rather +a queer year, though. Nothing very pleasant has happened except basket +ball. That's always a joy. Our team is doing beautifully. We are to play +the sophomores on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It's going to be a +real tussle. Ellen Seymour says there are some great players among the +sophs. You'll come to the game, Captain?" + +"I suppose I must. You consider me a loyal fan. That means I must live +up to my reputation. By the way, Lieutenant, did that girl who made you +so much trouble enter high school? You never told me." + +"You mean Rowena Farnham? Yes; she was allowed to try another set of +examinations. Jerry Macy said she won the chance by only one vote. +Jerry's father's a member of the Board. I wouldn't tell anyone else but +you, though, about that one vote. She is a sophomore now. I see her in +the study hall, but we never speak. The girls say she is quite popular +with the sophs. I suppose she's trying hard to make up her lost ground." +Marjorie's inflection was slightly bored. She felt that she had small +cause for interest in Rowena. She had never told her mother of the +latter's attack on herself and Jerry. She preferred not to think of it, +much less talk of it. To her it had seemed utterly senseless, as well as +cheap. + +"And how is Mignon La Salle doing?" questioned Mrs. Dean. "I haven't +heard you mention her, either. I must say I am very glad that you and +she are not likely to be thrown together again. Poor little Mary made a +bad mistake last year. It is wonderful that things ever worked out as +well as they did." Mrs. Dean's face grew stern as she recalled the +tangle in which Mary's obstinacy had involved her daughter. + +"Oh, Mignon has found a friend in Rowena Farnham. They go together all +the time. Jerry says they will soon fall out. I am sure they are welcome +to chum together, if they choose." Marjorie shrugged her shoulders as +though desirous of dismissing both girls from her thoughts. + +"Jerry is quite likely to be a true prophet," commented Mrs. Dean. "She +is a very wise girl, but decidedly slangy. I cannot understand why a +girl brought up in her surroundings should be so thoroughly addicted to +slang." + +"She's trying awfully hard not to use it." Recalling Jerry's recent +efforts to speak more elegant English, Marjorie laughed outright. "She's +so funny, Captain. If any other girl I know used slang as she does, I +wouldn't like it. But Jerry! Well, she's different. Next to Connie and +Mary I love her best of all my friends. I don't know what I'd do without +her." + +"She is a very fine girl, in spite of her brusque ways," praised Mrs. +Dean. "General is fond of her, too." She added this little tribute lest +Marjorie might feel that she had been unduly critical. She understood +the fact that Marjorie's friends were sacred to her and on that account +rarely found fault with them. Marjorie could be trusted to choose her +associates wisely. Those to whom her sympathies went out usually proved +themselves worthy of her regard. Motherly anxiety alone had prompted +Mrs. Dean to draw her daughter out with a view toward learning the cause +of Marjorie's recent air of wistful preoccupation. Daily it had become +more noticeable. If a repetition of last year's sorrows threatened her +only child, Mrs. Dean did not propose to be kept in the dark until it +became well-nigh impossible to adjust matters. + +Secretly Marjorie was aware of this anxiety on her mother's part. She +felt that she ought to show her Captain the sinister letters she had +received, yet she was loath to do so. Her mother's inquiry concerning +Mignon had caused her to reflect uneasily that now if ever was the +moment for unburdening her mind. "Captain," she began, "you know that +something is bothering me, don't you?" + +"Yes. I have been hoping you would tell me." Mrs. Dean laid an +encouraging hand on the drooping, brown head against her knee. + +"Wait a minute." Imbued with a desperate energy, Marjorie sprang to her +feet and ran from the room. She soon returned, the disturbing letters +clutched tightly in one hand. "I wish you to read these," she said. +Tendering them to her mother, she drew up a chair opposite Mrs. Dean and +sat down. + +Silence hung over the cheerful room while Mrs. Dean acquainted herself +with the cause of Marjorie's perturbation. Contempt filled her voice as +she finally said: "A most despicable bit of work, Lieutenant. The writer +had good reason to withhold her true name. So this explains the solemn +face you have been wearing of late. I wouldn't take it very deeply to +heart, my dear. Whoever wrote these letters must possess a most cowardly +nature." + +"That's just what I think," nodded Marjorie. "You see it really started +with the letter Miss Archer received. You know, the one about the +algebra problem. The only person I can really suspect of writing any of +them is Mignon. But she's not this sort of coward. Besides, I don't +believe she'd write just this kind of letter. What sort of person do you +think would, Captain?" + +Before answering, Mrs. Dean thoughtfully reread both letters. "It is +hard to say," she mused. "It looks to me as though the writer of them +might have been prompted by jealousy. The second one in particular is +full of jealous spite. I suppose you don't care to let Miss Archer see +them." + +"No." Marjorie shook a vehement head. "I'd rather worry through without +that. Perhaps there won't be any more of them. I hope not. Anyway, I'm +glad I told you about them. If another does come, I can bring it to you +and not feel so bad over it as if I had to think things out alone. Even +if I knew this very minute who wrote them, I don't know what I'd do +about it. It would depend upon who the girl was, whether or not I'd say +anything to her. It's all very mysterious and aggravating, isn't it?" +she added wistfully. + +"It's far worse than that." Mrs. Dean's lips set in a displeased line. +"Sanford High School appears to harbor some very peculiar girls. I can't +imagine any such thing happening to you at Franklin High. I don't like +it at all. If the rest of your junior year is going to be like this, you +might better go away to a good preparatory school." + +"Oh, Captain, don't say that!" Marjorie cried out in distress. "I +couldn't bear to leave you and General and Sanford High. I'd be terribly +unhappy away from home. Please say you didn't really mean that." Tears +lurked in her pleading tones. + +"Now, now, Lieutenant," came the soothing reply, "don't be so ready to +run out to meet calamity. I only suggested your going away as a means of +taking you out of these pits you seem always innocently to be tumbling +into. You know that General and I could hardly get along without our +girl. It is of your welfare I am thinking." + +Marjorie slipped to her mother's side and wound coaxing arms about her. +"I was afraid this would hurt you. That's why I hated to tell you. Don't +worry, Captain. Everything will come out all right. It always has, you +know. So long as I keep a clear conscience, nothing can really hurt me. +I hope I'm too good a soldier to be frightened, just because I've been +fired upon by an unseen enemy. If I ran away now I'd be a deserter, and +a deserter's a disgrace to an army. So you see there's only one thing to +do; stand by and stick fast to my colors. I've got to be a soldier in +earnest." + + + + +CHAPTER XV--AN UNWILLING FOLLOWER + + +Marjorie's confidential talk with her Captain brought to her a renewal +of faith in herself, which carried her along serenely through various +small difficulties which continually sprang up in her junior path. One +of them was Miss Merton, who seemed always on the watch for an +opportunity to belittle the girl she so detested. Still another was the +hostile interest Mignon La Salle had again begun to take in her. Hardly +a day passed without an angry recital on Jerry's part of something she +had heard against Marjorie, which had originally come from Mignon or +Rowena Farnham. Mignon's ally, Charlotte Horner, was an equal source for +provocation. Although she had no special right to do so, she often +dropped in on junior basket ball practice merely to find food for +adverse criticism of Marjorie. She watched the latter with a hawk-like +eye, only to go forth and make capital of any small imperfection in +Marjorie's playing, which she saw or fancied she saw. + +The fact that Rowena Farnham was a member of the sophomore team did not +add to Marjorie's happiness. She had no wish to come into such close +contact with her, which the approaching games between the two teams +would necessitate. From Jerry, the indefatigable news-gatherer, she had +learned that Rowena was a skilful, but rather rough player. Knowing her +to be utterly without scruple, Marjorie had small reason to believe she +could be trusted to play an absolutely fair game against her opponents. +Rowena was already becoming an insolent power in the sophomore class. +Her extreme audacity, coupled with her good looks and fine clothes, +brought her a certain amount of prestige in Sanford High School. She +possessed to a marked degree that impudent quality of daring, which is +so peculiarly fascinating to school girls. + +Although she was not sincerely liked she was admired and feared. She had +a fund of clever sayings at her command, which gave her a reputation for +brilliancy. The frequent reproof of her teachers rolled off her like +water from a duck's back. She made public sport of whomever she pleased, +whenever it pleased her to do so, with a conscienceless air of good +humor that rendered her a dangerous foe. She never hesitated to forge +her way to whatever she wanted, in a hail-fellow-well-met manner which +changed like a flash to insolence with the slightest opposition offered. +She was a bully of the first water, but with the glamor of her newness +still upon her, the worst side of her nature was yet to be revealed to +many. + +Marjorie Dean and Jerry Macy, at least, entertained no illusions +concerning her. Neither did Mignon La Salle. For once in her life, +Mignon was beginning to find herself completely overshadowed by a nature +far more hatefully mischievous than her own. True she was Rowena's most +intimate friend. Yet there were times when she inwardly regretted having +rushed blindly into such a friendship. Striving ever to rule, now she +was invariably overruled. Instead of being leader, she became follower. +Rowena criticized, satirized and domineered over her, all in the name of +friendship. Had she been anyone else, Mignon would not have borne long +with her bullying. She would have speedily put an end to their +association. Rowena, however, was one not thus easily to be dropped. In +Mignon she glimpsed powers for mischief-making only secondary to her +own. She preferred, therefore, to cling to her and was clever enough +never to allow Mignon's flashes of resentment against her +high-handedness to mature into open rebellion. Those who knew the French +girl for exactly what she was agreed that Mignon had at last met her +match. They also agreed that a taste of her own medicine would no doubt +do her a great deal of good. + +The approach of Thanksgiving also brought with it a stir of excitement +for the coming basket ball game, the first to be played in a series of +four, which were scheduled to take place at intervals in the school +year. The sophomore team had already played the freshman and given them +a complete white-washing. Now they were clamoring to meet the juniors +and repeat their victory. The junior team had attended the +freshman-sophomore game in a body, thereby realizing to the full the +strength of their opponents. Reluctantly, they were forced to admit the +brilliancy of Rowena Farnham as a player. She knew the game and she went +into it with a dash and vigor that marked her as a powerful adversary. +Naturally, it won her an admiration which she determined should grow and +deepen with each fresh achievement. + +Her doughty deeds on the floor of contest merely imbued the junior team +with stronger resolution to win the coming game. They practised with +stubborn energy, sedulously striving to overcome whatever they knew to +be their weak points. Though manager of all the teams, Ellen Seymour's +heart was secretly with them. This they felt rather than knew. +Outwardly, Ellen was impartial. She made them no show of favoritism, but +they divined that she would rejoice to see them win. There was no doubt +of the smoothness of their team work. Having played basket ball on the +freshman and sophomore teams, Marjorie Dean herself knew that the squad +of which she was now a member excelled any other of past experience. +Fairly confident that it could hold its own, she looked impatiently +forward to the hour of action. + +To set one's heart too steadfastly on a particular thing, seems +sometimes to court disappointment. On the Thursday before the game an +unexpected state of affairs came to pass. It started with a notice on +the bulletin board requesting the presence of the junior team in the +gymnasium at four o'clock that afternoon. It was signed "Ellen Seymour, +Manager." Naturally, the juniors thought little of it. They were +accustomed to such notices. Ellen, no doubt, had some special +communication to make that had to do with them. But when five minutes +after four saw them gathered in the gymnasium to meet their manager, her +sober face warned them that the unusual was afoot. + +"Girls, I have something to ask of you which you may not wish to do. I +am not going to urge you to do it. You are free to choose your own +course. As it especially concerns you, yours is the right to decide. Two +girls of the sophomore team are ill. Martha Tyrell has come down with +tonsilitis, and Nellie Simmons is threatened with pneumonia. Both are in +bed. They can't possibly play on Saturday. The sophs are awfully cut up +about it. They wouldn't mind using one sub, but two, they say, is one +too many. They have asked me to ask you if you are willing to postpone +the game until these girls are well again." + +"I don't see why we should," objected Captain Muriel Harding. "I don't +believe they'd do the same for us. Of what use are subs, if not to +replace absent players?" + +"That's what I think," put in Daisy Griggs. "It's too provoking. +Everyone is looking forward to the game. If we don't play we'll +disappoint a whole lot of people. It's very nervy in the sophs to ask us +to do such a thing. Besides, we are crazy to wear our new suits." + +Ellen smiled quizzically. "Remember, you are to do as you please about +it," was all she said, betraying neither pleasure or displeasure at the +ready protests. + +"I suppose the sophomores will think us awfully mean if we don't do as +they ask," ventured Rita Talbot. + +"Oh, let them think," declared Susan Atwell impatiently. "It's the first +time I ever heard of such a thing. They must be terribly afraid we'll +beat them." + +"That's just the point." At this juncture Marjorie broke into the +discussion. "If we insist on playing and win, they might say we won +because we had them at a disadvantage. That wouldn't be much of a +victory, would it?" + +"That's so." Muriel reluctantly admitted the force of Marjorie's +argument. "I know at least one of them who would say just that." + +"Mustn't be personal," gently chided Ellen. Nevertheless, there was a +twinkle in her blue eyes. The sophomore who had come to her had +insinuated what Marjorie had voiced. "I'll give you ten minutes to talk +it over. I promised to let the sophomores know to-night. The girl who +came to me is waiting in the senior locker room for your answer." + +"I'm ready to decide now," asserted Marjorie. "For my part I'm willing +to postpone the game." + +"We might as well," conceded Captain Muriel ruefully. Marjorie's point +had gone home. "If we win we want it to be a sweeping victory." + +One by one the three other interested parties agreed that it seemed best +to yield gracefully to the plea. + +"Now that you've all spoken I'm going to tell you my opinion," announced +Ellen. "I am glad that you are willing to do this. It becomes you as +juniors. No one can say that you have been anything but strictly +generous. You deserve a crown of victory for being so nice about this." + +Ellen's conclusion brought a smile to five faces. Her remark might be +construed as a declaration of favor toward them. + +"I believe you'd love to see us win the whole four games, Ellen +Seymour," was Muriel's frank comment. + +"As your august manager, my lips are sealed," Ellen retorted laughingly. +"Now I must leave you and put an anxious sophomore out of her misery. +While you are waiting for the sick to get well you can put in some more +practice." With this injunction she left them. + +Once out of the gymnasium, her smile vanished. The anxious sophomore was +Rowena Farnham. Ellen cherished small liking for this arrogant, +self-centered young person whose request had been more in the nature of +a command. Personally, she had not favored putting off the game. Had +illness befallen a member or members of any team on which she had +formerly played, no such favor would have been asked. Nothing short of +incapacitation of the whole squad would have brought forth a stay in +activities. Yet as manager she was obliged to be strictly impersonal. +True, she might have exercised her authority and herself made the +decision. But she had deemed the other way wisest. + +On entering the senior locker room she was still more annoyed to find +Mignon La Salle with Rowena. If Ellen disliked the latter, she had less +love for the tricky French girl. "Birds of a feather," she mentally +styled them as she coldly bowed to Mignon. Her chilly recognition was +not returned. Mignon had not forgiven her for the try-out. + +"Well, what's the verdict?" inquired Rowena, satirically pleasant. Her +manner toward dignified Ellen verged on insolence. + +"The junior team are willing to postpone the game," informed Ellen +briefly. She intended the interview to be a short one. + +"They know on which side their bread is buttered," laughed the other +girl. "I suppose they weren't specially delighted. Did they make much +fuss before they gave in?" + +"As I have delivered my message, I will say 'good afternoon,'" Ellen +returned stiffly. + +"Don't be in too much of a hurry," drawled Rowena. "When I ask a +question, I expect an answer." + +"Good afternoon." Ellen wheeled and walked calmly from the locker room. +Rowena's expectations were a matter of indifference to the disgusted +manager. She, at least, was not to be bullied. + +Mignon La Salle laughed unpleasantly. "You were foolish to waste your +breath on her." She wagged her black head in the direction of the door, +which had just closed behind Ellen. "You didn't impress her _that_ +much." She snapped her fingers significantly. + +Smarting under the dignified snubbing Ellen had administered, Rowena +hailed Mignon as an escape valve. "You keep your remarks to yourself," +she blustered. "How dare you stand there laughing and snapping your +fingers? No wonder people say you're two-faced and tricky. You're so +deceitful you don't know your own mind. One minute you come whining to +me about this Seymour snip, the next you take sides with her." + +"I wasn't standing up for her and you know it," muttered Mignon. As +always, Rowena's brutally expressed opinion of herself had a vastly +chastening effect on the designing French girl. Rowena never minced +matters. She delivered her remarks straight from the shoulder, +indifferent to whether they pleased or displeased. Mignon's disregard +for sincerity and honor suited her admirably. She was equally devoid of +these virtues. Mignon made an excellent confederate. Still, she had to +be kept in her place. Her very love of subtle intrigue made plain +speaking abhorrent to her. On occasions when Rowena mercilessly held +before her the mirror of truth, she invariably retired in confusion. At +the same time she entertained a wholesome respect for the one who thus +dared to do it. This explained to a great extent the strong influence +which Rowena exerted over her. She was not happy in this new friendship. +More than once she had meditated ending it. Fear of the other's furious +retaliation was a signal preventative. Rowena, as a friend, was greatly +to be preferred to Rowena as an enemy. + +As she sulkily viewed the Titian-haired tyrant, who knew her too well +for her own peace of mind, she wondered why she had not flung back taunt +for taunt. Perhaps Rowena made a shrewd guess regarding her thoughts. +Adopting a milder tone she said brusquely: "Oh, quit pouting and come +along. None of these stupid girls are worth quarreling over. I suppose +that Marjorie Dean, the big baby, told Miss Seymour something hateful +about me. That's the reason she acted so frosty." + +At the mere mention of Marjorie's name Mignon's elfish face grew dark. +She and Rowena had at least one bond in common, they both despised +Marjorie Dean. Mignon reflected that no scheme she had devised for +humbling the former had ever borne lasting fruit. Rowena might succeed +where she had failed. Rowena had sworn reprisal for the affair of the +algebra problem. Undoubtedly, she would seize upon the first opportunity +for retaliation. With such a glorious prospect ahead of her, Mignon +craftily decided to stick to Rowena and share in her triumph. