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diff --git a/old/50157-0.txt b/old/50157-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6f42f9e..0000000 --- a/old/50157-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6854 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Billie Bradley and the School Mystery, by -Janet D. Wheeler - -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/license - - -Title: Billie Bradley and the School Mystery - or, The Girl From Oklahoma - -Author: Janet D. Wheeler - -Release Date: October 8, 2015 [EBook #50157] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLIE BRADLEY AND THE *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration: BILLIE WAS HELPLESS. ALTHOUGH SHE FLUNG AN ARM ABOUT -EDINA. “Billie Bradley and the School Mystery.” (See page 168)] - - - - - BILLIE BRADLEY AND THE SCHOOL MYSTERY - OR - The Girl from Oklahoma - - BY - JANET D. WHEELER - - AUTHOR OF “BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE,” “BILLIE - BRADLEY AT SUN DIAL LODGE,” ETC. - - _ILLUSTRATED_ - - - NEW YORK - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY - PUBLISHERS - - - - -BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES - - _By_ JANET D. WHEELER - _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated._ - - BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE - OR THE QUEER HOMESTEAD AT CHERRY CORNERS - - BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL - OR LEADING A NEEDED REBELLION - - BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND - OR THE MYSTERY OF THE WRECK - - BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES - OR THE SECRET OF THE LOCKED TOWER - - BILLIE BRADLEY AT TWIN LAKES - OR JOLLY SCHOOLGIRLS AFLOAT AND ASHORE - - BILLIE BRADLEY AT TREASURE COVE - OR THE OLD SAILOR’S SECRET - - BILLIE BRADLEY AT SUN DIAL LODGE - OR SCHOOL CHUMS SOLVING A MYSTERY - - BILLIE BRADLEY AND THE SCHOOL MYSTERY - OR THE GIRL FROM OKLAHOMA - - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY - PUBLISHERS NEW YORK - - - COPYRIGHT, 1930, BY - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY - - BILLIE BRADLEY AND THE SCHOOL MYSTERY - Printed in the U. S. A. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. AT LAKE MOLATA 1 - - II. A DESPERATE FIX 10 - - III. EDINA TO THE RESCUE 17 - - IV. BATTLE 24 - - V. A PUBLIC REBUKE 31 - - VI. BILLIE IS LOYAL 39 - - VII. A TALE OF RICHES 49 - - VIII. BILLIE AGAINST HER WORLD 55 - - IX. THE EXPERIMENT 62 - - X. A TRIP TO TOWN 69 - - XI. EDINA GETS HER HAIR CUT 77 - - XII. A PERFECT DAY 88 - - XIII. EDINA SCORES 94 - - XIV. AN OLD ENEMY 101 - - XV. AN UNEXPECTED DUCKING 111 - - XVI. FIGHTING FOR LIFE 120 - - XVII. THE MYSTERIOUS LETTER 129 - - XVIII. THE GIFT CLUB 134 - - XIX. A DREADFUL DISCOVERY 141 - - XX. THE ACCUSATION 150 - - XXI. EVIDENCE PILES UP 158 - - XXII. A RIOT 164 - - XXIII. DAN LARKIN REMEMBERS 175 - - XXIV. A SMASHING SET 183 - - XXV. CAUGHT--CONCLUSION 192 - - - - -BILLIE BRADLEY AND THE SCHOOL MYSTERY - -CHAPTER I - -AT LAKE MOLATA - - -“My, but it’s good to get back!” - -The statement came from Billie Bradley. She gazed upon the ivy-covered -towers of the boarding school with genuine affection. - -Three Towers Hall was an impressive building, set amidst gracious, -well-tended lawns on the borders of one of the prettiest and most -picturesque lakes in that part of the country. From its gates students -flocked in gay anticipation of vacation and good times at the end of -the spring term, to return, more soberly, but with a refreshed and -brightened outlook, to take up their studies at the beginning of the -fall semester. - -Such a time had come again to Billie Bradley and her two close chums, -Violet Farrington and Laura Jordon. After a particularly interesting -and adventure-filled summer, they had returned to their beloved seat -of learning, eager for work and with renewed and heightened ideals. - -Now they stood on the borders of the lake, looking toward Three Towers -Hall through a lane of trees that made flickering shadows on the lawn. -Idly, they speculated on the future. - -“I’d feel better,” observed Vi, “if I hadn’t that condition in math to -make up. It worries me.” - -“It would,” agreed Laura. “I mean, it would have worried me so much -that if it had been my condition, I’d have made it up during the summer -instead of waiting until fall, when goodness knows the work is hard -enough, anyway.” - -“It’s easy enough for you to criticize,” said Vi, a shade resentfully. -“You take all your studies at a run, while all I can do is to hobble.” - -“Of course, not everyone can have a brain like mine,” murmured Laura, -with a mischievous grin. - -“Besides, what time have I had this summer for study?” Vi persisted. -“Between treasure hunts and mysteries and such things, I’ve had my -hands full.” - -“You should have found time,” returned Laura, pursing her mouth primly -in mischievous imitation of Miss Phelps, their new mathematics teacher. -“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” - -Vi shrugged her shoulders petulantly. - -“Well, if you are going to be so disagreeable--” She left the sentence -unfinished and turned toward the Hall. - -Billie awoke from the reverie that had been occupying her secret -thoughts; awoke in time to seize a fold of Vi’s abbreviated skirt and -hold it firmly between thumb and forefinger. - -“Laura’s insulting me,” said Vi, with a wavering smile. “I’ll not stay.” - -“Don’t be foolish,” laughed Billie. “Laura insults everybody. It’s just -her way. But she never means anything by it.” - -“I’m going up to the house to study math,” persisted Vi. - -“No you’re not,” said Billie. “You are going for a walk with Laura and -me back of the lake and pick goldenrod. Miss Walters likes it in her -office and it would be nice in the dorm. Come along.” - -“But I must study math!” wailed Vi, beginning to weaken. “Honestly, -Billie, you don’t know how it worries me. It has me scared stiff.” - -“Well, we’ll go and pick goldenrod first and then I’ll help you with -your math. How will that do?” - -“Excellently, thanks,” said Vi, with a sigh of relief. When Billie -helped with “math,” or anything else, she really helped, explaining -each step and making everything as clear as day. Vi had wished, many a -time, that she had Billie’s head for “math.” - -The three girls took the footpath to the right of the lake, the path -that climbed steadily until it came out on a high ridge of ground -overlooking both Three Towers Hall and Boxton Military Academy, the -boys’ school directly across the lake from the Hall. - -Billie Bradley and her chums knew that on this ridge grew goldenrod, -flaming, golden patches of it. The sight of it always fascinated them. -As Billie once had said, it seemed as though the sun had touched the -earth and become entangled in the weeds. - -“It was some time before it could untangle itself and get back in the -heavens where it belonged,” Billie had concluded her whimsical fancy. -“The result was--goldenrod!” - -Now, as they made their way toward this higher ground, the girls -continued to discuss the events of the past few days, the renewal of -acquaintanceship with old school friends, the excitement and interest -of meeting and “looking over” the newcomers to Three Towers Hall. - -“The new girls seem a rather commonplace lot,” observed Laura. She -paused by the wayside to pick a lace flower and stuck it jauntily over -one ear revealed by a very short bob. “Just the usual smattering; some -shy, some bold, all somewhat excited by finding themselves at boarding -school.” - -“Can you blame them? ’Member how we felt when we first came?” chuckled -Vi. - -“Sort of exalted and plumb scared to death,” interpreted Billie. “Those -were the days of big fun, though.” - -“And the big fights,” giggled Laura. “Remember how Amanda Peabody and -that shadow of hers, Eliza Dilks, used to ride us to death?” - -“Where do you get that stuff--used to?” demanded Vi slangily. “Why, -I’ll tell you something. Just this morning Amanda tried to pick a -quarrel with me.” - -“Over what?” Billie was interested. Amanda Peabody was one of the -most unpleasant girls at Three Towers Hall. She had money and had -developed a sort of dashing good looks. Because of this some of the -students--that smattering of toadies found among the girls of every -boarding school--had rallied round her, forming a small, exclusive -clique. Among the most conspicuous and faithful of Amanda’s following -was a girl named Eliza Dilks, otherwise known as “The Shadow.” - -“What did you and Amanda quarrel about?” Billie asked again. - -“I didn’t quarrel about anything,” returned Vi virtuously. “It was -Amanda who did the quarreling, and it was all about some silly little -thing like a pencil that she accused me of taking from her desk in the -study hall. Of course it was all nonsense. Why should I want her pencil -when I have that beautiful silver one Uncle Dan gave me for Christmas?” - -“What did you tell her?” Laura wanted to know. - -“What would I tell her? I merely went by with my nose in the air and -refused to answer her. She looked mad enough to bite nails,” with a -reminiscent giggle. - -Laura sighed. - -“I suppose that girl will be a thorn in our side----” - -“Flesh,” corrected Billie with a giggle. - -“I said ‘side’ and I meant it,” retorted Laura firmly. “Anyway, I -suppose neither you nor Vi will deny that Amanda Peabody and Eliza -Dilks are a thorny pair.” - -“Two thorns, without the roses,” remarked Billie. - -Vi began to chant in a soft, singsong: - - “Oh, Amanda and her Shadow, - Amanda and her crony, - Went out to take the air one day, - Aridin’ on a pony. - - They thought they were the bees’ headlight, - They thought they looked so tony. - But everyone they met called out, - ‘Go home! Your style is phony!’” - -Billie and Laura applauded dutifully and Billie demanded to know how -long Vi had been keeping this unsuspected talent a secret from her -chums. - -“You look romantic enough, Vi, goodness knows, but we never suspected -you of being a poetess.” - -“Then don’t now,” urged Vi. “I wouldn’t be guilty of such ‘poetry.’ -It’s Connie’s.” - -“She should be shot at daybreak,” remarked Laura. “I’ll see to it -myself.” - -“Oh, I don’t know. It’s a pretty good ‘pome,’” chuckled Billie. “I’ve a -notion to put it to music and adopt it as the new school song. Where is -Connie, anyway? I thought she was coming with us for a hike?” - -“She had to rewrite that composition on hitchhikers. Miss Johnson,”--a -teacher of English at Three Towers Hall--“said it was too flippant.” -Laura finished with a chuckle, for Connie had read that composition to -Billie and her chums the evening before, sitting cross-legged, like -a young Chinese idol, on Billie’s bed. It had been flippant--like -Connie--and full of fun. The girls had laughed uproariously. - -“Miss Johnson is dried up and old, a hopeless spinster,” was Vi’s -merciless indictment of the English teacher. “She can’t be expected to -recognize honest fun when she sees it.” - -“Shouldn’t be surprised but what Connie’s second theme would be more -flippant than her first,” giggled Laura. “Then what will poor Miss -Johnson do?” - -“In that case, I certainly feel sorry for Connie,” laughed Billie. - -“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe Miss Johnson would fall over in a fit and -never come fully out of it. Then we’d all be freed from her. Me, I -wish she would,” declared Vi a bit vindictively. - -The girls came out on the high promontory overlooking the lake, and -halted in mute appreciation of the lovely view spread out before them. -They had seen it many times before, but the fresh sight of it never -failed to thrill them. - -Boxton Military Academy stood high and proud on the crest of a hill, -its parades and drill grounds marked out in patches of green velvet. -From where they stood the girls could hear the beating of a drum and -the fanfare of spirited music. - -“No wonder the boys love it there,” murmured Laura. “We should have a -band at Three Towers. Might liven things up a bit.” - -“That would be lovely,” laughed Vi. “I speak to play the big drum -and you can take the bass horn, Laura. Billie, what’s your choice? I -suggest the trombone.” - -Billie chuckled. - -“I’ll speak to Miss Walters about it as soon as we get back,” she -promised. “Meanwhile, get busy, lazybones, and garner some of this -goldenrod.” - -The yellow flame of the gorgeous weed covered the top of the promontory -so that the girls were confronted by an embarrassment of riches. In a -few moments their arms were filled with the golden blossoms. - -“Aren’t they the loveliest things you ever saw, girls?” cried Billie. - -“Yes, they are. I adore this bright yellow, whether it’s in flowers or -dresses or hangings. It always makes me feel more cheerful.” - -“I wonder how anyone can have a favorite flower. It always seems -to me that the flower I’m looking at at the moment is my favorite. -Just now, of course, it’s goldenrod. To-morrow it may be roses, for -instance.” - -“Come on, let’s start back,” said Vi. - -Laura and Vi had turned to go back when a sharp cry from Billie -startled them. When they looked in the direction whence the cry had -come, Billie Bradley was nowhere to be seen! - - - - -CHAPTER II - -A DESPERATE FIX - - -Laura and Vi dashed through the field of goldenrod to the spot where -they had last seen Billie Bradley. They called to her and received a -faint answer from somewhere far below. - -“She’s gone over the cliff!” gasped Vi. - -“There are rocks down there, too,” muttered Laura. She parted the -bushes and peered below. “Billie, Billie! Where are you?” - -A voice responded gallantly, battling with fear: - -“I’m down here. My dress is caught on something. I daren’t move, -for fear it will tear. If you could reach me a stick or a rope, or -something----” - -“Sounds easy!” Laura sprang to her feet and looked wildly about her. -“But where are we going to find the stick or the rope long enough to -reach--Vi, what have you got?” - -Vi had dashed through the field of goldenrod to a wooded patch in the -background. Now she returned, bearing a long, forked stick. - -“Looks like an uprooted tree,” gasped Laura hysterically. - -“So it is, I guess. If it’s only long enough to reach Billie!” - -The two girls flung themselves face downward on the edge of the cliff. -They were almost afraid to part the bushes and look below for fear -Billie had already disappeared. - -She was still there, clinging desperately to the rocky, moss-covered -face of the cliff. One hand clutched a runner of tough vine, the other -clawed helplessly at loose dirt. Her feet could find no hold whatever, -but dangled, impotent and useless, over the glazed surface of a huge, -flat rock. - -The thing that had saved her from being dashed upon the pointed rocks -at the foot of the cliff was the clump of dwarfed bushes growing -between the rocks in which her stout linen dress had caught and held. -The dress still held. But if it gave way, or if the clump of bushes -should come loose from the rocks, what would happen to Billie Bradley? - -This agonized thought found an echo in the hearts of Laura Jordon and -Vi Farrington as they lay there on the edge of the cliff, staring -downward. - -Laura impatiently caught the long stick from Vi’s trembling hand. - -“I’m stronger than you are. Let me try!” - -At the spot where the two girls lay, Billie was almost directly beneath -them. If the stick proved long enough, it would be an easy matter for -her to grasp it with her one free hand. If it proved long enough---- - -Laura lowered the stick over the side of the cliff, hoping, praying, -that it would reach Billie’s groping hand. - -There! It was extended to the utmost and still came a good two feet -short of the imperiled girl. - -“Vi, hold my feet!” commanded Laura. “Hold me so I can’t go over -myself. I’m going to try once more.” - -With Vi clinging to her feet, Laura wriggled further over the edge of -the cliff. Having progressed as far as she could and being herself in -imminent danger of losing her balance and plunging head downward upon -those sharp-pointed rocks, Laura clung there, stretching her muscles -until they ached, striving to bring the stick within the grasp of -Billie’s groping fingers. - -The stick would not reach. Billie still hung there, at the mercy of the -stout material in her dress, which might give way at any moment. What -were they to do? - -While the girls are striving desperately to find an answer to this -question, a moment will be taken to introduce Billie Bradley and her -chums to those who have not already made their acquaintance. - -The three girls had been chums since those good old days when Billie -Bradley had inherited the queer old house at Cherry Corners, as related -in the first volume of this series, entitled, “Billie Bradley and Her -Inheritance.” In the attic of the queer old house Billie and her chums -had discovered a small fortune in rare old postage stamps and coins. - -This lucky discovery later proved the open sesame to Three Towers Hall, -the boarding school toward which Billie had long turned yearning, but -none-too-hopeful, eyes. - -Life at Three Towers had exceeded even Billie’s happy expectations. -To be sure, there had been a few heartaches, a few defeats, but these -were more than offset by the many victories, the many friends that -Billie won for herself in her new environment. Laura Jordon and Violet -Farrington, long friends and admirers of Billie Bradley, found their -friendship cemented into a firm bond by the mutually shared experiences -at Three Towers Hall. - -Later, Billie and her chums spent an exciting and decidedly worthwhile -summer at Lighthouse Island as the guests of Connie Danvers, whose -father owned a summer bungalow there. - -Back at Three Towers Hall again, the girls found themselves in the -midst of a mystery, the solution of which brought undreamed-of -happiness to a widow and her three children. - -There had been other vacations which the chums had shared, prominent -among them being that interesting and exciting summer spent at Twin -Lakes. Another, more recent adventure was that which befell them at -Treasure Cove where the three girls and their friends unearthed an old -sea chest filled with rare silks, carved ivory, coins, and precious -gems. - -In the volume directly preceding this, entitled, “Billie Bradley at -Sun Dial Lodge,” Billie and her chums met with a series of alarming -but fascinating adventures which finally led to the solution of an -astonishing mystery. - -Billie, who had been christened Beatrice but was seldom called by the -more formal name, was a dark-haired, dark-eyed, energetic young person, -whose overflowing vitality constantly demanded action. She was the -undoubted leader of her small group and it was a tribute to Billie’s -personality that her friends not only deferred to her, but liked doing -it. - -Billie’s family was small, but suited her exactly. Martin Bradley, -her father, was a real estate and insurance broker, at which he was -moderately successful. Mrs. Bradley was a charming woman, loved by her -friends and adored by her family. There was a son, Billie’s brother, -Chetwood, commonly known as Chet. Between this brother and sister was -a genuine regard and a similarity of tastes, a foundation for the best -kind of comradeship. - -Perhaps Billie’s very best chum was Laura Jordon. Laura was fair-haired -and blue-eyed and somewhat spoiled by being able to do as she liked -about almost everything. Teddy Jordon was fair-haired and blue-eyed -like his sister, a fine lad who was popular with boys and girls alike. -Raymond Jordon, the father of the likable pair, owned a controlling -interest in the big jewelry factory at North Bend, thus providing his -offspring with a bit more spending money than was strictly good for -them. - -Violet Farrington, another very good chum of Billie’s, was an only -child but a very happy one, blessed with a pair of doting parents who -made up to her whatever lack the girl might otherwise have felt in her -brotherless and sisterless state. - -Beside Chet Bradley and Teddy Jordon, there was a third lad often found -in the company of Billie and her chums. His name was Ferd Stowing. Ferd -was a likable, easy-going young fellow with a commendable knack for -making other people comfortable. - -These three boys attended Boxton Military Academy, the school for boys -on Lake Molata, directly across from Three Towers Hall. When at home -the sextette of young people lived at North Bend, a thriving town -of some twenty thousand inhabitants. Forty miles of railroad travel -transported one from the heart of North Bend to the heart of New York -City. It was a pleasant place to live, as the boys and girls agreed. - -During their activities in and about North Bend and at Three Towers -Hall, the girls had encountered many adventures, some thrilling, some -sad, but all more or less spiced with danger. None, however, had found -them in such desperate fix as the one in which they were now involved. - -Billie hung over that precipitous drop to the rocks at the base of the -cliff with only the stout cloth of her dress between her and almost -certain death. - -It was impossible to get her from above. The ground sloped abruptly and -it was covered by flat rocks and moss so that it would be impossible to -gain a foothold. - -Laura sprang to her feet and looked about her desperately. - -“If we could only reach her from below, Vi! There’s just a chance we -might be able to climb up to her----” - -“There is a path to the lake,” said Vi, her teeth chattering with -excitement. “But it’s all around Robin Hood’s barn. We haven’t time----” - -A faint cry reached them, tinged with desperation. - -“Girls, do hurry! I can’t cling here much longer! The cloth is -beginning to--tear!” - - - - -CHAPTER III - -EDINA TO THE RESCUE - - -At Billie Bradley’s desperate cry, Laura flung herself at the edge of -the cliff. - -“I’m coming, Billie!” she shouted. “I’ll get to you some way, if I -break my own neck.” - -Vi caught her and dragged her back. - -“Wait!” she cried. “Someone is down there near the lake!” - -Laura looked where Vi pointed and saw a small figure at the foot of -the cliff. It looked terribly far off, standing there on the massed -rocks bordering the lake. Moreover, judging from the clothes she -wore, the stranger was only a girl like themselves. Laura and Vi felt -that it would take a man’s strength to rescue Billie from her fearful -predicament. - -The girl made a megaphone of her hands and shouted up to Billie. - -“Hold fast a minute! I’ll get up to you!” - -Laura and Vi watched, fascinated, as the girl began to ascend the steep -face of the cliff hand over hand like a monkey. She made amazingly -swift progress; but each moment the onlooking girls expected, feared, -that she would lose her grip, go hurtling over backward to a horrible -fate on the sharp-pointed, massed rocks at the foot of the cliff. - -Meanwhile, Billie Bradley was striving to keep up heart and courage as -she pressed her body close against the rock of the cliff face, clinging -to the stout vine with nerveless fingers, striving to find a foothold -for her dangling feet. - -Each time she moved, a wave of fear swept over her as the stout linen -cloth of her frock threatened to give way. She dared not even try to -help herself, for fear that one support would fail her! - -Then the dress began to give beneath her weight, as she hung there, -dangling over eternity. She heard the sibilant hiss of splitting cloth -and braced herself for whatever fate might be in store for her. - -It was then that she became aware that someone was approaching from -below. At first she thought that it was either Laura or Vi and wondered -how it was possible for them to have made their way around to the foot -of the cliff in such a short time. - -However, in another moment or two, the girl came within her range of -vision and she saw that the newcomer was neither Laura nor Vi, but a -person who was a stranger to her. - -Another rip of tearing cloth sent a shudder through Billie. The -stranger made amazingly swift progress up that dangerous ascent, but -Billie knew she must come very quickly if she was going to be in time. -Another few moments, and the rescuer would have arrived--too late! - -Another ripping and tearing sound, and Billie’s weight sagged. She -clung desperately, with numbing fingers, to that clump of stout vine. -She knew by the feel of it in her hand that it was breaking loose. In -another minute or two the roots would be dislodged. - -“Oh, hurry!” she called to the strange, gallant girl, who continued her -steady upward progress. “I’ve only a few moments left----” - -“Hold fast! Never give up the ship! I’ll git up to that there shelf if -it takes a leg!” - -The stranger was gasping from her exertions but her voice was round and -hearty, full of a vitality that Billie found tremendously reassuring. - -The strange girl rapidly closed the distance between herself and -Billie. She climbed to a narrow ledge of rock that had been invisible -to Billie from where she hung and, across the space of three or four -feet, the eyes of the two girls met and clung. - -Then Billie turned her eyes away. What could the strange girl do, now -that she was so near? She was in almost as precarious a position as -Billie herself, and certainly she had nothing at hand with which to -help except her own unaided hands and strength. - -Suddenly Billie gasped and groped frantically at the cliff face. The -clump of vine had come loose in her hands, the sound of rending cloth -told her that the stout threads of her dress had parted at last! With -wild panic at her heart, she felt herself falling! - -Something slapped the cliff face close to her clawing hand. A voice -said sharply: - -“Grab that! Quick!” - -Instinctively, Billie grabbed, clung. - -The authoritative voice cried again: - -“Now then! Help yourself if you can. This ledge makes purty good -footin’, though slippery. Hang on now. I’ll pull you up!” - -Billie clung to the leather belt flung her by the strange girl. In -the interstices of the rock she managed to gain a toehold, and by a -prodigious effort and with the help of the strange girl she managed to -draw herself up to the ledge. There she clung, while an overpowering -dizziness assailed her. She swayed weakly, feeling faint and dizzy, -half expecting to plunge over the narrow ledge, but past caring very -much whether she did or not. - -A sharp, angry voice broke through her failing consciousness. - -“Not going to faint on me, are you? After me taking all the trouble to -save your life? Say! You make me good and tired!” - -No shock of icy water could have reacted upon Billie Bradley with -better effect. She made a desperate effort to collect her failing -senses. She opened her eyes and stared vaguely at the hard young face -thrust so close to her own. She was dimly aware that an equally hard, -strong young arm had been thrust behind her shoulders, pressing her -close to the face of the cliff. - -“Well, are you a quitter or ain’t you?” the rude voice demanded. “I -can’t get you down there all by myself. Chances are, if you faint, -we’ll both go crashing down onto them pointed rocks. And they won’t -make a soft bed, I promise you! Well, how about it? Are you going to -faint--or ain’t you?” - -By a supreme effort Billie regained control of her slipping senses. She -stared coldly at the round, hard face of the young stranger. - -“I’m not a quitter,” she said. “And I assure you, I have no intention -of fainting.” After a moment she added, as though as an afterthought: -“Thank you for saving my life!” - -The strange girl grinned. - -“Don’t mention it! Only I ain’t saved it yet. Reckon both of us have -got to look sharp if we want to get out of this jam alive. It ain’t no -easy going down this hill, let me tell you! Now then! Ready?” - -Bitterly ashamed of her recent weakness, Billie assented. She would -have died rather than admit, even to herself, that her head was still -whirling and that she was forced to clench her teeth to keep them from -chattering. - -That descent to the jagged rocks at the base of the cliff was one long -nightmare. If it had not been for the help and encouragement of the -strange girl, interspersed with occasional merciless taunts from the -same source, Billie knew she could never have made it. - -As it was, she slipped and half fell, half slid the last fifteen or -twenty feet, finally landing amid a shower of pebbles and dirt in a -crevasse between two jagged rocks. - -“Mercy!” she gasped. - -“It is a mercy that you landed betwixt instead of on ’em.” - -Billie looked up from her undignified position to find the strange girl -grinning down at her. She frowned and tried to rise, but found herself -wedged in so tightly that she could scarcely move. - -“Like a sardine in a packed can,” remarked the strange girl unkindly. - -Billie wanted to feel offended, but she could not. The comparison was -too apt. She met the quizzical, smiling glance of the strange girl and -suddenly laughed. - -“You are a very frank person. But I do feel rather like a sardine. If -you will give me a hand, I think I can manage, if I try hard enough, to -get out of this ridiculous place.” - -The pulling and tugging that ensued was a painful process for Billie. -She discovered that there was scarcely a portion of her body that -failed to boast either bruise or scratch. - -“I’m pretty well disabled,” she admitted. “No tennis and no rowing for -me for a few days to come at least.” - -“’Twouldn’t be best to try, I guess,” remarked the girl. - -Ruefully, Billie bent to examine her torn skirt. As she straightened -up, a sharp exclamation escaped her. - -“Hold