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI--A TINY CLUE + + +The end of the week following Thanksgiving brought the two temporarily +disabled sophomore basket ball players back to school. The day after +their return a notice appeared on the bulletin board stating that the +junior-sophomore game would be played on the next Saturday afternoon. +From all sides it received profound approbation and the recent +postponement of the contest served to give it greater importance. The +sophomore team had been highly delighted with the respite, and +gratefully accorded the credit to Rowena Farnham, who reveled in her +sudden advance in popularity. + +The juniors had little to say to the world at large. Among themselves +they said a great deal. One and all they agreed that the victory of the +coming game must be theirs. They yearned to show the public that in +postponing the game they had merely postponed the glory of winning it. +Though they knew the strength of the opposing team, they confidently +believed themselves to be even stronger. How it happened, none of them +were quite able to explain, but when the fateful hour of conflict +arrived the victor's crown was wrested from them. A score of 18-16 in +favor of the sophomores sent them off the field of defeat, crestfallen +but remarkably good-natured, considering the circumstances. + +Behind the closed door of their dressing-room, with the jubilant shouts +of the sophomores still ringing in their ears, they proceeded to take +stock of themselves and their triumphant opponents. + +"There is no use in talking, that Rowena Farnham is a wonderful player," +was Muriel Harding's rueful admission. "She could almost have won the +game playing alone against us." + +"She's a very rough player," cried Daisy Griggs. "She tears about the +floor like a wild Indian. She gave me two or three awful bumps." + +"Still, you can't say she did anything that one could make a fuss +about," said Rita Talbot slowly. "I guess she's too clever for that." + +"That's just it," chimed in Susan Atwell crossly. "She's as sharp as a +needle. She goes just far enough to get what she wants without getting +into trouble by it. Anyway, they didn't win much of a victory. If that +last throw of Marjorie's hadn't missed the basket we'd have tied the +score. It's a pity the game ended right there. Three or four minutes +more were all we needed." + +"I was sure I'd make it," declared Marjorie rather mournfully, "but a +little before, in that big rush, I was shoved forward by someone and +nearly fell. I made a slide but didn't quite touch the floor. All my +weight was on my right arm and I felt it afterward when I threw the +ball." + +"Who shoved you forward? That's what I'd like to know," came +suspiciously from Susan. "If----" + +"Oh, it wasn't anyone's fault," Marjorie hastened to assure her. "It was +just one of those provoking things that have to happen." + +"Listen to those shrieks of joy," grumbled Muriel, as a fresh clamor +began out in the gymnasium. "Oh, why didn't we beat them?" + +"Never mind," consoled Marjorie. "There'd be just as much noise if we +had won. You can't blame them. Next time it will be our turn. We've +still three more chances. Now that we've played the sophs once, we'll +know better what to do when we play them again. We really ought to go +out there and congratulate them. Then they would know that we weren't +jealous of them." + +"I'd just as soon congratulate a big, striped tiger as that Rowena +Farnham. She makes me think of one. She has that cruel, tigerish way +about her. Ugh! I can't endure that girl." Muriel Harding made a gesture +of abhorrence. + +"Come in," called Marjorie as four loud knocks beat upon the door. "It's +Jerry, Connie and Irma," she explained, as the door opened to admit the +trio. + +"Better luck next time," cheerfully saluted Jerry Macy. "You girls +played a bang-up, I mean, a splendid game. I was sure you'd tie that +score. You had a slight accident, didn't you, Marjorie?" + +"Yes. Did you notice it?" Marjorie glanced curiously at Jerry's +imperturbable face. + +"I always notice everything," retorted Jerry. "I hope----" + +Marjorie flashed her a warning look. "It wasn't anything that could be +avoided," she answered with a finality that Jerry understood, if no one +else did. "I move that we go down to Sargent's and celebrate our +defeat," she quickly added. "Have a seat, girls. It won't take us long +to get into our everyday clothes." + +"Such a shame," bewailed Daisy Griggs. "After we've gone to the trouble +of having these stunning suits made, then we have to be robbed of a +chance to parade around the gym as winners. Anyway, they're a whole lot +prettier than the sophs' suits. I didn't like that dark green and blue +they had as well as ours." + +"They stuck to the sophomore colors, though," reminded Rita. "It's a +wonder that Rowena Farnham didn't appear in some wonderful creation that +had nothing to do with class colors. It would be just like her." + +Despite their regret over losing the game, the defeated team, +accompanied by Jerry, Constance, Irma and Harriet Delaney, who +afterwards dropped in upon them, set off for the all-consoling Sargent's +in fairly good humor, there to spend not only a talkative session, but +their pocket money as well. + +It was not until Jerry, Constance and Marjorie had reluctantly torn +themselves from their friends to stroll homeward through the crisp +December air that Jerry unburdened herself with gusto. + +"Marjorie Dean," she began impetuously, "do you or don't you know why +you nearly fell down in that rush?" + +"I know, of course," nodded Marjorie. "Someone swept me forward and I +almost lost my balance. It's happened to me before. What is it that you +are trying to tell me, Jerry?" + +"That someone was Row-ena," stated Jerry briefly. "Isn't that so, +Connie?" + +"It looked that way," Connie admitted. "I thought she played very +roughly all through the game." + +"If it were she, I don't believe she did it purposely," responded +Marjorie. "Even if she did, I'm not going to worry about it. I rather +expected she might. Mignon used to do that sort of thing. You remember +what a time we had about it last year. But her team and ours were +concerned in it. That's why I took it up. As it was only I to whom it +happened this time, I shall say nothing. I don't wish to start trouble +over basket ball this year. If I spoke of it to Ellen she would take it +up. You know what Rowena Farnham would say. She'd declare it was simply +a case of spite on my part. That I was using it only as an excuse for +not being able to throw that last ball to basket. Then she'd go around +and tell others that we were whining because we were beaten in a fair +fight. I might better say nothing at all. The only thing for us to do is +to keep our own counsel and win the next game." + +"I guess your head is level," was Jerry's gloomy admission. She was as +much distressed over their defeat as were the juniors themselves. + +"Marjorie's head is _always_ level," smiled Constance Stevens. "I am +almost certain that you girls will win the next game. Luck just happened +to be with the sophomores to-day. I don't think they work together as +well as you. Miss Farnham is a much better player than the others. +Still, I imagine that she might not always do so well as she did in this +game. If she saw that things were going against her, she would be quite +likely to get furiously angry and lose her head." Quiet Constance had +been making a close study of Rowena during the game. Raised in the hard +school of experience, she had considerable insight into character. She +seldom criticized openly, but when she did, her opinions were received +with respect. + +"Your head's on the same level plane with Marjorie's, Connie," agreed +Jerry. "I think, too, that Rowena Farnham would be apt to make blunders +if she got good and mad. Speaking of getting mad reminds me that Lucy +Warner is pouting about those suits of ours. She told Harriet to-day +that she thought they were simply hideous. Harriet said that she +wouldn't go in with you girls when you ordered them. She considered them +a waste of money. Said if she had one, she'd never get a chance to wear +it. Pleasant young person, isn't she?" + +"Perhaps she couldn't afford to have one," remarked Constance +thoughtfully. "You know her mother is a widow and supports the two of +them by doing plain sewing. I imagine they must be quite poor. They live +in a tiny house on Radcliffe Street, and Lucy never goes to even the +high school parties, or to Sargent's, or any place that costs money. She +is a queer little thing. I've tried ever so many times to be nice to +her, but she always snubs me. Maybe she thinks I'm trying to patronize +her. I can't help feeling sorry for her. You see I know so well what it +means to be very poor--and proud," ended Constance, flushing. + +"She's a born grouch," asserted Jerry. "She's been one ever since I've +known her. Even in grammar school she was like that. She's always had a +fixed idea that because she's poor everyone looks down on her. It's too +bad. She's very bright in her studies, and she'd be quite pretty if she +didn't go around all the time looking ready to bite." + +"Isn't it funny?" mused Marjorie. "I've never noticed her particularly +or thought much about her until she made the team as a sub. Since then +I've tried several times to talk to her. Each time she has acted as +though she didn't like to have me speak to her. I thought maybe she +might be a friend of Mignon's. But I suppose it's just because she feels +so ashamed of being poor. As if that mattered. We ought to try to make +her think differently. She must be terribly unhappy." + +"I doubt it," contradicted Jerry. "Some people enjoy being miserable. +Probably she's one of that sort. As I said before, 'it's too bad.' +Still, one doesn't care to get down on one's knees to somebody, just +because that somebody hates herself. She can't expect people are going +to like her if she keeps them a mile away from her." + +"You are both right," commented Constance. "She ought to be made to +understand that being poor isn't a crime. But you can't force that into +her head. The only way to do is to wait until a chance comes to prove it +to her. We must watch for the psychological moment." Her droll utterance +of the last words set her listeners to giggling. Miss Merton was prone +to dwell upon that same marvelous psychological moment. + +That evening, as Marjorie diligently studied her lessons, the queer, +green-eyed little junior again invaded her thoughts. A vision rose of +her thin, white face with its pointed chin, sensitive, close-lipped +mouth, and wide eyes of bluish-green that frequently changed to a +decided green. What a curious, secretive face she had. Marjorie wondered +how she had happened to pass by so lightly such a baffling personality. +She charitably determined to make up for it by learning to know the true +Lucy Warner. She upbraided herself severely for having been so selfish. +Absorbed in her own friends, she had neglected to think of how much +there was to be done to make the outsiders happy. + +Entering the study hall on Monday morning she cast a swift glance toward +Lucy's desk. She was rather surprised to note that the blue-green eyes +had come to rest on her at the same instant. Marjorie smiled and nodded +pleasantly. The other girl only continued to stare fixedly at her, but +made no answering sign. Forewarned, Marjorie was not specially concerned +over this plain snub. She merely smiled to herself and decided that the +psychological moment had evidently not yet arrived. + +Slipping into her seat she was about to slide her books into place on +the shelf under her desk, when one hand came into contact with something +that made her color rise. She drew a sharp breath as she brought it to +light. So the Observer was at work again! With a sudden, swift movement +of her arm she shoved her find back to cover. Casting a startled look +about the study hall, she wondered if whoever had placed it there were +now watching her. Strangely enough, the only pair of eyes she caught +fastened upon her belonged to Mignon La Salle. In them was a light of +brooding scorn, which plainly expressed her opinion of Marjorie. + +"Could Mignon be the mysterious Observer?" was again the question that +assailed Marjorie's mind. She longed to read the letter, but her pride +whispered, "not now." She would save it until school was over for the +day. She and Captain would read it together in the living room. + +It was a long, weary day for the impatient little girl. At noon she +carried the dread missive home with her, gravely intrusting it to her +Captain's keeping. "It's another stab from the Observer," she explained +soberly. "I haven't opened it. We will read it together when I come home +this afternoon. I don't care to read it now." + +She returned home that afternoon to find her mother entertaining +callers. Despite her feverish impatience to have the thing over, she was +her usual charming self to her mother's friends. Nevertheless, she +sighed with relief when she saw them depart. Seating herself on the +davenport she leaned wearily against its cushioned back. The suspense of +not knowing had told severely upon her. + +"Now, Lieutenant, I think we are ready," said Mrs. Dean cheerily. Taking +the letter from a drawer of the library table, she sat down beside +Marjorie and tore open the envelope. Her head against her Captain's +shoulder, Marjorie's eyes followed the Observer's latest triumph in +letter writing: + + "Miss Dean: + + "Last Saturday showed very plainly that you could not play basket + ball. I knew this long ago. Several others must now know it. It + would serve you right if you were asked to resign from the team. If + you had been thinking less about yourself and more about the game, + you might have tied the score and not disgraced the juniors. You are + a menace to the team and ought to be removed from it. As I am not + alone in this opinion, I imagine and sincerely hope that you will + soon receive your dismissal. If you had any honor in you, you would + resign without waiting to be asked. But remember that a coward is + soon worsted in the fight. Prepare to meet the inevitable. + + "The Observer." + +Without speaking, Marjorie turned again to the first page of the letter, +re-reading thoughtfully the entire communication. "This letter tells me +something which the others didn't," she said. + +"It tells me that it is high time to stop such nonsense." Mrs. Dean's +tones conveyed righteous indignation. "The whole thing is simply +outrageous." + +"It can't be stopped until we know who is writing these letters," +reminded Marjorie. "But I think I have a tiny clue. That sentence about +disgracing the juniors would make it seem that a junior wrote them. No +one would mention it who wasn't a junior. I've tried not to believe it, +but now I am almost certain that Mignon wrote them. She would like more +than anyone else to see me lose my place on the team. Yes, Mignon and +the Observer must be very closely related." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII--IN TIME OF NEED + + +Three days later Marjorie's theory seemed destined to prove itself +correct. Ellen Seymour came to her, wrath in her eye. "See here, +Marjorie," she burst forth impulsively, "if Miss Davis sends for you to +meet her in the gym after school, let me know. I'm going there with you. +Yesterday while you girls were at practice she stood there watching you. +Do you remember?" + +"Yes. I noticed her. She stared at me so hard she made me nervous and I +played badly. She has always had that effect on me. Last year when she +managed the team she was fond of watching me. She used to criticize my +playing, too, and call out one thing to me just when I knew I ought to +do another. She was awfully fussy. I hope she isn't going to begin it +again this year. I thought she had left everything to you." + +"So did I," retorted Ellen grimly. "It seems she hasn't. Someone, you +can guess who, went to her after the game and said something about your +playing. She came to me and said: 'I understand there is a great deal of +dissatisfaction on the part of the juniors over Miss Dean's being on the +junior team.' You can imagine what I said. When I saw her in the gym +after school I knew she had an object. But leave things to me. I know a +way to stop her objections very quickly. If she sends for you, go +straight to the junior locker room from the study hall and wait there +for me. If she doesn't send for you, then you'll know everything is all +right. Remember now, don't set foot out of that locker room until I come +for you." With this parting injunction Ellen hurried off, leaving +Marjorie a victim to many emotions. + +So the Observer's, or rather Mignon's, prophesy bordered on fulfillment. +Mignon and the few juniors who still adhered to the La Salle standard +had made complaint against her to Miss Davis in the name of the junior +class. As a friend of Miss Merton, Miss Davis had always favored the +French girl. Last year it had been whispered about that her motive in +creating a second sophomore team had arisen from her wish to help +Mignon's fortunes along. No doubt she had been very glad to listen to +this latest appeal on Mignon's part. + +But Marjorie was only partially correct in her conclusions. Though it +was, indeed, true that Mignon had besieged Miss Davis with a plea that +Marjorie be removed from the team, no other member of the junior class +had accompanied her. She was flanked by the far more powerful allies, +Charlotte Horner and Rowena Farnham. The plan of attack had originated +in Rowena's fertile brain as the result of a bitter outburst against +Marjorie on Mignon's part. It was directly after the game that she had +stormed out her grievances to Rowena and Charlotte. Personally, Rowena +cared little about Mignon's woes. Her mischief-making faculties were +aroused merely on Marjorie's account. Had it been Susan, or Muriel +against whom Mignon raved she would have laughed and dubbed her friend, +"a big baby." But Marjorie--there was a chance to even her score. + +"You just let me manage this," Rowena had declared boastfully. "This +Miss Davis is easy. She's a snob. So is Miss Merton. If they weren't +they'd have put you in your place long ago. They can see through you. +It's money that counts with both of them. I've made it a point right +along to be nice to Miss Davis. In case that frosty Miss Seymour tried +to make trouble for me, I knew I needed a substantial backing. Now I'll +ask her to my house to dinner to-morrow night. If she can't come, so +much the better for me. If she can, so much the better for you. Of +course you'll be there, too. Then we'll see what we can do. You ought to +be very grateful to me. I expect she'll bore me to death. I'm only doing +it for your sake." + +Rowena was too crafty not to hang the heavy mantle of obligation on +Mignon's shoulders. Thus indebted to her, Mignon would one day be +reminded of the debt. As a last perfect touch to her scheme she had +shrewdly included Charlotte Horner in the invitation. Providentially for +Mignon, Miss Davis had no previous engagement. So it fell about that +Rowena became hostess to three guests. At home a young despot, who +bullied her timid little mother and coaxed her indulgent father into +doing her will, she merely announced her intention to entertain at +dinner and let that end it. The final results of that highly successful +dinner party were yet to be announced. + +Unwittingly, however, Miss Davis had blundered. In order to strengthen +her case she had purposely complained of Marjorie to Ellen Seymour. +Knowing nothing of Ellen's devotion to the pretty junior, she had not +dreamed that Ellen would set the wheels in motion to defeat her. She was +in reality more to be pitied than blamed. Of a nature which accepted +hearsay evidence, declining to go below the surface, it is not to be +wondered at that Rowena's clever persuasion, backed by Mignon's and +Charlotte's able support, caused her to spring to the French girl's aid. +She was one of those aggravating persons who refuse to see whatever they +do not wish to see. She was undoubtedly proficient in the business of +physical culture. She was extremely inefficient in the art of reading +girls. Sufficient unto herself, she, therefore, felt no compunction in +sending forth the word that should summon Marjorie to the gymnasium, +there to be deprived of that which she had rightfully earned. + +Like many other days that had come to poor Marjorie since the beginning +of her junior year, suspense became the ruling power. Two things she +knew definitely. Ellen Seymour was for her. Miss Davis against her. The +rest she could only guess at, losing herself in a maze of troubled +conjecture. Judge her surprise when on reaching the locker room, she +found not only Ellen awaiting her, but her teammates as well. They had +made a most precipitate flight from the study hall in order to be in the +locker room when she arrived. + +"Why, Ellen! Why, girls!" she stammered. A deeper pink rushed to her +cheeks; a mist gathered in her eyes as she realized the meaning of their +presence. They had come in a body to help her. + +"We're here because we're here," trilled Captain Muriel Harding. "In a +few minutes we'll be in the gym. Then someone else will get a surprise. +Are we ready to march? I rather think we are. Lead the procession, +Ellen." + +"Come on, Marjorie, you and I will walk together. Fall in, girls. The +invincible sextette will now take the trail." + +Amid much laughter on their part and openly curious glances from +constantly arriving juniors who wondered what was on foot, the six girls +had swung off down the corridor before the curious ones found +opportunity to relieve their curiosity. + +"She's not here yet," commented Susan, as they entered the place of +tryst. "Isn't that too bad. I hoped she'd be on hand to see the mighty +host advancing." + +"Here she comes," warned Rita Talbot. "Now, for it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII--DOING BATTLE FOR MARJORIE + + +Two spots of angry color appeared high up on Miss Davis's lean face as +she viewed the waiting six. It came to her that she was in for a lively +scene. Setting her mouth firmly, she approached them. Addressing herself +to Marjorie, she opened with: "I sent for _you_, Miss Dean; not your +friends." + +"I asked these girls to come here." Ellen Seymour turned an unflinching +gaze upon the nettled instructor. + +"Then you may invite them into one of the dressing rooms for a time. My +business with Miss Dean is strictly personal." + +"I am quite willing that my friends should hear whatever you have to say +to me." Marjorie's brown head lifted itself a trifle higher. + +"But _I_ am not willing that they should listen," snapped Miss Davis. + +"Then I must refuse to listen, also," flashed the quick, but even +response. + +"This is sheer impudence!" exclaimed Miss Davis. "I sent for you and I +insist that you must stay until I give you permission to go. As for +these girls----" + +"These girls will remain here until Marjorie goes," put in Ellen, +admirably self-controlled. "Everyone of them knows already why you wish +to see Marjorie Dean. She knows, too. We have come to defend her. I, for +one, say that she _shall not_ be dismissed from the team. Her teammates +say the same. It is unfair." + +"Have I said that she was to be dismissed from the team?" demanded Miss +Davis, too much irritated to assert her position as teacher. Ellen's +blunt accusation had robbed her of her usual show of dignity. + +"Can you say that such was not your intention?" cross-questioned Ellen +mercilessly. + +Miss Davis could not. She looked the picture of angry guilt. "I shall +not answer such an impertinent question," she fumed. "You are all +dismissed." Privately, she determined to send for Marjorie the next day +during school hours. + +"Very well." Ellen bowed her acceptance of the dismissal. "Shall we +consider the matter settled?" + +"Certainly not." The words leaped sharply to the woman's lips. Realizing +she had blundered, she hastily amended. "There is no matter under +consideration between you and me." + +"Whatever concerns Marjorie's basket ball interests, concerns me. If you +send for her again she will not come to you unless we come with her. Am +I not right?" She appealed for information to the subject of the +discussion. + +"You are," was the steady reply. + +"This is simply outrageous." Miss Davis completely lost composure. "Do +you realize all of you that you are absolutely defying your teacher? +Miss Dean deserves to be disciplined. After such a display of +discourtesy I refuse to allow her the privilege of playing on the junior +basket ball team." Miss Davis continued to express herself, unmindful of +the fact that Muriel Harding had slipped away from the group and out of +the nearest door. Her temper aroused she held forth at length, ending +with: "This disgraceful exhibition of favoritism on your part, Miss +Seymour, shows very plainly that you are not fitted to manage basket +ball in this school. I shall replace you as manager to-morrow. You, Miss +Dean, are dismissed from the junior team. I shall report every one of +you to Miss Archer as soon as I leave the gymnasium." + +"I believe she is on her way here now," remarked Ellen with satirical +impersonality. "Muriel went to find her and ask her to come." + +"What!" Miss Davis betrayed small pleasure at this news. Quickly +recovering herself she ordered: "You may go at once." + +"Here she is." Ellen nodded toward a doorway through which the principal +had just entered, Muriel only a step behind her. The senior manager's +eyes twinkled satisfaction. + +"What seems to be the trouble here, Miss Davis?" The principal came +pithily to the point. + +"I have been insulted by these disrespectful girls." Miss Davis waved a +hand toward the defending sextette. + +"That is news I do not relish hearing about my girls. I wish every +teacher in this school to be treated with respect. Kindly tell me what +reason they gave for doing so." + +"I sent for Miss Dean on a personal matter. She insisted on bringing +these girls with her. I requested them to leave me alone with Miss Dean. +They refused to do so. I dismissed them all, intending to put off my +interview with Miss Dean until to-morrow. Miss Seymour took it upon +herself to tell me that Miss Dean would not come to me to-morrow unless +accompanied by herself and these girls. Miss Dean declared the same +thing. Such conduct is unendurable." + +"These young women must have strong reason for such peculiar conduct, or +else they have overstepped all bounds," decided Miss Archer impassively. +"What have you to say for yourself, Ellen? As a member of the senior +class I shall expect a concise explanation." + +"We have a very strong reason for our misbehavior." Ellen put a +questioning inflection on the last word. "Briefly explained, it is this. +Miss Davis has been influenced by certain persons to dismiss Marjorie +Dean from the junior basket ball team. Because the juniors lost the game +the other day by two points, the blame for it has been unjustly placed +upon Marjorie. At practice yesterday she did not play as well as usual. +These are, apparently, the very shaky causes for her dismissal. I shall +not attempt to tell you the true reasons. They are unworthy of mention. +As her manager I refused to countenance such unfairness. So did her +teammates. They will agree with me when I say that Marjorie is one of +the best players we have ever had at Sanford High. We are all in +position to say so. We know her work. So we came with her to defend her. +I admit that we took a rather stiff stand with Miss Davis. There was no +other way." + +"What are your reasons for dismissing Miss Dean from the team?" Still +impassive of feature, the principal now addressed Miss Davis. + +"I have received complaints regarding her work," came the defiant +answer. + +"According to Ellen these complaints did not proceed from either herself +or her teammates. If not from them, whom could it interest to make +complaint?" continued the inexorable questioner. + +"The members of the junior class are naturally interested in the team +representing them," reminded Miss Davis tartly. + +"How many members of the junior class objected to Miss Dean as a +player?" relentlessly pursued Miss Archer. + +Miss Davis grew confused. "I--they--I decline to talk this matter over +with you in the presence of these insolent girls," she hotly rallied. + +"A word, girls, and you may go. I am greatly displeased over this +affair. Since basket ball seems to be such a trouble-breeder, it might +better be abolished in this school. I may decide to take that step. +Desperate diseases require desperate remedies. You will hear more of +this later. That will be all at present." + +With the feeling that the gymnasium roof was about to descend upon them, +the six girls quitted the battlefield. + +"Don't you ever believe Miss Archer will stop basket ball," emphasized +Muriel Harding when they were well down the corridor. "She knows every +single thing about it. I told her in the office. I told her, too, that I +knew Rowena Farnham and Charlotte Horner were mixed up in it. They've +had their heads together ever since the game." + +"I would have resigned in a minute, but I just couldn't after the way +you girls fought for me," Marjorie voiced her distress. "If Miss Archer +stops basket ball it will be my fault. I'm sorry I ever made the team." + +"You couldn't help yourself." Ellen Seymour was rapidly regaining her +cheerfulness. "Don't think for a minute that Miss Davis will be able to +smooth things over. Miss Archer is too clever not to recognize +unfairness when she meets it face to face. And don't worry about her +stopping basket ball. Take my word for it. She won't." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX--WHAT JERRY MACY "DUG UP" + + +As Ellen Seymour had predicted, basket ball did not receive its quietus. +But no one ever knew what passed between Miss Archer and Miss Davis. The +principal also held a long session with Ellen, who emerged from her +office with a pleased smile. To Marjorie and her faithful support Ellen +said confidentially: "It's all settled. No one will ever try to shove +Marjorie off the team while Miss Archer is here. But basket ball is +doomed, if anything else like that ever comes up. Miss Archer says so." +Strangely enough the six girls were not required to apologize to Miss +Davis. Possibly Miss Archer was not anxious to reopen the subject by +thus courting fresh rebellion. After all, basket ball was not down on +the high school curriculum. She was quite willing her girls should be at +liberty to manage it as they chose, provided they managed it wisely and +without friction. Privately, she was disgusted with Miss Davis's part in +the recent disagreement. She strongly advised the former to give up all +claim to the management of the teams. But this advice Miss Davis refused +to take. She still insisted on keeping up a modified show of authority, +but resolved within herself to be more careful. She had learned +considerable about girls. + +The three plotters accepted their defeat with bad grace. Afraid that the +tale would come to light, Mignon and Charlotte privately shoved the +blame on Rowena's shoulders. Nothing leaked out, however, and they were +too wise to censure Rowena to her face. Mignon soon discovered that the +obliging sophomore's efforts in her behalf had cost her dear. Rowena +tyrannized over her more than ever. After the second game between the +junior and sophomore teams, which occurred two weeks after Marjorie's +narrow escape from dismissal from the team, Mignon came into the belief +that her lot was, indeed, hard. The sophomores had been ingloriously +beaten, the score standing 22-12 in favor of the juniors. In consequence +Rowena was furious, forcing Mignon to listen to her long tirades against +the juniors, and rating her unmercifully when she failed to register +proper sympathy. + +Owing to the nearness of the Christmas holidays and the brief stretch +that lay between them and the mid-year examinations, the other two games +were put off until February and March, respectively. No one except +Rowena was sorry. She longed for a speedy opportunity to wipe the defeat +off her slate. She had little of the love of holiday giving in her +heart, and was heard loudly to declare that Christmas was a nuisance. + +Marjorie and her little coterie of intimates regarded it very +differently. They found the days before Yule-tide altogether too short +in which to carry out their Christmas plans. With the nearness of the +blessed anniversary of the world's King, Marjorie grew daily happier. +Since the straightening of the basket ball tangle, for her, things in +school had progressed with surprising smoothness. Then, too, the hateful +Observer had evidently forgotten her. Since the letter advising her to +"prepare to meet the inevitable," the Observer had apparently laid down +her pen. Marjorie soberly confided to her captain that she hoped +Christmas might make the Observer see things differently. + +Obeying the familiar mandate, which peered at her from newspaper, store +or street car, "Do Your Christmas Shopping Early," she lovingly stored +away the numerous be-ribboned bundles designed for intimate friends at +least a week before Christmas. That last week she left open in order to +go about the business of making a merry Christmas for the needy. As on +the previous year Jerry Macy and Constance were her right-hand men. +Susan, Irma, Muriel and Harriet also caught the fever of giving and the +six girls worked zealously, inspired by the highest motives, to bring +happiness to the poverty-stricken. + +Christmas morning brought Marjorie an unusual windfall of gifts. It +seemed as though everyone she liked had remembered her. Looking back on +the previous Christmas, she remembered rather sadly the Flag of Truce +and all that it had signified. This year Mary and she were again one at +heart. She dropped a few tears of sheer happiness over Mary's long +Christmas letter and the beautiful embroidered Mexican scarf that had +come with it. She had sent Mary a wonderful silver desk set engraved +with M. to M., which she hoped wistfully that Mary would like as much as +she cherished her exquisite scarf. + +The Christmas vacation was, as usual, a perpetual round of gaiety. Jerry +and Hal gave their usual dance. Constance gave a New Year's hop. Harriet +and Muriel entertained their friends at luncheons, while Marjorie +herself sent out invitations for an old-fashioned sleigh-ride party, +with an informal supper and dance at her home on the return. These +social events, with some few others of equal pleasure, sent Father Time +spinning along giddily. + +"Aren't you sorry it's all over?" sighed Constance, as she and Marjorie +lingered at the Macys' gate at the close of their first day at school +after the holidays. + +"Sorry's no name for it," declared Jerry. "We certainly had one +beautiful time, I mean a beautiful time. Honestly, I liked the getting +things ready for other folks best of all, though. I like to keep busy. I +wish we had something to do or somebody to help all the time. I'm going +to poke around and see what I can stir up. I try to do the sisterly, +helpful act toward Hal; picking up the stuff he strews all over the +house and locating lost junk, I mean articles, but he's about as +appreciative as a Feejee Islander. You know how grateful they are." + +"I saw one in a circus once," laughed Constance reminiscently. "I wasn't +impressed with his sense of gratitude. Someone threw him a peanut and he +flung it back and hit an old gentleman in the eye." + +A general giggle arose at the erring Feejee's strange conception of +gratitude. + +"That will be nice to tell Hal when he shows the same delicate sort of +thankfulness," grinned Jerry. "I'm not going to waste my precious +talents on him all winter. I'm going to dig up something better. If you +girls hear of anything, run all the way to our house, any hour of the +day or night, and tell your friend Jerry Geraldine Jeremiah. All three +are one, as Rudyard Kipling says in something or other he wrote." + +"I love Kipling's books," said Constance. "One of the first things I did +when I wasn't poor any longer was to buy a whole set. That first year at +Sanford High I tried to get them in the school library. But there were +only two or three of them." + +"That library is terribly run down," asserted Jerry. "They haven't half +the books there they ought to have. I was talking to my father about it +the other night. He promised to put it before the Board. I hope he does. +Then maybe we'll get some more books. I don't care so much for myself. I +can get all the books I want. But there are a lot of girls that can't, +who need special ones for reading courses." + +Jerry's resolve to "poke around and stir up something" did not meet with +any special success. The more needy of the Christmas poor were already +being looked after by Mrs. Dean, Mrs. Macy and other charitably disposed +persons who devoted themselves to the cause of benevolence the year +around. Generous-hearted Jerry continued to help in the good work, but +her active nature was still on the alert for some special object. + +"I've dug it up," she announced in triumph, several evenings later. The +three girls were conducting a prudent review at Jerry's home, +preparatory to the rapidly approaching mid-year test. + +"What did you say, Jerry?" Marjorie tore her eyes from her French +grammar, over which she had been poring. "I was so busy trying to fix +the conjugation of these miserable, irregular verbs in my mind that I +didn't hear you." + +"I've dug up the great idea; the how-to-be-helpful stunt. It's right in +our school, too, that our labors are needed." + +"That's interesting; ever so much more so than this." Constance Stevens +closed the book she held with a snap. "I'm not a bit fond of German," +she added. "I have to study it, though, on account of the Wagner operas. +This '_Hoeher als die Kirche_' is a pretty story, but it's terribly hard +to translate. We'll have several pages of it to do in examination. +Excuse me, Jerry, for getting off the subject. What is it that you've +dug up?" + +"It's about the library. You know I told you that my father was going to +speak of it at the Board meeting. Well, he did, but it wasn't any use. +There have been such a lot of appropriations made for other things that +the library will have to wait. That's what the high and mighty Board +say. This is what _I_ say. Why not get busy among ourselves and dig up +some money for new books?" + +"You mean by subscription?" asked Marjorie. + +"No, siree. I mean by earning it ourselves," proposed Jerry. +"Subscription would mean that a lot of girls would feel that they ought +to give something which they couldn't afford to give. Then there'd be +those who couldn't give a cent. That would be hard on them. What we +ought to do is to get up some kind of a show that the whole school would +be interested in." + +"That's a fine idea. It's public-spirited," approved Marjorie. "What +sort of entertainment do you think we might give? We couldn't give it +until after examinations, though." + +"I know the kind I'd like to give, but I can't unless a certain person +promises to help me," was Jerry's mystifying reply. + +"Miss Archer?" guessed Constance. + +"Nope; Connie Stevens." Jerry grinned widely at Constance's patent +amazement. + +"I?" she questioned. "What have I to do with it?" + +"Everything. You could coax Laurie Armitage to help us and then, too, +you'd be leading lady. Do you know now what I'm driving at? I see you +don't. Well, I'd like to give the 'Rebellious Princess' again, one night +in Sanford and the next in Riverview. That is only twenty-five miles +from here. A whole lot of the Sanfordites were disappointed last year +because they couldn't get into the theatre to see the operetta. Another +performance would pack the theatre, just as full as last Spring. I know +the Riverview folks would turn out to it. There are two high schools in +Riverview, you know. Besides, we have the costumes and everything ready. +Two or three rehearsals would be all we'd need. If we tried to give an +entertainment or a play, it would take so long to practise for it. Have +I a head on my shoulders or have I not?" + +"You certainly have," chorused her listeners. + +"I am willing to do all I can," agreed Constance. "I'll see Laurie about +it to-morrow." + +"Oh, you needn't wait until then. He's downstairs now with Hal and Danny +Seabrooke. I told Hal to ask the boys over here this evening. We can't +study all the time, you know. I suppose they are ready to tear up the +furniture because we are still up here. Danny Seabrooke is such a sweet, +patient, little boy. Put away your books and we'll go down to the +library. Since this is a library proposition, let's be consistent." + +A hum of girl voices, accompanied by the patter of light feet on the +stairs, informed three impatient youths that they had not waited in +vain. + +"At last!" exclaimed the irrepressible Daniel, better known as the +Gad-fly, his round, freckled face almost disappearing behind his +Cheshire grin. "Long have we sought thee, and now that we have found +thee----" + +"Sought nothing," contradicted Jerry. "I'll bet you haven't set foot +outside this library. There's evidence of it." She pointed to Hal and +Laurie, who had just hastily deposited foils in a corner and were now +more hastily engaged in drawing on their coats. "You've been holding a +fencing match. Laurie came out best, of course. He always does. He's a +fencing master and a musician all in one." + +"Jerry never gives me credit for anything," laughed Hal. "That is, in +public. Later, when Laurie's gone home, she'll tell me how much better I +can fence than Laurie." + +"Don't you believe him. He's trying to tease me, but I know him too well +to pay any attention to what he says." Jerry's fond grin bespoke her +affection for the brother she invariably grumbled about. At heart she +was devoted to him. In public she derived peculiar pleasure from +sparring with him. + +The trio of girls had advanced upon the library, there to hold a +business session. But the keynote of the next half hour was sociability. +It was Constance who first started the ball rolling. Ensconced beside +Laurie on the deep window seat, she told the young composer that Jerry +had a wonderful scheme to unfold. + +"Then let's get together and listen to it," he said warmly. Three +minutes afterward he had marshalled the others to the window seat. +"Everybody sit down but Jerry. She has the floor. Go ahead, Jerry. Tell +us what you'd like us to do." He reseated himself by Constance. Laurie +never neglected an opportunity to be near to the girl of his boyish +heart. + +Posting herself before her hearers with an exaggerated air of +importance, Jerry made a derisive mouth at Danny Seabrooke, who was +leaning forward with an appearance of profound interest, which +threatened to land him sprawling on the floor. "I'm not used to +addressing such a large audience," she chuckled. "Ahem! Wow!" Having +delivered herself of these enlightening remarks she straightened her +face and set forth her plan with her usual brusque energy. She ended +with: "You three boys have got to help. No backing out." + +"Surely we'll help," promised Laurie at once. "It's a good idea, Jerry. +I can have things going inside of a week. That is, if my leading lady +doesn't develop a temperament. These opera singers are very +temperamental, you know." His blue eyes rested smilingly on Constance. + +"I'm not an opera singer," she retorted. "I'm only a would-be one. +Would-be's are very humble persons. They know they must behave well. You +had better interview your tenor lead. Tenors are supposed to be terribly +irresponsible." + +Amid an exchange of equally harmless badinage, the six willing workers +discussed the plan at length. So much excited discussion was provocative +of hunger. No one, except Hal, said so, yet when Jerry disappeared to +return trundling a tea wagon, filled with delectable provender, she was +hailed with acclamation. + +"What splendid times we always have together," was Marjorie's +enthusiastic opinion, when seated beside Hal in his own pet car she was +being conveyed home. Snatches of mirthful conversation issuing from the +tonneau where the rest of the sextette, Jerry included, were enjoying +themselves hugely, seemed direct corroboration of her words. Invited to +"come along," Jerry had needed no second urging. + +"That's your fault," Hal made gallant response. "You are the magnet that +draws us all together. Before you and Jerry were friends I never +realized what a fine sister I had. If you hadn't been so nice to +Constance, she and Laurie might never have come to know each other so +well. Then there's Dan. He always used to run away from girls. He got +over his first fright at that little party you gave the first year you +came to Sanford. You're a magician, Marjorie, and you're making a pretty +nice history for yourself among your friends. I hope always to be among +the best of them." Hal was very earnest in his boyish praise. + +"I am sure we'll always be the best of friends, Hal," she said +seriously, though her color heightened at the sincere tribute to +herself. "I can't see that I've done anything specially wonderful, +though. It's easy to be nice to those one likes who like one in return. +It's being nice to those one doesn't like that's hard. It's harder still +not to be liked." + +"Then you aren't apt to know that hardship," retorted Hal. + +Marjorie smiled faintly. She had known that very hardship ever since she +had come to Sanford. She merely answered: "Everybody must meet a few, I +won't say enemies, I'll just say, people who don't like one." + +That night as she sat before her dressing table brushing her thick, +brown curls, she pondered thoughtfully over Hal Macy's words. In saying +them she knew he had been sincere. It was sweet to hope that she _had_ +been and was still a power for good. Yet it made her feel very humble. +She could only resolve to try always to live up to that difficult +standard. + + + + +CHAPTER XX--CONSTANCE POINTS THE WAY + + +"THIS is a nice state of affairs," scolded Jerry Macy. "What do you +suppose has happened, Marjorie?" Overtaking her friend in the corridor +on the way from recitation, Jerry's loud question cut the air like a +verbal bomb-shell. Without waiting for a reply she continued in a +slightly lower key. "Harriet has tonsilitis. Isn't that the worst you +ever heard? And only three days before the operetta, too. We can't give +it until she gets well, unless somebody in the chorus can sing her role. +I'm going to telephone Laurie after my next class is over and tell him +about it. The chorus is our only hope. Some one of the girls may know +the part fairly well. They all ought to after so much rehearsing last +Spring. Most of them can't do solo work, though. Do you think you could +sing it?" Jerry had drawn Marjorie to one side of the corridor as she +rapidly related her bad news. + +"Mercy, no!" Marjorie registered dismay at the mere suggestion. "I +wouldn't dream of attempting it. Isn't it too bad that Harriet hasn't an +understudy? I'm ever so sorry she's sick. How dreadfully disappointed +she must be." + +"Not any more so than half of Sanford will be when they hear the +operetta's been postponed. Every reserved seat ticket's been sold. Who'd +have thought that Harriet would go and get tonsilitis?" mourned Jerry. +"There's a regular epidemic of it in Sanford. You know Nellie Simmons +had it when the sophs wanted that basket ball game postponed. Quite a +number of Sanford High girls have had it, too. Be careful you don't get +it." + +Marjorie laughed. "Oh, _I_ won't. Don't worry. I'm never sick. We'll +have to go, Jerry. There's the last bell." + +"You had better touch wood." Jerry hurled this warning advice over one +plump shoulder as she moved off. + +It brought a smile to Marjorie's lips. She was not in the least +superstitious. She grew grave with the thought that the operetta would +have to be postponed. At the first performance of the "Rebellious +Princess," Harriet had sung her part at a moment's notice. Until then +she had been Mignon La Salle's understudy. Struck by a sudden thought +Marjorie stopped short. Jerry had evidently forgotten that Mignon knew +the role. Still, it would do no good to remind her of it, or Laurie +either. She believed that Jerry, at least, would infinitely prefer that +the operetta should never be given rather than allow Mignon to sing in +it. The mere mention of it was likely to make her cross. Marjorie +decided to keep her own counsel. She had no reason to wish to see Mignon +thus honored, particularly after her treacherous attempt to do Constance +out of her part. Then, too, there was the new grievance of the Observer +against her. + +By the time school was over for the day, Constance had already been +acquainted with the dire news. Apart from her two chums, Jerry had told +no one else except Hal and Laurie. When the three girls emerged from the +school building, accompanied by Susan, Muriel and Irma, they saw the two +young men waiting for them across the street. The latter three faithful +satellites immediately took themselves off with much giggling advice to +Jerry that four was a company, but five a crowd. Jerry merely grinned +amiably and refused to join them. She knew her own business. + +"This is too bad, Jerry," were Laurie's first words. "What are we to +do?" + +"That's for you to say," shrugged Jerry. "All I can think of to do is +have a try-out of the chorus. If none of them can sing Harriet's part, +we'll have to call it off. I mean postpone it." Jerry cast a sly glance +at Hal to see if he had noticed her polite amendment. + +"What have you to say, Constance and Marjorie?" queried Laurie. "But the +street is not the place for a consultation. Suppose we go down to +Sargent's to talk it over. I spoke to Professor Harmon this afternoon, +but he said he'd rather leave it to me. He's busy just now with that new +boy choir at the Episcopal Church. He wants me to direct the operetta." + +Voicing approval of this last, the three girls allowed their willing +cavaliers to steer them toward Sargent's hospitable doors. Hal, Marjorie +and Jerry took the lead, leaving Constance and Laurie to follow. Nothing +further relating to the problem that had risen was said until the five +were seated at a rear table in the confectioner's smart little shop. +Then Laurie abruptly took it up. "We are ready for suggestions," he +invited. + +"I have one." There was a peculiar note of uncertainty in Constance's +voice as she spoke. "You are not going to be pleased with it, but it +seems to me the only thing to do." More boldly she added: "Let Mignon La +Salle sing the part." + +"Never!" burst from Laurie and Jerry simultaneously. + +The appearance of a white-coated youth to take their order halted the +discussion for a moment. As he hurried away Marjorie's soft voice was +heard: "I thought of that, too, this morning. I had made up my mind not +to speak of it. Connie makes me ashamed of myself. Connie is willing for +Mignon to sing the part that she cheated herself of. I think we ought to +be." + +In silence Laurie stared at her across the table, his brows knitted in a +deep frown. Then his gaze rested on Constance. "You girls are queer," he +said slowly. "I don't understand you at all." + +"I do," declared Jerry, far from pleased. "I can't say I agree with +them, though. If we ask Mignon to sing the part (I don't know who's +going to ask her), she will parade around like a peacock. She may say +'no' just for spite. She doesn't speak to any of us." Then she added in +a milder tone, "I suppose her father would dance a hornpipe if we let +her sing it. I heard he felt terribly about the way she performed last +Spring. You know he put off a business trip just to go to hear her sing, +and then she didn't. She had nobody but herself to blame, though." + +Unwittingly, Jerry had struck a responsive chord in Hal. Leaning +forward, he said impulsively, "Then I think I'd ask her, Laurie. Mr. La +Salle is a fine man. His office is next to Dad's. I often go in there +and talk to him. He is mighty interesting. He has traveled all over the +world and knows how to tell about what he's seen. He's all wrapped up in +Mignon. You can see that. I wish you'd ask her just on his account. It +would pay up for last Spring." + +"Three against two," grumbled Jerry, "and one of them my own brother. Do +we stand our ground, Laurie, or do we not?" + +Laurie did not answer immediately. He had not forgiven the French girl +her transgression against Constance. The battery of earnest blue and +brown eyes bent upon him proved fatal to his animosity. "Our ground +seems to be shaky," he answered. "The majority generally rules." + +"Then you _will_ ask her?" Constance flashed him a radiant smile that +quite repaid him for his hinted decision in Mignon's favor. "It will +have to be you. She wouldn't do it for us." + +Laurie showed lively consternation. "Oh, see here----" Innate chivalry +toward girlhood overtook him. "All right," he answered. "I'll ask her." + +In the midst of countless woes, arising from her unwilling allegiance to +Rowena Farnham, Mignon next day received the glorious invitation from a +most studiedly polite young man. If anyone other than Lawrence Armitage +had come to her with the request she would, in all probability, refused +pointblank to countenance the idea. Mignon still cherished her +school-girl preference for the handsome young musician. She, therefore, +assented to the proposal with only the merest show of reluctance. Laurie +made it very plain, however, that Constance Stevens desired it. +Inwardly, Mignon writhed with anger; outwardly, she was a smiling image +of amiability. + +Afterward she experienced the deepest satisfaction in boasting to Rowena +of the honor which had come to her. + +"I think I'll be in that operetta, too," had been Rowena's calm +decision. "I'll go to that Lawrence Armitage and tell him I shall sing +in the chorus." Straightway, she went on this laudable errand, only to +be politely but firmly informed that there were no chorus vacancies. +Over this she raged to Mignon, then consoled herself and dismayed the +French girl by calmly announcing, "I'm going to the theatre with you +just the same and watch the silly operetta from behind the scenes. Let +me know when you have your rehearsals, for I intend to go to them, too." + +Resorting to craft, Mignon managed to attend the first rehearsal without +Rowena. The latter discovered this and pounced upon her on her way home +with a torrent of ungentle remarks. Bullied to tears, Mignon was obliged +to allow Rowena to accompany her to the second and third rehearsals, the +third being the last before the public performance. + +Though the cast secretly objected to this, they made no open +manifestation of their disgust. It was now fairly well known how matters +stood between Rowena and Mignon. The latter had no reason to complain of +the universally civil treatment she received. It was merely civil, +however, and contained no friendliness of spirit. By the entire cast the +French girl was regarded as an evil necessity. For that reason they also +reluctantly endured Rowena's presence. But Rowena derived no pleasure +from her intrusion, except the fact that she was a source of covert +annoyance to all parties. Her jealous soul was filled with torment at +being left out of the production. Shrewd intuition alone warned her not +to create even the slightest disturbance. She had determined to go with +the cast to Riverview. Consequently, she did not propose cutting off her +nose to spite her face. + +The knowledge that the proceeds from the operetta were to be devoted to +school use, rallied the Sanfordites to the cause. The Sanford +performances went off without a hitch before a huge and delighted +assemblage. It may be set down to her credit that Mignon La Salle sang +the part of the proud step-sister even better than Harriet Delaney had +rendered it. Her dramatic ability was considerable and her voice and +temperament were eminently suited to her role. On this one occasion her +long-suffering parent was not disappointed in his daughter. Natural +perspicacity caused him to wonder not a little how it had all come +about, and he made a mental note to inquire into it at the first +opportunity. Strongly disapproving of the intimacy between Mignon and +Rowena Farnham, he was hopeful that this honor done his daughter would +throw her again among the finer type of the Sanford girls. From his +young friend Hal Macy he had received glowing descriptions of Marjorie +and her close friends, and he longed to see Mignon take kindly to them. + +Could he have peeped into Mignon's subtle brain, his dreams would have +vanished in thin air. Ever the ingrate, she was thankful to none for the +unexpected chance to glitter. At heart she was the same tigerish young +person, ready to claw at a moment's notice. Within her lurked two +permanent desires. One of them was to win the interest of Lawrence +Armitage; the other to be free of Rowena. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI--ROWENA RE-ARRANGES MATTERS + + +THE Sanford performance of "The Rebellious Princess" took place on +Friday evening. Late the following afternoon the illustrious cast were +conveyed by train or motor to Riverview, the scene of Saturday evening's +operations. Marjorie, Constance, Mr. and Mrs. Dean drove there in the +Deans' motor. Accompanied by Mrs. Macy, Jerry, Susan, Muriel and Irma +motored to Riverview together. Hal and Laurie sought temporary freedom +from the fair sex in the latter's roadster. Mr. La Salle had promised, +at Mignon's earnest request, to drive to Riverview with her in her +runabout. She had adopted this means of thus temporarily eliminating +Rowena. Not daring to thrust herself upon Mignon when bolstered by her +father's protection, Rowena had declared buoyantly that she would be +there anyway. + +Unfortunately for Mignon, a sudden business emergency sent Mr. La Salle +speeding to Buffalo on the Saturday morning train. Before going, +however, he instructed his chauffeur to drive Mignon to the train for +Riverview and see her safely on it. With others of the cast on the same +train, she would be in good company. But the best laid plans often go +astray. Ever on the alert for treachery, Rowena saw Mr. La Salle depart +and hurrying to the La Salle's home soon bullied the true state of +affairs from his petulant offspring. + +"Don't bother about taking the train," Rowena counseled arrogantly. +"James will drive us over to Riverview in our limousine. He can stay +there until the show is over and bring us home." + +"I can't do that," parried Mignon. "My father gave orders to William to +drive me to the train the cast is to take and put me on it. If I were to +go with you, William would tell him." + +"Oh, no, he wouldn't," retorted Rowena. "Just let me talk to William." +Without waiting for further excuses from Mignon, the self-willed +sophomore dashed out of the house in the direction of the La Salle +garage. Mignon followed her, divided between vexation and approbation. +She was far from anxious to make the journey to Riverview by train. For +once Rowena stood for the lesser of two evils. + +"Come here, William," called Rowena, pausing outside the open garage +door and imperiously beckoning the chauffeur who was engaged in putting +a fresh tire on Mignon's runabout. + +"What is it, Miss?" asked the man, as he frowningly approached Rowena. + +"You needn't take Miss La Salle to the train this afternoon. She's going +with me. She has so much luggage she can't manage it on the train, so +she had to make different arrangements." Rowena presented a formidably +smiling front as she gave her command. + +"But Mr. La Salle----" protested William. + +"Don't be impertinent," was the freezing interruption. "We know our own +business. Miss La Salle's father will know all about it when he returns. +Won't he?" She turned to Mignon for confirmation. + +"It is all right, William," the latter assured him, purposely neglecting +to answer Rowena's question. "My father will be told when he returns. He +forgot about my luggage." + +"All right, Miss Mignon." William was far too discreet to court the +double attack, which he knew would be forthcoming, should he continue to +protest. Miss Mignon always did as she pleased, regardless of her +father. He made mental note, however, to clear himself the instant his +employer returned. + +"That was simple enough," exulted Rowena, as they turned away. "You +ought to be glad I fixed everything so nicely for you. I expect some of +those snippy girls will be anything but pleased to have me behind the +scenes to-night." + +"You'd better keep to my dressing room," warned Mignon. "On account of +it being a different theatre, there is sure to be some confusion. Laurie +Armitage won't like it if you go strolling around among the cast the way +you've done at rehearsals." + +"You just attend to your own affairs," blustered Rowena, "and I'll +attend to mine. Who cares what that high and mighty Lawrence Armitage +thinks? He's so wrapped up in that milk-and-water baby of a Constance +Stevens he doesn't know you are alive. Too bad, isn't it?" + +Mignon turned red as a poppy. She began to wish she had not allowed +Rowena to alter the arrangements her father had prudently made. Frowning +her displeasure at the brutal taunt, she cast a half-longing glance +toward the garage. There was still time to inform William that she had +changed her mind. + +Instantly Rowena marked the glance and divined its import. It did not +accord with her plans. If she drove Mignon to reconsider her decision, +it meant one of two things. To quarrel openly with her would place +beyond reach the possibility of accompanying her to Riverview. If Rowena +went there alone she could not hope to be allowed to go behind the +scenes. On the other hand she dared not jeopardize her control over +Mignon by permitting her to gain even one point. + +"Don't be foolish," she advised in a more conciliatory tone. "I was only +teasing you about that Stevens girl. One of these days this Armitage boy +will find out what a silly little thing she is. If you are nice to me, I +daresay I can help him to find it out." + +Mignon brightened visibly. From all she had learned of Rowena's +practical methods, she believed her capable of accomplishing wonders in +the mischief-making line. "I suppose you mean well," she said a trifle +sullenly. "Still, I don't think you ought to say such cutting things to +me, Rowena." + +Thus once more a temporary truce was declared between these two wayward +children of impulse. Though neither trusted the other, sheer love of +self admonished them that they could accomplish more by hanging +together. Mignon, however, was destined to learn that an unstable prop +is no more to be relied upon than no prop at all. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII--THE RESULT OF PLAYING WITH FIRE + + +"See here, Jerry, can't something be done to keep that Miss Farnham from +completely upsetting the cast?" Laurie Armitage's fine face was dark +with disapproval as he halted Jerry, who was hurrying by him toward +Constance's dressing room. "I just heard her telling one of the girls in +the chorus that her costume was 'frightfully unbecoming.' The poor girl +turned red and looked ready to cry. She's been circulating among the +chorus ever since she and Mignon landed in the theatre. Goodness knows +what else she has been saying. It won't do. This isn't Sanford, you +know. We hope to give a perfect performance here. I wish I had told +Mignon not to bring her. I hated to do it, though. She might have got +wrathy and backed out at the last minute. If ever I compose another +operetta, I'll let somebody else manage it. I'm through," Laurie +concluded in disgust. + +"Why don't you ask Mignon to keep her in the dressing room?" suggested +Jerry. "She's the only one who can manage Row-ena. I doubt if _she_ +can." + +"Might as well touch a match to a bundle of firecrackers," compared +Laurie gloomily. "Can't you think of anything else?" + +Jerry studied for a moment. As Laurie's helper she felt that she ought +to measure up to the situation. "It's almost time for the show to +begin," she said. "The chorus will soon be too busy to bother with her. +After the first act, she'll be in Mignon's dressing room. Then I'll slip +around among the girls and whisper to them not to mind her. She can't +bother the principals. She doesn't dare go near Constance or any of the +boys like Hal and the Crane." + +"Please do that." Laurie sighed with relief. "It will help me a great +deal." + +Unaware that she had become the victim of a needful strategy, Rowena was +serenely deriving huge enjoyment from the brutally frank criticisms she +was lavishing right and left among the unoffending choirsters. It was a +supreme happiness to her to see her carefully delivered shots strike +home. But her ambition to wound lay not entirely with the chorus. She +was yearning for a chance to nettle Constance Stevens, whom she hated by +reason of the impassable gulf that lay between Constance and herself. +Never, since she had come to Sanford, had Constance appeared even to +know that she existed. This galled Rowena beyond expression. As a leader +among the high school girls she had deemed Constance worth cultivating. +She might as readily have tried to bring down the North Star as to +ingratiate herself with this calm, lovely girl, and she knew it. Here +was something which she could not obtain. Failing, she marked her as a +victim for ridicule and scorn. + +The first act over at last, Rowena posted herself in Mignon's dressing +room and proceeded to regale the latter with a derisive, laughing +account of her fruitful wanderings among the cast. Mignon listened to +her with indifference. As she opened the second act, her mind was on her +role. She was hardly aware that her tormentor had left the dressing room +until she became conscious that the high-pitched tones had suddenly +ceased. + +Mignon proving altogether too non-committal to suit her difficult fancy, +Rowena had fared forth in search of fresh adventure. The star dressing +room, occupied by Constance, lay two doors farther down the corridor. In +passing and repassing it that evening, Rowena had vainly ransacked her +guileful brain for an excuse to invade it. Now as she left Mignon's +dressing room she decided to put on an intrepid front and pay Constance +a call. Her large, black eyes danced with pure malice as she doubled a +fist and pounded upon the closed door. + +"Who is there?" came from within. The vigorous tattoo had startled +Constance. + +For answer Rowena simply swung open the door and stepped into the room. +"I thought I'd pay you a call," she announced with cool complacence. + +Seated before a low make-up shelf on which reposed a mirror, Constance +was engaged in readjusting her coiffure, which had become slightly +loosened during the first act. Her blue eyes showed wondering surprise +as she turned in her chair to face the intruder. From Jerry she had +already heard angry protests against this mischievous girl. Quiet +Constance now read fresh mischief in the intrusion. She resolved to +treat her uninvited guest civilly. If possible she would try to keep her +in the dressing room until the second act was called. Better that than +allow her to further annoy the other girls. As she had no change of +costume to make she was free to entertain her unbidden visitor. + +"Sit down," she evenly invited, neither cordial nor cold. "How do you +like the operetta?" + +Rather taken aback by this placid reception, Rowena dropped gracefully +into a chair, her dark eyes fixed speculatively on her hostess. +Shrugging her shoulders she gave a contemptuous little laugh as she +answered: "Oh, these amateur productions are all alike. _Some_, of +course, are more stupid than others." + +"Do you include the poor Princess among the more stupid?" asked +Constance, smiling in spite of herself at this patent attempt to be +disagreeable. + +"I don't include it in anything. I don't even know what it's all about. +I only came to rehearsals and here to amuse myself. Sanford is the +deadest town I was ever in and Sanford High School is a regular +kindergarten. I suppose you know who I am, don't you?" Rowena crested +her auburn head a trifle. + +"Yes. You are Miss Farnham." Constance made reply in an enigmatic tone. + +A threatening sparkle leaped to the other's eyes. She was beginning to +resent Constance's quiet attitude. "If you knew who I was, why didn't +you speak to me at the first rehearsal?" she sharply launched. + +"I merely knew you by sight. There are many girls in Sanford High whom I +do not know personally." + +"But _I'm_ different," pursued Rowena. "My father is very rich and I can +have whatever I like. You must know that. You ought to associate with +girls of your own class. Your aunt has lots of money and can give you +social position. That Geraldine Macy is the only rich girl you ever go +with. All the others are just middle class. You're foolish to waste your +time on Marjorie----" + +Constance had received Rowena's first words with secret amusement. As +she continued to listen her inward smile changed to outward, rather. At +mention of Marjorie her self-imposed placidity flew to the winds. +"Kindly leave my dressing room," she ordered, her voice shaking with +indignation. "Marjorie Dean is my dearest friend. No one can belittle +her to me. Least of all, _you_." Constance had slowly risen, her blue +eyes dark with the injury to one she loved. + +"I thought that would bring you to life," laughed Rowena, making no move +to rise. As she sat there, the light playing on her ruddy hair, her +black eyes agleam with tantalizing mirth, Constance could not but wonder +at her tigerish beauty. To quote Muriel, she did resemble "a big, +striped tiger." + +Without answering, Constance moved to the door and opened it. She was +about to step into the corridor when Rowena sprang forward and clutched +her by the arm. "You milk-and-water baby, do you think----" She did not +finish. As Constance stepped over the threshold she came almost into +collision with Lawrence Armitage. His keen glance immediately took in +the situation. He saw Rowena's arm drop to her side. Brushing past +Constance like a whirlwind, she gained the shelter of Mignon's dressing +room and disappeared. + +"Hurry. You'll miss your cue. I didn't see you in the wings and came to +warn you. Run along. I'll see you later," uttered Laurie rapidly. His +words sent Constance moving rapidly toward the stairway. His lips +tightened as he watched her disappear. For a moment he stood still, +then, turning, took the same direction. + +"Just a moment, Miss La Salle." Seeking the stairway at the close of the +second act, Mignon was halted by a troubled young man. "I don't wish to +be disagreeable, but--Miss Farnham must either remain in your dressing +room during the third act or go out in the audience. I am not blaming +you. You've sung your part splendidly to-night and I appreciate your +effort. Will you help me in this? We don't wish anything to occur to +spoil the rest of the operetta. I am sure you understand." Appeal looked +out from his deeply blue eyes. + +"Of course I'll help you." Mignon experienced a sudden thrill of +triumph. Lawrence Armitage was actually asking her to do him a favor. +Valiance rose within her. She quite forgot her dread of Rowena's +bluster. Flashing him her most fascinating smile, she held out her hand +in token of good faith. Inwardly she was hoping that Constance might +happen along to witness the tableau. Laurie clasped it lightly. He was +not in the least impressed. "Thank you." He wheeled abruptly and turned +away. + +Mignon ran lightly down the stairs and to her dressing room. Inspired by +the recent interview, she promptly accosted the ubiquitous Rowena, as +she lounged lazily in a chair. "You mustn't go out of the dressing room +or upstairs again until the operetta is over," she dictated. "Laurie +doesn't want you to. He just spoke to me about it. He has allowed you a +lot of liberty already, so I think you'd better do as he says. It won't +be long now until----" + +"So _Laurie_ thinks he can order me about, does he?" Rowena sprang to +her feet in a rage. "_That_ for Laurie!" She snapped contemptuous +fingers. "This is your work. You've been talking about me to him. But +you'll be sorry. I know a way----" + +Her mood swiftly changing she threw back her head and laughed. Resuming +her chair she sat silently eyeing Mignon with a mirthful malevolence +that sent a shiver of apprehension up and down the French girl's spine. +Rowena had undoubtedly been inspired with an idea that boded no good to +her. As she dressed for the third act she cast more than one nervous +glance at the smiling figure of insolence in the chair. + +Not a word further had been exchanged between the two when the third act +was called. Mignon half expected to see Rowena rise and follow her up +the stairs, there to create a scene with Laurie that would delay the +rise of the curtain. Nothing of the kind occurred, however, and the last +act began and went on to a triumphant end. + +After the curtain had been rung down on the final tableau, she made a +dash for the stairs to encounter Rowena ascending them. She had already +donned her evening cape and scarf. At sight of Mignon she called out in +the careless, good-humored fashion she could assume at will: "Hurry up. +I'm going on out to the limousine. I need a breath of fresh air." + +Partially convinced that Rowena had recovered from her fit of temper, +Mignon gladly hastened to do her bidding. It was not until she began to +look about for her high-laced boots that she changed her mind concerning +her companion. They were nowhere to be seen. "Rowena has hidden them, +just to be aggravating!" she exclaimed angrily. "That was her revenge. +But I'll find them." + +After a frantic ten-minutes' search she managed to locate them, tucked +into either sleeve of the long fur coat she had worn. Thankful to find +them, she laced them in a hurry and proceeded to dress with all speed. A +repeated receding of footsteps and gay voices from the direction of the +stairway warned her that the dressing rooms were being rapidly deserted. +Those who had come to Riverview by railway had only a short time after +the performance in which to catch the last train for the night. + +Taking the stairs, two at a time, Mignon made a rush for the stage door +and on out into the cold, starlit night. The first thing she noted was a +large part of the cast hurriedly boarding a street car for the station. +But where was the Farnham limousine and Rowena? Where was the little +line of automobiles she had seen parked along the street when she +entered the theatre? Only one now remained, almost a block farther up +the street. Her heart beat thankfully as she observed it. It looked like +the Farnham limousine. It was just like Rowena to thus draw away a +little distance in order to scare her into thinking she had been left +behind. + +Racing toward it she saw that the chauffeur was engaged in examining one +of its tires. She heard a cheery voice call out, "All right, Captain," +and her knees grew weak. The voice did not sound like that of James, the +Farnhams' chauffeur. Hoping against hope she came abreast of it. Then +her elfin eyes grew wide with despair. It was not the Farnhams' car. It +belonged to none other than the Deans. + +Heartsick, she was about to turn away when a fresh young voice called +out, "Mignon La Salle!" Forgetting everything except that she was in +difficulties, she halted and managed to articulate, "Have you seen Miss +Farnham's car?" + +"Why, no," came the wondering reply. "Have you missed her?" + +"I saw her go by in a limousine," stated Constance Stevens, from the +tonneau of the Deans' car. "She was driving and the chauffeur was +sitting beside her." + +A belated light now dawned upon Mignon. She understood that this was the +fruition of Rowena's threat. She had purposely run off and left her, +knowing that she could not hope to catch the last train. + +In the dark of the tonneau, Constance gave Marjorie's hand a quick +pressure. Its instant return signified that her chum understood. Without +hesitation she called to the tragic little figure on the sidewalk, +"We'll take you home, Mignon. It's lucky that General stopped to examine +that tire." Then to her father, "This is Mignon La Salle, Father. You +know her, Mother." + +"Yes." Mrs. Dean bowed in reserved fashion. "Get into the tonneau with +the girls, Miss La Salle. We will see that you arrive safely at your own +door." + +The unexpected courtesy very nearly robbed the stranded girl of speech. +Stammering her thanks, Mignon climbed ruefully into the tonneau and +seated herself by Marjorie. As the car began a loud purr, preparatory to +starting, her outraged feelings overcame her and she burst into tears. +"It was hateful in her," she sobbed, "perfectly hateful." + +"It was," agreed Marjorie positively. "But I wouldn't cry about it. You +are all right now." Then with a view to cheering the weeper, she added: +"You sang your part beautifully both nights, Mignon. That's something to +be glad of. This little trouble doesn't really matter, since everything +turned out well." + +"It's nice in you to say it," quavered Mignon. "But, oh, how I despise +that hateful, hateful girl. I'll never, never speak to her again as long +as I live." + +Marjorie might easily have assured her that this was a wise decision. +Instead, she prudently refrained from committing herself. Mignon's mind +continued to dwell on her wrongs. She cried and raged against her +treacherous companion during most of the ride home. Constance and +Marjorie were obliged to listen and administer judicious consolation. It +did not appear to sink deep. Mignon was too self-centered to realize +their generosity of spirit. When they left her at the La Salle's gate +she tried to put graciousness into her thanks, but her thoughts were too +firmly fixed upon faithless Rowena and herself to appreciate the +kindness she had received. + +"For once Mignon had to swallow a dose of her own medicine," commented +Constance grimly, as the Deans' car sped away toward their home, where +Connie was to spend the night with Marjorie. + +"She found it pretty hard to take," mused Marjorie. "It's a good thing, +though. This will end Mignon's friendship with Rowena, but it won't +change her one little bit. I don't believe she'll ever change." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII--A PECULIAR REQUEST + + +"Four letters for you, Lieutenant. Hunt them," decreed Mrs. Dean, as +Marjorie burst into the living room, her cheeks rosy from the nipping +kisses of the winter air. + +"Oh, I know where they are." Jubilantly overturning the contents of her +mother's sewing basket, she triumphantly drew them forth. Without +bothering to remove her wraps she plumped down at her mother's feet to +revel in her spoils. + +"Here's one from Mary. I'll read that last. Here's one from Harriet." +Opening it she read it through and passed it to her mother. "Harriet's +almost well again. Isn't that good news? Why----" she had opened the +next--"it's from Mignon; a little note of thanks. Oh, Captain!" she +stared hard at the note. "I've discovered something. Mignon's not the +horrid Observer. See. The writing and paper and all are quite different. +I'm sure she isn't. She'd never ask anyone else to write such letters. +It's not her way." + +"Then that is good news, too," smiled Mrs. Dean. "I am also glad to know +it. It is dreadful to misjudge anyone." + +"I know that. I wish I knew who the Observer was, too." Marjorie sighed +and took up the next letter. As she read it she laughed outright. "It's +from General, the old dear. Just listen: + + "Esteemed Lieutenant: + + "Head up, forward march to the downtown barracks. Report for stern + duty at 4:30 to-morrow (Thursday) P. M. Your most military presence + is requested to assist in conferring with an official committee in a + matter of great importance to the parties concerned. Failure to + appear on time will be punished by court-martial. Be warned not to + try to ambush your general in the living room to ascertain the facts + beforehand. You will only be captured and sent to the guard house. + + "Signed, + "General Dean." + +"It's a surprise," nodded Marjorie. "I know it is. Very well, I'll show +him that I'm not a bit curious. I'll tell him, though, that it's not +fair to threaten a soldier. Do you know what it's about, Captain?" + +"No; I am equally in the dark. I wouldn't tell you if I knew," Mrs. Dean +answered teasingly. + +"I wouldn't let you," retorted Marjorie. "I have to be loyal to my +orders. Now I'll read Mary's letter and then go and answer it. If I +don't answer it now I might put it off." + +Laying the three notes aside, she busied herself with the long letter +from Mary, reading it aloud with numerous exclamations and comments. +True to her word, she made no mention to her father of his letter. +Delighting to tease her, he hinted broadly concerning it, but failed to +draw Marjorie into questioning him. + +Nevertheless, it was a most curious young woman who entered his office +the following afternoon at the exact moment of appointment. Her +curiosity was lost in wide-eyed amazement as she saw that he was not +alone. Seated in a chair beside his desk was a stout, dark man of middle +age, whose restless, black eyes and small, dark mustache bespoke the +foreigner. But this was not the cause of her astonishment. It lay in the +fact that the man was Mignon La Salle's father. Both men rose as she +entered, Mr. La Salle bowing to her in the graceful fashion of the +Frenchman. + +"Sit here, Lieutenant. Mr. La Salle wishes to talk with you. He is kind +enough to allow me to be present at the conference." + +"Miss Marjorie, I have not had the pleasure of meeting you before +to-day. It is a very great pleasure. I have already thanked your father +for his kindness to my daughter several evenings since. Now I must thank +you, too. But I wish also to ask a far greater favor. My daughter, +Mignon," he paused as though at a loss to proceed, "is a somewhat +peculiar girl. For many years she has had no mother." He sighed, then +continuing, "I wish her to be all that is good and fine. But I am a busy +man. I cannot take time to be with her as I would desire. From my friend +Harold Macy I have heard many pleasant things of you and your friends. +So I have thought that it might be well to ask you if you----" Again he +paused, his black eyes riveted on Marjorie, "if you will take an +interest in my daughter, so that I may feel that her associates are of +the best. + +"I regret greatly her friendship with Miss Farnham. But that is past. +She has told me all, and I have forbidden their further intimacy. +Perhaps you are already the friend of my Mignon? If so, it is, indeed, +well. If not, may I hope that you will soon become such, indeed?" There +was a trace of pleading in his carefully enunciated speech with its +slightly foreign accent. + +A queer, choking sensation gripped Marjorie's throat. She was +immeasurably touched. Happy in her General's love, she glimpsed +something of the tender motive, which had actuated this stern man of +business to plead for his daughter's welfare. + +"I am willing to be Mignon's friend, if she is willing to be mine," she +answered with grave sweetness. "I think I may speak for my friends, +also." + +"Thank you. She will respond, I am sure." A faint tightening of his thin +lips gave hint that he would see to the exaction of that response. "It +will be a pleasure to invite you to dine with us to-morrow evening," he +added. La Salle Pere evidently intended to allow no grass to grow under +his feet. + +"Thank you. May I go, General?" Marjorie's eyes sought her father's. +Though she had maintained a gracious composure, he guessed that she was +far from easy over this queer turn of affairs. There was a faintly +martyred look in her brown eyes. + +"Yes," he said in a steady, reassuring tone. "Your General approves." He +flashed her a mischievous glance. + +"Then you may expect me." Marjorie rose and offered her hand to the +anxious father. "I must go now," she said. "I am very glad to have met +you, Mr. La Salle." + +Once outside the office she drew a long breath of dismay. "I'm quite +sure of most of the girls," was her reflection, "but what, oh, what will +Jerry say?