on there! Where are you going?” - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -BATTLE - - -Even as Billie Bradley spoke, the strange girl disappeared into the -woods. - -“Please don’t go! Please! You mustn’t until I’ve had a chance to thank -you!” - -At the urgent request, or command, the girl reappeared, but with -obvious reluctance. She stood awkwardly, rubbing one foot over the -other. - -“Don’t want any thanks,” she muttered. “Didn’t do nothing, nohow. I -guess--I guess--I’d better go now.” - -Billie was nonplused by the strange behavior of this young person who -had just saved her life. The manner of the girl had altered completely. -From being dictatorial, “bossy,” and almost offensively sure of -herself, she had become a shy and awkward country girl. Her eyes -avoided Billie’s direct look, whether from shyness or sullenness, it -was impossible to tell. - -Billie, painfully conscious of all her cuts and bruises, went up to the -girl and held out her hand. - -“Whether you like it or not, I’m going to thank you. My life doesn’t -mean a lot to you probably,” with a whimsical smile, “but it does to me -and I am very properly grateful for it. How you can climb!” she added -with genuine admiration. “If I could scale the side of a cliff like -that, I wouldn’t care whether I could solve a problem in algebra or -not.” - -The girl flashed Billie a glance. There was both sullenness and shyness -in it; which was odd, considering the dictatorial tone she had used to -Billie a few moments earlier. - -“Don’t be so nice to me,” she said, in a hard voice, “until you know -who I am!” - -Billie was given no opportunity to comment on this peculiar observation -for at the moment Vi and Laura dashed in from the woods, rushed to -Billie and flung their arms about her. They had come by the woods path -“around Robin Hood’s barn” and had reached her as soon as possible. - -“Oh-h, look out! Don’t hug so tightly, darlings. I’m--to put it -mildly--sensitive. Yes, I’m alive--as you see. No there are no -bones broken--I think. But I’ll have to soak in arnica to-night. -Bruises--hundreds of ’em. But I’m not complaining. I know how lucky I -am just to be alive!” - -Animated by the same thought, Laura and Vi left off hugging Billie and -turned to the strange girl. - -“We don’t know how to thank you,” Vi began. - -“If you knew how much I hate thanks you wouldn’t go to the bother,” -responded the stranger ungraciously. “I don’t do such things for -thanks. Well--good-by!” She turned abruptly and would have plunged into -the woods had not Billie called her. - -“I don’t know why you have taken such a sudden dislike to me--to us,” -she said. “I am sorry if I have done or said anything to offend you. -After saving my life, I don’t like you to go away angry.” - -“I’m not mad,” muttered the girl. “And I don’t dislike you. I think -you’re grand!” - -Was ever such a contradictory, amazing creature? Billie stared at her -in helpless bewilderment. - -“Well, then!” - -The girl suddenly flung up her head. Her round face was stern and her -mouth was combative, but there were tears in her eyes! - -“You won’t be so nice to me when you know who I am, I tell you,” she -blurted. “You’ll be like all the rest of the sneerin’, titterin’ lot of -’em. I hate them, I hate every last one of them!” - -This outburst amazed the three girls and roused their curiosity. What -did the strange creature mean? - -“It’s true I don’t know your name or where you come from,” said Billie. -“But I am sure I shall like you just as much and be just as grateful to -you for having saved my life, whoever you are.” - -“Well, then, my name is Edina Tooker,” the girl threw out the -information like a challenge. “And I’m livin’, just at present, at -Three Towers Hall!” - -The girls merely stared at her, doubting if they had heard aright. The -self-styled Edina Tooker laughed harshly. - -“You see! A crazy lookin’ jay like me couldn’t be goin’ to your select -boarding school, could she? That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it? Oh, -you don’t need to answer me! I can see it in your faces!” - -There was a world of bitterness behind the girl’s harsh tone. - -“She has been hurt,” thought Billie. “Pretty badly hurt and her pride -is up in arms.” - -Before she could speak Laura said impulsively: - -“Why, you can’t be a student at Three Towers Hall. I’ve never even seen -you there!” - -“I only come a few days ago,” the girl explained. “And after the first -day I--I kep’ close to my own room.” - -That explained it, thought Billie. She had heard of the new girl -from the wild open spaces who dressed like a freak, talked worse, -and kept to her dormitory as though it were a burrow from which she -seldom emerged except to attend classes. Characteristically, these -uncomplimentary rumors had come to her through Amanda Peabody. Billie -had intended vaguely to look up the new girl to see if she could be -of any help. Instead, the new girl had looked her up--and in a most -dramatic fashion! - -“I know who you are,” Billie said, friendly eyes on the sullen face of -Edina Tooker. “I’m glad you introduced yourself. I was going to look -you up, anyway.” - -The sullen expression on Edina Tooker’s face did not lift. She regarded -Billie suspiciously. - -“What for?” she demanded. “So you could see what a freak I am and laugh -at me behind my back?” - -This accusation was almost too much for even Billie’s good nature. A -sharp retort rose to her lips--but got no further. She realized in time -how much this strange girl must have suffered to make her so bitter and -resentful. She was showing tooth and claw because that was her only -method of defense. Like some wild creature of the woods, she was backed -up against a wall, unable to distinguish friend from foe, fighting -valiantly and indiscriminately, fearing nothing but surrender. - -Billie, holding a firm check upon her temper, replied gently: - -“My main--in fact, my only idea in deciding to look you up was to see -if I could help you.” - -“Why should you think I needed help?” retorted Edina Tooker harshly. “I -suppose you’d been hearin’ things about me--what a freak I am and all.” - -“No one ever said you were a freak,” Billie pursued patiently. “But you -were a new girl from a distant city and I thought you might be glad to -have someone sort of--well, show you the ropes.” - -The corners of Edina’s straight young mouth turned downward in a sneer. - -“Sounds good, the way you tell it. But you can’t fool me. You’re all -alike up to that school, with your highfallutin’ manners and uppity -ways. You’d come to see me, yes, so that you could laugh at me and talk -about me afterward. ‘Native,’ ‘barbarian,’ that’s a couple o’ the names -I’ve heard your swell friends call me. Mebbe you could add some to the -string.” - -“If Billie can’t, I will!” cried Laura, with sudden fury. “You’re -nothing but a heathen and an ungrateful wretch! You don’t know who -Billie Bradley is, maybe, but I’ll teach you!” - -“Hush, Laura, please! Come away!” - -Laura would not be silenced. She brushed the interruption aside -impatiently and rushed on, her words pouring forth in a torrent: - -“Billie Bradley is the most popular girl at Three Towers Hall. She does -almost everything better than anybody else and yet the girls love her -just the same. Maybe you’ve got sense enough to know what that means. -She’s a perfect peach and any girl she takes up may count herself in -luck. You just think of that when you are all alone and try to realize -what you’ve lost. Come on Billie, let’s get away from here!” - -Laura turned away with one last, inimical look at Edina Tooker. Vi -joined her, but Billie still lingered behind. - -“I’m sorry you feel this way,” she said to the girl who had saved her -life. “I owe you a debt and I’d like to be friends.” Billie paused but -as Edina remained silent with sullenly averted face, Billie went on to -join Laura and Vi. - -She did not know that the strange girl looked after her with eyes -suddenly blurred by tears. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -A PUBLIC REBUKE - - -Laura Jordon’s resentment against Edina Tooker and her attitude toward -Billie did not abate at once. For the greater part of the return walk -to Three Towers Hall she sputtered and fumed, mentioning dire forms of -punishment that should be meted out to the girl from the West if she, -Laura, could have her way. - -“Never saw such an ungrateful wretch in my life. Talk about throwing -pearls before swine! She never even knew what it meant to be taken up -by Billie Bradley.” - -“I doubt if she knows now.” Billie paused and said “ouch” as a -stretched ligament protested sharply. - -“Well, she will before she has been at Three Towers much longer,” -prophesied Vi. “Personally, I can’t bear the girl and I hope she gets -everything that’s coming to her.” - -Billie frowned, partly with pain at her cuts and bruises, partly in -disapproval of Vi’s uncompromising attitude. - -“I’m sure I can’t feel that way about her. The girl saved my life and -I owe her something for that.” - -“So do we,” said Laura promptly. “But did you notice how she flung my -thanks back in my face?” - -“Appears to be a habit with her,” remarked Vi flippantly. - -“It looks to me as though the girl had been hurt past bearing by the -persecution and ridicule of some of the girls at the Hall. She has -pride and spirit and is ready to strike out at everybody.” - -“It seems to me I detect Amanda Peabody’s fine hand in this,” observed -Laura. “Amanda would enjoy nothing better than a cat-and-mouse game -with a girl like Edina Tooker.” - -“She seems to be poor----” - -“I’ve heard differently,” said Billie. “One of the girls told me her -father was getting rich fast--struck oil on an Oklahoma ranch, or -something of the sort.” - -“Well, she may be rich; but, if she looks it, I’m an Indian,” returned -Laura skeptically. “Never saw a girl dressed like that who was anything -but poverty-stricken.” - -“She probably hasn’t the slightest idea how to dress,” observed Billie. -“I can imagine Edina Tooker in riding breeches or middy and skirt doing -a movie on some rocky mountain trail. In that sort of setting she would -be very much a part of the picture. But transplant her to a fashionable -girls’ school and she--well, she just doesn’t fit.” - -“A round peg in a very square hole,” observed Vi. - -“Exactly. I feel sorry for the poor girl. She’s in for a hard time.” - -Toward the end of the tramp back to Three Towers, Billie found herself -becoming very weary. She paused often to rest and was finally forced to -accept the help of her chums. An arm about the shoulders of each of the -girls, she hobbled on, acutely conscious of all her cuts and bruises -and the strained and aching ligaments in her arms and legs. - -They were on the last steep slope that ended at the boathouse in front -of the Hall when they heard the deep-toned gong that announced supper -in the dining hall. - -Billie cried out in alarm and tried to hobble on more swiftly. - -“I’ll make you girls late and Debsy has charge of the dining hall this -week.” “Debsy” was the nickname for Miss Debbs, teacher of elocution. -“You know what that means!” - -“One whole afternoon of imprisonment in the dorm and a discredit mark -besides,” Vi interpreted. “Debsy sure is death on tardiness.” - -“You girls go ahead and leave me,” Billie begged. “You can make it even -now if you run. I’ll get along all right.” - -“Never!” said Laura dramatically. “I am with you to the death!” - -“Don’t be silly!” cried Billie. “Please go on, girls. It won’t do me a -bit of good for you all to get into trouble.” - -“We will never leave you until death--or Debsy--do us part,” chuckled -Vi. “You’d better save your breath, Billie. You will need it for this -last wild dash up the hill.” - -By the time they reached the Hall Billie was painfully out of breath -and aching in every muscle. - -“You go on--in,” she gasped. “I’ve got to--wash up a little--and change -my dress. I’m a sight.” - -“We’ll help you,” decided Laura. - -Despite Billie’s protests, her two chums rushed her up the stairs to -the dormitory. There Vi ran water into a bowl while Laura invaded the -closet to get down a fresh frock. - -“There! Stick your head in that, Billie. You do have a look of battle -and sudden death about you. And your hair could stand a comb. So! Much, -much better. Now you bear a slight resemblance to the Billie Bradley I -have known and loved so faithfully.” - -Over Billie’s freshened head Laura slipped a cool, peach-colored frock; -then ran to the lavatory to wash her own hands. This service Vi also -performed for herself. In less time than they had thought possible, the -chums were ready to face the eagle eye of the dreaded Miss Debbs. - -They made their way decorously to the dining hall, entered as -unobtrusively as possible, and slipped quietly to their seats. - -In spite of all their precautions, their entrance was observed by -practically everybody in the room. Friends of the chums, who were in -the majority, pretended not to see them. Their few enemies, led by -Amanda Peabody and her shadow, Eliza Dilks, stared openly and tittered. - -Billie did not raise her eyes from her plate as Connie Danvers, seated -beside her, passed the cold meat and salad. - -“Fill up your plate, quick,” whispered Connie. “Maybe Debsy didn’t -notice you.” - -“Such a chance!” returned Billie, scarcely moving her lips. “I can feel -her eagle eye on me now!” - -Through the steady murmur of voices and the clatter of plates and -cutlery broke the deep, husky voice of the redoubtable Miss Debbs. - -“Beatrice Bradley! Stand, if you please!” - -Billie shot a sidelong glance at Connie Danvers. - -“I’m in for it now!” she whispered, and got to her feet. - -“Yes, Miss Debbs,” she said politely. - -“You are aware that there is a strict rule against -tardiness--especially at meals--are you not?” Miss Debbs could ask the -simplest question in an highly histrionic manner, as though the weight -of worlds depended on the answer. - -Now Billie answered meekly: - -“Yes, Miss Debbs.” - -“Yet you deliberately enter this hall at five minutes past the hour?” - -Billie raised her eyes to meet the boring glance of the elocution -teacher. - -“Not deliberately, Miss Debbs. We--I had an accident.” - -Miss Debbs brushed the excuse aside with a dramatic sweep of the hand. - -“Nevertheless, you admit that you were late?” - -Billie could scarcely hope to deny it in the face of all the evidence -against her. Nevertheless, she repeated, meekly: - -“Yes, Miss Debbs.” - -“You will report to me promptly at ten o’clock to-morrow morning.” - -With another queenly gesture Miss Debbs pantomimed permission for -Billie to be seated, of which tacit permission Billie immediately -availed herself. - -Connie Danvers whispered viciously: - -“It isn’t fair! Laura and Vi were just as late as you.” - -“Debsy doesn’t like me,” whispered Billie, and her eyes twinkled. -“She never has since the day I refused to use my hands when I recited -‘Lochinvar.’ I never could fling my hands about as she does. I’d feel a -perfect fool.” - -“She’ll give you a discredit, sure,” worried Connie. “And you can’t -afford too many, Billie, or you’ll be barred from tennis and rowing.” - -The words merely echoed the worry in Billie’s heart. To be barred from -her beloved athletics was tragedy too dire to be considered. She knew, -too, that a discredit beside her name so early in the term was enough -to start her off “on the wrong foot.” - -While she was considering the advisability of taking the matter to Miss -Walters, the wise and well-loved head of Three Towers Hall, she glanced -up and met the gloating eyes of Amanda Peabody. - -“You think you’re smart,” the look seemed to say. “Yet here you are in -bad at the very beginning of the term.” - -Amanda bent over and whispered something to Eliza Dilks. The two girls -tittered and glanced sneeringly at Billie. Their enjoyment of her -predicament was obvious, yet Billie continued to eat roast beef and the -very excellent salad without appearing disconcerted in the least. It -was this ability of hers to disguise her feelings that often infuriated -Amanda and her toadying shadow to the point of open and indiscreet -betrayal of their enmity toward Billie and her chums. - -One such occasion was this one. Amanda bent across the table toward -Billie and said in a voice that was audible to every one: - -“Dare you to tell where you went this afternoon!” - -The gabble of voices settled into a momentary hush as the other girls -regarded these ancient antagonists. - -Billie looked up and met the sneering gaze of Amanda Peabody with a -smile. - -“I’ve not the slightest objection,” she answered calmly. “We went to -gather goldenrod.” - -“Goldenrod!” ejaculated Amanda, with a titter. “That’s a good one!” - -“You might ask her where it is,” and Eliza Dilks nudged her crony with -an oversharp elbow. - -“Where what is?” asked Billie. - -“The goldenrod. How much did you bring back with you?” - -Before Billie could reply there came a disturbance at the door. -Innumerable pairs of bright, curious eyes were turned upon the -fantastic figure in the doorway. - -Billie recognized the newcomer. It was Edina Tooker. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -BILLIE IS LOYAL - - -Edina Tooker faced the battery of curious, amused glances like a -thoroughbred. Even when a ripple of laughter ruffled the serene -atmosphere of the room, she did not flinch nor cower. If anything, -her back was held more stiffly erect, her head was flung back with a -defiant gesture. Billie was reminded of an unbroken colt who feels the -flick of the whip for the first time and is hurt and enraged by the -pain even while he fails to understand the reason for his punishment. - -Billie was seized by an almost irresistible desire to go and range -herself at this girl’s side, to beat down the ridicule that surged -toward the defenseless stranger in a merciless tide. - -Edina Tooker wore a heavily pleated serge skirt, far too wide and -too long to meet the demands of the prevailing fashion. Over this, -accentuating her naturally bulky proportions, was a stiffly starched -white shirtwaist, adorned by a flowing red tie. - -Her hair was naturally very thick and of that peculiar black which -seems to hide a bluish tinge in its depths; but it was drawn back -ruthlessly from her broad brow and round red face, drawn back so -harshly that it pulled her heavy straight brows upward, giving an odd, -almost diabolical, expression to her face. - -She wore “sensible” stockings that were very thick and durable and that -served admirably to disguise the natural shapeliness of her limbs. On -her feet were not shoes, but heavy boots that laced half-way up to her -knees! - -Even Billie, sensible as she was to this strange girl’s suffering, -resentful as she was of her friends’ amusement, knew Edina Tooker to -be a figure of fun as she stood there in that assemblage of carefully -cared for, tastefully yet simply dressed young people. - -“Why doesn’t she sit down?” thought Billie, in exasperation. “Why does -she stand there and take the limelight? It’s idiotic!” - -The ripple of amusement continuing, Miss Debbs looked up from -absorption in her meal and met the defiant gaze of Edina Tooker. Miss -Debbs’ face grew red. - -“Another tardy one!” she exclaimed. “What do you mean, Edina Tooker, by -reporting here at this late hour?” - -The girl’s face grew sullen. She scraped one clumsy boot over the other. - -“I couldn’t help it, Miss Debbs,” she said, in a voice scarcely -audible. “I just come back.” - -“Came,” corrected Miss Debbs in her deep, husky voice. “Try to speak -grammatical English, at least! May I ask,” she added sarcastically, -“where you have been and why you have just come back?” - -The ripple of amusement rose again, surging toward the girl in the -outlandish garb. Edina’s face was scarlet, her lip trembled in spite of -a gallant effort at self-control. - -“I--I went for a walk,” she said. - -“Ah!” declaimed Miss Debbs in her best elocutionary style. “You went -for a walk! May I ask where you went for a walk at this time of the -evening, neglecting to return to Three Towers Hall until ten minutes -past the supper hour?” - -Edina shifted from one foot to the other. Her scarlet face was pitiful -to see. She tried to speak, but was apparently unable to bring forth a -sound. - -Billie Bradley could bear it no longer. She got to her feet and faced -the teacher. - -“If you please, Miss Debbs, I can tell you where Edina Tooker has been -and why she was late for the supper hour!” - -Here was drama! There was the sound of a concerted gasp as all eyes -swerved to Billie. Edina Tooker put up a trembling hand to her shining -black hair and also gazed at Billie. - -Miss Debbs looked outraged, but interested. - -“What do you mean, Beatrice Bradley? Explain!” she commanded. - -Without hesitation, Billie told in a low, clear voice of the trip up -to Goldenrod Point, as it was called by the students of Three Towers, -of her fall over the cliff, a fall which had almost had disastrous -consequences, of Edina Tooker’s brave and efficient help in a moment of -extreme peril, and of her own eventual return to safety. - -She ended boldly, carried away by her own eloquence: - -“I think, instead of a discredit mark, Edina Tooker deserves a medal -for heroism. I know if I had _my_ way she should have it!” - -Billie made a gesture toward the door and paused, feeling rather -foolish. Edina Tooker had disappeared! - -Many pairs of eyes followed Billie’s glance toward the door and a -babble of excited voices arose. - -“Where has she gone?” - -“What did she have to do that for?” - -“Just when we were all getting ready to give her three cheers----” - -“_And_ a tiger!” - -Through the commotion broke the voice of Miss Debbs. - -“Silence, please! You will resume your seats and your supper. You will -act, if you please, as though nothing had happened. While I am in -charge this confusion must cease. Silence!” - -When order had been partially restored, Miss Debbs turned her attention -to Billie. - -“I am obliged to you for your defense of this extraordinary girl. One -wonders whether, if you had not spoken up for her, she would have said -a word in her own behalf.” - -“I doubt it, Miss Debbs,” said Billie earnestly. “She’s the sort who -hates thanks and I think I embarrassed her by speaking out.” - -“Unfortunately,” resumed Miss Debbs, proceeding with her discourse -as though Billie, by answering her query, had been guilty of an -impertinence, “this girl has committed another indiscretion by leaving -this room before she was given permission to do so. She appears -lamentably ignorant of the rules by which Three Towers Hall is -governed.” - -“I’ll go and call her back, Miss Debbs.” Billie rose eagerly in her -place. “I don’t think she can have got very far.” - -“Beatrice Bradley, you will stay where you are!” returned Miss Debbs -severely. “You will not leave this room until I give you permission to -do so.” - -Billie sank back in her seat with a sigh of resignation. Miss Debbs was -being dramatic, and when she was in that mood there was no arguing with -her. Billie did not try, but finished her meal with what appetite she -could. - -There was floating island for dessert and home-made chocolate cake, -an ideal combination and a prime favorite with Billie. But she could -not enjoy it for thinking of Edina wandering off somewhere by herself, -Edina, heartsore and lonely and desperately rebellious. - -The meal at an end, there was a general exodus of girls into the halls -and spacious grounds of Three Towers Hall. There they were permitted to -wander until nine o’clock when the melodious gong called them indoors -to the dormitories and “lights out.” - -As usual, Billie Bradley found herself the center of a little court. -About her gathered most of the worth-while girls of Three Towers Hall, -students who had accomplished something in scholarship, in athletics, -or both. - -To-night she found herself more than ordinarily popular, because -of the interest attached to her adventure of the afternoon and her -contact with the girl who was already becoming a source of mystery and -interested speculation to the students of Three Towers. - -“You sure did champion that queer Edina Tooker, Billie,” drawled Rose -Belser. Rose was tall and dark and unusually good-looking. Once an -enemy of Billie, Rose was now one of her warmest, most loyal friends. -“I’ve never known you to be so eloquent.” - -“Even Debsy was impressed,” giggled Connie Danvers. “I think it was -rather a shock to her, Billie, to discover that you had so much -dramatic talent.” - -“I was in earnest, and, you know, sincerity works wonders,” laughed -Billie. “Besides,” more soberly, “I feel sorry for the girl. She -doesn’t fit here and she knows it.” - -“One wonders why she came,” murmured Rachael Carew. Rachael, more -commonly known as “Ray” Carew, was the only daughter of the wealthy -Carews of Boston. While a thorough “good fellow” with those she -considered her equals, Ray could be a bit of a snob with those whose -social position was not secure. “One wonders still more,” added -Rachael, “how Miss Walters happened to admit a girl of that type to -Three Towers Hall.” - -For some reason which she could not quite fathom herself, indignation -blazed up in Billie at Rachael’s patronizing tone. - -“I don’t know what you mean by ‘that type of girl’, Ray. She seems to -me a thoroughly good sort----” - -“A diamond in the rough?” drawled Ray. - -“Perhaps,” flashed Billie. “But I like her and she saved my life. I’d -be worse than ungrateful if I consented to listen to unkind remarks -about her.” - -Before the girls realized her intention or could make a move to stop -her, Billie had pushed through the little group and started toward the -broad, lighted portal of the Hall. - -“The little spitfire!” murmured Rachael Carew. “Who would expect her to -fly out at me like that? Anyone would think that queer jay of a girl -was her twin sister, to hear her talk.” - -“You should know Billie well enough not to run down anyone who has done -her a favor,” Laura remarked. “Loyalty is Billie’s dominating trait, -you know.” - -“Of course it is,” said Rose Belser. “That’s why we all love her----” - -“All except Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks,” remarked Connie Danvers -and began to sing softly under her breath: - - “Oh, Amanda and her Shadow, - Amanda and her crony, - Went out to take the air one day, - Aridin’ on a pony.” - -A chorus of voices joined Connie in the second stanza of the verse: - - “They thought they were the bees’ headlight, - They thought they looked so tony, - But every one they met called out, - ‘Go home, your style is phony!’” - -At the moment Amanda and Eliza and several of the younger girls passed -close to the group and shot them a suspicious glance, which provoked a -gale of mirth from the author of the “poem” and her friends. - -“Let’s sing it again, louder this time,” proposed the irrepressible -Connie, but Vi put a check on the hilarity. - -“We have had plenty of trouble with those two girls and will probably -have more in the future,” she said. “There’s no use going out of our -way to look for it.” - -Meanwhile Billie had gone in search of Edina Tooker. - -She was not in the first year dormitory. There were several girls -gathered there, reading or studying, but they unanimously denied any -knowledge as to Edina’s whereabouts. - -“She is probably mooning down by the lake somewhere,” said one of them. -“She likes to get away by herself.” - -Before continuing her search, Billie went down the back stairs to the -roomy kitchen where the gastronomic needs of several scores of healthy -girls were catered to each day. - -There was a new cook, a huge black woman with skin like polished ebony -and an expansive smile that showed two rows of glistening white teeth. -The negress rejoiced in the name of Clarice and she was already one of -Billie’s devoted slaves. - -“I need some sandwiches, Clarice, and a big piece of that delicious -cake. I don’t know,” with calculated flattery, “when I have ever -tasted such scrumptious cake. I ate so much at supper, it’s only a -wonder I’m not sick.” - -“Well, then, Miss Billie, Ah sho hopes as you don’t git no tummyache -to-night. An’ Ah’m telling you they ain’t much o’ that cake left, but -you’s welcome to what I got, yes’m.” - -“You certainly are good to us, Clarice, as well as being a scrumptious -cook,” said the girl gratefully. - -Five minutes later Billie crept out of a side door and made her way by -a circuitous route down toward the lake. She carried a basket over her -arm. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -A TALE OF RICHES - - -It was some time later that Billie Bradley was directed to the person -she sought by the sound of heart-broken sobbing. - -Silently, she made her way through the underbrush until she descried a -figure in rumpled shirtwaist and pleated skirt, lying face downward on -the thick grass. - -“Please don’t cry,” said Billie. “And don’t run away. I’ve brought you -some supper.” - -At the sound of Billie Bradley’s voice, Edina Tooker jumped to her feet -and looked wildly about her. She dashed a hand across her eyes and then -turned, as though about to dart off into the woods. - -“Wait a minute!” cried Billie. “I’ve brought you some sandwiches and -two luscious pieces of cake. If pressed,” she added lightly, “I might -consent to eat some with you.” - -As the girl paused and looked toward her, trying to pierce the -darkness, Billie knew she had struck the right note. A friendly, -offhand manner would win Edina Tooker more quickly than sympathy. - -“Clarice has packed the basket to the top, bless her old black heart. -We’ll find a nice flat rock and regale ourselves to our hearts’ -content.” - -Billie found the rock without more delay and seated herself upon it, -the basket between her knees. - -After a moment of indecision Edina followed and flung herself full -length on the ground beside Billie. - -“Why did you come after me?” she queried listlessly. “You might better -have left me alone.” - -The statement was not made ungraciously nor sullenly; it was merely as -though the girl were unutterably weary and could not imagine anyone -taking a legitimate interest in her or her affairs. - -Billie said nothing, but handed out sandwiches and cake, which the girl -accepted ravenously. - -“I’m hungry,” she said simply. “I haven’t had a bite to eat since noon.” - -“You should have come in to supper,” said Billie, nibbling at a piece -of the matchless cake. “Debsy might have given you a bad mark for being -late, but she couldn’t have kept you from eating your supper.” - -“I didn’t want any then. I couldn’t go in and face those jeering, -snickering girls.” Edina Tooker clenched her hands and spoke with a -sudden, desperate vehemence. “They think I’m a big joke and I--I hate -them. I could kill them all!” - -Billie waited patiently for the storm to pass. Then she said gently: - -“Have a piece of cake, Edina. You’ve no idea how good it is.” - -“I don’t want any cake,” said Edina sullenly. She sat up, very stiff -and straight, her hands locked about her humped knees. “I don’t want -anything. To-morrow I’m going back home.” - -Billie was startled. - -“You are leaving Three Towers?” - -Edina nodded unhappily. - -“Three Towers has no use for me. I ain’t ever been so unhappy in my -life as I’ve been since I come--came--here. I never dreamed it would be -like this.” - -“What did you think it would be like?” asked Billie gently. - -“I don’t know--exactly. But I thought people would be kind and I’d have -a chance to git some book learnin’ like I never had in my life. And I -always wanted it, ever since I was old enough to ride my own cow pony. -And now I--I gotta go home.” - -There was a choke in the quiet, sullen voice. Billie guessed what it -would mean for Edina to return to the “cow country,” carrying wounds -that would never heal. - -She said quietly: - -“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you, Edina. I wouldn’t run away.” - -It was dark down there by the lake, but Billie could sense the quick -motion of the girl’s head as it turned toward her. - -“You oughtn’t to say that to me.” After a while she added in a hopeless -tone: - -“Mebbe it would be runnin’ away like you say, mebbe it would be -quittin’. Jest the same,” her voice rose passionately, “I’d ruther -be horsewhipped than stand another week like the one I’ve just gone -through!” - -Billie waited a moment, then reached out and touched Edina’s clenched -fist where it rested on her voluminous skirt. - -“Suppose you tell me something about yourself,” she suggested. “I think -I can help you. I want to. I owe you something, you know, for saving my -life.” - -Edina hesitated for a moment; then began in a low, monotonous voice to -tell the drab story of her life. - -“Seems like we’ve always been poor, Paw and Maw and me,” began Edina. -“Ever since I was a little shaver, I can’t remember anything but -poverty. Paw was what you’d call a prospector.” - -“Gold?” asked Billie. - -“No, oil. He had some property and he was always sure there was oil on -it. Seems to me I can never remember the time he wasn’t drillin’ holes -somewheres tryin’ to strike a gusher. - -“Maw and me we got fed up with it, what with bein’ holed up in the -same little neck of the woods all the time and never goin’ nowheres nor -havin’ nothing. There were days we went hungry----” - -The droning voice broke off suddenly and Billie had a startlingly clear -vision of that tragic little family, dying of monotony, starving a good -deal of the time, with nothing but a vision to sustain them. - -“The worst of it was,” the quiet voice continued, “that I never got -much schoolin’ and I always wanted it. I thought it would be heaven if -the time ever come--came--when I could go to a real school like other -girls and learn the sort of things that were put in books---- - -“It just goes to show,” said Edina, after another pause, “that things -ain’t never the way you’d expect they’d be. When Paw struck oil----” - -“He did?” ejaculated Billie. - -“I thought me and Maw must be the happiest pair on earth. When Paw said -I could come East and go to school here, I thought I’d die, I was that -crazy with joy. And now here I am--and--and you see how it is. I can’t -hardly go back and face Maw, seems like.” - -Billie was thinking swiftly. - -“If your father has struck oil on his property, he must be making a -good deal of money, Edina.” - -“Guess so.” The girl shrugged indifferently. “Paw said if the gusher -kept on gushin’ we’d probably be millionaires before we got through. -But what good’s it goin’ to do me,” hopelessly, “if I ain’t even goin’ -to git an education out of it? I’m--goin’ back home--to-morrow.” - -Billie came to a swift decision. - -“You are going to do no such thing, Edina Tooker! You are going to stay -right here at Three Towers Hall, and before long the girls will be -begging your pardon for ever having dared to laugh at you!” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -BILLIE AGAINST HER WORLD - - -There was a moment of silence broken only by the night sounds of the -woods and the gentle lapping of the lake against the shore. - -Then Edina Tooker drew a long, tremulous breath. - -“It--sounds like--a fairy tale,” she said huskily. “Seems like I’d have -to change a lot to have that happen.” - -“So you will,” said Billie Bradley eagerly. She was beginning to -warm to her plan as it took form in her mind. “Not in yourself, you -understand, but in, well, in externals--like clothes, for instance.” - -There! It was out! Even in the darkness Billie could guess at the hot -flush that mantled the face of the girl from the West. As the silence -continued and Edina sat with clenched hands, staring out toward the -lake, Billie began to fear she had gone too far--that Edina’s fierce -pride would resent the insinuation in her friendly suggestion. - -In a moment, however, Edina’s quiet voice put her fears to rest. - -“Everything about me’s wrong. Don’t you think I know that? All I need -is eyes in my head to tell me I don’t stack up against these girls here -with their purty clothes and their airs and graces. We’re a hundred--a -thousand miles apart.” - -“Would you like to be like them, Edina--look like them, I mean?” - -For the first time the girl showed animation. - -“Oh, would I just!” she breathed. “Would I _just_! But I don’t know -how. I wouldn’t know where to start.” - -“Well, _I_ would,” said Billie. “I’ll guarantee to make you over into -a perfect picture of the modern schoolgirl, Edina Tooker, as soon -as--well, as soon as we can get a day off to do some shopping.” - -“Would you help me?” asked Edina, in a stifled tone. “_Would_ you?” - -“You’d be surprised,” Billie retorted gaily. “I hope you have some sort -of indelible identification mark on you, Edina Tooker. Otherwise, when -I get through with you, you won’t know yourself!” - -There was no doubt but that the girl from Oklahoma, Billie’s “rough -diamond,” was dazzled by the prospect. - -“It don’t seem hardly possible, but if you could fix me up like you -say, I’d be grateful to you all the rest of my life.” - -“There’s only one condition,” said Billie severely; “and that is that -you will agree to do exactly as I tell you, that you will let me have -my own way about everything. It’s the only way I can get results.” - -“Done!” cried Edina, and reached out a big rough hand that almost -crushed Billie’s little one in its grip. “You’re sure a good sport and -I’m sorry for the way I--I talked to you before.” - -“That’s all right.” Billie began to gather up the remnants of the -basket lunch. “We’d best be getting back to the Hall or they will be -sending out a posse in search of us. Besides, I promised Vi I’d help -her with her math.” - -As the two girls approached the Hall, Edina walking close to Billie, -her eyes downcast and sullen, they found that the school grounds were -almost deserted. - -The groups of girls had broken up and scattered indoors, most of them -for study, some few of them for reading or other diversions, some -merely to enjoy that half hour or so of school gossip they all found so -enjoyable. - -Billie found that a few of her friends still lingered in the grounds. -Laura and Vi with Connie Danvers and Ray Carew were discussing the -tennis tournament which was to be an exciting feature of the fall term. - -These girls turned interested and speculative eyes toward Billie and -her companion. - -Edina would have avoided Billie’s friends. She murmured something under -her breath about having to get back to her dormitory; but Billie seized -her hand and drew her on toward the group of amused and interested -girls. - -“You promised you’d do as I say,” she reminded her companion. “And -the first thing you’ve got to learn is never to run away from any -situation. You’ve got to square your chin and look it straight in the -eye.” - -Billie marched straight up to her friends, Edina’s big, rough hand -clenched tightly in her own. - -“Girls,” she said, in her forthright fashion, “Edina Tooker and I have -decided to be friends. We are going to be the best of pals from now on. -And I am depending upon all my friends to be nice to her.” - -There was a brief, uncomfortable silence. The girls did not like Edina -Tooker. Nevertheless, they knew that if Billie took her up, sooner or -later they would all be forced to accept her. Not too graciously, they -bowed to the inevitable. - -“Anything you say goes with me, Billie,” Laura observed. - -“Me, too,” said Vi. - -“Welcome to the fold, Edina,” drawled Ray Carew. - -“We welcome you as one of ourselves,” added Connie, the sarcasm behind -her words not too well disguised. - -“I knew you would,” said Billie sweetly, wanting, privately, to slap -them all. To her new protégé she said: “It’s only Tuesday, Edina. We -will have to wait until Saturday, I guess, to get a day off and carry -out our plans. Remember, we are going to make them all sit up and take -notice. Until then, don’t forget our bargain.” - -“I won’t,” returned Edina. She released her hand from Billie’s and -without so much as a good-by to the other girls made her way through -the beautiful grounds toward the first-year dormitories. In that -beautiful setting, she looked grotesque enough, as much out of place as -the proverbial bull in the china shop. - -“Well, I see you’ve gone and done it, Billie,” sighed Vi. “I was afraid -you would. But it’s no use. You can’t tame that girl.” - -“Like making friends with a lion cub,” observed Laura. “You never can -tell when it will turn and rend you with its fangs. That sounds a bit -far-fetched, but I guess you catch my meaning.” - -Billie shook her head. - -“You’re dead wrong, all of you. Edina isn’t a bit like that. She is -headstrong and untamed, I’ll admit; but at heart she’s very much like -the rest of us, wanting what we want and desperately anxious for an -education.” - -Ray Carew’s mocking laugh floated on the darkness. - -“I hadn’t an idea you were so credulous, Billie. The girl is nothing -but a savage. If you try to help that sort of person you will only get -your trouble for your pains. I’m warning you.” - -It was being slowly borne in upon Billie Bradley that she was alone -in her championship of the strange, lonely girl from Oklahoma. Her -friends, the girls upon whom she depended for understanding and -support in what she had come to regard as an interesting and even -exciting experiment, were subtly, but none the less decidedly, ranging -themselves against her. - -She turned to Connie Danvers. - -“Do you feel that way about it, too, Connie?” she asked. - -“I’m willing to be nice to anybody, if you say so, Billie. But I can’t -help thinking you are making a mistake, taking up this freak girl from -Oklahoma. It seems to me you are letting yourself in for a heap of -trouble.” - -“You feel that way about it, too, Vi?” - -“’Fraid I do, Billie. Though I’ll try to be nice to her, if you say so.” - -“And you, Laura?” - -“You will never be able to make anything of that sort of girl, Billie. -She has nothing in common with the rest of us. If you try to take her -up, you will be only wasting your time. I feel sure of it.” - -Billie was silent for a moment. She was troubled and hurt, but the -defection of her friends in no wise altered her determination to help -the strange, wild, half-tamed girl from Oklahoma. - -“Very well,” she said quietly. “I am glad to know how you all stand, -anyway. From now on, it will be my business to prove you wrong!” - -As Billie limped up the gravel path alone, there was a curious weight -upon her spirit. The disapproval of her friends was a new experience to -her. Even Vi and Laura had deserted. - -“I’ll show them I can make something of Edina Tooker!” she told -herself. “I’ll make them admit it! I’ve got to now, to justify myself.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE EXPERIMENT - - -Billie Bradley awoke next morning with the same curious weight upon her -spirit. Her mental depression was augmented by bodily discomfort that -had grown no less overnight. - -Every muscle in her body was strained and there were big, black bruises -on her arms and legs, some of them as big as the palm of her hand. - -“You _will_ go picking goldenrod!” gibed Laura with sympathetic -interest, watching Billie’s painful effort to dress herself. “Next time -you feel in the humor to visit Goldenrod Point----” - -“I’ll run the other way,” said Billie, with a grimace. “Bother! I -wanted to get out on the courts for practice to-day.” - -“From the look of those arms and legs, it will be many a day before you -can swing a wicked racket, Billie,” observed Vi. “Here, I’ll help you -with that stocking. Give me a chance to show what an excellent lady’s -maid I’d make.” - -Between them, they managed to get Billie dressed in time for breakfast. -It was not until the bell rang and there was a general exodus into the -corridors from the dormitory that Laura broached the subject that was -uppermost in the minds of them all. - -“How about this lion cub from Arizona----” - -“Oklahoma,” Billie corrected, a trifle frigidly. - -“Well, Oklahoma, then. You aren’t really going to wish her on the -crowd, are you, Billie? If you insist, the girls will take her up for -your sake, but there will be trouble. I feel it in my bones.” - -“I have no intention of wishing her on anyone,” retorted Billie coldly. -“The girl saved my life and I am going to help her to be happy here at -Three Towers Hall, if such a thing is possible. You girls may do as you -like.” - -Vi put an arm about Billie’s shoulders. - -“Don’t be sore, Billie. If I can’t share your enthusiasm for this wild -girl from the West, I am quite willing to admit that you are probably -right and I’m wrong. Anyway, perhaps it’s worth giving it a whirl.” - -With such tepid support, Billie was forced to be content. - -On the way to the breakfast hall they passed Amanda Peabody and Eliza -Dilks. The latter called to Billie and reminded her jeeringly not to -forget that she had a date with Debsy at ten o’clock that morning. - -Billie flushed and pressed her lips tight together to prevent a sharp -retort. - -“Some people never get enough,” she said in a low voice to Laura and Vi -as they entered the dining hall. “So far we have beaten Amanda and her -Shadow at every game they have ever tried to play with us, and still -they come around looking for more trouble.” - -Across the length of the hall, Billie’s eyes sought and found Edina -Tooker. A look flashed between the two girls that was observed by more -than one curious pair of eyes in that room. - -Billie’s look seemed to say: - -“Hold on! Have courage. I am going to fulfill my promise.” - -While Edina, still a figure of fun in her outrageous clothes, seemed to -respond: - -“I’m depending on you. Don’t fail me. You’re my only hope.” - -That was the beginning of a period of acute discomfort for Billie -Bradley. - -It began with Miss Debbs’ decision to give Billie two demerits, instead -of one. Billie could never quite understand the reason, except that -Miss Debbs was thorough in everything she undertook, including her -methods of discipline. - -Billie knew that the punishment was too severe, totally out of -proportion to her fault. For a time she even considered taking her -grievance to Miss Walters, the white-haired, gracious head of Three -Towers Hall, adored by the girls and universally respected for her fine -sense of justice. - -Billie finally decided against this, however, accepting the unjust -punishment with mental reservations and the determination to earn no -more demerits during the remainder of the fall term. - -To add to Billie’s discomfort, Edina took to following her about like -a humble and adoring shadow. Unpleasant Edina could be, and often -was--snappish and curt, even downright rude--but never so to Billie. -Her outspoken devotion was embarrassing; yet, in her secret heart, -Billie could not but be gratified by it. - -Edina was known among the girls as “Billie’s little lamb,” or “Billie’s -lion cub.” - -If Billie was sensitive to the only partially disguised amusement that -followed them wherever they went, Edina was even more so. - -She noticed, even before Billie did, that subtle drawing off of the -other girls, even from their adored Billie. Edina spoke of this one -day, in her clumsy, blundering way. - -“You’re gettin’ yourself in a heap of trouble, tryin’ to be nice to -me. I seem to make trouble for every one I--like. I’d best go back to -Oklahoma to Paw and Maw and leave you in peace.” - -“Nonsense!” said Billie, eying her protégé sharply. “You aren’t getting -cold feet at this late date, are you?” - -Edina shook her head. - -“No, I’m willin’ to stick. The girls ain’t been so mean since you’ve -been nice to me. I’m gettin’ some book learnin’, too,” the round face -shone suddenly with eagerness. “I don’t do so bad in my classes.” - -“You are doing splendidly,” Billie encouraged her. “I was speaking -to Miss Arbuckle about you yesterday, and she said that if all her -students were as eager to learn as you, her task would be much easier. -She was as pleased as punch with you, Edina.” - -The girl’s face beamed with a sudden radiant happiness. - -“That sort of makes up for all the rest,” she said eagerly. - -Edina in this mood was very attractive to Billie. She eyed her with -sympathetic interest for a moment, then said curiously: - -“You’ve something on your mind, Edina. Out with it!” - -“I was thinkin’ about you,” returned the girl hesitantly, stammering -and flushing as she spoke. “The girls you go around with don’t like me. -Oh, it don’t take a microscope to see that,” with sudden bitterness, -as Billie made a negative gesture. “And because you’re nice to me -they--they are sort of drawing off from you, too.” - -Billie was startled. In a vague way she had noticed some such thing -herself. Was her friendship for Edina Tooker imperiling her popularity? - -When she did not speak, Edina continued: - -“You’ve been the most popular girl up here. It didn’t take a -microscope for me to see that neither--either. There’s no use your -sp’ilin’--spoilin’--all that for me. I’d best go back to Oklahoma, like -I said.” - -Billie roused herself. She laughed and her mouth compressed itself into -a rather fierce straight line. This was Billie Bradley’s “fighting -face.” - -“I think you are wrong, Edina. I’m pretty sure you’re wrong. But if -there’s a chance in the world that you’re right--then I want to know -it. Don’t you see? I’d simply have to be sure!” - -Edina was watching her with a half-fearful eagerness. - -“Then you mean----” - -“I mean we will go ahead with our plans just as we planned them!” said -Billie. She jumped to her feet with swift decision. “I have already -spoken to Miss Walters about a shopping tour to Fleetsburg.” Fleetsburg -was the next town to Molata, a fairly cosmopolitan place with several -large stores and a theater. “Some of the girls want to go to a matinée -and Miss Arbuckle is to chaperone them. We are to go in the school bus -and may have the whole day to spend as we like. We will buy clothes -and other pretties till we’re weary. You and I, Edina Tooker, are going -to have a very large time!” - -Edina caught her breath. The wistful longing in her round, red face was -pitiful to Billie. She caught Billie’s hand and squeezed it hard. - -“You’re awful good to me. Seems like I never thought anybody could be -so good.” - -“No thanks, please!” cried Billie gaily. “Anyway, my work will bring -its own reward. When we return to Three Towers Hall to-morrow you are -going to be everybody’s ideal of what a perfect, modern schoolgirl -should be!” - -Edina’s gratitude, her eager anticipation, warmed Billie’s heart. She -carried her mood of elation to bed with her and woke with it in the -morning. - -“To-day is going to be one of the most interesting I have ever lived -through,” she thought. “The look on the girls’ faces when they see my -new edition of Edina will be worth all the trouble. Only,” her face -clouded, “I wish Laura and Vi could share the fun with me.” - - - - -CHAPTER X - -A TRIP TO TOWN - - -For the first time during all the years of their mutual association -and friendship, there was a rift between Billie Bradley and her chums. -Edina Tooker was the cause of it, as Edina herself very well knew. - -Laura and Vi did not like Edina. They saw her as raw, uncouth, -ill-tempered. Edina, who was always one to return either friendship or -enmity with interest, did not go out of her way to alter their opinion -of her. She disliked Laura and Vi openly, and this they took as a -personal affront. - -The fact that their adored Billie, despite all that had been said and -done to discourage her, still clung to her original intention in regard -to this girl, they also took as a personal affront. - -“It seems that she might consider our feelings in the matter!” Laura -had exclaimed on one occasion when she felt that her patience had been -taxed to the limit. “Can’t she see that our fun is being spoiled by -having that Edina Tooker dragged into everything we do? Why, Billie -had her out on the tennis courts yesterday, coaching her, actually -coaching her!” - -Vi nodded and giggled reminiscently. - -“I was watching,” she confessed. “Edina has a service that would smash -everything in sight if she ever should get it going properly.” - -“Yes, and she’s death on tennis balls. She wrecked two yesterday and -lost a third. It was a scream. Connie and Rose Belser and Nellie Bane -were on the sidelines, laughing themselves sick. And all this time,” -she added resentfully, “I was dying to have a set with Billie myself.” - -“Not much fun for us,” agreed Vi, with a thoughtful shake of the head. -“You know Billie promised to help me with my math--I _am_ worried about -that, Laura, and with good reason--but these days she has no time for -anything but Edina. Old friends don’t count.” - -“I heard her offer to help you yesterday afternoon,” Laura remarked. - -“Yes, while that horror was with her,” flared Vi. “Do you think I could -concentrate on three unknown quantities with Edina Tooker looking over -my shoulder?” - -It was Laura’s turn to chuckle. - -“I could imagine easier things,” she admitted. - -There was a moment of silence, while Billie’s two closest chums -reviewed their grievances. Laura asked suddenly: - -“What about this mysterious trip to Fleetsburg to-morrow? Billie’s -taking Edina, isn’t she?” - -“So I understand.” - -“Do you know what’s on the carpet?” - -“Haven’t the slightest idea. Two or three times I’ve hinted to Billie, -hoping she might have a change of heart and confide in me, but she’s -been as mum as a clam.” - -“There you are! Having secrets with this western coyote that she can’t -or won’t confide to her dearest friends. If that’s loyalty, then I -don’t know it!” - -Laura took an excited turn or two about the room, then came to stand -before Vi, her hands in the pockets of her sport coat, her chin thrust -forward aggressively. - -“I tell you, Vi, if it was anybody but Billie I wouldn’t stand for it -for a minute! I’m just about fed up with this lion cub! I wish she’d go -back to her mountain cave where she belongs!” - -This was Laura’s angle of it, and Vi’s. Billie’s was quite different. - -Angered by the open hostility of her friends toward Edina, hurt by what -she considered a misunderstanding of her own motives in regard to the -girl, Billie had repressed a natural desire to confide in Laura and Vi -concerning her plans for Edina. While they felt that Billie had failed -them, Billie was equally sure that they had failed her. So began the -gradual rift in their long and loyal friendship. - -Several times during the process of dressing on the morning of the -shopping expedition in Fleetsburg, it was on the tip of Billie’s -tongue to confide, belatedly, in Laura and Vi. But the two girls, -nursing their resentment, were cool and distant, assuming an attitude -discouraging to confidences. - -“Very well!” thought Billie. “If that’s the way you feel about it, I’ll -tell you nothing!” - -She went down to breakfast with her nose in the air and a hurt in her -heart. She had counted upon Laura and Vi, and they were failing her. - -At nine o’clock the school bus drew up to the door, and those of the -girls who were lucky enough to have secured permission for a day’s -holiday in Fleetsburg came thronging out, all clad in their prettiest, -faces turned with bright eagerness toward this break in the school -routine. - -The girls were like a flock of butterflies in their gay clothes and -smart trappings; all save Edina Tooker who, in her mannish tweed coat, -heavy boots, and queer hat looked like something out of a curiosity -shop. - -The worst of it was that Edina realized to the full the gulf that -separated her from these smart, happy, “just-right” girls. Every amused -glance in her direction was a keen shaft of pain in her heart. She -clung to Billie as though the girl were her one protection against -intolerable suffering. - -Billie, herself a little dream of “just-rightness” in a coat of some -soft, greenish-gray material, gray slippers, sheer stockings, a small -gray cloche with a green buckle snuggled over one ear, felt her heart -burn with indignation at what she considered the callous cruelty of her -fellow students. - -“Never you mind,” she whispered to Edina, whose face was grim and more -than ordinarily plain. “We’ll show them! Coming back will be different. -Oh, very, very different!” - -Under her breath, Edina said fiercely: - -“They’re horrid! I hate them! I’ll always hate them!” - -Billie sighed. At that moment she realized, more clearly than ever -before, how difficult a problem she had undertaken. The self-appointed -guardian of an Edina Tooker could expect no easy time of it! - -As the bus started off, Billie looked among the crowd that had gathered -on the school steps to see them off. Laura and Vi were not there. They -had not even come out to see her off! - -However, she caught sight of Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks, standing -close together, giggling, and pointing toward Edina Tooker. - -Billie turned away. Her color was heightened, her lips set. - -“I won’t let anyone spoil this day’s fun for me! I won’t!” she cried, -and was angry past all bearing because there were tears of exasperation -in her eyes. - -However, the morning was fine; Billie was young and about to perform a -fascinating experiment. The school bus had barely lumbered through the -gates of Three Towers and started out along the lake road before Billie -had forgotten her vexation in eager anticipation of what the next few -hours might bring forth. - -The girls were all in high spirits, bandying jokes back and forth and -laughing at their own witticisms until it seemed a wonder the bus did -not rock with their mirth. - -Billie took her fair share of the merrymaking, answering quips in her -inimitable way until Miss Arbuckle herself began to smile and the -driver of the bus looked back over his shoulder from time to time with -a wide-mouthed grin. - -During all the fun, Edina sat grim and unsmiling. The merry sallies -were never addressed to her. Had they been she would not have been able -to retort in kind. She was as aloof as a snow-capped mountain. Perhaps -only Billie Bradley guessed that under her aloof exterior Edina was as -much a girl as any of them and that she suffered intensely because of -her inability to join in their fun. - -The bus passed through Molata at a merry pace and rattled on toward -Fleetsburg. - -Billie turned to Edina, her face radiant. - -“We’ll be there soon. And then such an orgy of shopping as we’ll have! -I hope,” she hesitated and regarded the other girl laughingly, “I do -hope you have brought plenty of money with you!” - -Edina looked anxious. - -“I’ve brought five hundred dollars. Will that be enough?” - -Billie was staggered. - -“Five hundred! Why, Edina, what did you think we were going to do--buy -the town?” - -“Well--how was I to know? Everything these girls wear looks as if it -would run into a heap o’ money.” - -“So it does. Nevertheless, five hundred dollars should give us a pretty -good running start! Here we are, Edina! Come along!” - -There was a riotous exodus from the bus, and in the general confusion -Billie nearly lost sight of Edina. She found her finally on the edge of -the crowd, clinging to her pocketbook and looking scared. - -“Come along,” said Billie. “I’ve already fixed things with Miss -Arbuckle. We’re to meet the girls at the Busy Bee at twelve o’clock -sharp. Until then, our time’s our own.” - -When they reached the center of town, Billie paused and looked -about her thoughtfully. Then her eyes came back from their tour of -investigation and rested musingly on her protégé. - -“It must have been fate that made us stop before this barber shop,” -she dimpled. “Come inside, Edina. You are going to have your hair cut!” - -Edina protested. She shied like a skittish pony at the barrier. But -Billie had her way. - -“Either you do as I say or you don’t,” cried Billie sternly. “Do you -want to go back to Three Towers Hall _as you are_?” - -“No!” said Edina. - -Like a prisoner marching to execution, she entered the barber shop. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -EDINA GETS HER HAIR CUT - - -Edina Tooker’s hair, released from the hard knot into which she had -bound it at the back of her head, proved to be luxuriant and soft to -the touch. The barber, a dark-skinned, effusive little fellow, was -charmed with the color and texture. - -“It is a long day since I have seen such a head of hair. And now it -must be cut off, shorn like the wool of a sheep. Eh, well, it is the -fashion. These ladies,” with a twinkling glance at Billie, “must be in -the fashion or die, is it not?” - -The barber took up a pair of gleaming shears. Edina’s eyes met Billie’s -in an agonized look of appeal. - -Billie smiled reassuringly, but remained adamant. - -“She is the boyish type, don’t you think?” she said, cajoling the -barber. “It seems to me her hair would look nice short, quite short, -and maybe tucked behind the ear on the left side.” - -“Leave it to me,” returned the little dark man with a flourish of the -shears. “I will make her ravissant. So she will not know herself. Now -then! Attend!” - -At the first rip of the shears through her heavy tresses, Edina shrank -deep into her seat and shut her eyes tight. She did not open them again -until the barber announced in a pleased tone that all was finished. - -“Will you please to look at yourself in the mirror, Miss?” - -Edina looked, batted her eyes and looked again. - -“It ain’t so bad,” was her final pronouncement. “But it ain’t me!” - -Billie thought the haircut a triumph of art. It was cut short in the -back, fitting Edina’s admirably shaped head like a soft black cap. In -the front it was longer, but not too long, falling back from the girl’s -broad forehead like the sweep of a raven’s wing. - -Billie reached forward and tucked a lock of ebony hair behind a shapely -ear. - -“You have nice ears and you should show them. Ears are an asset these -days, if they are not positively deformed. Pay the man now, Edina, and -let’s go on about our business.” - -The barber bowed them out with Latin gallantry--they being the only -customers in his shop at the time--and Billie led her protégé to one of -Fleetsburg’s best department stores. - -There they entered into an orgy of buying. - -Edina, bewildered, silent, left it to Billie to do all the work, merely -signifying by a nod of the head when appealed to that everything was -proceeding to her satisfaction. - -“Something for yourself, Miss?” the saleswoman asked Billie, with a -hopeful smile. “I have some sweet little new fall models that will -exactly suit your type.” - -Billie smiled and shook her head. - -“I’m not doing a scrap of buying for myself to-day. Everything must be -for the young lady,” indicating the tongue-tied Edina. “And we want -everything, from undies to hats.” - -The saleswoman glanced dubiously at the dowdy figure of the girl from -Oklahoma. - -“Everything must be simple, but smart,” Billie continued. “A complete -ensemble first of all, if you please--dress, coat, hat. We will pick -out the shoes and stockings later.” - -The saleswoman’s deference returned. Here was a young person who knew -what she wanted, even though her companion did look like some one’s -poverty-stricken cousin. - -“This way, please!” said she. - -The next moment Edina found herself in a tiny cubicle just large -enough to admit her and Billie, a chair or two, a tiny table and the -saleswoman. - -The saleswoman, en route, had picked up two frocks and a coat of soft, -rich-looking material. - -“Take off your things, Edina,” directed Billie, beginning to enjoy -herself thoroughly. “This coat is adorable. I’d love it myself. What -are you waiting for?” as Edina continued to regard her in a dazed way -and made no motion to remove her dowdy cloak. - -“You don’t mean I’ve got to--to undress here--before a stranger?” -stammered Edina and flushed crimson at the saleswoman’s momentary and -involuntary giggle. - -Billie ached to echo the giggle but she only said gravely: - -“Only to your slip, Edina. And we’re all girls together. What -difference can it make?” - -As at the moment before they entered the barber shop, Billie had the -impression that Edina was about to balk. She favored her protégé with a -severe look and waggled a finger beneath Edina’s decided nose. - -“You do as I say, young lady, or back we go to Three Towers with only a -haircut to show for our pains.” - -Edina hesitated, glanced appealingly at a ruthless Billie--and -capitulated. - -Off came the heavy coat. After considerable unhooking and unbuttoning, -off came the heavy dress as well. Beneath the dress, Edina wore, not a -slip, but a starched, old-fashioned petticoat! - -Billie could not surpass an exclamation of dismay. - -“Edina, you don’t mean to say you wear _those_ things!” - -Instantly she regretted her tactless speech. Edina’s crimsoned face -grew redder. She bit her lip and turned away and Billie caught the -gleam of tears in her eyes. - -“Maw fixed ’em for me. She thought they was grand. I’m sorry if you -think they are somethin’ to--laugh at.” - -Instantly Billie’s contrite arm was about the girl’s shoulders. - -“Dear Edina, I wasn’t laughing, truly, and I’m dreadfully sorry for -being so rude. It’s only that a slinky, soft silk slip sets off your -dresses so much better than a petticoat. Dresses are slinky these days -too, you know. Still, if you prefer the petticoat----” - -“I don’t!” Edina had fought a battle with herself and was willing to -acknowledge defeat. “Maw would want me to have what was right. She -wasn’t sure herself about the petticoats. You go ahead and tell me what -to get. I’ll do as you say about everything.” - -“Good girl! Then the first thing for you to do is take off that -petticoat.” - -After a short, inward struggle, Edina obeyed and stood before the -amused saleswoman and an interested Billie in a chemise and a pair of -ruffled knickers. Billie was glad to see that, relieved of the greater -part of her starched and bulky wearing apparel, Edina was slim. The -saleswoman, too, was astonished. - -“I brought you size eighteen and I guess you don’t take any more than a -sixteen,” said she. “Well, we can try these on anyway, and see how you -like the style.” - -Over Edina’s dark, sleek head, the saleswoman slipped a one-piece -sports frock, beige in color and elaborately simple in design. - -It was too big for the girl, but one glance was sufficient to assure -both Billie and the saleswoman that color and design were just right. - -“I’ll get her size in that,” said the saleswoman to Billie, and -disappeared. - -Edina turned this way and that before the long mirror. She glanced -appealingly at Billie. - -“It looks grand--but it ain’t me. Seems like I got to live with a -stranger before I git used to myself.” - -“A mighty nice stranger, though. In that get-up, you’re stunning, -Edina--no other word to describe you.” - -Edina’s pleasure in the praise was almost pathetic. - -“You really think I look nice?” - -“Stunning was the word I used,” cried Billie gaily. “And wait till you -see the rest of the things we are going to get for you, Edina Tooker. -Why, you don’t know the half of it!” - -Before Edina could think of a reply to this cheerful prophecy, the -saleslady returned. Over her arm were half a dozen frocks, size -sixteen, two adorable coats and a shower of soft satin, lace-trimmed -underwear. - -Edina gave a little gasp and, like any other normal girl with a love -for “pretties,” seized a handful of the shimmering things and buried -her face in them. When she looked up again, Billie knew that she had -won her victory. The subtle magic, the touch of those lovely things, -had accomplished more than all her arguments and pleading. From the -moment, Edina was all girl, reveling in girlish things. - -“I never knew just underclothes could be so purty,” she murmured, -reluctantly relinquishing the armful of loveliness. “I’d ruther have -them than all the coats and dresses.” - -Billie laughed delightedly. - -“I know how you feel. But, unfortunately, the dresses are a necessity. -Now,” with a little wriggle of sheer delight, “let’s get on with the -fitting.” - -The magic of those silken underthings had done their subtle work. Edina -warmed to the spirit of the occasion. As Billie watched her try on -dress after dress it seemed to her that Edina’s very look softened; her -nose became less dominant, her square chin less aggressive. In her eyes -was a bemused, dreaming, feminine look that Billie had never seen in -them before. - -Billie thought of a phrase Amanda Peabody was fond of using. Edina had -become “clothes-conscious.” - -After an hour of sheer enjoyment, Edina threw an appealing glance -toward Billie. - -“They’re all so purty,” she breathed, “I don’t hardly know which to -take.” - -Billie chuckled. - -“That’s easy! Why not take them all?” - -The saleswoman threw Billie a startled glance, that at once gave place -to eager hopefulness. Edina’s glance was also startled--and hopeful. - -“Dare I?” she breathed. “I never had so many clothes in all my life -before!” - -“That’s why you need them now,” said Billie cheerfully. “It gives a -girl no end of confidence to have a complete wardrobe. And I’d add a -party dress, or two, if I were you. We have school hops in the gym, you -know, and once in a while the boys at Boxton give a dance. Yes, you -will need at least two party frocks.” - -Edina had surrendered completely to Billie’s guidance. She did not -protest when the saleswoman--voluble now, and almost oppressively -anxious to please--disappeared and a moment or two later reappeared -with a mass of color and fluff over her arm. - -Billie gave the frocks one glance and waved them aside. - -“Something plainer,” she said to the saleswoman, disregarding Edina’s -protests. “Something that depends entirely on color and line for its -effect. We can’t have Edina here swamped with fluffy ruffles and bead -embroidery. It isn’t her type.” - -“But I liked them,” Edina protested, when the saleswoman had retreated -uncomplainingly with her burden of fluff. “They were purty--almost as -purty----” - -“Pretty,” corrected Billie. - -“Pretty,” Edina accepted the correction docilely, “as the undies.” - -“Pretty--but not for you,” said Billie decidedly. “Trust me, Edina. I -am going to make you a personage at Three Towers Hall.” - -Billie’s enthusiasm was difficult to resist. Edina did not try to -resist it. She permitted herself to be swept along by the new and -entirely blissful experience of being able to buy all the lovely things -she wanted at one time. The long-starved, demanding girlhood in Edina -was finding expression. - -The saleswoman returned with an entirely different collection of -evening frocks which the critical Billie was good enough to approve. - -“The coral one would look gorgeous on you Edina and the yellow taffeta. -Try them.” - -Edina obeyed and was captivated. She insisted that she would take both -the frocks of Billie’s choice but remained adamant in her intention to -try on nothing more. - -“If I try ’em on, I’ll buy them,” she said, showing a grain of the good -horse sense she had undoubtedly inherited from “Paw.” “I’ve got more -now than I could wear out in a lifetime of trying--unless I was twins.” - -Billie gave in with a sigh and a giggle. - -“We’ve got to get hats and shoes and stockings, anyway,” she mused. -“Suppose we’ve got to stop somewhere.” - -The saleswoman, feeling that this was her lucky day, offered a bright -suggestion. - -“I can have hats sent up here to match the frocks----” - -“One hat!” corrected Edina, putting down her foot. “I can’t wear more’n -one at a time, and that’s all I want.” - -Billie conceded this point, having won so much. - -“You might send up a few small shapes in beige or brown to match the -coat,” she said to the saleswoman. “Then I guess,” with a hurried -glance at her wrist watch, “that will be all!” - -From the hats that found their way promptly from the millinery -department to the tiny cubicle wherein Billie sat in judgment they -selected one small, helmet-like chapeau that fitted Edina’s head snugly -and showed only one tantalizing lock of raven-black hair. - -“Looks like I was scalped,” was Edina’s comment. “But if you say it’s -all right, that goes with me. Now,” with a nervous glance about her at -the extravagant numbers of her purchases, “what would you say I’d best -wear back to Three Towers Hall?” - -“The beige frock, the one you tried on first,” said Billie, without -the slightest hesitation. “Then that adorable brown coat with the fox -collar and cuffs and the beige hat. Downstairs we’ll get you shoes and -hose and gloves to complete the outfit. Good gracious!” Billie glanced -at her wrist watch again and jumped to her feet with a look of alarm. -“It’s past the time I promised to meet Miss Arbuckle and the girls. You -stay here, Edina, and climb into that outfit. I’ll be back in less than -two shakes!” - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -A PERFECT DAY - - -Billie Bradley found Miss Arbuckle and the girls impatiently awaiting -her at the Busy Bee. - -“We’re starving!” they cried reproachfully. “What has been keeping you?” - -“And where’s the lion cub?” another wanted to know. - -Billie smiled mysteriously. - -“Just wait till you see her! You’d be surprised!” - -Whereupon, Billie proceeded to “fix things” with Miss Arbuckle. This -was not difficult, Miss Arbuckle being a friend of Billie’s with -consequent implicit belief in the girl’s good sense and judgment. - -“We haven’t finished our shopping--not nearly,” Billie explained, -having drawn the teacher aside so that the curious and watchful girls -could not hear what was said. “If you don’t mind, Miss Arbuckle, I’d -like to take Edina to lunch--just the two of us. After that we will -shop some more and maybe take in a movie, if there’s time.” - -“We--ell,” the teacher hesitated, “if you will give me your word to be -on hand to take the school bus back----” - -“Oh, I will,” promised Billie. “Thanks so much, Miss Arbuckle. It would -simply spoil everything to--to spring Edina on them now.” - -A look of mutual understanding passed between teacher and pupil. Miss -Arbuckle smiled. - -“I suppose it would,” she agreed. “Run along to your good work, Billie. -I’m entirely in sympathy with it and I wish you luck.” - -“Miss Arbuckle, you’re a perfect dear!” cried Billie gratefully. - -She squeezed the teacher’s hand, flashed one triumphant look at the -group of curious, half-envious girls, and darted out into the street. - -In the fitting room at the department store, Billie found a transformed -Edina impatiently awaiting her. Billie paused in the doorway and stared -at the wholly unfamiliar apparition. - -“Turn yourself about, Edina,” she breathed. “Slowly--that’s right. My -dear, you are a triumph! I’m proud of you--and me! Come along now and -we’ll get something to eat. I’m starving. Besides, I’ve got to show you -off!” - -Edina Tooker would never be beautiful. Nor could she even be spoken -of as a pretty girl. But Billie realized as she looked at this new, -tastefully dressed Edina that the girl possessed a native dignity and -poise that was more compelling than mere prettiness. Her own prophecy -was being fulfilled. The girl had become a personage. - -Perhaps Edina read something of this in Billie’s prolonged scrutiny. - -“I’m just tryin’ to live up to my clothes,” she said, with a wistful -smile. “They’re the first things I ever owned in all my life that -seemed to--to belong to me. I know I look different and, somehow, I -begin to feel different.” - -“You will feel differenter and differenter as time goes on,” Billie -prophesied gaily. “You’re a knockout, Edina. I can’t wait for the girls -to see you.” - -Into the eyes of Edina came a provocative gleam that was as new as her -new clothes. - -“Neither can I!” she confessed. “Mebbe they won’t laugh at me now.” - -“They will be simply green with envy,” prophesied Billie. “I am, -myself. Just think of having all those perfectly gorgeous new frocks -all at once!” - -Edina chuckled. - -“I can’t get over the notion I should be twins,” she chuckled. - -The gratified saleswoman parted from them with regret and many urgent -invitations to visit her again. - -“If I did that often,” chuckled Edina, “Paw would be bankrupt. As it -is, I’ll have to write him for more money. He’ll like it, though,” -she added in that gentler tone she always used when speaking of her -parents. “Paw always wanted to do things for Maw and me. He wants us -to have the best, Paw does.” - -Laden with bundles, the two girls went below to the store tea room -where they ordered creamed chicken on toast and apple tart. - -Billie noticed that Edina ate carefully, picking up a knife or fork or -spoon only when she was sure she had chosen the right one. - -“Raw and crude enough,” thought Billie. “But intelligent and eager to -learn. Her new clothes will give her confidence. Meantime, I am having -the time of my life!” - -Their appetites satisfied, the girls returned with a will to their -shopping. - -Shoes were bought, several pairs of them, and stockings to match. Then -Billie led her protégé to the toilet goods counter where they bought -creams and unguents. - -“Anybody’d think I was going to be one of them movie queens,” Edina -protested. “What do you suppose I’m going to do with that stuff?” - -“Wear it on your face at night,” Billie retorted imperturbably. - -“Not all at once!” cried Edina horrified. - -Billie glanced at her to make sure she meant it, then went off into -gales of giggles that made passing shoppers gaze at her curiously. - -“A little at a time, you silly! Edina, you’ll be the death of me yet!” - -“Well, I don’t like the idea of it, nohow--anyhow,” the girl persisted -doggedly. “I ain’t never--ever--had anything but good spring water on -my face up to now and I’m not yearning to go greasing myself up like an -Indian at this late date.” - -“You’ll get used to it,” prophesied Billie cheerfully. “You can get -used to anything. Besides, now that you have all those beautiful -dresses, you must grow a complexion to match.” - -“How you talk! A complexion ain’t--isn’t--like shoes and -stockings--that it’s got to match up with your clothes.” - -“It’s even more important,” said Billie firmly. “Don’t argue. Come -along!” - -Laden with boxes and bundles, they found their way to a movie picture -palace in the vicinity. - -The scenario of the picture happened to be laid in the West--one of -those blood-and-thunder films replete with villains, dashing ponies, -lariats, and heroic cowboys. During the entire entertainment, Edina -kept up a running fire of comment and criticism that provided Billie -with more entertainment than the film, much to the annoyance of a -dignified and portly old gentleman who had the seat in front of them. - -At the end of the picture Billie glanced at her wrist watch and tugged -at the sleeves of Edina’s new coat. - -“We have to go. If we miss the school bus we will get about sixteen -demerits apiece and I’ll be barred from boating and tennis for the rest -of the fall term, and that I could never stand! We’ll have to bolt for -it.” - -Edina was seized by sudden panic. - -“I don’t want to go,” she said, in a strained, tight voice. “I feel -such a fool, all togged out like this! I--I’d ruther stay here in the -dark!” - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -EDINA SCORES - - -For a moment, Billie Bradley lost patience with her protégé. - -“Don’t be silly!” she cried sharply. “Here I spend a whole day trying -to make you presentable and you tell me you’d rather stay here in the -dark. Do hurry, Edina. I tell you, we’ve only just time to make the -bus.” - -Edina got up--and a dozen packages scattered over the floor! She -stooped to pick them up and bumped her head into the head of the old -gentleman in front who turned to glare at her wrathfully. - -With an exclamation of annoyance, Billie helped gather up the scattered -purchases of the afternoon and after an interminable delay the girls -got to the street. - -“We’ve got to run,” gasped Billie. “If we miss that bus, it’s all up -with us. I promised Miss Arbuckle----” The sentence went unfinished, -for at the next street corner they came in sight of the bus. Miss -Arbuckle and the girls stood beside it, talking animatedly. Billie -guessed from their gestures that she and Edina were the topic of -conversation. - -Billie had been almost running. Now she slowed her pace and glanced -imperatively at Edina. - -“Pull your hat down and put the collar of your coat up a little,” she -ordered. “That’s right! You look swell! Act as if you knew it.” - -That was all very well for Billie Bradley, thought poor Edina; but -Billie could scarcely be expected to know how it felt to be dressed up -like a tailor’s dummy and set in a window to be stared at! - -Unconsciously Edina’s face assumed the old, grim expression of -defiance. She was the “lion cub” dressed up. - -With her accustomed tact and kind-heartedness, Miss Arbuckle assumed -charge of the situation. With the gesture of a motherly hen scattering -her chicks, she shooed the staring, curious girls into the bus, so -that when Billie and her companion reached it, there was no one on the -sidewalk. - -Billie was in fine spirits again. - -“Follow me,” she called to Edina. “And be sure to pick up the packages -I drop! It will be a mercy if we get back to Three Towers with half the -things we’ve bought.” - -As Billie and Edina entered the bus, all eyes were turned upon Billie’s -companion. - -The moment of amazed silence that greeted the apparition of this new -Edina Tooker was a genuine tribute to Billie’s accomplishment. - -“Hello, everybody!” Billie called gaily. “Edina and I have been -shopping and we’ve bought the most marvelous things--dozens of pretty -frocks and other things. Wait till you see!” - -So Billie carried the battle into the enemy’s territory. By this bold -stroke she practically forced the girls to take sides either for or -against her new friend and protégé. By it Billie said, though not in so -many words: - -“You must either accept Edina or reject her--and by rejecting her, you -will reject me also.” - -If Billie had not possessed quite so strong a hold upon the affection -and esteem of her schoolmates, it is quite possible that this bold bid -in Edina’s interest would have gone for nothing. - -However, the girls loved Billie, and this new Edina Tooker in the -marvelous clothes was certainly far more attractive than the old Edina. -Then, too, there was the talk of new frocks--dozens of them, Billie had -said. - -The atmosphere became more friendly. One could almost feel it thaw. - -Jessie Brewer, a diminutive blonde with round face and infantile blue -eyes, turned the scale in Edina’s favor. - -“You look stunning,” said Jessie, generously going all the way now that -she had decided on surrender. “That coat is perfectly sweet. If I’m -good, will you let me have a lend of it sometime?” - -The request, with its tacit acknowledgment of equality, took Edina’s -breath away. - -“Sure,” she stammered. “Any--any time you like!” - -Amazingly, miraculously, Edina found herself the center of interest for -the first time since her advent at Three Towers Hall--for the first -time in all her hard, drab young life. - -The ice once broken, the girls were eager to hear about her purchases. -At first Edina was unwilling to talk and Billie answered for her; but -gradually the girl’s reticence broke beneath the friendly battery of -questions. She found herself answering in a perfectly natural way--not -only that, but embellishing the events of the day with a dry humor that -captivated her audience. - -Some of her packages were opened by the more curious among the girls -and passed from hand to hand for comment and inspection. - -“Better watch these girls, Edina,” laughed Billie. “They are apt to -descend upon your purchases like a swarm of hungry locusts----” - -“I may be hungry, but I’m no locust,” said a dark-haired girl, who was -sniffing curiously at a jar of cold cream with an exotic label and a -delicious fragrance. “Anyway, I’m sure Edina won’t mind if I just take -a dab of this stuff.” - -“Take the whole thing, if you want it,” Edina offered largely; but -Billie gave a little squeal of protest. - -“No use giving away everything you own, even if your father has struck -oil on that property of his and is making money hand over fist. Take -that jar of cream away, Edina, before Jessie eats it. She thinks it’s -for dessert.” - -So Billie skillfully implanted the notion that Edina was already very -rich and growing richer fast. Among those who had snubbed the girl from -the West, this would have a disciplinary effect, she thought, and those -who were disposed to friendliness toward the new Edina would not be -greatly affected by it, anyway. - -She could see that the girls were impressed. Edina herself appeared -somewhat startled by this frank statement of her fortunes. - -“You shouldn’t ’a’ done that,” she whispered to Billie in the flurry of -getting packages together for the exodus at Three Towers Hall. “I ain’t -exactly superstitious, but seems like I don’t like to talk too much -about Paw’s money.” - -Billie was sincerely surprised. - -“It was true, wasn’t it, what you told me about his oil well?” - -“True as rain. But Paw’s luck’s been so uncertain that I can’t hardly -believe he has really struck it rich at last. Seems like if I talk -too much about it, all his good fortune might bust up into thin air -like them--those--soap bubbles you make with a pipe. I’m just being -superstitious,” she added, with an apologetic grin. “You ain’t got -no--any--call to listen to me.” - -As the bus turned into the long graveled drive leading to Three Towers -Hall and the girls began to scramble headlong from it, Edina caught -Billie’s hand gratefully in a rough paw. - -“It’s been the best day I ever spent,” she muttered. “Thanks--a lot.” - -Billie smiled and returned the pressure of Edina’s hand. - -“I think we’ve broken the ice. From now on, it’s up to you.” - -Billie went on across the school grounds in a thoughtful mood. - -The day had been an unqualified success. She had done just exactly what -she wanted to do. Yet she felt depressed, deserted and forlorn. - -“I’m the world’s prize idiot,” she scolded herself. “I’m tired and I -probably need my dinner.” - -However, in her heart, she knew exactly what was wrong with her. She -was unhappy because neither Laura nor Vi had come out to greet the -school bus. - -Were they still angry with her? Was the friendship she had thought so -strong and fine, that had been a source of happiness to her ever since -her childhood, to break up in this manner? - -“All over a stranger, too,” she thought wearily. “Edina has scarcely -any claim on my affections. I’m grateful to her for saving my life that -awful day at the lake. I’m grateful to her and sorry for her, that’s -all. But Laura and Vi----” She let the thought trail off. - -In the hall she pulled off her tight hat and was conscious of immediate -relief. How her head did ache! - -She went up quietly to her room, exchanging greetings with the girls -she met on the way. She opened the door softly and stopped as though -transfixed. - -On her bed lay Vi Farrington, face downward. She was sobbing as though -her heart would break! - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -AN OLD ENEMY - - -In a moment, Billie Bradley forgot her own weariness and the fact that -her head ached worse than ever. She ran to the bed and flung herself to -her knees beside the sobbing girl. - -“Vi! Vi Farrington! What is it, dear?” - -Vi gave a sharp exclamation and sat up, trying to dry her eyes on her -pocket handkerchief. - -“Oh, it’s you! I didn’t mean any one to catch me at this baby trick, -Billie, truly I never did. But I’m so wretched.” - -“What about?” - -Vi eyed her fiercely and accepted the clean handkerchief that Billie -thrust into her hands. - -“You, for one thing. You have been perfectly horrid, Billie Bradley, -with that wild girl of yours and never having even half an eye for the -rest of us----” - -“Vi, you silly! I never----” - -“Yes, you have! Don’t you suppose I know? And then it’s that wretched -math. I--I’ve gone and done it again.” - -Vi threatened to dissolve in tears and Billie shook her rudely. - -“Done what again? Don’t you dare cry----” - -“Failed, of course. What did you suppose? Miss Walters called me into -the office to-day and she said, oh, B-Billie--I--I can’t tell you!” - -“You’ve got to tell me,” returned Billie. “Go on, dear. What did Miss -Walters say?” - -“Well, she told me if I didn’t do better in my math she would have -to write a note home to Dad. Can you imagine Dad getting a note like -that, Billie--or Mother? It would just about k-kill them! And I’m so -perfectly d-dumb at figures!” - -Billie got up and began to walk about the room. She took off her coat -and smoothed back her hair while Vi watched her with tear-dimmed eyes. - -“B-Billie, aren’t you going to do something?” - -“Nothing else, but!” returned Billie cheerfully. “I’m merely clearing -the decks for action. Suppose you get out your books and papers and -things and we’ll try to find out what’s wrong. I reckon we’ll get to -the root of this matter in a jiffy.” - -“Oh, B-Billie! When you talk like that I know that everything is going -to be all right. If you will only help----” - -Billie glanced up briefly into Vi’s tear-stained face. - -“You knew I’d help, didn’t you, Vi?” - -Vi’s glance wavered, fell. - -“I know I’ve been a fool, Billie. But I did think you were sort of -side-tracking Laura and me for that wild and woolly Edina Tooker.” - -Billie shook her head reproachfully. - -“You didn’t really think that, Vi. Not in your heart. Now, let’s get -down to business.” - -It was so that Laura found them, some time later, heads close together, -working out a problem in algebra. - -“Say, you two, don’t you know it’s almost time for the supper bell to -ring?” - -“Don’t bother us!” muttered Vi. “We’ve almost got it. There! There, -that’s the right answer, isn’t it, Billie? Did I get it?” - -“You did!” Billie’s smile was congratulatory. “And in record time, too. -We’re coming on, Vi!” - -She glanced up to find Laura’s eyes fixed upon her curiously. - -“Billie Bradley, what have you done to Edina? I met her in the hall -downstairs. She isn’t the same person at all.” - -Billie smiled enigmatically. - -“Clothes do make a difference!” she observed. - -That was the beginning of the old status between the three chums. It -was the beginning of many things, especially for Edina. - -Billie’s friendship, her new clothes, and the general belief that her -father was rapidly becoming a fabulously rich man, all these things -conspired to lift Edina from obscurity to an enviable position among -her schoolmates. She was sincerely liked by some, tolerated by many, -and toadied to by a few who thought that she might some day become a -powerful and colorful influence in the school life of Three Towers Hall. - -In other words, as Billie had predicted, Edina was rapidly becoming a -personage. - -To be sure, there were some who still disliked and distrusted the girl -from Oklahoma, decrying her rough language and crude ways. Among this -small minority were Rose Belser and Ray Carew, who stood, figuratively -speaking, upon the fringe of the crowd, skeptically looking on at this -transformation of Edina Tooker. - -“No good will come of it, Billie,” Rose said, more than once. “You may -tame the lion cub; but underneath, it remains a lion cub just the same. -Some day it will begin to scratch and claw. Then--look out!” - -About this time an incident occurred that afforded Billie a good deal -of amusement and Edina no little satisfaction. - -The girls spent much of their recreation time on Lake Molata during the -pleasant fall weather, boating and, weather permitting, swimming from -the end of the dock. - -Billie attempted to initiate Edina into these water sports, much to the -not-too-well disguised amusement of her fellow students. Edina disliked -the water. She could not swim and she was not keen about rowing--that -is, she was not keen about it until she found that Billie was. - -This is how it came about. - -One day while Billie and Edina were rowing in desultory fashion some -distance from the dock, they were overhauled by Ray Carew and Rose -Belser in a boat, the twin of theirs. - -“Give you a race,” called Rose, as she had called many times before -when Laura or Vi had been in the boat with Billie. However, Edina -was neither Laura nor Vi, a fact of which Rose Belser was well and -mischievously aware. Edina rowed with a stroke all her own and -possessed a positive genius for entangling her oar with that of her -stroke mate. - -Still Billie could not refuse the challenge. - -“All right, race you to the island!” she returned. - -“But, Billie!” cried Edina, aghast, “you oughtn’t to’ve said that. I -can’t row!” - -“Stop talking!” Billie commanded, her jaw set. “Stop talking and row!” - -Such rowing! Edina’s oar did everything but stroke the water. It sat -upon the top of it, it splashed spray into the boat, it entangled -itself with Billie’s. By the time Ray and Rose had reached the island, -Billie’s boat had succeeded in turning its nose about and was headed -the other way! - -That incident was a lesson to Billie. She told Edina firmly: - -“You’ve got to learn to row. That’s all there is to it. The sooner we -begin the better.” - -“All right,” returned Edina resignedly. “Anything you say.” - -This was the beginning of much secret practice for Edina in a secluded -cove, screened by much bright-colored foliage from both Three Towers -and Boxton Academy. - -Came a day when Billie admitted satisfaction in her pupil. - -“The next time Rose--or any one else--challenges us to a race, we’ll -give it to her.” - -Their chance came two days later when Rose and Ray Carew again drew up -alongside them and Ray asked laughingly if they cared to have revenge -for the other day. - -“Like nothing better,” said Billie coolly. “What shall the mark be?” - -“The big rock that juts out from the Point--if you can get that far,” -proposed Ray. - -“We’ll try it,” Billie said calmly. - -As the boat moved off to get into position for the start, Ray was heard -to murmur: - -“Some folks are just plain gluttons for punishment!” - -Billie and Edina exchanged smiling glances and Billie leaned over to -whisper: - -“Remember what I’ve told you. Take it easy at the start and save your -breath. Ready?” - -“Ready!” returned Edina. - -Billie gave the word to go, and they were off, swinging easily over the -glassy water. For some distance they maintained the same pace, bow to -bow. Then, by degrees, Rose’s boat drew ahead. - -“Steady!” cautioned Billie, as Edina’s hand tightened nervously on the -oar. “Watch my stroke and time yours with it That’s it! Easy now!” - -The other craft was two boat-lengths ahead. Ray shouted a derisive -challenge. - -“Now!” said Billie. “Keep time with me, Edina. Faster--a little faster. -Now then! Let’s show the speed of that good right arm!” - -The oars struck the water in perfect unison, poised, struck, poised -again, swifter, swifter, increasing that rhythmic stroke. - -“Now!” cried Billie. “Put your back into it, Edina!” - -With a magnificent final burst of speed, the boat swept through the -water, reaching the point well ahead of its rival. - -Billie waved exultantly. - -“Well,” she jeered happily, “you wanted to give us revenge, didn’t you? -And we are nothing if not obliging!” - -Rose and Ray were generous in defeat. - -“Whatever you have done to Edina, it’s plenty,” Rose admitted. “We -other oarsmen will have to speed up if we intend to stay in the same -class with her!” - -“At least,” said Billie, with a mischievous glance at her pupil, “we -don’t go about in circles any more!” - -Despite this signal victory on the lake, Billie was far from satisfied -with herself. Rowing was one thing--tennis was quite another. On the -courts her old-time skill appeared to have deserted her. She had lost a -good deal of her old speed and power. She was slower, and her opponents -found it easier to catch her napping. - -Even Vi beat her one day, which worried the loyal Vi greatly. - -“What’s wrong, Billie? You are absolutely off your form. Aren’t you -well?” - -“Quite,” replied Billie, and added with a worried frown: “It’s my knee, -Vi. Don’t tell anybody, but ever since that awful day when I fell over -the cliff, my knee has been acting queerly. Gives out under me when -I least expect it. To-day, on the courts, I almost fell. Perhaps you -noticed.” - -“I’ll say I did. It was so unlike you that I thought maybe you were -putting it on--just to give me a chance to win, you know.” - -Billie’s brief smile flashed out. - -“I’m not quite that generous. Hello--what’s this?” - -Billie looked up to see that Amanda Peabody had planted herself -straight in the patch. - -Billie said coolly: - -“Did you want to speak to me, Amanda?” - -Amanda’s smile was malicious. - -“Not particularly. I just wanted to congratulate you on the fine -showing you made against Vi on the courts. From your performance in -that last set, I should say that every day, in every way, you are -getting better and better.” - -“It wasn’t Billie’s fault,” Vi blurted out indignantly. “There’s -something the matter with----” - -“Vi!” cried Billie sharply. “I asked you to keep quiet about that.” - -Amanda’s malicious grin widened until it seemed to stretch from ear to -ear. - -“You don’t need to be so quiet about it. Everybody at Three Towers -knows that there is something the matter with Billie Bradley’s tennis. -It isn’t any secret if that’s what you mean.” - -Vi started to speak again, but Billie squeezed her arm sharply and drew -her past the outrageous girl. - -“I challenge you,” Amanda called after them, her voice shrill with -triumph. “I challenge you right now to a set, Billie Bradley.” - -As Billie continued onward to the Hall without even a backward glance, -Amanda’s mocking laughter followed her. - -“You’re afraid, Billie Bradley. You’re afraid!” - -Once inside the door, Billie turned to Vi. Her hands were clenched so -hard that the nails bit into the palms. - -“Some day,” she promised vengefully, “I’m going to give that girl such -a beating on the courts that she’ll cry for mercy. You mark my words, -Vi Farrington!” - -“She’ll get something worse than a beating on the courts, if you leave -it to me, the horrid, spiteful old thing!” declared Vi furiously. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -AN UNEXPECTED DUCKING - - -The trouble with Billie Bradley’s knee did not improve during the days -that followed. Although, assisted by her chums and Edina Tooker, she -rubbed it faithfully with arnica each night, she still showed far from -her old form on the tennis courts. - -She was forced to suffer the constant taunts of Amanda Peabody and -Eliza Dilks. Instead of making reply, she closed her lips tight and -said nothing. - -“Why not tell them your knee is in bad shape?” cried Laura on one -occasion when Amanda’s caustic comments had aggravated her almost past -bearing. “You let her stand there and say all sorts of things and never -come back with a word in your own defense. I must say I’m disappointed -in you, Billie.” - -Billie shook her head stubbornly. - -“I’ll not excuse my failures,” she said. - -“Well, then, let me excuse them--or Vi or Edina here. We’ll undertake -it with the greatest of pleasure.” - -Billie remained adamant. - -“It would be just as bad to have you making excuses for me. No, sir, -if I have to take a beating, I’ll take it right!” - -Although her chums understood Billie’s attitude and, in their own way, -sympathized with it, no attempt was made to underestimate the dire -effect of Billie’s temporary indisposition upon their hope of victory -in the fall tennis tournament, now close at hand. - -“It isn’t only Billie who may be defeated. It’s our whole crowd that’ll -go down in the crash--at least, our pride will crash,” sighed Vi to -Laura one day. - -“I know. But there’s no use arguing with Billie when she’s in this -mood,” was the response. - -On the courts, Billie and Amanda Peabody had long been rivals. Amanda -was a spectacular player with speed and power, but apt to prove -erratic, especially when the play went against her. - -Billie was steady, careful, sure, coolest in an emergency. - -It was pretty to watch the two on the courts; it was always -interesting; it was even apt to prove dramatic. - -To Billie, tennis was a well loved sport. On the courts all personal -enmity was forgotten, all private grudges temporarily wiped out. - -Not so, however, with Amanda. This girl, while having developed -excellent tennis form, was a bad sport both on and off the courts. She, -unlike Billie, carried her private grudges with her and was only at -top form when winning. - -This year, however, it began to look as though Amanda Peabody would -win. With Billie so far from top form, there was no one at Three Towers -capable of giving Amanda “a good run for her money.” - -Billie regarded her chums with troubled eyes. - -“If only one of you could train in my place----” - -“Don’t look at me!” cried Vi, in alarm. “You know I am a perfect dub on -the courts.” - -“You are getting better all the time.” - -“It would take me from now to eternity to get good enough to beat -Amanda. Don’t pick on me, Billie. You know very well I’m out.” - -Billie looked at Laura, who giggled and raised her hand as though to -ward off a blow. - -“I’m good--I admit it--on the courts, as elsewhere. But not nearly good -enough. Take Edina here,” she added, with a mischievous glance at the -“lion cub.” “She looks like your one best bet.” - -Edina grinned. - -“Me! I can bust the insides out of a ball when I hit it, but my racket -and the balls, they seem to be just born enemies. They never git close -enough together to be friends.” - -Laura chuckled. - -“I’ve watched you miss more balls this week, Edina Tooker, than I -thought there were in the world!” - -Billie sighed and rubbed her knee reflectively. - -“Well, it seems to be up to me. And I’m a total loss. I guess Amanda -will walk away with all the honors this season.” - -“It’s more than I can bear!” Vi stood for a moment in deep thought. -Then said eagerly: “You know, Billie, I’ve a hunch about that knee. -You’ve been working it too hard. I’ll bet if you had absolute rest for -a week, never went near the courts, it would be a heap more profitable -than all this violent exercise you’ve been putting yourself to.” - -“But I need the practice,” Billie protested. “My form is terrible.” - -“Your form is just as good or bad as your knee. Get that into shape, -and I’m willing to bet your form will take care of itself.” - -“Sounds like sense to me,” Laura abetted her. “Why not try it, Billie? -I tell you what! Ted has been at me for a long time to get up a picnic -on the lake. To-morrow’s Saturday. How about it, everybody? Any -objections?” - -“Not a one, that I can think of,” returned Billie, with a smile. “This -is excellent picnic weather and we want to make the most of it.” - -“Before the lake gets frozen over with ice,” chuckled Laura. “All -right. I’ll tell Ted it’s a go.” - -Edina shied like an unbroken colt at the mention of boys. - -“We git along together like rattlesnakes and coyotes. I don’t like -them and they don’t like me no--any--better. You’d better leave me out -of this here picnic. I’ll spoil it all for you.” - -“Nothing doing!” said Billie decidedly. “You no go, I no go either. The -boys don’t bite and I’m sure you don’t, ’Dina.” With a severity, belied -by the twinkle in her eye, she added: “You’ve got to learn to get along -with the boys, you know. It’s an important part of your education.” - -A few minutes over the telephone were sufficient to arrange with the -boys for the following day’s fun. A few moments more in the kitchen -provided for the hearty appetites of a healthy group of boys and girls. -Clarice promised to put up a hamper of good things that would make “yo’ -eyes pop clean out o’ yo’ haids.” - -“Now all we have to do,” said Laura contentedly, “is to go to bed and -pray for a clear day to-morrow.” - -Surely, the following day might have been an answer to any one’s prayer -for fine weather. It was one of those lovely early fall days when the -sun warms the blood and the tang of crisp air sets it dancing. - -“Oh, I do love this time of the year!” Billie’s face glowed above the -woolly white sweater she was wearing for warmth’s sake. “It makes me -feel equal to meeting and beating Amanda Peabody, even with one knee -out of joint!” - -“The way you look to-day, you could meet and beat any one with both -knees out of joint,” declared Laura loyally. - -It had been decided the day before that the boys would row across from -Boxton and pick up the girls at the Three Towers’ dock. - -Their part of the bargain was so promptly kept that the girls had -barely reached the boathouse when they descried the fleet of rowboats -coming toward them across the lake. - -“There come Teddy and Chet----” - -“And Ferd Stowing. But who’s the fourth?” - -“Paul Martinson, probably,” said Billie. “Chet said he might come -along.” - -Billie cast a sidelong look at Edina, and was quite satisfied with what -she saw. - -The girl from Oklahoma wore a white sport coat--recently added to her -steadily growing wardrobe. The sport coat topped a white, fuzzy skirt -and a silk jumper adorned with a flaming, scarlet tie. On Edina’s feet -were white sport shoes of an approved style. Her legs were encased in -immaculate, unwrinkled white silk stockings. - -The improvement in Edina was more than “clothes deep,” however, a fact -of which Billie was very well aware. The girl had acquired a new poise, -a dignity which was very attractive. Moreover, her disposition had -improved signally. She was not nearly so ready to claw and scratch as -she had been a short time since. The “lion cub” was surely becoming -civilized. - -“You look stunning, Edina,” Billie said. “The boys will love you.” - -Edina turned on her a look of panic. - -“I’m plumb scared to death,” she confessed. “I’d like to go hide in a -hole!” - -The boats scraped against the dock and with whoops as of Comanche -Indians, the boys leaped to the dock to capture the girls and the lunch -baskets. - -Chet Bradley came first. He was burned a deep brown by the sun and was -as full of animal spirits as a gamboling puppy. He dashed up to the -girls, gave Vi a paternal pat on the shoulder, pulled Laura’s ear and -Billie’s hair and--stopped short at his first sight of Edina Tooker. - -“Hello!” he stammered. “I don’t think I have had the pleasure----” - -“Oh, Chet, this is Edina. She’s very much the rage with us, and you’ll -like her, too. I’m counting on you boys to give her a good time.” - -“Righto!” replied Chet, grinning cordially. “We’re fast friends -already, aren’t we, Edina? Come along, fellows,” beckoning to the other -sun-tanned lads. “Step up and be presented. If you like it as well as I -do, we’ll all have a very swell time!” - -Edina was blushing furiously. Billie wished she were not, because it -was unbecoming to her. However, the other boys seemed to like her and -they were soon chatting and laughing together in a chummy and highly -satisfactory manner. - -The lunch baskets and the assortment of bright-colored cushions -contributed by the girls to lend comfort to the trip were quickly put -in place, and the girls invited to follow. - -As Edina hesitated, lagging behind the others, Paul Martinson linked -his arm through hers and led her toward his boat. - -“You come with me,” said the young cadet, with a masterful air. - -Behind Paul’s back, Billie winked mischievously at Edina. - -“Without even fishing, you’ve made a good catch,” she whispered -mischievously. “Hang on to it!” - -Whether this pleasantry confused Edina, or whether the girl, hating and -fearing the water, slipped as she was about to enter the boat, no one -ever knew. At any rate, she lost her footing in some way, pushed the -rowboat outward as she fell, and plunged headlong into the deep water -at the end of the pier! - -“She can’t swim a stroke!” cried Billie, and without an instant’s -hesitation followed the girl into the chilly water. - -Billie dived for Edina but could not locate her. - -“She has been caught under the dock!” Billie came up for a breath of -air and dived again. This time she, too, came up under the dock. She -bumped up against something that was only a fuzzy white blur in the -water and cried in her heart: “Thank goodness!” - -A long nail had caught in the wool stuff of Edina’s skirt and held it -fast. - -Billie’s lungs seemed to be bursting, but she worked at the cloth so -frantically that the nail came out of the rotted wood. - -As she felt herself begin to sink again, Edina twisted in the water -and wrapped both arms about Billie’s neck with the desperation of a -drowning animal! - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -FIGHTING FOR LIFE - - -Locked in Edina Tooker’s unbreakable embrace, Billie Bradley gave -herself up for lost. - -Edina was stronger than she, and now her strength was the desperate -strength of mortal fear. - -Billie writhed and twisted, striving to wrench herself free; but in -her heart she knew her efforts were vain. Edina’s grip was the grip of -madness. She was dragging them both down to death. - -Billie wondered why her lungs did not break with the fearful pressure -on them. After a long moment of agony she almost wished they would -break--to have done with the torment. - -Suddenly something swam close to her. There was a sharp jolt and, -through glazing eyes, Billie saw Edina’s head snap backward. The hard -grip about her neck relaxed, the weight that had been holding Billie to -the bottom of the lake slumped away. - -Billie felt suddenly as light as air. With all the strength that -remained to her, she fought her way to the surface of the water. - -Like a benediction, air swept into her tortured lungs. She lay upon her -back and let herself float, gasping. - -Edina was safe, she knew. It was Paul Martinson who had dealt the -merciful blow on the point of Edina’s chin, saving her life and -Billie’s. Paul would take care of Edina. Paul liked Edina---- - -Billie felt hands tugging at her, pulling her up on something that was -hard and rough. The pier! - -“Were you going to lie there forever and catch your death of cold?” - -It was Vi’s voice scolding, and Billie thought no voice had ever -sounded so pleasant in her ears. - -She was being pulled to her feet now, supported by loving arms, a ring -of anxious faces about her. They were all scolding her, but she did not -care. It was nice to have someone care whether she was alive or not. - -“Edina?” - -“Edina’s all right. Paul has her. Now we are going to smuggle you both -up to the hall and into dry clothes before you die of pneumonia, or -something equally uncomfortable. Come along!” - -While Paul Martinson ruefully wrung out his sodden clothes, refusing -meanwhile to listen to a word of thanks, Billie and the half-dead Edina -were hustled to the Hall for a change of raiment. - -They approached the house by a circuitous route, carefully avoiding the -groups of girls loitering in the school grounds. Entering by Clarice’s -immaculate kitchen and leaving a telltale stream of water across it, -they hurried up the back stairs and by great good fortune managed to -gain the dormitory unobserved. - -“Now get out of those dripping clothes and be quick about it,” ordered -Laura, then added with a heartless giggle: “Two such drowned puppies I -never did see.” - -“You needn’t laugh,” retorted Billie, stripping off her wet stockings. -“For a second or two, there we were as near being truly drowned as I -ever care to be. How about it, Edina?” - -The girl turned a stricken face to Billie. - -“It was all my fault!” she said, in a low voice. “You tried to save my -life and I paid you back by doin’ my best to drown us both! Seems I’ll -never get over bein’ ashamed o’ myself.” - -It was a full ten minutes before the combined efforts of the girls -reassured Edina to the extent of persuading her to exchange her -dripping outfit for a dry one. - -“Tell me what you want to wear and I’ll sneak down the back stairs and -get it,” offered Laura. “In your present low mood,” she added, with a -chuckle, “I’d be afraid to leave you alone. You might hang yourself to -the nearest convenient chandelier.” - -“I might, at that,” returned Edina, with a reluctant smile. “I don’t -know why you girls are so nice to me. I sure don’t deserve it.” - -“People so seldom get their deserts in this life,” chuckled Laura. -She tossed an impish smile in the direction of Edina’s long face and -disappeared. - -She reappeared a few minutes later with an armful of clothes and an -exciting account of the adventures encountered in their acquisition. - -“I just missed Miss Johnson and bumped head-first into Debsy. ‘Must you -dash about in this frantic manner?’ inquired Debsy in a hurt voice. If -I’d stepped on her toe she couldn’t have sounded more injured! Here, -Edina, these are all I could find. Hope they’ll do.” - -“Guess they’ll have to.” Edina regarded Laura’s offering without -enthusiasm. “But I won’t look near as nice as I did before. I spent an -hour gettin’ ready for that duckin’ out on the pier.” - -The girls giggled hilariously. - -“Love’s labor lost,” said Vi, wiping her eyes. “Edina, you are putting -a lot of joy into my life!” - -So they made a joke of what easily might have been a tragedy. When -they rejoined the boys on the dock, Edina had lost much of her former -self-consciousness and was ready to laugh with the rest over what she -termed her “clodhopper clumsiness.” - -“Where’s Paul?” asked Billie. - -“Gone to change his clothes,” replied Teddy. “He hasn’t yet learned -the art of falling into the lake without getting wet.” - -“Said he’d join us at the island,” added Ferd Stowing. - -They made a great to-do about launching Edina safely. Ted and Chet and -Ferd held one of the rowboats close to the pier while Laura and Vi, -doubled with laughter, assisted their new friend into the craft. Edina -looked red and sheepish, but she joined in the good-natured merriment -at her expense. Edina was learning! - -“Stand back, Billie,” cried Laura. “If this girl tries another -high-diving act, it’s our turn to dash to the rescue. Look out there! -Ah, now she’s all right! Come on, everybody. Let’s go!” - -The little fleet was launched safely at last--Vi and Laura both in -Chet’s boat, since Paul Martinson was missing. - -They had gone only a few hundred yards from the dock when they saw -Paul himself rowing toward them from the direction of Boxton Military -Academy. - -“Didn’t take him long!” shouted Billie, from her comfortable place in -Teddy’s boat. - -“Ain’t boys wonderful!” Laura shouted back. - -Having arrived at the island, which was well out in the lake and -removed by a considerable expanse of water from both Boxton Academy and -Three Towers Hall, the boys and girls disembarked and began the real -business of the day. - -“Take care of those lunch baskets,” shrieked Billie, as the boat in -which they were rocked perilously. “Ferd Stowing, you nearly dumped -them in the lake!” - -“Well, I can’t take care of both the lunch and Edina,” asserted Ferd, -grinning. “Lend me a hand, someone!” - -At the thoughtless words of the lad who would not willingly hurt a fly, -Billie saw Edina color painfully. - -“All this fun at Edina’s expense has gone far enough,” she thought -indignantly. “It’s got to stop! I could slap Ferd Stowing!” - -“Why the frown, l’il Billie?” - -Billie looked up to find Paul Martinson at her elbow, smiling -quizzically down at her. - -“You look mad enough to bite a nail in six pieces,” continued the lad. -“Just what appears to be wrong?” - -An inspired thought chased the frown from Billie’s face. She smiled at -the tall, good-looking young cadet. - -“Paul, will you do me a favor?” - -“Dozens of ’em!” - -“Then be nice to Edina Tooker, will you? Awfully nice?” - -Paul looked quizzically in the direction of the girl to whom he must -be nice--awfully nice. Then his glance returned to Billie. - -“That shouldn’t be hard,” he said. “I think she’s a ripping girl, -really. Regular stunner.” - -“Oh, do you?” Billie’s lovely face glowed with delight. “Oh, Paul, I’m -so glad! That takes such a terrible weight off my mind!” - -Paul’s eyes rested questioningly on the pretty face for an instant, -then he said in an odd tone: - -“Billie Bradley, you are quite the nicest girl I have ever known!” With -the words, he walked over to Edina and proceeded to monopolize her -completely and thoroughly for the rest of that day. - -Teddy Jordon came up to Billie as she stared after Paul Martinson’s -straight young back. - -“What were you and Paul whispering about?” Teddy demanded jealously. -“If he has anything to say to you, can’t he say it out loud?” - -Billie glanced at him fleetingly and laughed. - -“Don’t be a silly, Ted. Paul just promised me to be nice to Edina. And -he has started right in to keep his promise, bless his heart! Come and -help me get the lunch fixed.” - -The boys had brought frankfurters, a huge bag of rolls, butter, and a -dozen ears of corn. Also they had brought the utensils to cook them in. - -“Why did we bother with chicken sandwiches and cake?” Laura wanted to -know. “If we should sit down and eat steadily for three solid days, -there would still be some frankfurters left. Are you boys quite mad?” - -“My good child, that remark just goes to show how greatly you misjudge -our capacities,” said Chet, busy over the fire. “I’m ready to bet right -now that there won’t be a sandwich or a frankfurter left--cracky, that -fire’s hot!” - -“It’s apt to be, especially when you put your hands in it,” observed Vi -unfeelingly. “Hi, Billie, what you got?” - -“Letters,” returned Billie, waving them. “I put them in my pocket -before I left and promptly forgot all about them. Here, Edina, is one -for you. Catch!” - -Edina caught the letter just as it flew past her, in the nick of time -to save it from landing in the midst of Chet’s fire. - -“Good catch,” applauded Paul, standing close to her. “Open your letter, -if you like. I’ll excuse you. I’ll even turn my back.” - -Since Paul kept his word, it so happened that Billie was the only one -facing Edina when the girl opened her letter. So also it was Billie who -rushed forward, alarmed at the girl’s sudden waxy pallor. - -“Why, Edina dear! what is it? Have you had bad news?” - -Edina stretched out a hand as though to push Billie away. Her color -returned in a hot wave. She spoke in a thick tone, wavering and -unsteady. - -“There ain’t nothin’--anything--wrong. Please don’t notice me. I’ll--be -all right--in a minute.” - -So it was Billie, staunch friend that she was, who turned the attention -of the young folks into other channels, who kept up a running fire -of nonsense, under cover of which Edina was once more able to resume -command of herself. - -The fact that the girl slipped the letter into her pocket without -reading to the end of it did not pass unnoticed by Billie, nor the fact -that Edina was distrait and silent for the rest of the long afternoon. - -“That letter was a terrible shock to her,” thought Billie. “I’d give -almost anything I own to know what was in it.