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV--AN UNEXPECTED CALAMITY + + +Jerry had a great deal to say. She was so justly wrathful she very +nearly cried. "It's the worst thing I ever heard of," she sputtered. "I +wish we'd never revived that old operetta. Then Mignon wouldn't have +sung in it and got left at the switch, and you wouldn't be asking us to +make martyrs of ourselves. After all you've said about being through +with Mignon, too! It's a shame!" + +"But just suppose her father had come to you and asked you to help her, +what would you have done?" pleaded Marjorie. + +"Told him Mignon's history and advised him to lock her up," snapped +Jerry. "I hope---- Oh, I don't know what I hope. I can't think of anything +horrible enough to hope." + +"Poor Jeremiah. It's too bad." Marjorie's little hand slipped itself +into the plump girl's fingers. "You know you'd have done just as I did. +I had quite a long talk with Mignon last night. After dinner her father +left us to ourselves. It wasn't exactly pleasant. She would say mean +things about Rowena. Still, she said she'd like to try again and wished +that we would all help her. So I said for all of us that we would. You +won't back out, will you, Jerry?" + +"I don't know. Wait a week or two and see what she does, then I can tell +better. You've got to show me. I mean, I must be convinced." Jerry +wrinkled her nose at Marjorie and giggled. Her ruffled good humor was +smoothing itself down. + +"That means, you _will_ help her," was Marjorie's fond translation. +"Constance is willing, too. I am sure of Irma and Harriet, but Susan and +Muriel are doubtful. Still, I think I can win them over if I tell them +that you are with me in our plan." + +"There's just this much about it, Marjorie." Jerry spoke with unusual +seriousness. "Mignon will have to play fair or I'll drop her with a +bang. Just like that. The first time I find her trying any of her +deceitful tricks will be the last with me. Remember, I mean what I say. +If anything like that happens, don't ask me to overlook it, for I won't. +Not even to please you, and I'd rather please _you_ than anybody else I +know." + +"I'll remember," laughed Marjorie. She was not greatly impressed by +Jerry's declaration. The stout girl was apt to take a contrary stand, +merely for the sake of variety. She had expected that Jerry would scold +roundly, then give in with a final threatening grumble. + +Susan and Muriel she found even harder to convince of Mignon's +repentance than Jerry. Muriel was especially obstinate. "I'll speak to +Mignon," she stipulated, "but I won't ask her to my house or go any +place with her. Now that we've made over five hundred dollars out of the +operetta for the library, you know we've been talking about getting up a +club. Of course, she'll want to be in it. But she sha'n't." + +"Then there's no use in trying to help her," said Marjorie calmly, "if +we don't include her in our work and our good times." + +"That's precisely what you said last year," retorted Muriel. "You +invited her to your party and she nearly broke it up. After that I +wonder that you can even dream of trusting her. I've known her longer +than you, Marjorie. When we all went to grammar school together she was +always the disturber. She used to fight with us and then come sliding +around to make up. She'd promise to be good, but she never kept her word +for long. + +"Once she behaved pretty well for three months and we began to like her +a little. Then one day some of us went to the woods on a picnic. We took +our luncheon and spread a tablecloth on the grass. When we had all the +eats spread out on the tablecloth and sat down around it, Mignon got mad +because Susan said something to me that made me laugh. We happened to +look at her, but we weren't talking about her. She thought so, though. +She began sputtering at us like a firecracker. The more we all tried to +calm her the madder she got. Before we could stop her she caught the +tablecloth in both hands and gave it a hard jerk. You can imagine what +happened! All our nice eats were jumbled together into the grass. The +ants got into them and we had to throw nearly everything away. She +didn't stop to help pick up things. She rushed off home and none of us +spoke to her for the rest of the year. That's why I can't believe in her +repentance. Sooner or later she's bound to upset things again, just as +she did that time." + +Marjorie could not resist laughing a little at Muriel's tragic tale of a +woodland disaster. "I can't blame you for feeling as you do," she said, +"but I must keep my word to her father. It means so much to him. Being +in the operetta has given her a little start. Perhaps she's begun to see +that it pays to do well. She knows now how it feels to be treated badly. +It must remind her of some of the mean things she's done. If she's ever +going to change, the time has come. But if no one believes in her, then +she'll get discouraged and be worse than ever. Connie is willing to +help. I'd be ashamed to refuse after that. Even Jerry says she'll +consider it." + +"Connie is a perfect angel, and Jerry is a goose," declared Muriel, +flushing rather guiltily. It was difficult to continue to combat +Marjorie's plan in the face of Constance's nobility of spirit. Constance +had been the chief sufferer at Mignon's hands. Reminded of this, Muriel +weakened. "I suppose I ought to get in line with Connie," she admitted. +"I'd feel pretty small if I didn't. I can't afford to let Jerry beat me, +either." + +Muriel's objections thus overruled, Susan proved less hard to convince. +Once more the reform party banded itself together to the performance of +good works. Smarting from the effects of Rowena's cowardly spite, Mignon +was quite willing to be taken up again by so important a set of girls as +that to which Marjorie belonged. It pleased her not a little to know +that she had gained a foothold that Rowena could never hope to win. +Then, too, her father had taken a hand in her affairs. He had sternly +informed her that she must about-face and do better. Relief at being +plucked from a disagreeable situation, rather than gratitude toward her +preservers, had predominated her feelings on the eventful night at +Riverview. Fear of her father's threat to send her away to a convent +school if she did not show rapid signs of improvement made her pause. + +Returning from his business trip, Mr. La Salle had interviewed first +William, the chauffeur, then Mignon. From an indulgent parent he became +suddenly transformed into a stern inquisitor, before whose wrath Mignon +broke down and haltingly confessed the truth. As a result he had +forbidden her further acquaintance with Rowena. Reminded afresh of his +parental duty, he had pondered long, then through the kindly offices of +Mr. Dean, arranged the meeting with Marjorie. Thus Mignon's affairs had +been readjusted and she had been forced to agree to follow the line of +good conduct he had stretched for her. + +It was a distinct relief, however, to Marjorie and her friends to find +that Mignon was content to be merely on equitable terms. She did not try +to force herself upon them, though she received whatever advances they +made with an amiability quite unusual to her. They were immensely +amused, however, at her frigid ignoring of Rowena Farnham. Her revenge +consummated, Rowena decided to re-assume her sway over her unwilling +follower. Mignon fiercely declined to be reinstated and the two held a +battle royal in which words became sharpest arrows. Later, Rowena was +plunged into fresh rage by the news that Mignon had been taken up by the +very girls she had over and over again disparaged. + +Determined not to be beaten, she continued to waylay Mignon as she went +to and from school. Changing her bullying tactics, she next tried +coaxing. But Mignon maintained her air of virtuous frigidity and took an +especial delight in snubbing the girl she had once feared. It also gave +her infinite pleasure to paint Rowena in exceedingly dark colors to +whomever would listen to her grievances. Much of this came in +round-about fashion to the reformers. They disapproved of it intensely, +but held their peace rather than undo the little good they hoped they +had already accomplished. + +Among her schoolmates the account of Mignon's near misfortune was +received with varying degrees of interest. A few were sympathetically +disposed; others merely laughed. Rowena, however, lost caste. Neither +her costly clothes, her caustic wit nor her impudently fascinating +personality could cover the fact that she had done a treacherous and +contemptible deed. The fact that she had left a young girl stranded at +midnight in a strange town did not add to her doubtful popularity. Quick +to discover this state of affairs, she realized that she had gone a step +too far. There was only one way in which she might redeem herself and +that lay in the direction of basket ball. + +February was speedily living out his short, changeable life. The third +of the four games between the sophomore-junior teams was to be played on +the last Saturday afternoon of the month, which fell on the +twenty-seventh. Thus far each side had won a game. Rowena decreed that +the two games yet to be played should go to the sophomores. She would +play as she had never played before. Nothing should stand in her way. +She would lead the sophomores on to glory and the acclamation of her +class would cleanse her blurred escutcheon. Once she had re-established +her power she would make Mignon sorry. + + Fortunately for her plans, the members of her team had showed no great +amount of prejudice against her since the affair of the operetta. They +treated her cordially enough during practice and applauded her clever +playing. Shrewd to a degree, she divined instantly that they cherished +no special regard for her. They were simply using her as a means to the +end. Knowing her value as a player, they were egging her on to do well +because of their hope of victory in the next two games. She did not +doubt that when the season was over there would be a general falling-off +in their cordiality unless she so greatly distinguished herself as to +win their ungrudging admiration. + +Alas for her dream of power, when the third game came off between the +two teams, it was the juniors who carried off the palm with a score of +26-14 in their favor. What galled her most was the remarkably brilliant +playing of Marjorie Dean. If there lingered a doubt in the mind of Miss +Davis regarding Marjorie's ability to play basket ball, her work on the +floor that Saturday afternoon must have completely discounted that +doubt. What Miss Davis thought when, from the gallery, she watched the +clever playing of the girl she had endeavored to dismiss from the team, +was something which was recorded only on her own brain. It was noted by +several pairs of watchful eyes that she did not applaud the victors. She +had not forgiven them for the difficulties into which they had plunged +her on that fateful afternoon. + +Losing the game to the enemy made matters distinctly mortifying for +Rowena. Among themselves, her team-mates gloomily conceded that they had +over-rated her as a player. Though they made some effort to conceal +their resentment, their cordiality became less apparent. This second +defeat precluded all hope of doing more than tieing the score in the one +game still to be played. They needed Rowena's help to bring about that +result. Therefore, they dared not express themselves openly. It may be +recorded here that the ideals of the four sophomore players were no +higher than those of Rowena. Their attitude toward her was glaringly +selfish and they were possessed of little loyalty. + +The final game was set for the thirteenth of March. Doggedly bent on +escaping a whitewashing, the sophomores devoted themselves to zealous +practice. So insistently frequent were their demands for the use of the +gymnasium that the junior team were obliged to make equally insistent +protest against their encroachment. + +"I am really glad that this next game is to be the last," remarked +Marjorie to her teammates one afternoon as they were preparing to leave +the dressing room after practice. "Basket ball hasn't seemed the same +old game this year. Perhaps I'm outgrowing my liking for it, but really +we've had so much trouble about it that I long for victory and peace." + +"It's not the game," contested Muriel. "It's those sophs with Rowena +Farnham leading them on. Why, even when Mignon was continually fussing +with us we never had any trouble about getting the gym for practice. Oh, +well, one week from to-morrow will tell the story. If we win it will be +a three to one victory. We can't lose now. All the sophs can do is to +tie the score." + +"Where were our subs to-day?" demanded Daisy Griggs. "I didn't see +either of them." + +"Harriet couldn't stay for practice. She was going to a tea with her +mother," informed Susan. "I don't know where Lucy Warner was. I didn't +see her in school, either." + +"She must be sick. She hasn't been in school for almost a week," +commented Muriel. "She is the queerest-acting girl. You'd think to look +at her that she hated herself and everybody. She makes me think of a +picture of an anarchist I once saw in a newspaper. When she does come to +practice she just sits with her chin in her hands and glowers. I can't +understand how she ever happened to come out of her grouch long enough +to make the team." + +"She's awfully distant," agreed Marjorie dispiritedly. "I have tried to +be nice to her, but it's no use. My, how the wind howls! Listen." Going +to the window of the dressing room, she peered out. "It's a dreadful +day. The walks are solid sheets of ice. The wind blew so hard I could +scarcely keep on my feet this noon." + +"I fell down twice," giggled Susan Atwell. "It didn't hurt me much. I +scraped one hand on a piece of sharp ice, but I'm still alive." + +"Be careful going down the steps," warned Daisy Griggs, ever a youthful +calamity howler. + +"Don't croak, Daisy. If you keep on someone will take a tumble just +because you mentioned it," laughed Muriel. "We can't afford that with +the game so near." + +Dressed at last, their paraphernalia carefully stowed away, the team +trooped from the gymnasium and on to their locker room. "I wish I had +worn my fur coat," lamented Muriel. "I'll surely freeze in my tracks. +Are you ready, girls? Do hurry. I am anxious to face the wind and get it +over with. I think I'll take the car home." + +"Ugh!" shuddered Susan. Issuing from the high school building a blast of +piercing air struck her full in the face. "We'll be blown away before we +get down the steps." + +"Oh, come along, Susie," urged Muriel laughingly. "Don't mind a little +thing like that. Look at me. Here goes." Muriel valiantly essayed the +first icy step. A fresh gust of wind assailing her, the hand holding her +muff sought her face to protect it. + +How it happened no one quite knew. A concerted scream went up from four +throats as Muriel suddenly left her feet to go bumping and sliding down +the long flight of ice-bound steps. She struck the walk in a heap and +lay still. + +"Muriel!" Forgetting the peril of the steps, Marjorie took them +heedlessly, but safely. A faint moan issued from Muriel's lips as she +knelt beside her. Muriel moaned again, but tried to raise herself to a +sitting posture. She fell back with a fresh groan. + +"Where are you hurt?" Marjorie slipped a supporting arm under her. By +this time the others had safely made the descent and were gathered about +the two. + +"It's my right shoulder and arm. I'm afraid my arm is broken," gasped +Muriel, her face white with pain. + +"Let me see." Marjorie tenderly felt of the injured member. "Do I hurt +you much?" she quavered solicitously. + +"Not--much. I guess it's--not--broken. It's my shoulder that hurts most." + +Several persons had now gathered to the scene. A man driving past in an +automobile halted his car. Leaping from the machine he ran to the scene. +"Someone hurt?" was his crisp question. "Can I be of service?" + +"Oh, if you would." Marjorie's face brightened. "Miss Harding fell down +those steps. She's badly hurt." + +"Where does she live? I'll take her home," offered the kindly motorist. +Lifting Muriel in his arms he carried her to the car and gently +deposited her in its tonneau. "Perhaps you'd better come with her," he +suggested. + +"Thank you, I will. Good-bye, girls. Go on over to my house and wait for +me. I'll be there in a little while." Lifting her hand to the three +frightened girls, who had advanced upon the machine with sundry other +curious pedestrians, Marjorie gave Muriel's rescuer the Hardings' +address, climbed into the car and slammed the door shut. + +"Poor Muriel," wailed Daisy Griggs, as the car rolled away. "I told her +to be careful. I hope she isn't hurt much. And the game next week!" + +Three pairs of startled eyes met and conveyed the same dismaying +thought. What would the team do without Captain Muriel? + + + + +CHAPTER XXV--A STRENUOUS HIKE TO A TRYING ENGAGEMENT + + +Everybody knows the trite saying: "It never rains but that it pours." +The disasters of the following week seemed quite in accord with it. +Muriel's spectacular slide down the ice steps brought her a broken +collarbone. The three anxious girls had awaited news of Muriel at +Marjorie's home had hardly taken their leave when the ring of the +postman brought her fresh misery. Little knowing what he did, that +patient individual handed Marjorie a letter which filled her with angry +consternation. Why in the world had the hated Observer come to life +again at such a time? + +Without waiting to read the unwelcome epistle in her Captain's presence, +Marjorie ripped open the envelope with a savage hand. This time the +unknown was detestably brief, writing merely: + + "Miss Dean: + + "I hope you lose the game next Saturday. You are more of a snob than + ever. Defeat will do you good. Prepare to meet it. + + "The Observer." + +"Oh!" Marjorie dashed the offending letter to the floor. Muriel's +accident was bad enough. It had not needed this to complete her +dejection. Recapturing the spiteful message she was about to tear it +into bits. On second reflection she decided to keep it and add it to her +obnoxious collection. Something whispered to her that the identity of +the tormenting Observer would yet be revealed to her. + +Facing the lamentable knowledge that Muriel must be counted out of the +coming contest, Harriet replaced her. This in itself provided a grain of +comfort. Harriet was a skilful player and would work for the success of +the team with all her energy. The other four players congratulated +themselves on thus having such able support. Due to Muriel's absence, +Marjorie had been asked to assume temporary captainship. Her mind now at +ease by reason of Harriet's good work, she gave her most conscientious +attention to practice. + +Matters skimmed along with commendable smoothness until the Wednesday +before the game. Then she encountered a fresh set-back. Word came to her +that Susan Atwell had succumbed to the dreaded tonsilitis that all +through the winter had been going its deadly round in Sanford. On +receipt of the news she recalled that for the past two days Susan had +complained of sore throat. She had given it no serious thought, however. +Her own throat had also troubled her a trifle since that stormy day when +Muriel had come to grief. There was but one thing to do. Put Lucy Warner +in Susan's position. Her heart almost skipped a beat as she faced the +fact that Lucy, too, had been absent from school for over a week. +Someone had said that Lucy was also ill. Marjorie reproached herself for +not having inquired more closely about the peculiar green-eyed junior. +"I ought to have gone to see her," she reflected. "I'll go to-night. +Perhaps she is almost well by this time, and can come back to school in +time for the game. If she can't, then I'd better ask Mignon to play in +Susan's place." + +School over for the day she accosted Jerry and Irma with, "I can only +walk as far as the corner with you to-night. I'm going to see Lucy +Warner. She's been sick for over a week. Did you ever hear of such bad +luck as the team has been having lately? I feel so discouraged and tired +out. I don't believe I'll try for the team next year." Marjorie's +usually sprightliness was entirely missing. Her voice had taken on a +weary tone and her brown eyes had lost their pretty sparkle. + +"You'd better go straight home and take care of _yourself_," gruffly +advised Jerry, "or you won't be fit to play on the team Saturday." + +"Oh, I'm all right." Marjorie made an attempt to look cheerful. "I'm not +feeling ill. My throat is a little bit sore. I caught cold that day +Muriel fell down the steps. But it's nothing serious. I shall go to bed +at eight o'clock to-night and have a long sleep. I'm just tired; not +sick. I must leave you here. Good-bye. See you to-morrow." Nodding +brightly she left the two and turned down a side street. + +"See us to-morrow," sniffed Jerry. "Humph! I doubt it, unless we go to +her house. She's about half sick now. It's the first time I ever saw her +look that way. She's so brave, though. She'd fight to keep up if she +were dying." + +Meanwhile, as she plodded down the snowy street on her errand of mercy, +Marjorie was, indeed, fighting to make herself believe that she was +merely a little tired. Despite her languor, generosity prompted her to +stop in passing a fruit store and purchase an attractive basket filled +with various fruits likely to tempt the appetite of a sick person. She +wondered if Lucy would resent the offering. She was such a queer, +self-contained little creature. + +"What a dingy house!" was her thought, as she floundered her way through +a stretch of deep snow to Lucy's unpretentious home. Detached from its +neighbors, it stood unfenced, facing a bit of field, which the small +boys of Sanford used in summer as a ball ground. It was across this +field that Marjorie was obliged to wend a course made difficult by a +week's fall of snow that blanketed it. An irregular path made by the +passing and repassing of someone's feet led up to the door. It appeared +that the Warners were either too busy or else unable to clear their +walk. + +Finding no bell, Marjorie removed her glove and knocked on the +weather-stained front door. It was opened by a frail little woman with a +white, tired face and faded blue eyes. She stared in amazement at the +trim, fur-coated girl before her, whose attractive appearance betokened +affluence. "How do you do?" she greeted in evident embarrassment. + +"Good afternoon. Are you Mrs. Warner?" Marjorie asked brightly. "I have +come to see Lucy. How is she to-day? I am Marjorie Dean." + +"Oh, are you Miss Dean? I mailed a letter she wrote you several days +ago. Come in, please," invited the woman cordially. "I am very glad to +see you. I am sure Lucy will be. She is better but still in bed. Will +you take off your wraps?" + +"No, thank you. I can't stay very long. I feel guilty at not coming to +see her sooner. What is the trouble with her--tonsilitis? So many people +in Sanford are having it." Marjorie looked slightly mystified over Mrs. +Warner's reference to the letter. She had received no letter from Lucy. +She decided, however, that she would ask Lucy. + +"No; she was threatened with pneumonia, but managed to escape with a +severe cold. I will take you to her. She is upstairs." + +Following Mrs. Warner up a narrow stairway that led up from a bare, +cheerless sitting room, Marjorie was forced to contrast the dismal place +with the Deans' luxurious living room. Why was it, she sadly pondered, +that she had been given so much and Lucy so little? The Warners' home +was even more poverty-stricken than the little gray house in which +Constance Stevens had once lived. Then she had deplored that same +contrast between herself and Constance. + +"Miss Dean has come to see you, Lucy," said Mrs. Warner. Marjorie had +followed the woman into a plain little bedroom, equally bare and +desolate. + +"You!" Glimpsing Marjorie behind her mother, Lucy sat up in bed, her +green eyes growing greener with horrified disapproval. + +"Yes, I." Marjorie flushed as she strove to answer playfully. That +single unfriendly word of greeting had wounded her deeply. The very fact +that, half sick herself, she had waded through the snow to call on Lucy +gave her a fleeting sense of injury. She tried to hide it by quickly +saying: "I must apologize for not visiting you sooner. Our team has had +so many mishaps, I have been busy trying to keep things going. I brought +you some fruit to cheer you up." + +"I will leave you girls to yourselves," broke in Mrs. Warner. As she +went downstairs she wondered at her daughter's ungracious behavior to +this lovely young friend. Lucy was such a strange child. Even she could +not always fathom her odd ways. + +"Why have you come to see me?" demanded Lucy, hostile and inhospitable. +All the time her lambent green eyes remained fixed upon Marjorie. + +"Why shouldn't I come to see you?" Marjorie gave a nervous little laugh. +Privately she wished she had not come. Embarrassment at the unfriendly +reception drove the question of the letter from her mind. + +"You never noticed me in school," pursued Lucy relentlessly. "Why should +you now?" + +"You would never let me be friends with you," was Marjorie's honest +retort. "I've tried ever so many times. I have always admired you. You +are so bright and make such brilliant recitations." + +"What does that matter when one is poor and always out of things?" came +the bitter question. + +"Oh, being poor doesn't count. It's the real you that makes the +difference. When I was a little girl we were quite poor. We aren't rich +now; just in comfortable circumstances. If I chose my friends for their +money I'd be a very contemptible person. You mustn't look at matters in +that light. It's wrong. It shuts you away from all the best things in +life; like love and friendship and contentment. I wish you had said this +to me long ago. Then we would have understood each other and been +friends." + +"I can never be your friend," stated the girl solemnly. + +"Why not?" Marjorie's eyes widened. "Perhaps I ought not to ask you +that. It sounded conceited. I can't blame you if you don't like me. +There are many persons I can't like, either. Sometimes I try to like +them, but I seldom succeed," she made frank admission. + +"You are a puzzling girl," asserted Lucy, her green eyes wavering under +Marjorie's sweetly naive confession. "Either you are very deceitful, or +else I have made a terrible mistake." She suddenly lay back in bed, half +hiding her brown head in the pillow. + +"I would rather think that you had made a mistake." The rose in +Marjorie's cheeks deepened. "I try never to be deceitful." + +Lucy did not reply, but buried her face deeper in the pillow. An +oppressive silence ensued, during which Marjorie racked her brain as to +what she had best say next. What ailed Lucy? She was even queerer than +Marjorie had supposed. + +With a convulsive jerk Lucy suddenly sat upright. Marjorie was relieved +to observe no indication of tears in the probing green eyes. She had +feared Lucy might be crying. Why she should cry was a mystery, however. + +"If you had made a mistake about someone and then done a perfectly +dreadful thing and afterward found out that it was all a mistake, what +would you do?" Lucy queried with nervous intensity. + +"I--that's a hard question to answer. It would depend a good deal on what +I had done and who the person was." + +"But if the person didn't know that it was you who did it, would you +tell them?" continued Lucy. + +"If I had hurt them very much, I think my conscience would torment me +until I did," Marjorie said slowly. "It would be hard, of course, but it +would be exactly what I deserved. But why do you ask me such strange +things?" + +"Because I must know. I've done something wrong and I've got to face it. +I've just found out that I have a very lively conscience. What you said +is true. I deserve to suffer. I am the Observer." Lucy dropped back on +her pillow, her long, black lashes veiling her peculiarly colored eyes. + +Undiluted amazement tied Marjorie's tongue. Staring at the pitifully +white, small face against the pillow, she came into a flashing, +emotional knowledge of the embittered spirit that had prompted the +writing of those vexatious letters. "You poor little thing!" she cried +out compassionately. The next instant her soft hands held one of Lucy's +in a caressing clasp. + +Lucy's heavy lids lifted. "I don't wonder your friends love you," she +said somberly. Her free hand came to rest lightly on Marjorie's arm. "I +know now that I could have been your friend, too." + +"But you shall be from this minute on," Marjorie replied, her pretty +face divinely tender. "You've proved your right to be. It was brave in +you to tell me. If you hadn't been the right sort of girl you might have +decided to like me and kept what you told me to yourself. I would never +have known the difference. I am glad that I do know. It takes away the +shadow. I understand that you must have suffered a great deal. I blame +myself, too. I'm afraid I've thought too much about my own pleasure and +seemed snobbish." + +"I wouldn't have done it, only one Sunday when you were walking along +with that Miss Macy and that girl who used to live at your house, I met +you and you didn't speak to me. All three of you were dressed +beautifully. It made me feel so bad. I was wearing an old gray suit, and +I thought you cut me on account of my clothes. I know now that I was +wrong. That was the beginning of the mistake. Then when you girls had +those expensive basket ball suits made, I thought you chose them just to +be mean to me. Of course, I didn't expect to be invited to your parties, +but it hurt me to be passed by all the time in school." + +"I never saw you that day, and I'm sure we never thought about how it +might look to others when we ordered our suits. You've taught me a +lesson, Lucy. One ought to be made careful about such things in a large +school. Someone is sure to be made unhappy. Now we must put all the bad +things away for good and think only of the nice ones. When you get well +you are going to have some good times with me. My friends will like you, +too. No one must ever know about--well, about the mistake." + +But Lucy could not thus easily take things for granted. Remorse had set +in and she felt that she ought to be punished for her fault. After +considerable cheerful persuasion, Marjorie brought her into an easier +frame of mind. When finally she said good-bye she left behind her a most +humble Observer who had given her word thereafter to observe life from a +happier angle. + +Once away from the house a feeling of heavy lassitude overwhelmed the +patient Lieutenant. It had been a strenuous hike to a trying engagement. +Her head swam dizzily as she stumbled through the drifted field to +better walking. Her wet shoes and stockings added to her misery. How her +cheeks burned and how dreadfully her throat ached! Was Jerry's +prediction about to be fulfilled? Was she only tired out, or had actual +sickness descended upon her just when she needed most to be well? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI--"TURN ABOUT is FAIR PLAY" + + +"What did I tell you yesterday?" saluted Jerry Macy, the instant she +found opportunity to address Irma Linton the next morning. "Marjorie's +sick. Her mother telephoned me before I started for school. She came +from Lucy Warner's yesterday so sick she couldn't see straight. Her +mother put her to bed and sent for the doctor. She has tonsilitis. Isn't +that hard luck?" + +"I should say so. Poor Marjorie. I was afraid of that yesterday. You +know she said her throat was sore." Irma looked unutterably sympathetic. +"And the game on Saturday, too. But it can't be played with Marjorie, +Muriel and Susan all laid up. That leaves only Rita, Daisy and Harriet +on the team." + +"The sophomores will have to call it off," decreed Jerry. "It's only +fair. The juniors did that very thing when two of the sophs were sick." + +"You'd better see Ellen this noon or before, if you can, and tell her," +Irma advised. "Then she can break it to the sophs to-day." + +"I'm going to wait for her in the senior locker room this noon," nodded +Jerry. "Then she can post a notice at once. Now I must beat it for Caesar +recitation. I wished he'd been killed in his first battle. It would have +saved me a good deal of bother." Jerry's jolly chuckle belied her +vengeful comment on the valorous general. + +"You don't say so!" exclaimed Ellen when Jerry broke the news to her. +"That _is_ too bad. Certainly the game will have to be postponed. I'll +write a notice instantly asking the sophs to meet me in the gym at four +this afternoon. I must call up on the 'phone and inquire for Marjorie. +Dear little girl, I wish I could do a great deal more for her. Thank you +for telling me, Jerry." Ellen hurried off to write and then post the +notice before going home to luncheon. Her lips wore a quizzical smile. +She wondered what the sophomore team would say when she told them. + +She had just finished tucking it into the bulletin board when Nellie +Simmons, a member of the sophomore team, paused curiously to read it. +The very fact that it came from Ellen's hands indicated basket ball +news. "Hmm!" she ejaculated as she took in its contents. "What's the +matter now?" + +"I'll tell you at four o'clock," Ellen flashed back. With a slight lift +of her shoulders, she walked away. Nellie's tone had verged on the +insolent. She had hardly disappeared when Nellie faced about and hurried +toward the sophomore locker room, bumping smartly against Rowena +Farnham, who was in the act of leaving it. + +"Look out!" cried Rowena. "What are you trying to do? I'm not made of +iron." + +"Oh, Rowena, I was hurrying to find you!" exclaimed Nellie. "Ellen +Seymour just posted a notice on the bulletin board for the team to meet +her in the gym at four o'clock. I think I know what it's about. Marjorie +Dean is sick. I heard Jerry Macy tell Esther Lind. You know what that +means to the junior team, with two others away from it. I'm sure Ellen's +going to ask us to postpone the game." + +"I'll forgive you for almost knocking me down," laughed Rowena, her +black eyes glowing. "So Miss Seymour thinks we will postpone the game to +please her and that goody-goody Dean girl. I'll see that she gets a +surprise. Lucky you came to me. I can fix things before I go home to +luncheon. I'm going to have a talk with Miss Davis." + +Leaving Nellie plunged in admiration at her daring tactics, Rowena sped +up the basement stairs and down the corridor toward Miss Davis's tiny +office. "How are you, Miss Davis?" was her offhand greeting. "I've come +to you for help." + +Miss Davis viewed her visitor with mild disapproval. "I don't care to +implicate myself in any more of your tangles, Rowena," she declared +firmly. + +"Oh, this isn't entirely my affair. It's about basket ball, though. That +Dean girl is sick and Miss Seymour is going to ask us to postpone the +game just on her account. Of course, we'll say 'no,' but Miss Seymour +won't mind that unless you stand by us. It's pure favoritism. Miss +Harding and Miss Atwell are sick, too. Even so, there are three of the +team left. If you say the game must go on, it will give poor Mignon a +chance to sub in the Dean girl's place. That Esther Lind played on the +sophomore team last year. She could fill the other position and we could +have the game. Miss Seymour knows that, but she won't pay any attention +to it. Mignon ought to have been chosen in the first place. You owe it +to her to do this for her. Besides, it will give you a good chance to +even things with the Seymour-Dean combination." + +"I don't like your tone, Rowena. It's hardly respectful. As a teacher I +have no desire to 'even things,' as you express it." Miss Davis's +censure did not ring true. She knew that this domineering girl had no +illusions concerning her dignity of position. + +Rowena merely smiled in the bold, cheerful fashion that she always +adopted and which passed for real good humor. She did not take Miss +Davis at her word. "Think it over," she advised. "You know you detest +favoritism." She was well aware that Miss Davis deplored it, only to +practise it as regarded herself and Mignon. Mignon in particular had +always ranked high in her favor. + +To have heard Rowena thus pleading her cause would have astonished +Mignon not a little. It was by this very means that Rowena proposed to +seek her and win back the French girl's allegiance. Without her +companionship, school had become very tame for lawless Rowena. + +"When is this meeting to take place?" asked Miss Davis with +well-simulated indifference. + +"At four o'clock." Rowena thrilled with triumph. She knew she had gained +her point. + +"I may attend it," was the teacher's vague promise. + +"Thank you. I hope for Mignon's sake you'll be there." With this sly +reminder Rowena set off, determining to waylay Mignon on her walk back +from luncheon. Not troubling to go home that noon, Rowena swallowed a +hasty luncheon at a nearby delicatessen shop and posted herself at a +corner, which Mignon was due to pass. + +"Wait a minute, Mignon," she hailed, as the latter was about to pass her +by with a haughty toss of her head. "You must listen to me. I've just +fixed it for you to play on the junior team Saturday." + +Astounded by this remarkable statement, Mignon halted. Rowena had +guessed that she would. "I don't understand you," she said haughtily. + +"Yes, you do," assured Rowena blithely. "Three of the juniors are sick. +I just asked Miss Davis to let you help out. She is going to see Miss +Seymour about it this afternoon. All you have to do is to keep still +until you're asked to play, then say 'yes.' Now do you believe I'm your +friend?" she concluded in triumph. + +Mignon's inimitable shrug went into play. "You are very kind," she +returned with a trace of sarcasm. "It's about time you did something to +make up for all the trouble you caused me." + +"That's just it." Rowena clutched at this providential straw, which +Mignon had unwittingly cast to her. "I _am_ trying to make it up to you. +I won't bother you any more now. But I hope----" she paused significantly. + +"You may walk to school with me," graciously permitted Mignon. The old +fascination of Rowena's lawlessness was beginning to steal over her. + +"Thank you." Rowena spoke humbly. Inwardly she was jubilant. She was +obliged to endure these stupid persons, but they were all her pawns, +willed to move about at her dictation. + +After she had left Rowena in the corridor, Mignon indulged in sober +speculation. There was more to the affair than appeared on the surface. +Formerly she would have entered into it with avidity. Now she was bound +to respect her father's mandate or be packed off to a convent school. +She alone knew positively that recent association with Marjorie and her +chums had not changed her. But she must make a pretense at keeping up an +appearance of amiable docility. Rowena's words still sounded in her ears +like a clarion call to battle. But she was resolved to do nothing rash. +She would wait and see before accepting the chance to play on the junior +team. It was lucky that she need not lend her presence to the meeting +that afternoon. + +When at four o'clock Ellen Seymour put the matter of postponement to +five impassive-faced girls, she was not greatly surprised to listen to +their unanimous refusal to consider the proposal. One and all they +stolidly set themselves against it. + +"You forget that the juniors treated you very nicely when your team met +with misfortune," reminded Ellen gravely. She had vowed within herself +that she would not lose her temper. + +This reminder brought stubborn replies of, "That was different," and +"They have plenty of equally good players to draw from." + +In the midst of the discussion, Miss Davis appeared on the scene. Ellen +understood only too well what that meant. "What seems to be the matter +here?" she asked. "Are you discussing the question of postponing the +game?" + +Rowena cast a sidelong glance of triumph toward Nellie Simmons, which +said: "What did I tell you?" + +"We are," was Ellen's crisp return. "The game must be postponed." + +It was an unlucky speech on Ellen's part. Miss Davis had entered the +gymnasium only half decided upon championing Rowena's cause. The cool +decision in the senior's tones angered her. "I hardly think that will be +necessary," she retorted. "Three of the juniors are ready to play. Miss +La Salle and Miss Lind can substitute for the others. The game will go +forward on Saturday." + +"That is absolutely unfair," cried Ellen. "The juniors were extremely +lenient with----" + +"That will do." Miss Davis held up an authoritative hand. "Another word +and I will report you to Miss Archer. Then there will be _no_ game on +Saturday." + +Ellen did not answer this threat. Her head erect, color high, she walked +from the gymnasium and straight to Miss Archer's office. _She_ had not +threatened. She intended to act and act quickly. + +"Miss Archer, I have something important to say to you," she burst forth +on entering the principal's office. + +"Sit down, Ellen. I am sure it must be. Don't tell me it is basket +ball!" Miss Archer's lips tightened. + +"But it is." Impetuously, Ellen poured forth her story. When she had +finished, Miss Archer's face was not good to see. + +"I'll attend to this, Ellen. You did right to come to me. There will be +no game on Saturday." + +The following morning five girls received a summons to the principal's +office that put fear into their hearts. When, one by one, they appeared, +she motioned them to be seated until the last one had completed the line +on the oak bench. Swinging in her chair, she faced them with: "There is +an old saying, girls, 'Turn about is fair play.' Since you seem to have +forgotten it, I am forced to remind you. I understand that you asked the +juniors to postpone the first basket ball game of the season, due to the +fact that your team was temporarily incapacitated. They did so. That in +itself points to an adherence to fair play. Very well. Now there comes a +time when the situation reverses itself. Having proved themselves +honorable, the juniors have called for a like demonstration of honor on +the part of the sophomores. You know best what has happened. You have +shown yourselves not only grossly ungrateful, but unfit to be trusted. +No one enjoys dealing with ingrates. One understands precisely what one +may expect from such persons. + +"During the year I have not been pleased with the various reports which +have been brought to me concerning sophomore and junior basket ball; +particularly sophomore basket ball. It is not long since I was obliged +to interfere with sophomore methods. At that time I stated that a +repetition of such unfair tactics would result in the stoppage of the +game for the rest of the year. I now declare the sophomore and junior +teams disbanded. There will be no more games between them this year. I +have just one thing further to say. It is unfortunate that the innocent +should be obliged to suffer with the guilty. You are dismissed." + +A wavering breath of dismay passed along the row of girls as Miss Archer +pronounced sentence upon them. Their own treachery had proved a +boomerang. Dejection laid heavy hand upon four of them, as with downcast +eyes they rose and quitted the place of judgment. But the fifth member +of the disbanded team was not thus so easily dismissed. Far from +disheartened, Rowena Farnham sprang forward, hands clenched at her +sides, her face an angry flame. + +"Who are you that you dare talk of unfairness?" In her devouring rage +she fairly screamed the question. "You have disbanded the team just to +please that smug-faced, priggish Marjorie Dean. You are not fit to have +charge over a school of girls. I am ashamed to be under the same roof +with you. I shall ask my father----" + +"It strikes me that it is I who should inform your father of your +outrageous behavior to me," interrupted Miss Archer in a stern voice. "I +hardly believe that he would countenance such impudence on your part to +one in authority over you. You may go home and remain away from school +until I send for you. I shall insist on an interview with your father at +the earliest possible moment in order to decide what is to be done with +you." + +"You won't have to insist on seeing him," sneered Rowena. "He will call +on you this afternoon. My father won't see me abused by you. He will use +his influence with the Board of Education. Then _you_ won't be principal +of Sanford High School." With this furious prediction of downfall Rowena +flung herself out of the office, confident that she had delivered a +telling thrust. Not daring to return to the study hall she sped to the +locker room, hastily seized her wraps and departed for her father's +office in high dudgeon. + +The brilliantly-colored account of Miss Archer's misdeeds which she +poured into the ears of her too-credulous father sent him on the trail +of the offending principal with fury in his eye. Less than an hour after +Rowena had made her sensational exit, a very tall, red-haired, red-faced +man stalked into Miss Archer's office with the air of a blood-thirsty +warrior. + +"Madam," he thundered, omitting polite preliminaries, "I am Mr. Farnham +and I wish you to understand most emphatically that you cannot criticize +my methods of bringing up my daughter. Though she may need occasional +mild discipline it is extreme bad taste in you to cast unjust +reflections upon her parents." + +"I was not aware that I had done so." Miss Archer had risen to confront +the slandered (?) parent. She met his angry gaze unflinchingly. "I had +intended to send for you, however. Now that you are here we may as well +settle matters at once. Your daughter----" + +"My daughter has been shamefully abused," cut in Mr. Farnham +majestically. "I regret that I ever allowed her to enter a public +school. I shall remove her at once from it. The contaminating +influence----" + +It was Miss Archer's turn to interrupt in clear, cutting speech. "Allow +me to amend your last statement to _her_ contaminating influence. Your +daughter is a trouble-maker. I have borne very patiently with her. I +cannot regret your decision to remove her from Sanford High School. It +simplifies matters immeasurably." + +Miss Archer's quiet, but intense utterance sent an unbidden thrill of +consternation over the irate man. His blustering manner had not +intimidated this regal, calm-featured woman. He experienced a sudden +sense of defeat. Fearful lest he might reveal it, he cut his call short +with, "My daughter will not return to school. Good morning." + +Miss Archer bowed him out, feeling sorry rather than displeased with the +big, blustering man whom fatherly love had blinded to his daughter's +faults. She wondered when, if ever, his eyes would be opened. Under what +circumstances would he awaken to full knowledge of the real Rowena? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII--THE FIRST DUTY OF A SOLDIER + + +"And we can have the party in her room? Oh, fine! You're awfully dear, +Mrs. Dean. We'll be there at two this afternoon. Good-bye." Jerry Macy +hung up the telephone receiver and did an energetic dance about the +hall. + +"Training for the Russian Ballet?" asked Hal, as, emerging from the +breakfast room, he beheld Jerry in the midst of her weird dance. + +"No, you goose. I'm doing a dance of rejoicing. Marjorie's well enough +to see us. We are going to have a party for her this afternoon." + +"You are a lovely girl, Jerry, and you dance beautifully." Hal became +suddenly ingratiating. "Am I invited to the party?" + +"Certainly not. It's an exclusive affair; no boys allowed. You may send +Marjorie some flowers, though. You've only sent them twice this week." + +"I'll do it. What time is the party?" + +"Two o'clock. Get them at Braley's. That's the nicest place." Jerry was +obliged to shout this last after Hal, as, seizing his cap and coat, he +raced out the front door. + +Over two weeks had elapsed since the Thursday morning which had marked +the downfall of basket ball. During that time, Marjorie had lain in her +dainty pink-and-white bed, impatiently wondering if she were ever going +to get well. But one thing had helped to make her trying illness +endurable. Never before had she realized that she had so many friends. +Her pretty "house" looked like a florist's shop and her willow table was +piled with offerings of fruit and confectionery sent her by her devoted +followers. Every day the mail brought her relays of cheery letters, the +burden of which was invariably, "You must hurry and get well." + +And now the day of convalescence had dawned. She was able not only to +sit up, but to take brief strolls about her room. Her faithful Captain +had just brought her word that Jerry and the girls would be with her +that afternoon. What a lot they would have to talk about! Marjorie lay +luxuriously back among her pillows and smilingly patted a fat letter +from Mary Raymond. "How I wish you could be here, too, Lieutenant," she +murmured. "We need you to help us with our good time. Connie's coming +over early to help Captain dress me in my wonderful new pink negligee. +It has ruffles and ruffles. I wish you could see it, Mary." + +"_You_ are only playing invalid," laughingly accused Constance Stevens. +It was a little after one o'clock. She and Mrs. Dean had just finished +arraying Marjorie in the half-fitted pink silk negligee that had been +one of Captain's cheer-up gifts to her. "I never before saw you look so +pretty, Marjorie," she declared, as she stepped back to view the effect. +"You ought always to wear your hair down your back in long curls." + +"Just imagine how I'd look. And I so nearly a senior, too. Connie, do +you suppose Mignon will come to my party?" Marjorie asked with sudden +irrelevance. + +"When I invited her to it she said she'd come," returned Constance. "You +can't tell much about her, though. The day before Miss Archer forbade +basket ball I saw Rowena stop her and walk into school with her. I +thought it rather queer. She had said so much against Rowena after that +night at Riverview." + +"She is a strange girl," mused Marjorie. "I am not very sorry that +Rowena Farnham has left high school. Judging from what you just said, it +wouldn't have been long until they grew chummy again. Rowena would have +found a way to win Mignon over to her." + +In making this prediction Marjorie had spoken more accurately than she +knew. Emboldened by her success in once more attracting Mignon's +attention to herself, Rowena had planned to follow that move with others +equally strategic. But before she had found opportunity for a second +interview, basket ball had been doomed and she had ceased to be a pupil +of Sanford High. + +Being among the first to get wind of Miss Archer's decree and Rowena's +exodus from school, Mignon secretly rejoiced in the thought that she had +not been implicated in the affair. She had fully made up her mind to +accept the invitation to play on the junior team, were it extended to +her. When she discovered the true state of matters, she made haste to +declare openly that had she been asked, nothing would have induced her +to accept the offer. As for Rowena, she should have known better. After +the shabby treatment she had received from Rowena, it was ridiculous in +her to dream that she, Mignon, would lend herself to anything so +contemptible. A few such guileful speeches to the more credulous girls +caused Mignon's stock to rise considerably higher. Others who knew her +too well looked wise and held their peace. Mignon alone knew just how +narrowly she had missed falling into a pit of Rowena's digging. + +Quiet Constance entertained her own view of the incident. It coincided +completely with Marjorie's thoughtful opinion. "It's hard to part a pair +of girls like those two," she said. "They have too much in common. +Between you and me, I don't imagine Mignon will stick to us very long. +She's not interested in us." + +"No, I suppose she thinks us rather too stiff-necked. Oh, well, we can +only do our best and let the future take care of itself. There's the +doorbell, Connie. That must be Jerry. She told Captain she'd come over +early. Will you go down and escort her in state to my house?" + +Constance vanished to return almost immediately, but without Jerry. She +had not come back empty-handed, however. A large, white pasteboard box +bearing the name "Braley's" revealed the fact that Hal had outstripped +his sister. + +"Oh, the gorgeous things!" gurgled Marjorie, as she lifted a great sheaf +of long-stemmed pink rosebuds from the box. Her pale cheeks took color +from the roses as she spied Hal's card with a cheering message written +underneath in his flowing, boyish hand. "He's been such a comfort! Just +as soon as I get well I'm going to have a little dance and invite all +the boys." Marjorie touched the fragrant token with a friendly hand. +"Laurie sent me some violets yesterday. Those on the chiffonier." + +"He sent me some, too," admitted Constance rather shyly. + +"How strange!" dimpled Marjorie. "Oh, there's the bell again! That +surely must be Jerry!" + +Before Constance was half way downstairs, Jerry was half way up, her +broad face beaming, her arms laden with a large, round object, strangely +resembling a cake. + +"Oh, take it!" she gasped. "My arms are breaking." + +Constance coming to her rescue, the two girls soon made haven with +Marjorie and a lively chattering began. Frequent alarms at the front +door denoted steadily arriving guests and a little past two found +Marjorie's strictly informal reception in full swing, with girls tucked +into every convenient corner of her room. Her own particular chums, +including Ellen Seymour and Esther Lind, were all there. Even Susan and +Muriel, who had been busy getting well while she lay ill, were able to +be present. Lucy Warner was also among the happy throng, a trifle shy, +but with a new look of gentleness in her green eyes and a glad little +smile on her somber face. + +Mignon appeared, but did not stay to the merry-making. She was full of +polite sympathy and apparently bent on doing the agreeable. But in her +black eyes lay a curious, furtive expression, which Marjorie mentally +decided made her look more than ever like the Evil Genius. After a +sojourn of perhaps twenty minutes, during which she walked about +restlessly from girl to girl, exchanging commonplaces, she pleaded an +engagement and took her leave. + +Her presence somewhat of a strain, her departure was not mourned. Now +wholly congenial, the party dropped all reserve and became exceedingly +hilarious. Despite Mrs. Dean's protests, they had insisted on bringing +their own refreshments, and later on Marjorie's pink-and-white house was +turned into a veritable picnic ground. Jerry's weighty contribution +turned out to be an immense many-layered cake, thickly iced and +decorated. "A regular whale of a cake," she styled it, and no one +contradicted her. After the luncheon had been eaten to the ceaseless +buzz of girlish voices, each trying to out-talk the other, the company +proceeded further to amuse the lovely convalescent with various funny +little stunts at their command. + +"Girls," at last reminded thoughtful Irma, "it is after four o'clock. We +mustn't tire Marjorie out. I move we go downstairs to the living room +and lift up our voices for her benefit in a good, old-fashioned song. +Then we'll come back, say good-bye and run home." + +The wisdom of Irma's proposal conceded, the singers trooped downstairs. +Presently, through the open door, the sound of their clear, young voices +came up to her as she lay back listening, a bright smile irradiating her +delicate features. It was so beautiful to know that others cared so much +about making her happy. She had so many things to be thankful for. + +Afterward when all except Jerry and Constance had kissed her good-bye +and departed with bubbling good wishes, she said soberly: "Girls, +doesn't it make you positively shiver when you think that next year will +be our last in Sanford High? After that we'll be scattered. Most of us +are going away to college. That means we'll only see each other during +vacations. I can't bear to think of it." + +"Some of us will still be together," declared Jerry stoutly. "Susan, +Muriel and I are going to Hamilton College if you do. You see, you can't +lose us." + +"I don't wish to lose you." Marjorie patted Jerry's hand. Her brown eyes +rested a trifle wistfully on Constance. Marjorie knew, as did Jerry, +that Connie intended to go to New York to study grand opera as soon as +her high school life was over. + +"You are thinking of Connie." Jerry's eyes had followed Marjorie's +glance. "She won't be lost to us. Hamilton isn't so very far from New +York. But what's the use in worrying when we've some of this year left +yet and another year before us? One thing at a time is my motto." + +"You are a philosopher, Jeremiah." Marjorie brightened. "'One thing at a +time,'" she repeated. "That's the right idea. When I go back to school +again, I'm going to try my hardest to make the rest of my junior year a +success. I can't say much about my senior year. It's still an +undiscovered territory. I'm just going to remember that it's a soldier's +first duty to go where he's ordered and ask no questions. When I'm +ordered to my senior year, all I can do is salute the colors and forward +march!" + +"Lead on and we'll follow," asserted Jerry Macy gallantly. "I guess we +can hike along and leave a few landmarks on that precious senior +territory. When I come into senior estate I shall use nothing but the +most elegant English. As I am still a junior I can still say, +'Geraldine, Jerry, Jeremiah, you've got to beat it. It's almost five +o'clock.'" + +Left together, after Jerry had made extravagantly ridiculous farewells, +Constance seated herself beside Marjorie's bed. "Are you tired, +Lieutenant?" was her solicitous question. + +"Not a bit. I'm going to make Captain let me go downstairs to-morrow. +It's time I was up and doing again. I am away behind in my lessons." + +"You'll catch up," comforted Constance. Inwardly she was reflecting that +she doubted whether there were any situation with which Marjorie Dean +could not catch up. Her feet were set in ways of light that wandered +upward to the stars. Though to those who courted darkness it might +appear that she sometimes faltered, Constance knew that those same +steady feet would carry her unfalteringly through her senior year to the +wider life to come. + +How Marjorie explored her new senior territory and what landmarks she +left behind in passing will be told in "Marjorie Dean, High School +Senior." + + THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Marjorie Dean, High School Junior, by +Pauline Lester + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR *** + +***** This file should be named 36823.txt or 36823.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/2/36823/ + +Produced by Roger Frank, Katherine Ward and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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