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE MYSTERIOUS LETTER - - -It was a lovely picnic. The girls could not remember when they had -enjoyed anything so much. - -The boys put themselves out to be entertaining, the weather was -excellent. No one had ever tasted such nectar as those “hot dogs” -cooked in the open, corn boiled in a big, blackened pot over the -campfire and fairly dripping butter. Clarice’s chicken mayonnaise -sandwiches were not neglected, nor the cake with its filling of thick -almond cream. Never was such a feast. The young folks ate to repletion, -and then ate some more. - -Only Edina Tooker seemed to have lost her appetite. - -After the luncheon they sat around for an hour or two, too absolutely -comfortable and lazy to move. - -“Like anacondas, sunning themselves,” observed Vi lazily. - -Laura, half-asleep, opened one eye to stare at her reproachfully. - -“How complimentary you are! I refuse to be compared to any snake--even -an impressive one like the anaconda. Now, if anybody has anything more -to say, please don’t say it. I’m going to sleep!” - -After a while they roused themselves sufficiently to make a tour of the -island. Finding a little pool among the bushes, they made themselves -crude fishing tackle of tree branches, a ball of cord conveniently -produced by Chet from a roomy pocket, and a few fishhooks left by -someone in one of the boats. - -During an hour or two of fishing, Edina succeeded in hooking one poor -little fish which was so tiny and, Vi declared, looked at her so -pathetically she had not the heart to keep it. At any rate, she removed -it with gentle fingers from the hook and flung it back into the cool -depths of the little pool. - -“A fine fisherman you’d make!” scoffed Ferd. “Here you hook the best -catch of the afternoon and you aren’t sport enough to recognize good -fortune!” - -Edina shook her head, answering his badinage seriously. - -“It was too little to be any use, anyway. And I never could kill -anything just for the fun of killing it.” - -Here was a new light on Edina’s true character. How cruelly the girls -at the Hall had misjudged her, thought Billie. At heart Edina was -kindly and gentle, sympathetic and loyal. How gently she had removed -the poor little tortured fish from the hook! And yet the girls still -called her the “lion cub!” - -“She’s a darling,” thought Billie warmly. “And I’m glad I’ve stood by -her. I’d do it all over again if I had to!” - -After a while the young folks resumed their stroll and wound up finally -at the site of the campfire. - -Here they discovered that their appetites had miraculously revived. -Whereupon they fell upon what remained of the provisions and gobbled -them up. - -“What a swarm of locusts we are!” chuckled Laura, regarding the ruins -of their feast. “I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to eat again.” - -“Until to-morrow morning,” observed Billie drily. - -The premature shadows of autumn were falling over the lake when they -reluctantly decided that it was time to go back. - -Like all good woodsmen, they cleaned up the scene of their picnic until -everything was as neat and orderly as they had found it. - -“I hate to go,” said Vi, looking back longingly. “It’s probably the -last picnic we’ll have this year.” - -“Probably,” agreed Billie. “It’s always a little sad, saying good-by to -summer. And this year, what with the treasure hunt and Sun Dial Lodge, -we have had such marvelous fun.” - -Later, as the little fleet moved slowly across the water in the -direction of Three Towers Hall, the young folks sang, joining their -voices in the sweet old melodies of Juanita, Suwanee River, and ending -with the solemn and beautiful Now the Day Is Over. - -When they landed on the dock the shadows had descended in a gentle mist -over everything, touching familiar objects with a mysterious magic, -wrapping the young folks about in a pleasant isolation. - -In the shadows close to her, Billie heard some one sob. She turned -about, surprised, to find it was Edina who had made that choking, -desperate sound. - -“Why, Edina! What is it, dear? Edina, tell Billie!” - -“I love it all so!” said Edina, in a curious, harsh voice. “It’s been -such a wonderful day. I never knew what it was to be so happy!” - -“But, Edina, that’s nothing to cry about!” - -“That--that’s all you know! You shouldn’t ’a’ been so nice to me--you -shouldn’t, you shouldn’t! If I have to go away from here now--it -will--just clean--break my heart!” - -Edina whirled quickly and vanished in the mist and the shadows, leaving -Billie to wonder if she had not dreamed the curious interview. - -“What’s the matter with her?” Vi stood at Billie’s elbow. “She’s upset -about something, isn’t she? Could it be anything Paul Martinson said or -did, do you suppose?” - -Billie shook her head. - -“Paul has been a lamb. I overheard him invite her to the hop at Boxton -on the third.” - -“What then?” - -“I don’t know.” Billie spoke wearily. Her knee was beginning to hurt -again--and the tennis tournament was only a little over two weeks away! -“Unless there was bad news in the letter I gave her to-day,” she added. -“I thought there was at the time. Now I am practically sure of it.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE GIFT CLUB - - -Upon the matter of the mysterious letter and its contents, Edina Tooker -maintained a stubborn silence. Even Billie Bradley, with all her -cajolery, could not win a single word of explanation. - -“There wasn’t nothing--anything--in it you’d be interested to hear,” -she persisted. “And there on the dock I acted pretty silly. I’d take -it a great favor if you’d forget about it, Billie, and not ask me -no--any--more questions.” - -What could Billie do after that but acquiesce? However, though the -topic of the letter disappeared from her conversations with Edina, she -was not at all satisfied with the girl’s explanation, or rather, lack -of explanation. - -That the contents of the mysterious letter had come as a severe shock -to Edina, Billie had not the slightest doubt. Proof of it had been in -her face during that one unguarded moment beside the campfire; further -proof, if any were needed, had been forthcoming during that other -unguarded moment on the dock when the girl from the West had opened -her heart to Billie. - -That talk of leaving Three Towers Hall. What did it mean? Was there any -actual possibility of Edina being forced to such a thing? Was something -wrong with those oil wells out in Oklahoma? Edina had gone so far as to -admit that the letter was from home. Had the visionary Paw of Edina’s -childhood overreached himself again? - -Billie wondered, but, in the face of Edina’s resolute silence, could -find no answer. - -Meanwhile, the girl from the West became increasingly silent and -thoughtful. She rarely spoke unless first spoken to, and almost never -smiled. - -“She acts like a person with a dreadful secret,” observed Vi upon one -occasion when Edina had been more than usually uncommunicative. - -“A worm is gnawing at the heart of the rosy apple,” Laura agreed. -“Maybe she is trying to keep the family skeleton in its closet. Most -families have them.” - -Vi giggled. - -“It’s hard to think of skeletons in relation to Edina Tooker!” she said. - -The two girls were in the study hall preparing their lessons for the -next day. Vi struggled with her always-difficult “math” while Laura -marshaled ideas for a composition on “The Relation of Science to World -Progress.” - -Into this studious atmosphere Billie dashed like a breath of cool fresh -air. With her were Rose Belser and Connie Danvers. - -“Miss Gay is going to leave to be married,” Billie announced without -preamble. “A number of the girls are keen to form a gift club and raise -some money for a really nice parting gift.” - -“You’ve got to be chairman of the club, Billie,” said Connie. “Now, -don’t object. You are already elected--unanimously. Isn’t she, Rose?” - -“Of course. If you don’t accept the chairmanship, Billie, there won’t -be any club.” - -Billie laughingly protested. - -“Talk about being railroaded into a position----” - -“Oh, hush up! You are already elected.” - -“There’s the question of the treasurer,” Connie went on. “Which, when -you come to think of it, is even more important than the chairmanship.” - -“We will have to pick on someone with an honest countenance,” chuckled -Laura, adding, with a wicked air of innocence: “At first, casual -glance, I can’t think of a single person for the place.” - -In revenge, Vi tweaked her ear and Connie pulled her hair. - -Rose observed drawlingly: - -“Certainly no one would ever pick you for the place, dear child!” - -“Stop squabbling and listen to me,” cried Billie. “How would Edina do?” - -There was a moment of dead silence while the other girls in the room -stared at Billie as though they were not quite sure they had heard -correctly. - -Before any one could speak, Billie backed her proposition with argument. - -“Don’t you see, the girl is new here and she isn’t quite sure of her -position among us, yet. Giving her a post like that would be like a -vote of confidence.” - -“I’ll say it would,” retorted Rose Belser drily. “It would go further -than that. It would _be_ a vote of confidence. Speaking for myself, I -don’t know as I’m quite ready for that yet, Billie.” - -“I’d stake my life that she is as honest and as worthy to be trusted as -you or I,” said Billie hotly. She paused and regarded the silent girls -with sudden suspicion. “You don’t mean to say you think she isn’t to be -trusted, do you?” - -“Not so fast, Billie,” Rose spoke soothingly. “Certainly this girl that -you seem so keen about has never done anything to make us distrust her. -It’s only that she is new and it seems to me that an important post -like this should go to one of the older girls--someone we know we can -trust.” - -Billie wavered. There was justice in what Rose said. Still, the picture -of Edina rose to haunt her, Edina pale and silent, Edina making a -desperate effort to hide some secret unhappiness or fear. An offer of -this sort now--it would be a vote of confidence--might be just the -thing she needed to bolster up her self-confidence and help her forget -whatever it was that was worrying her. - -Very badly Billie coveted that post for Edina. What was the use, she -thought rebelliously, of being one of the most influential girls at -Three Towers Hall, if she could not have her way once in a while? - -She turned pleadingly to the girls. - -“If I am to be chairman of the committee, I want Edina to be treasurer. -I have a very private and special reason for wanting it. Really, I -have. Can’t you girls do this much for me?” - -When they did not reply at once, Billie shrugged and turned away. - -“Very well!” she said coldly. “If that’s the way you feel about it, I -guess you will have to find another chairman!” - -Connie groaned. - -“Bring her back, somebody! Billie, you nit-wit, come back here! -Rose--girls--if we have to take Edina to get Billie; we’ll have to take -Edina, that’s all.” - -“You win, Billie,” Rose surrendered. “I suppose if you proposed Amanda -Peabody for the post, we’d give in just the same,” she added ruefully. - -“You won’t regret it,” said Billie earnestly. “I’d stake my life on -Edina’s honesty.” - -Later that afternoon a formal meeting was held in the gymnasium. All -the students were invited, the purpose of the Gift Club explained to -them, and their support solicited. - -The business of selecting officers for the club was quickly disposed of. - -Billie was accepted almost unanimously as chairman, Connie Danvers was -elected to the secretaryship on almost as great a wave of popularity. - -“Not that I want the place at all,” Connie confided to Vi. “It’s the -most thankless of all jobs--and the driest. I don’t know what I have -ever done to have it wished on me!” Nevertheless, in her heart Connie -was as pleased as any other normal girl would be at this proof of -popularity. - -When Edina’s name was proposed for treasurer and promptly seconded -there was a little murmur of surprise. Girls regarded their neighbors -thoughtfully and began to whisper among themselves. Edina appeared the -most surprised of them all. She was starting to her feet as though to -protest when Billie tugged at her and whispered sharply: - -“Sit down, you great goose! I want the post for you!” - -Edina won from her opponent, the pretty doll-faced Jessie Brewer, by a -small majority. - -“Congratulations, treasurer,” whispered Billie triumphantly. “I’m so -glad, Edina. I knew they’d take you!” - -When Billie rose to take the chair from Rose Belser, who had so far -conducted the meeting, she was greeted by a prolonged handclapping and -cries of, “Speech! Speech! We want a speech!” - -When the noise died down a voice in the crowd was heard to say quite -distinctly: - -“It’s all a fake! Edina Tooker was railroaded into the job because -Billie Bradley wanted her. Well, they’ll wait a long time before they -get any of my money!” - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -A DREADFUL DISCOVERY - - -For a moment there was dead silence in the room. Then Edina Tooker -jumped to her feet and faced the shocked, attentive girls. Her hands -were clenched at her sides. Her face was fiery with anger. - -“Who said that?” she demanded. - -When there was no answer except a snicker somewhere in the crowd, she -added furiously: - -“You don’t need to answer. I know your voice. I’d know it anywhere, -Amanda Peabody! If you are trying to call me a crook, come on up before -all these girls and do it! Come on! I dare you!” - -When there was still no answer, Edina relaxed; over her face spread a -look of contempt. - -“You don’t dare!” she said. “And I’ll tell you why. You’re a bully and -a coward and the meanest girl in this here--in this school.” - -She paused for a moment while Amanda got up and marched to the door. -Before passing through it, Amanda turned to fire one parting shot. - -“You can call names, if you like. I don’t care. They never hurt -anyone. But I mean just what I said. I wouldn’t trust you with a cent!” - -When the door had slammed behind the unpleasant girl, Edina spoke to -the group of students who had just raised her to a place of honor among -them. Her speech was simple, direct, and to the point. - -“If there’s any more among you who feel like Amanda Peabody does about -me, I’d be pleased to have you say so.” - -There was a dead silence that in many ways was more disconcerting than -Amanda’s accusation. It was Billie who came to the rescue of the new -treasurer. - -“You girls have elected Edina Tooker of your own free will. After what -Amanda Peabody has said, I think it is only fair to give her a vote of -confidence. Now altogether--three rousing cheers!” - -The cheers were given with fair enthusiasm, thanks to the effect of -Billie’s personality upon her fellow students. However, Amanda’s -accusation had raised a doubt in the minds of many of them, a doubt -that Edina was quick to feel and that Billie thought best to ignore. - -The remainder of the business was quickly concluded. Miss Geraldine -Gay, a pretty young teacher in the lower grades, was very popular among -all the students of Three Towers Hall. The fact that she was about to -be married to a handsome young man named Bryant Cummings lent an added -glamour to the personality of the young teacher. The girls wished to -give her a wedding present that would serve as a testimonial to Miss -Gay of their affection for her and their good wishes for her future -happiness. - -“Now,” said Billie when the selection of the officers had been -concluded and the routine organization finished, “we will waive -formality and pass the hat. Everybody ready?” - -The girls were generous with contributions from their pocket money. -When the contribution was counted the new officers of the Gift Club -were amazed and delighted to find that the total amount was sixty-five -dollars. - -Ray Carew rose to make a suggestion. - -“Madam Chairman, several of the girls have whispered to me that they -won’t be able to contribute until certain--er--packets arrive from -home----” - -There was a general giggle at this and Billie rapped for order. - -“I think we quite understand the--er--financial embarrassment of some -of our fellow members,” she said, with a smile. “We have already -decided to keep the fund open for several days. At the end of that time -we will take a general vote as to what is to be done with the money.” - -Amid a clamor of voices the meeting broke up and the girls filed out, -apparently well-satisfied with their part in the proceedings. - -Billie, Connie, Laura, and Vi were left behind with Edina Tooker in the -big emptied gymnasium. Billie thrust the sixty-five dollars in bills -and change toward Edina. - -“Here, treasurer, you will have to take care of this in the future.” - -Edina regarded the money doubtfully. Under considerable urging she -scooped it up and deposited it in her new pocketbook. - -“I never did like the job of lookin’ out for other folks’ cash,” she -protested. “Suppose I should lose it?” - -“That’s your job from now on,” said Connie Danvers, with a shrewd but -not unkindly glance. “I’d suggest you sleep with it under your pillow.” - -This advice was followed undeviatingly by Edina during the uneasy days -that followed. Nightly, the new-made treasurer was haunted by dreams -wherein bold robbers with masks and enormous forty-fives dashed out of -dark alleys or around street corners, demanding her money or her life. - -The fund grew astonishingly, and, with it, Edina’s responsibility. On -the fourth day after the election of officers it had reached the--to -Edina--terrifying sum of two hundred and sixty dollars. - -It was then that the new treasurer made up her mind to go in search of -Billie. - -She found the latter on the tennis courts, playing against Amanda -Peabody. Edina frowned her disapproval. Billie had promised to rest -that knee for the big contest, now only a few days off. This was the -way she kept her promise, prancing all over the court with that hateful -Amanda Peabody! - -As though in answer to Edina’s thoughts, someone beside her said: - -“Isn’t it awful! She just let that horrible girl pester her into -playing. Now she will cripple herself, most likely, for the big match.” - -“How’s the score?” demanded Edina. - -“Even, two all, with this game thirty love in Billie’s favor. It’s been -a lovely game to watch, but Billie is nearly all in. See how she limps!” - -“It’s an outrage!” cried Edina. “Why doesn’t someone stop her?” - -“Try to do it!” said the girl at her side, who had turned out to be -Nellie Bane. - -“All right,” said Edina, her lips compressed. “I’ll not only try. I’ll -_do_ it! Watch me!” - -As she started off toward the court, Nellie tried to hold her back; but -Edina was not to be held. She paused on the edge of the court. - -“Billie,” bawled Edina in a tone not to be ignored. “Come here, please! -I’ve got to see you right away!” - -Startled, Billie faltered, fouled a perfectly good ball into the net -and turned impatiently. - -“Thirty-fifteen!” called Amanda. - -“Billie, I’ve got to see you right away!” Edina’s tone was urgent, -imperative. It was as though her very life depended upon Billie’s -acquiescence. “You can finish the set some other time.” - -Billie shouldered her racket and waved to Amanda. - -“I don’t know what’s wanted, but it seems to be important.” - -“I get the set then by default,” called Amanda. - -Billie nodded. - -“Meet you again--soon,” she promised. - -Nellie Bane, who had been watching the by-play with great interest, -heaved a sigh when she saw Billie and Edina leave the courts and walk -off in the direction of the Hall. - -“That girl, Edina Tooker, knows what she wants when she wants it,” -mused Nellie. “My, won’t Billie be mad when she finds it’s all a hoax!” - -Billie was mad. She regarded Edina with such frigid curiosity that it -is a miracle that girl did not turn into an icicle at once. - -“You mean to say you dragged me off the courts when I was winning--when -I was _winning_--just for a whim or because it amuses you to get me in -bad with that horrid Amanda Peabody?” - -“No, Billie,” pleaded poor Edina. She was feeling the full weight of -Billie’s wrath for the first time and it made her miserable. “It wasn’t -for fun. I could see you were limping and I knew--well, I knew you -shouldn’t be playin’ with Amanda Peabody just now and----” - -“It seems to me I should be the best judge of that,” said Billie -frigidly. - -“Maybe so. But there’s good judges and bad judges and just then you -wasn’t bein’ so all-fired good. I’m sorry if you’re mad at me--and that -will probably make you madder--but, like George Washington, I can’t -tell a lie!” - -“You’ve put me in a false position,” stormed Billie. “Amanda will say -I was afraid to finish the set, and there won’t be any one to disagree -with her, since I won’t tell her the truth.” - -“You can _show_ her the truth next week,” said Edina gently. “That is, -if you rest that knee and get yourself into shape----” - -“The knee is better,” declared Billie. “It only hurt a little to-day.” - -“But it might have hurt a lot if you’d kept on going,” Edina pointed -out. After a minute she added: “Anyway I did have something important -to speak to you about, Billie.” - -“What is it?” asked Billie listlessly. - -“About the gift fund. It’s grown so big it scares me. With that five -dollars Jessica Holt put in yesterday it’s touched the two hundred and -sixty mark.” - -Billie opened her eyes wide. - -“That much? I’d no idea!” - -“I’m scared to death I’ll lose it or something will happen to it,” -Edina went on hurriedly. “What I really wanted to ask you when I -set out to look for you and found you on the courts was whether you -wouldn’t come into Molata with me. I could deposit the money in the -bank there in the name of the Gift Club. After that,” with a rueful -grin, “mebbe I’d be able to sleep some nights!” - -Billie glanced at the watch on her wrist. - -“We have time now if we hurry. I think it’s a good idea, Edina. Two -hundred and sixty dollars! That’s a lot of money!” - -“We could buy Miss Gay a limousine with that,” chuckled Edina, -delighted to find that Billie was recovering her good humor. - -The girls went in to get their wraps. Billie stopped in Miss Walters’ -office to explain where she and Edina were bound and to promise to be -home well before dark, then went to the dormitory for Edina. - -On the steps of the Hall they almost collided with Amanda Peabody and -Eliza Dilks. Amanda swung her racket and regarded Billie with malicious -triumph. - -“You had a very important engagement, didn’t you, Billie Bradley?” she -taunted. - -“Not nearly so important as the engagement I have with you next week,” -retorted Billie, coolly, referring to the tournament. “And that -engagement I promise to keep!” - -When they had passed beyond earshot of Amanda’s mocking laughter, -Billie glanced at Edina. - -“You see?” she said. “You have put me in a very false position, Edina -Tooker. While I have forgiven you, Amanda will take good care I don’t -forget!” - -A rural trolley line ran from the suburban districts into the town of -Molata. It being an ideal fall day Billie and Edina found the trip both -pleasant and soothing. By the time they had reached the one bank the -township boasted, Billie had completely recovered her good humor. - -“Hand over your money and your troubles are at an end,” she directed -Edina. “No more dreams of highwaymen and thugs. Edina! Why do you look -like that?” - -The girl had opened her pocketbook and was staring stupidly at the -contents. - -“The money!” she gasped. “The money’s gone!” - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE ACCUSATION - - -“The money’s gone!” repeated Edina Tooker. - -Billie Bradley would not believe it. - -“You must be crazy, Edina--or you haven’t half looked!” - -She seized the hand bag from the girl’s nerveless grasp and began to -ransack it with eager fingers. - -“It’s no use,” said Edina in a dazed voice. “I wrapped the money up in -a paper and put it there last night. To-day it’s gone!” - -Aware that they were attracting the attention of others in the bank, -Billie pulled Edina over to a seat against the wall. - -“Here,” she said. “We’ll pull this thing inside out. We have to find -the money, Edina.” - -The girl nodded dumbly. Tears overflowed from her eyes and ran down her -face. Absent-mindedly she wiped them away with the corner of a new silk -pocket handkerchief. - -Billie dumped the contents of Edina’s hand bag into her lap, scrambling -them with eager fingers. - -There was a vanity case--a newly acquired luxury, to the buying of -which Edina had been egged on by Billie herself. There was a tiny -blue-enameled pocket comb, a small purse containing a few pieces of -silver, a shopping list, and a roll of bills amounting to ten dollars. - -“That’s all mine,” said Edina dully. “The gift money is gone.” - -“If you say that once more, I’ll scream,” cried Billie. “Stop crying, -Edina, do. You have got to pull yourself together if we are going to -work this thing out. Let me think! You say you wrapped the money in a -paper late yesterday afternoon?” - -Edina nodded, twisting the silk handkerchief nervously between her -fingers. - -“You say that was the last time you saw it?” - -Again Edina nodded. - -“What did you do with it last night?” - -“I put it in my trunk and locked it. It has a queer lock with a key -that looks like a humped-backed old man. No ordinary key could open -that lock!” She looked pleadingly at Billie. - -“What did you do with the key?” - -“Slept with it on a string around my neck. I sleep light, too. Nobody -could possibly ’a’ got that key off my neck without me knowin’ it.” - -Billie nodded and was thoughtful for some time. - -“How about to-day?” - -“All day long my pocketbook has been in the locked trunk and the key -was around my neck,” said Edina doggedly. “No one could ’a’ touched it -without first knockin’ me dead, Billie.” - -“Well, then--I don’t see----” The amateur sleuth paused, temporarily -at a loss. “It couldn’t have been somebody in the street car, coming -out, Edina? A pickpocket, you know. I’ve heard they are very quick with -their hands.” - -“There ain’t none of ’em quick enough to have got this pocketbook away -from me,” Edina retorted grimly. “Anyway, I was holdin’ my hand over -the top of it all the way--just for fear someone would get a hold of -it.” - -Billie jumped to her feet. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks were -almost feverishly flushed. - -“Then if you are quite sure of this, the money must be up at Three -Towers. You have dropped the money out of your pocketbook--perhaps when -you picked it up.” - -Edina started to say that she could not possibly have done any such -thing; but Billie was beyond listening to her. - -“Come along,” she cried, with feverish impatience. “We’ve got to get -back right away--before any one finds that packet and makes off with -it!” - -Billie’s impatience infected Edina. The two girls rushed for the street -car, caught it by the barest margin, and sat twiddling their fingers in -desperate suspense during the seemingly interminable ride back to Three -Towers Hall. - -Released by the trolley, they rushed to Edina’s dormitory. As luck -would have it, the long room was empty and they at once began a -feverish search of everything in it, beginning with Edina’s trunk and -winding up by peering under mattresses and into pillow slips. - -“Nothing!” panted Billie. She sat down on the edge of Edina’s bed to -rest “Edina! Edina! Where has that money gone?” - -“I’d just about give ten years of my life to know,” returned Edina. - -She sat down on the bed beside Billie. Her hands felt cold but her head -was throbbing feverishly. - -“Billie,” she said dully, “it’s the end of everything for me here.” - -“Nonsense!” said Billie, and took one of the cold hands and held it -tight. - -“It is,” said Edina. “They’ll say I took that money, Billie. What’s -worse, they’ll _think_ I took it.” - -“I won’t,” said Billie. - -“I know you won’t. I think you’re the only one here who really knows -me. It’s been a long hard fight with the rest. Now they will think I -took the money and it will be the end of everything for me. I--I was -beginning to be so happy here.” - -Before Billie could say a word of comfort or reassurance the door -opened and several of the younger girls flocked in. Their talk and -laughter died at sight of Billie and Edina. - -“Well!” said a dark-haired, dark-eyed, pert little thing. “You two look -as if you’d been talking secrets. What’s up?” - -Before Billie could stop her or could even be sure what she was going -to do, Edina got to her feet and faced the curious girls. - -Her eyes were red with crying, her fingers clasped and unclasped -nervously, but her voice was steady as she said: - -“I suppose you might as well know now as any time. That money the girls -trusted me with, the money to buy the present for Miss Gay, I--I’ve -lost it. Or it has been stolen!” - -The news spread like wildfire. - -Billie dragged Edina to her dormitory, hoping to protect the girl, only -to find her own friends lying in wait for her. - -There was a crowd already gathered there, a crowd that increased in -numbers rapidly. At sight of it, Edina shrank within herself and would -have fled cravenly had it not been for Billie’s grip upon her hand. - -“No use running away,” Billie whispered fiercely. “It’s far better to -stay and face the music.” - -Ray Carew pushed her way to Billie’s side. She eyed Edina coldly. - -“I’ve heard so many rumors that I don’t know what to believe and what -not to,” she said. “What is all this about the Gift Club money being -lost, Billie?” - -“I’m afraid it’s true,” said Billie gravely. “Only in my opinion it has -been stolen--not lost.” - -Briefly but graphically, she gave an account of her and Edina’s trip -to the bank in Molata, of their surprise and consternation when Edina -discovered the loss of the money. - -Laura, who had taken a firm stand at Billie’s side, turned to Edina. - -“Didn’t you look inside your pocketbook before you started downtown?” -she asked. - -Edina crimsoned. - -“No,” she admitted. “I was so sure the money was there I--I--didn’t -bother to look.” - -“A fine treasurer!” came shrilly from the fringe of the crowd. - -“I should ’a’ looked,” confessed Edina miserably. “I’ll never forgive -myself for--for not lookin’.” - -Billie’s grip tightened reassuringly upon her fingers. - -“Hold fast,” she whispered. - -“Let’s get this straight,” said Ray Carew. “Your story is that you took -your purse from your locked trunk about two o’clock this afternoon. You -don’t know that the money was there then, because you didn’t bother to -look,” there was the faintest sarcasm in Ray’s drawling tones. - -“I’m sure the money was there then,” Edina persisted doggedly. “Nobody -could get into my trunk without breaking the lock--and the lock wasn’t -broken.” - -“Well, let’s say that the money was in your purse when you took it from -the trunk,” Ray conceded. “You took the purse in your hand then. Was -there anyone in the room with you?” - -“No one except Billie,” said Edina. - -“Well, now, think hard. This may be quite important. Did you hold the -pocketbook in your hand every moment from the time you took it from the -trunk to the moment you opened it in the Molata bank?” - -Edina pondered the question, brows knitted. - -“I--I think so.” - -“Thinking won’t do,” said Ray inexorably. “Don’t you know?” - -Edina thought again and finally shook her head in miserable -bewilderment. - -“I can’t be absolutely sure--I don’t seem to remember very well. I’m -practically sure I didn’t lay down that there pocketbook for a minute, -but----” - -“Yes you did, Edina!” Billie cried triumphantly. - -“Where--when----” stuttered Edina. - -“You put it down on the table for a minute while you went to the -bathroom at the last moment to wash your hands. Don’t you remember?” - -“I can’t seem to think,” replied Edina hesitatingly. “If I only could -be sure----” - -Ray Carew turned a serious face to Billie. - -“Are you sure of that, Billie?” - -Someone in the group snickered and a voice not hard to identify as -Amanda Peabody’s said meaningly: - -“If Billie Bradley was in the room alone with that money, what was to -prevent her making off with it herself?” - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -EVIDENCE PILES UP - - -For a moment there was such dead silence in the room that one could -easily have heard a pin drop. - -Then Billie said in a clear, hard voice: - -“Are you suggesting that I stole the Gift Club money, Amanda Peabody?” - -“Because if you are,” cried Laura fiercely, “I’ll settle with you now, -you miserable sneak, once and for all!” - -“Girls! Girls!” pleaded Ray Carew. “Don’t let’s fight among ourselves. -What Amanda just said is too silly to notice. I think you had better -apologize, Amanda. You won’t be very popular until you do.” - -A murmur of assent rose from the girls, a murmur so fierce and -insistent, that Amanda was temporarily cowed. - -“Oh, all right,” she muttered surlily. “Maybe I didn’t mean that Billie -Bradley did it. But the thing looks very queer to me, just the same.” - -The thing looked very queer to everybody. As the dreary days dragged -by things looked queerer and queerer. The mystery grew blacker and -blacker and the general interest and indignation aroused over the -mysterious disappearance of that two hundred and sixty dollars amounted -to a school revolution. - -Many at first stood for Edina, partly for Billie’s sake, partly because -they could not bring themselves to believe that the girl from the -West would deliberately misappropriate funds entrusted to her by her -comrades. - -However, little by little bits of evidence piled up against the -treasurer of the Gift Club. - -Nellie Bane came back to the Hall one day from a trip into town with -information that blanched Billie’s face and for a moment shook even her -staunch belief in Edina. - -“I barged into this shop to buy a pair of shoes,” so went Nellie’s -breathless story, “and when the salesman reached into his till for -change, he pulled out a five dollar gold piece.” She paused and -regarded the intent ring of faces for a long, impressive moment. “It -was the very same gold piece that I handed over to Edina Tooker as my -contribution to the Gift Club fund!” - -A deep sigh burst from the group. Billie sat back and passed her hand -over her forehead. - -“But I don’t see--That is, how did you know----” - -“That it was _my_ gold piece?” Nellie finished eagerly. “Well, here’s -how I knew! I said some idiotic things to the shoe clerk about how -pretty gold money is--because, you see, I was suddenly anxious, very -anxious, to know where that particular gold piece had come from. - -“The clerk seemed willing enough to talk, and he said it had been paid -to him just two days before by a stunning-looking girl who said she -came from Three Towers Hall. You can imagine how I felt then!” - -“Did you ask the clerk to describe this girl?” asked Billie faintly. - -“Of course. And, girls, the description fitted Edina Tooker like a -glove. It just couldn’t have been any one else! Edina spent my five -dollar gold piece for a pair of shoes!” - -Billie got to her feet. - -“I don’t believe it, Nellie,” she said quietly. “No matter how -strong the evidence is against Edina Tooker, I never will--I never -_can_--believe that she is a thief!” - -She hesitated, started off, and then came back to them again. - -“Let’s put the thing reasonably. What possible motive would Edina -Tooker have for stealing our poor little Gift Club fund? She doesn’t -need it. Her father is a rich man.” - -“So she says!” - -Billie shrugged. - -“It’s the truth, just the same. You can look it up if you like!” - -How little did Billie guess that in giving that permission or in making -that suggestion she was lighting the fuse to a stick of dynamite! - -One of the girls who had listened with interest to Nellie Bane’s story -went directly to her room and began to write a letter. - -It was some days later that the same girl, bursting with news and -importance, dashed into the midst of an “agitation meeting” that was -being held in the school gymnasium. - -Billie had been addressing the meeting, urging moderation in their -treatment of Edina, trying to sound hopeful in her prophecy that the -money would “turn up yet.” - -Into this atmosphere, already surcharged with conflicting emotions, -dashed the girl who had written the letter on the memorable day of -Nellie Bane’s story. Her name was Nancy Cutter and she carried another -letter which she waved about her head as though it had been a flag and -this the occasion of a celebration. - -Billie’s heart sank as she recognized, or thought she recognized, -fresh trouble for Edina. She gave a hasty look around to make sure -that the girl from Oklahoma was not present. With relief, she realized -that Edina had decided not to brave the meeting. It was just as well. -Billie herself had urged her to stay away. - -“What is it, Nancy?” asked Billie quietly. - -The excited girl shoved the letter into her hand. - -“It’s something about Edina Tooker. I thought you might like to read -it, Billie!” - -Billie shook her head. - -“If it’s anything against Edina, I don’t want to read it, Nancy.” - -A chorus of voices rose in protest. - -“Read it, Nancy!” - -“Tell us what’s in the letter!” - -“Read it aloud!” - -Happy to be in the limelight, Nancy faced the crowd, waving the letter -over her head again as though it had been a flag. - -“It’s from my aunt and uncle in Oklahoma. I wrote them to find out what -I could about Paw Tooker and his million dollar oil well.” - -There was a titter among the crowd. Billie clenched her hands. - -“Meddler!” she cried, under her breath. - -Nancy Cutter read slowly and distinctly from the letter. - - “‘I was surprised by your inquiries in regard to Peter Tooker, - my dear Nancy. Tooker is quite a character in these parts, a - visionary, a dreamer, a seeker after the impossible. I was still - more surprised to hear that he had a daughter at Three Towers - Hall. It was the first mention I have ever heard of a daughter.’ - -“Now listen to this!” Nancy adjusted her attentive audience. “The best -is still to come! - - “‘I believe there was some excitement for a while about a report - of the discovery of oil on the old fellow’s property. There was - immense activity there for a time. But it is over now. Just - yesterday I met a man who said Tooker’s wells had gone dry.’ - -“There!” cried Nancy triumphantly. “I told you all that talk about -Edina being rich was a fake.” - -Billie was on her feet, fighting desperately for her friend. - -“I don’t believe it. That letter is all a mis----” - -She stopped suddenly, her eyes on someone who had just entered the -gymnasium. - -“No,” a voice said, clearly and distinctly. “Everything that Nancy -Cutter read is true!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -A RIOT - - -The girls, chattering like a group of magpies and flinging curious, -unfriendly glances toward Edina, had gone. Billie was alone with her in -the big, silent, echoing gymnasium. - -Edina sat on a bench, her hands clasped before her, a wooden, miserable -figure. - -Billie paced restlessly up and down, up and down----suddenly she paused -in front of Edina. - -“Why didn’t you tell me, if you knew? You should have told me, Edina. -It wasn’t fair to leave me in the dark.” - -Edina nodded. - -“I know that. I meant to tell you as soon as I heard from home that -Paw’s wells had gone dry. But, somehow, after tellin’ such wonderful -tales about him, seems like I couldn’t bear to take them back. The -truth,” with a bitter grimace, “wasn’t half so pretty!” - -“When did you get the bad news from home?” Billie queried. She paused -before Edina and regarded her intently, while proceeding to answer her -own question. “It was the day we had the picnic over on the island, -wasn’t it? The day you read the letter I handed you and you turned so -white I thought you were going to faint?” - -Edina nodded miserably. - -“Yes, I knew then that Paw’s luck had gone back on him like it always -had before. But I didn’t say anything. I guess--I was holdin’ on to the -hope that it wasn’t so; that mebbe if I waited and said nothin’ for a -few days I’d wake up and find that that news was only a bad dream.” - -Billie paused in her restless pacing. She appeared to have come to a -decision. - -“Everything appears to be just as bad for us as it possibly can be, -Edina. But since you know and I know that you didn’t steal that money -there’s just one thing to be done.” - -Edina asked without interest: - -“What?” - -Billie stiffened her back and a purposeful glint came into her eye. - -“Find the real thief!” - -Billie wasted no time putting her decision to work. She had never -fancied herself particularly as a detective, yet now she set herself to -the task with a will. - -In regard to the stolen money, her thoughts returned again and again -to that few minutes when Edina had abandoned her hand bag and its -precious contents to wash her hands before going downtown to place the -money in the bank. - -Billie herself, busy with her own thoughts and still smarting over the -fact that she had been tricked into leaving the tennis court without -finishing that set with Amanda, had stood with her back to the room, -looking from the window. - -Billie was willing to admit that someone might have entered the room -during that interval, opened Edina’s bag, seized the precious roll of -money, and disappeared without being seen by either her or Edina. - -If this reasoning were taken from the realm of sheer surmise, if it had -in it some elements of fact, then who could it be who had entered that -room during the few moments when Billie’s back was turned? - -“That certainly is my problem,” thought Billie. “A hard one to solve, -I’ll admit; harder than any I’ve ever helped Vi with! But I’ll find the -answer. I must!” - -Of course, there was always the possibility that one of the students in -the school might be the thief, but as Billie reviewed the list of her -acquaintances, this possibility became increasingly far-fetched. - -Amanda Peabody might have done it for spite, in the hope of -discrediting both Edina and Billie. However, Billie knew the unpleasant -girl too well to entertain any serious belief of her guilt. Amanda was -a coward and while she delighted in small meannesses, would hesitate, -Billie felt sure, before an act involving such serious consequences. - -“Why, we could put her in jail for stealing two hundred and sixty -dollars,” thought Billie. She shuddered with dread at the realization -that this same punishment might be meted out to Edina, provided the -real thief were not caught! - -“The real thief must be caught,” she told herself, for perhaps the -hundredth time, and went on with her cogitations. - -The elimination of the students and the teachers narrowed the list of -suspects to the servants at the Hall. - -Clarice, the cook? Perhaps--though Billie was loath to suspect -anyone who made such excellent chocolate cake. There were three -maids and a scrubwoman who attended to the general cleaning of the -dormitories and the study halls. Anyone of them might---- - -Billie swung her feet to the floor and stood up. For some time there -had been the sound of voices beneath the window. The voices had -steadily increased in volume until now they broke with rude force into -her meditations. - -“Sounds like a riot,” thought Billie. - -A voice, raised above the rest, cried shrilly: - -“Arrest her! That’s the thing to do! Maybe then she’ll tell what she -did with our money!” - -Other voices joined in the cry. - -“Arrest her! Arrest her! She’s nothing but a thief!” - -Billie lingered to hear no more, but, turning, fled from the dormitory. -When she emerged into the grounds she found a large group of students -gathered there. In the midst of them, badgered, desperate, stood Edina -Tooker! - -Billie set her lips grimly and thrust her way through the crowd. - -The girls gave way reluctantly and pressed more closely about her as -Billie took up her position beside the tormented girl. - -“Get away, Billie!” one of them cried. “This isn’t your business any -more!” - -Billie faced them furiously. - -“I’ll show you that it’s my business!” - -Her voice was drowned in a chorus of angry cries. - -“We want Edina!” - -“Billie can’t stop us any more. Get out of the way, Billie!” - -“We’ll have her arrested! Then maybe she’ll give us our money back!” - -Billie was helpless. Although she flung an arm about Edina and tried by -main force to push the girls away, they only surged the closer. - -Hands reached out. They touched Edina, caught her! She was being -dragged away! - -Billie felt that she was in a nightmare where every sense was impotent. -She spoke, but could not make her voice heard. She used her strength, -and was powerless. They were dragging Edina away! - -Suddenly a voice spoke sharply, authoritatively, from the school steps. -Instantly the crowd about Billie and Edina gave back. The girls lapsed -into sullen silence. - -“I am amazed! I am shocked!” said Miss Sara Walters in cool, clipped -tones. “Never before has it been my doubtful privilege to witness such -a demonstration from these school steps. I trust that it will never be -necessary for me to witness such a disgraceful exhibition again. Go to -your dormitories and remain there until the supper bell rings!” - -The crowd dispersed rapidly and faded away. Miss Walters disappeared -within doors. Billie and Edina were left alone. - -“You see!” said Edina drearily. “They are all against me, Billie. I -don’t believe there is a girl at Three Towers--except you--who doesn’t -think I’m a thief.” - -“It was dreadful--disgraceful!” Billie was trembling with reaction from -her fury. “It seems impossible to believe girls could be so wicked, so -cruel!” - -Edina shook her head. - -“They think I’ve lied to them. They think I’ve cheated them. They want -their money, and you can’t rightly blame them. I guess I’d best be -gettin’ back to Paw and Maw.” - -“No!” cried Billie. “You will stay here and fight it out!” - -Many times in the days that followed Billie Bradley was to doubt the -wisdom of this decision. Edina was acutely miserable; she was subject -to constant snubs, slights, insults, at the hands of her fellow -students. She became pitifully pale and thin and kept to her room -whenever possible. - -Billie herself was scarcely less miserable. Her fellow students made it -quite clear that she was alone in her championship of Edina. The fact -that she persisted in her stubborn course irritated them and made her -something of a pariah, too. - -Meanwhile Billie kept close watch upon the comings and goings of the -servants at the Hall, hoping for some clue that would lead her to the -real thief and thus exonerate Edina. - -Billie found it necessary to replenish her wardrobe by a day’s shopping -in town. Having asked for and received the necessary permission from -Miss Walters, she set off early on Saturday morning, determined to -dispose of her shopping as soon as possible and return in time to help -Vi with her always-difficult mathematics. - -Having arrived in town, she went at once to a small drygoods store -where she bought a dozen handkerchiefs and one or two inexpensive -articles of underwear. - -When she tendered the storekeeper a ten dollar bill he returned her a -five dollar bill and some odd pieces of silver. - -Billie was about to stuff the change into her pocketbook when something -about the five dollar bill arrested her attention. - -She looked at it more closely and a stifled exclamation escaped her. - -“Anything wrong, Miss?” asked the storekeeper anxiously. - -“No, no,” Billie answered hastily. “There’s nothing wrong. Only--would -you mind very much telling me where you got this five dollar bill?” - -The storekeeper took the bill, turned it over, screwed up his features -in a grimace evidently meant to intimate deep thought and scratched his -head doubtfully. - -Billie held her breath and watched him. Everything--simply -everything--depended upon this man’s memory! - -“Well, you know, Miss, it’s not so easy to remember who gave you a -certain bill when you’re busy waiting on customers and making change -all day long,” he drawled. “Now, there’s been quite a lot of customers -in here to-day, and how could I know who gave me that particular five -dollar bill?” - -“Oh, certainly,” Billie breathed, “you _must_ remember who gave you -that bill!” - -The dull face of the storekeeper brightened. - -“That’s right! Come to think of it, I do remember. That cracked -peddler, Dan Larkin, give it to me. I recollect because I noticed that -big black blot on it at the time.” - -Billie’s heart pounded so loudly she was afraid the storekeeper must -hear it. She controlled her excitement sufficiently to ask in a quiet -voice: - -“Who, if you please, is Dan Larkin?” - -“I just told you,” said the man peering at her over his spectacles. -“Dan Larkin’s a queer old chap who keeps a store on wheels. He goes -about, stopping at various places and selling things on the way.” - -“A traveling store,” echoed Billie, fighting against disappointment. -“Then he isn’t here any more?” - -“Reckon he is,” said the storekeeper carelessly. He had evidently lost -interest in the subject. “Dan give me that bill only this morning. -He’ll probably stick around town all the rest of to-day, anyway.” - -Billie’s hopes soared again. - -“I’d consider it a great favor,” she said, with her very best smile, -“if you could tell me where I am likely to find this--this Dan Larkin.” - -“He generally parks his van right outside the town limits near the -Derry farm. Folks generally know when he’s there and go to buy of him.” - -Billie thanked the storekeeper for this precious information and fairly -ran out to the street. - -The bent old fellow peered after her and thoughtfully scratched his -head. - -“Girls are queer creatures,” he philosophized. “Now, what in the world -does she want to go seeing Dan Larkin for? The way she rushed out into -the street, you’d think her life depended on it. It does beat all.” - -Billie had heard of the Derry farm. It was situated on the outskirts of -town. It had long been deserted and the rambling old homestead was said -by some to be haunted. - -Billie might have walked, but, such was her impatience, she hailed the -nearest street car. No time was to be lost! She opened her purse to -make sure the five dollar bill with the dark irregular blot across its -face was still there. - -“The clue!” she murmured, a strange gleam in her eye. “If it only turns -out to be the right one!” - -Billie left the street car on the edge of town and walked down a -country lane. At the end of it was a queer contraption on wheels, a -covered motor truck with windows cut in it and a door at the back. This -was, undoubtedly, Dan Larkin’s traveling store. - -Billie hurried forward. Before the rude, ladder-like steps of the -“store” she hesitated, but voices from within reassured her. - -Dan Larkin was dealing with a customer. He was wrapping up a large -parcel when Billie Bradley entered. - -The customer lingered, exchanging reminiscences with the grizzled -old fellow behind the counter. She went at last, however, and Billie -fumbled in her purse for the stained five dollar bill. - -She thrust this across the counter toward Dan Larkin. - -“Please!” she cried eagerly, “can you tell me where you got that bill?” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -DAN LARKIN REMEMBERS - - -Dan Larkin was a character. He stood behind the little counter of his -traveling store, sleeves rolled up to display sinewy forearms, small, -good-humored eyes twinkling out from masses of puffy flesh, and a derby -hat set rakishly on the back of his grizzled head. - -He looked from the bill in Billie’s hand to Billie’s face and shook his -head waggishly. - -“You oughtn’t to startle an old feller like that,” he said. “I ain’t -sure where I got that bill, young lady--let’s see, it’s a five dollar -one, ain’t it? But one thing’s certain--I come by it honest!” - -“I don’t doubt it,” replied Billie, smiling engagingly. “Anyone would -know you were honest, just to look at you.” - -“Would they now!” exclaimed the old man delightedly. “That’s the best -news I’ve heard in a powerful long time. I _am_ honest you know--as the -day!” - -“I’m sure of it,” Billie repeated. “Mr. Larkin,” pushing the bill -toward him again, “won’t you please look at this again closely and -tell me if you don’t notice anything strange about it?” - -“Hm!” said the old man, giving her an extraordinarily shrewd glance -from his little, good-humored eyes. “Important, is it?” - -“Oh, very, very important!” said Billie. - -She waited in an agony of impatience, of mingled hope and fear, while -the old man removed one pair of spectacles and replaced them by -another. Taking the bill in his hand he peered intently at it. - -“A five dollar bill, eh--_with_ a blot on it,” he ruminated. “Now, -what’s to be made of that?” - -For a long moment he appeared lost in thought, then, with a gesture of -regret, pushed the bill across the counter toward Billie. - -“Sorry I don’t seem to recollect----” Then, as Billie’s fingers reached -for the bill: “Whoa there! Hold your horses! Sure, I know who give -me that five dollars with the spot onto it.” The blue eyes twinkled -and danced at Billie from between mounds of flesh. “’Twas Mrs. Maria -Tatgood. That’s who ’twas!” - -The interior of that quaint place reeled before Billie. She clung to -the counter and heard her voice say faintly, joyfully: - -“Has--has Mrs. Maria Tatgood been buying much of you lately?” - -“Ho! That’s a queer question! But I’ll answer it honestly. That’s my -way. Now you come to speak of it, Mrs. Tatgood has been buying quite a -lot of me lately.” - -“More than she used to?” Billie persisted. - -“Quite a good deal more.” The small eyes beamed and danced at her. -“Yes, I should say she’s buying quite a good deal more than usual these -days. Which is gratifying to an old chap who has to make his living -trundling a store about on wheels. Ain’t it, now?” - -Billie agreed that it was and, reminded of her own deep obligation to -Dan Larkin, she emulated the good example of Mrs. Tatgood and bought -several things of him, all of which she could have done very well -without. - -Scarcely able to believe in her good fortune, Billie returned as -quickly as possible to Three Towers Hall. All during the ride in the -street car she debated the question as to whether it would be wise to -confide her extraordinary news to Laura and Vi. - -“Not just yet,” was her decision. “Monday and Tuesday are the days of -the tennis tournament. I’ll wait till after that. Meantime,” imitating -Mr. Dan Larkin, “I’ll keep my eyes open. Oh, won’t I just!” - -The next day Billie went about radiating so much joyfulness that her -chums were curious. Some of them even went so far as to be suspicious. - -“Billie Bradley looks like the cat who has just swallowed the canary,” -said Jessie Brewer. “I wonder,” musingly, “if she _could_ have had a -hand in the disappearance of that Gift Club money!” - -“Don’t be a goose!” said her companion shortly. “Billie Bradley would -never steal anything!” - -However, the seed of doubt had been planted, and it grew! - -Toward the end of the long pleasant Sunday, Billie’s mood of optimism -began to wane somewhat. After all, argued the still, small voice of her -pessimism, even though she had turned up a red-hot clue, what right -had she to believe that she would be able to follow it through to a -successful conclusion? It was not a very convincing clue, she told -herself, and she was not very experienced in running down clues or -trails of any kind. - -If only to-morrow were not the beginning of the tennis tournament! If -only--if only---- - -That night Laura and Vi worked over Billie’s knee, rubbing, massaging, -as earnest in their ministrations as any professional trainer. - -“I think it will do now,” said Billie, at last. “Thanks so much, girls.” - -“But how does the knee feel?” Laura insisted. - -“All right, most of the time. Then once in a while when I least expect -it, it grows a peculiar kink. I can’t quite explain it, but suddenly -all the strength goes out of it and I feel as though I’d either have to -sit down or take a nose dive. Never mind!” smiling at their serious -faces, “let’s hope it will last through to-morrow. That’s all I ask of -it!” - -“That’s all you ask of it, yes,” grumbled Vi. “But that’s an awful lot -to ask of a weak knee, Billie. I’m worried about it. If you’d only -kept off of it this past week or two, it might be all right now. As it -is--why, don’t you know that this tournament is important?” - -“Don’t I know that this tournament is important! Of course I know! -Don’t be silly, Vi.” Then, seeing that Vi looked a little hurt, she -went on: “Oh, I’m sorry, honey. But don’t worry. It’ll turn out all -right.” - -Next day dawned gloomily, with more than a hint of rain in the sky. -However, by ten o’clock the sun had come out to stay, the air was crisp -and cool--ideal tennis weather. - -Almost the entire student body of Three Towers flocked out upon the -grounds. Lessons were suspended for the two days of the tournament. The -teachers often came to watch a spirited match. It was not unusual for -Miss Walters herself to occupy a camp chair close to the courts during -the finals. - -Billie crashed through the elimination sets, crushing her opponents -without mercy. - -“There she goes!” cried Vi, gnawing the ends of her fingers in her -excitement. “6--0, 6--2, 6--0. Rose is down, and she waves a wicked -racket, too. Oh, boy, there’s nobody can stand before Billie to-day!” - -“Amanda Peabody is doing just as well. I never saw such pretty work in -my life. She seems to be top form.” - -Vi turned toward the quiet voice and saw Ray Carew standing beside her. -She regarded the girl steadily for a long moment. - -“Sounds to me as if you were rooting for Amanda, Ray. Are you?” - -Rachael had the grace to flush. She avoided Vi’s direct glance. - -“No,” she said, and in a moment walked over to join a friend. - -When Vi turned again to watch Billie’s smashing service, her clever -backhand, her choppy, certain net-work, the enthusiasm she had felt -before was definitely overshadowed. - -“Billie is just throwing away everything she has gained here by -sticking to that wretched Edina Tooker. I can’t think what she sees in -the girl. I never liked her, anyway--not from the very first!” - -When Billie limped from the courts after a day of smashing victories, -having reached the finals with a defeat of only one game, her first -words were of praise for her adversaries. - -“They were all good fighters and game losers,” she cried, her eyes -shining. “Oh, what a day--what a marvelous day! Where’s Laura?” - -“Here! I just stopped to lace my shoe.” - -“You’ve reached the finals, too, haven’t you? Marvelous! We’ll double -against Amanda and Eliza to-morrow.” - -“But, Billie, how is your knee?” - -“Gracious! I haven’t had time to think of it. Now you mention it,” with -an experimental wriggle of the injured member, “it does hurt a little. -Nothing to speak of, though. Oh, what a day!” - -Next day, the great day of the finals, dawned bright and clear, -though with a hint of rain which no one took note of on the western -horizon. By ten o’clock the ring about the courts was packed solid with -spectators. - -Billie, warming up her service with Laura, vainly searched the ring of -faces for Edina Tooker. - -“Hiding up in the dormitory, eating her heart out, poor kid,” thought -Billie, and dubbed her ball into the net. - -“Hey, Billie!” Laura shouted. “Stop your daydreaming and send me the -ball. I can’t pose for the Statue of Liberty all day. My arm waxeth -weary.” - -For revenge Billie patted a ball neatly over her head. Laura swung -wildly for it and missed, while a ripple of merriment swept the -audience. - -“All right for you,” called Laura, good-naturedly. “I’ll get even with -you yet!” - -Soon after that the real business of the day commenced. - -Billie in the singles, Billie and Laura in the doubles, swiftly -eliminated all their adversaries except Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks. - -Then these two girls went down to a decided but in no sense ignominious -defeat before the combined powers of Billie and Laura. - -When Billie at last faced Amanda Peabody for the last and deciding -match of the tournament, an audible sigh broke from the spectators. - -“Now,” said Rose Belser, “we are about to see something!” - -“It will be a battle of the century,” predicted Connie Danvers. - -On the courts Billie waved good-naturedly to Amanda. - -“Your serve,” she called. “Ready?” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -A SMASHING SET - - -Amanda Peabody had won first serve and her choice of courts. Billie -Bradley was handicapped not only by her knee--which was beginning to -pain rather severely--but by the fact that the sun was in her eyes. - -As Amanda slowly raised her racket for the serve, there was a pleased -look on her face. She, too, had noticed Billie’s limp and her loss in -speed. - -“Ready!” she called. - -The ball floated over the net lazily. It looked like an easy one, but -Billie knew that serve of old. The ball had a tantalizing habit of -stopping far short of that part of the court where you expected it. - -Billie was ready and returned the ball neatly just over the net. Amanda -raced for it, caught it with a clever, backhand stroke, and dropped it -over the net. Billie swung at it viciously and sent it sailing over -Amanda’s head for her first point. - -“That was good, wasn’t it?” called Billie. - -Amanda nodded sullenly. - -“Fifteen love!” sang Billie, and set herself for the serve. - -From that moment the match settled into one of the grimmest contests -ever witnessed on the tennis courts of Three Towers Hall. - -Each point was contested fiercely. Amanda and Billie were all over the -courts at once; they swung at the ball as though it were a personal -enemy; they caressed it deftly into incredible shots that left the -spectators mute and tingling with admiration. - -“I don’t much care who wins,” cried Connie Danvers, dancing wildly on -the sidelines. “I don’t care! I don’t care! This is an exhibition worth -waiting a hundred years to see. Go it, Billie! Oh boy, what a back -hand! Ah--Amanda’s got it.” - -“Forty-thirty,” cried Amanda, with a triumphant grin. - -The score in games stood five-four in favor of Amanda. Now she needed -only one point to win game and set. - -It was Amanda’s serve. Cunningly, she changed her tactics at this -critical moment, hoping to catch Billie off guard. Instead of her usual -lazy, tricky serve, she sent a smashing ball over the net, carrying it -far into the back court. - -Billie raced for it, forgetting her injured knee, caught the ball by -little less than a miracle of skill, returned it, just missing the top -of the net. - -Amanda slipped it over neatly and Billie had to run for it again. - -On the sidelines Vi wailed: - -“She’ll never last it, Laura! Her poor knee! How does she do it?” - -“But she does it!” shrieked Laura, her eyes on fire. “Vi, look at that -return! She’s got Amanda on the run now! Go it, Billie--go it!” - -Billie, knowing that she must save her knee, played close to the net. -Never so cool as in an emergency, she juggled the ball, sent Amanda -dashing all over the courts like a puppet at the end of a string. - -It was such a masterly display as the girls had seldom seen. They were -on their feet, shouting, groaning, stamping with their feet. - -Billie, cool, steady, saw her opportunity. Amanda, red and perspiring, -danced around in the back court, expecting a smashing return. - -Billie ran backward, caught the ball neatly on the tip of her racket, -landed it teasingly, gently, just inside the net. - -Amanda made a gallant dash for it, swung for it, and swooped up a -handful of sod on her racket. - -“Forty-all,” said Billie and added generously: “Well tried, Amanda.” - -That was practically the end of the match, so far as Amanda was -concerned. At best, a temperamental, erratic player, she was hopeless -when mastered by fury. Now she forgot all the skill and artistry of -her game, sent smashing shots to Billie that the latter returned with -ease. - -Billie won that game, making it five-all, and took the next two on -points. - -Amanda flung down her racket and followed it from the courts without -pausing to shake hands with her successful rival. - -Those from the sidelines thronged about Billie, showering her with -compliments, dwelling on those few moments at the net when she had -showed her complete mastery of the game. - -“I never saw such marvelous form!” - -“But, Billie, what makes you limp so?” - -“Billie may limp, but her game doesn’t!” - -The praise was sweet to Billie. She drank it in eagerly, knowing that, -for that moment at least, all grudges were forgotten and she was once -more first in the hearts of her fellow students. - -Espying Edina Tooker on the fringe of the crowd, Billie broke away from -the adulation of her schoolmates and went straight to the girl. That -glimpse of Edina had served to remind Billie that she was at last free -to resume her investigations in the girl’s behalf, to continue the -attempt to fasten the guilt for the theft of the Gift Club fund upon -the real thief and so absolve Edina. - -From the courts, her friends watched Billie greet the ostracized girl -and a queer silence settled over them. They were remembering their -grievance against Billie Bradley. It was as though a damp cloud settled -on their spirits, obliterating their enthusiasm. - -“I must say,” sniffed someone in the group, “I think Billie might be -less open in her friendship with that horrid girl. I can’t think how -she can still cling to her!” - -Edina met Billie with outstretched hands. - -“You were wonderful!” she cried. “I had to come out. I knew I oughtn’t -to, but I had to see you beat Amanda Peabody. If I could play tennis -like that!” - -“Maybe you will some day,” replied Billie. - -Edina caught her up quickly. - -“Some day! I’m not going to be here that long, Billie. I’ve got to get -away from here--and get away quick.” - -“That’s what I want to talk to you about. Come away with me, Edina. I -have something to tell you that I think will interest you greatly.” - -“May we come, too?” The voice was Laura Jordon’s who, with Vi, had come -up so quietly they had not been observed. - -“Of course!” cried Billie eagerly. “I wasn’t sure you’d care to hear -what I have to say. But I think you will like it--_when_ you hear it. -Come along!” - -The four girls walked for some distance into the woods along the -lakeshore. Then, making sure they were not observed, Billie recounted -for the benefit of her interested audience the story of her adventurous -day in town and the identification of the smudged five dollar bill by -Dan Larkin. - -“You see,” she explained, “that five dollar bill with the ink blot -on it was part of my contribution to the Gift Club fund. I remember -noticing it at the time and thinking that it was a pity to have to give -in such a soiled-looking bill. When I recognized it that day in town I -decided to trace it back in the hope of finding a clue to the person -who stole the rest of the Gift Club money.” - -“Did you?” breathed Vi. - -“Did I? Listen! I found that an old peddler by the name of Dan Larkin -had given the bill to my storekeeper and when I followed up that lead, -who do you suppose I found had given the bill to Dan Larkin? A Mrs. -Tatgood!” - -“Tatgood!” repeated Laura. “Why, that’s the name of one of the -dormitory maids, isn’t it?” - -“Maria Tatgood has charge of Edina’s dormitory,” Billie pointed out. -“The Mrs. Tatgood mentioned by Dan Larkin must be some relative, her -mother perhaps.” - -“But, Billie, if you think this Mrs. Tatgood is the thief, shouldn’t we -notify the police?” - -“I thought of that the first thing,” Billie confessed. “But, after -all, we have only suspicions to go on so far. What the police want is -proof.” - -“Then why not get busy and produce the proof?” cried Laura. - -“Exactly! We may have to call in the boys to help. In fact, I think it -would be a good idea to ask their help. We may need it.” - -Vi, who had been eying Billie thoughtfully, blurted out: - -“You have some definite plan in mind, Billie. I can tell by the look of -you. Come clean now. What is it?” - -“Well, I’ll tell you.” - -Whereupon Billie outlined her plan. It was that she and Laura and -Vi, Edina too, if she liked, would enter into a plot to search Maria -Tatgood’s room. - -“Vi and I will look through the maid’s things--she is almost certain -to have some of the money hidden about the house--while you and Edina, -Laura, keep watch to see that we are not interrupted.” - -“Now is a good time,” Vi suggested. “Nearly everybody is still on the -courts discussing the tournament. Whatever we do will be likely to pass -unnoticed.” - -“All right. Come ahead!” replied Billie. - -The four girls returned to the Hall, entered cautiously by the rear -way, and went directly to the servants’ quarters, where they found -Maria Tatgood’s room without difficulty. - -Billie tried the door and found it unlocked. Feeling like the most -desperate of conspirators, she opened the door and slipped inside, -motioning to Vi to follow her. - -“We’ll have to be quick,” she whispered. “Maria may come back at any -time.” - -The room contained a bed, a dresser, a washstand, two chairs and a -trunk. - -“You take the dresser,” Billie directed. “I’ll attend to the trunk.” - -The trunk was opened, but on lifting the lid, Billie found it almost -empty. A brief search served to assure her that nothing was there. - -Vi had a little luck with the dresser. She unearthed fifteen dollars in -bills, but at sight of them Billie shook her head in disappointment. - -“No good, if we don’t find more than that,” she said. - -At the moment there came a soft, insistent scratching at the door, the -agreed-upon signal that trouble was brewing. - -Billie slammed down the trunk lid. Vi shoved things into the dresser -drawer. Outside the room they found Laura and Edina in an agony of -impatience. - -“Some one is coming! Hurry!” - -They whisked about a turn in the corridor just in time to avoid the -person whose room they had ransacked. Careful to keep themselves -hidden, they watched Maria Tatgood go into her room and shut the door. - -When Billie’s companions would have slipped away, anxious to get back -to the dormitory, she detained them. - -“Let’s watch for awhile,” she proposed. “We may see something of -interest. You never can tell.” - -Billie afterwards said that her suggestion was prompted by a “hunch.” -Be that as it may, the fact remains that Maria Tatgood emerged from her -room almost immediately, wearing hat and coat as though ready for an -outing. She turned down the corridor toward the servants’ entrance to -the Hall. - -“Come along!” said Billie impulsively. “Let’s follow her!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -CAUGHT--CONCLUSION - - -Billie Bradley and her three companions were without wraps, though they -were too excited to think of that. Also, they had had no time to inform -the boys at Boxton Military Academy as to their purpose and enlist -their help. They were too excited to think of that, either. - -They followed Maria Tatgood, always at a discreet distance, through the -school gates and along the dusty road. - -“Where do you suppose she’s going?” Laura whispered. - -“Home!” said Billie “I’ve a notion we are going to make a real -discovery this time!” - -Maria Tatgood lived in an old house, set well back from the road and -surrounded by tall trees. There had been no attempt to cut the grass -that grew in reedy abundance to the very steps of the porch. The house -itself was in a state of considerable disrepair. A little carpentry -work and a coat or two of paint would have made it a much more -habitable place. - -All these things impressed themselves more or less vividly on the minds -of the girls as they watched Maria Tatgood ascend the worn steps of the -porch and disappear into the house. - -The day had turned dismal and chill. The sun had disappeared under the -clouds that by this time had risen from a streak low on the western -horizon and covered the zenith. A light, misty rain was falling. There -among the trees it was gloomy and dark. - -Evidently, the occupants of the house were also in semi-darkness, for, -as the girls watched, they saw a light flash up in a room at the rear. -From this same room presently came the sound of angry voices. - -Billie tugged Vi’s sleeve. - -“Come along! Tell Laura and Edina. The folks inside have forgotten to -pull the shade down at that window. Thanks to them, we can both see and -hear.” - -Silently, keeping to the shelter of the trees, the girls crept toward -that lighted window. The angry voices were becoming intelligible. The -girls could hear phrases, scraps of sentences. - -“You’ve spent it! You had no business----” - -“I had no business, didn’t I? I like that! Ain’t I your mother?” - -Billie put finger to lips in a gesture of caution and crept closer to -the window. Laura pinched Vi’s arm. Edina’s face looked very white in -the dusk. - -“Just the same,” came the younger voice sullenly, “you ain’t keepin’ to -your end of the bargain. We was to split, wasn’t we?” - -“Split, is it?” The voice of the older woman rose waspishly. “I should -have the big half, anyways. Ain’t I your mother?” - -“It was me took all the risks. It was that way in the old days, too, -wasn’t it? It was me opened the pocketbooks of the rich women in the -stores while you took the money I got out of ’em! Well, it ain’t goin’ -to be so no more. We split, or I quit!” - -A sullen silence fell upon the room and its occupants. Outside the -girls held their breath to listen. After a moment the more youthful -voice continued: - -“How much you got left of the money?” - -“Two hundred dollars. That’s all exceptin’ a few cents in silver--a -half a dollar, maybe.” - -“You’ve already spent sixty dollars? Well, if that ain’t a rum go!” - -Suddenly Edina clutched Billie’s arm. - -“Quick! Hide!” she cried. “Somebody’s comin’!” - -The watchers had barely time to gain the shelter of the trees when a -thick-set figure loomed up through the gloom. A man brushed past them, -a man with hunched shoulders and a week’s growth of stubble on his face. - -This person stumped around to the rear of the house, a door opened and -closed, and soon the two voices within the room were joined by a third. - -“Hello, you cats at it ag’in, scratchin’ and clawin’? Where’s my -dinner? That’s what I’d like to know. When are you goin’ to git me some -grub?” - -Billie turned to her companions. They could see her eyes shining in the -dull light. - -“We’ve heard enough!’” she whispered. “Let’s be getting back.” - -They fairly ran down the road to Three Towers Hall. They were scarcely -aware that they were cold and dishevelled and pretty well soaked by -the misty drizzle. In their minds two facts loomed paramount. They -had positively identified Maria Tatgood as the thief, and two hundred -dollars of the Gift Club fund still remained in the custody of the -unsavory Tatgood family. If they hurried, they still might save that -two hundred dollars. - -Up the steps of the school they rushed and into the hall, to be met by -a group of horrified girls. - -“Where have you been?” - -“To the wars, if looks count for anything!” - -“You big sillies! You are soaked through!” - -Connie Danvers pushed through the crowd and plucked Billie anxiously by -the sleeve. - -“Listen! Eliza Dilks saw you girls leave by the front gate a little -while ago. She reported to Amanda. Of course Amanda promptly reported -to Miss Walters. She’s up there in Miss Walters’ office now. I’m -afraid you are in for it, Billie!” - -“Where are you going?” she added, as Billie broke from her and made for -the stairs. - -From the first step Billie looked down upon the group of curious, -upturned faces. - -“I am going to see Miss Walters on an important mission,” she said, -with a challenging laugh. “You may come, too, if you like!” - -Many of the girls availed themselves of this permission and trooped -after her. There was a mysterious air about Billie Bradley and her -companions that roused their curiosity and warned them to expect -developments of an extraordinary character. - -The group was joined on the way by new recruits, so by the time Billie -and her friends reached the door of Miss Walters’ office about half the -student body was trailing at her heels. - -“You all wait here,” said Billie to her escort. “I’ll leave the door -open just a crack so that you can hear what happens.” - -Billie tapped on the door of the office. After a brief pause, Miss -Walters’ pleasant voice called, “Come in!” - -As Billie pushed open the door she gestured to Vi and Laura and Edina -to follow her. - -“I can see Amanda in there,” she whispered. “I don’t intend to take my -medicine alone!” - -Miss Walters looked up as the girls entered. The troubled frown on her -face deepened. - -“Amanda has just been telling me about you,” she said, tapping her -desk with a pencil. “Did you four students leave these grounds without -permission?” - -“Yes, Miss Walters,” said Billie meekly, and added unnecessarily: “We -have just got back.” - -“So it seems!” Miss Walters’ frown deepened. She continued the -ra-ta-ta-tat with the pencil on the edge of her desk. Amanda’s -triumphant smirk grew until it seemed to spread over all of her face. - -“You have some explanation?” said Miss Walters, at last. - -This was the opportunity for which Billie had waited. Making sure that -the door of the office was open so that the girls outside could hear -everything she said, she addressed the white-haired, gracious head of -Three Towers Hall. - -“Miss Walters, I have an explanation. When you hear it I think you will -forgive us for leaving the grounds without asking permission.” - -Miss Walters inclined her head, half-smiling at Billie’s earnestness. - -“Let me hear the explanation,” she said. - -Billie drew a long breath and plunged into her story. She began with -the founding of the Gift Club and Edina’s elevation to the post of -treasurer. She went on through the strange disappearance of the Gift -Club fund, dwelling upon Edina Tooker’s distress upon finding herself -suspected of the theft. - -When she came to the account of her day in town, including the -identification of the blotted five dollar bill, Miss Walters’ interest -visibly increased. There was an audible sigh from the girls grouped -close about the office door. Amanda’s triumphant grin grew slightly -less triumphant. - -“So you see, the evidence all pointed to the dormitory maid, Maria -Tatgood,” Billie pleaded. - -Miss Walters nodded. - -“Yes,” she said, “I see. Please go on.” - -“Well, when we saw Maria leave the Hall to-night we felt that -there, perhaps, was the chance to establish real evidence--police -evidence--against her. We should have asked your permission, Miss -Walters, to leave the school grounds, but we really hadn’t time.” - -Billie was still pleading her case. Miss Walters nodded as though she -understood--as, indeed, she did. - -“Go on!” - -As Billie proceeded she was vividly aware of the keen interest that -greeted her account of the happenings leading up to the positive -identification of Maria Tatgood as the thief. - -At the startling revelation Amanda’s jaw dropped open. Billie, -happening to glance at her, choked back a laugh, which brought on such -a dire attack of coughing and strangling that Miss Walters inquired -with a smile on her own lips whether she would not feel better for a -glass of water. - -“No, th-thanks,” stuttered Billie. “I--I’m all right now.” - -“About this Maria Tatgood,” said Miss Walters, her face suddenly stern. -“If your story is to be trusted--and I have never yet found occasion -to question any statement of yours--then this Maria Tatgood and her -infamous family must be brought to the attention of the police, and at -once. I will attend to it.” - -Miss Walters was silent for a moment, tracing thoughtful figures on a -scrap of paper. When she looked up the troubled frown had completely -vanished from her face. - -“You left the school grounds without permission, which is against the -rules and so merits rebuke.” - -“Yes, Miss Walters,” murmured Billie, her eyes demurely lowered. - -“However,” continued the principal in her pleasant, flowing voice, -“your conduct was prompted by such exemplary motives that I am -tempted to waive punishment for this time. In fact,” Miss Walters -flung out her hand toward Billie in a gracious, impulsive gesture, -“I must congratulate you, my dear girl, on the persistent loyalty -and friendliness you have shown toward Edina Tooker, this sorely -misunderstood girl. You are a friend such as I would choose for -myself.” - -This praise flooded Billie with an emotion that robbed her of words. -She could only look her love and gratitude. - -Miss Walters said softly: - -“Edina! Edina Tooker, come here, my dear.” - -Edina approached uncertainly and stood before the gracious, -white-haired lady who held her own fate and the fate of all the -students of Three Towers Hall in the hollow of her hand. - -Miss Walters searched among the papers on her desk and drew forth a -letter. - -“This communication came to me to-day, Edina. It is from your father -and it contains news that I am sure you will be glad to hear.” - -Edina looked big and awkward and pitiful as she stood there, nervously -twisting her fingers together. - -“Your father has struck oil again on his property--a genuine gusher -this time. I imagine you will be very, very rich, Edina.” - -Miss Walters smiled, as though at some secret thought of her own. -Reaching into the letter she drew forth a long yellow slip. - -“Your father asked me to give you this check--to help him celebrate, he -said.” - -Edina took the slip of paper without pausing to read the illiterate -scrawl across its face. Her eyes were on Miss Walters’ face. - -“You been so awful good to me,” she muttered. - -“You are worth being good to, Edina,” said Miss Walters, smiling. -“Billie and I have always believed that--haven’t we, Billie?” - -Miss Walters held out a hand and Edina slipped her clumsy red one into -it. At the touch, all the iron in Edina’s nature suddenly melted before -a turbulent flood of emotion. - -She flung herself to her knees beside Miss Walters, and buried her face -in her lap, harsh sobs tore at her aching throat. - -Miss Walters stroked the dark hair and glanced with gentle meaning at -the other girls. - -“You may go now,” she said. “I’ll send Edina down to you. She will feel -better presently.” - -As the girls passed from the office to be met by a group of deeply -moved and silenced students in the outer hall, Amanda Peabody was heard -to mutter vindictively: - -“Billie Bradley has all the pull in this place! She can get away with -anything!” - - * * * * * - -It was the night of the big dance at Boxton Military Academy. Billie -was there and Laura and Vi and, yes--oh, of course--Edina Tooker. - -Billie was a dream--Teddy told her so--in a rose-colored chiffon -evening dress. Scarcely less lovely were Laura in a dainty lavender -chiffon dress and Vi in a clinging crêpe that brought out her pretty -figure to perfection. - -Edina in her gold-colored taffeta with gold slippers on her feet, her -hair a shining, blue-black cap for her shapely head, was quite the -rage with the young cadets at Boxton. She could not dance very well, -but she was learning. In truth, there appeared to be no dearth of -dancing instructors, prominent among these being the good-looking Paul -Martinson. - -Billie and her chums discussed these--and other things--during a -temporary lull in the festivities. Teddy and Chet and Ferd Stowing had -gone to fetch ice-cream and some of those “ducky little almond-flavored -cakes.” - -“Well,” said Laura as she patted a soft bow of her chiffon frock into -place, “I can only remark what I believe a gentleman called Shakespeare -has already remarked before me, ‘All’s well that ends well!’” - -“Which sentiment we echo heartily,” agreed Billie. “I crave your -indulgence for a moment while I sum up our reasons for gratitude. -First of all, Maria Tatgood and her mother are safe in jail where they -will steal no more Gift Club funds. The two hundred dollars has been -recovered----” - -“It was generous of Edina to make up the missing sixty dollars from the -check her father sent her,” interpolated Vi. - -“Well, Edina has plenty of money now, you know. She’ll never miss that -sixty dollars. Paw Tooker will probably be a millionaire before his new -gusher stops gushing, and what’s Paw’s seems to belong equally to his -beloved Edina. But to continue with the list of our blessings. With the -two hundred and sixty dollars, we have been able to buy Miss Geraldine -Gay a most gorgeous wedding present----” - -“She was delighted with it, wasn’t she?” - -“Why wouldn’t she be? There is no finer grandfather’s clock around -here.” - -“When is she to be married?” - -“Not before the Thanksgiving holidays. The new teacher comes then.” - -“That’s not so far away. We’re not too awfully forehanded with our -gift.” - -“To continue with the list of our blessings,” reiterated Billie -dreamily: “Our friend and fellow student, Violet Farrington, has -recovered from her backslidings in math to the extent of working off an -onerous condition----” - -“And it _is_ a blessing, believe me!” said Vi fervently. “With that -condition off my shoulders, I feel as though I could begin to look -about and enjoy myself.” - -“Here come the boys with our ice-cream.” - -“I hope they have brought dozens of cakes!” - -“Before they get here,” said Laura hurriedly, “there is just one little -point I’d like cleared up.” - -“Any little thing we can do,” murmured Billie. - -“It’s about that five dollar gold piece that Edina spent in the shoe -shop to buy a pair of shoes. If that was Nellie Bane’s five dollar gold -piece----” - -“It wasn’t. It was Edina’s. She had kept it as a lucky piece but, being -short of funds, was forced to use it to buy shoes. Any more questions?” - -“How about Nellie’s gold piece, then?” - -“It was part of the sixty dollars spent by Maria Tatgood’s mother; she -admitted as much when pressed. Now, no more questions, please. Let joy -be unconfined!” - -“It is a lovely party, isn’t it?” breathed Vi. - -With her eyes on Edina Tooker’s happy face, Billie Bradley answered: - -“Yes, it is. The very nicest, ever!” - - -THE END - - - - -BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES - - BY JANET D. WHEELER - - _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_ - _Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_ - - [Illustration: Billie Bradley at Twin Lakes] - - 1. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE - _or The Queer Homestead at Cherry Corners_ - - Billie Bradley fell heir to an old homestead that was unoccupied - and located far away in a lonely section of the country. How - Billie went there, accompanied by some of her chums, and what - queer things happened, go to make up a story no girl will want to - miss. - - 2. BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE-TOWERS HALL - _or Leading a Needed Rebellion_ - - Three-Towers Hall was a boarding school for girls. For a short - time after Billie arrived there all went well. But then the - head of the school had to go on a long journey and she left the - girls in charge of two teachers, sisters, who believed in severe - discipline and in very, very plain food and little of it--and - then there was a row! - - 3. BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND - _or The Mystery of the Wreck_ - - One of Billie’s friends owned a summer bungalow on Lighthouse - Island, near the coast. The school girls made up a party and - visited the Island. There was a storm and a wreck, and three - little children were washed ashore. - - 4. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES - _or The Secret of the Locked Tower_ - - Billie and her chums come to the rescue of several little - children who had broken through the ice. There is the mystery - of a lost invention, and also the dreaded mystery of the locked - school tower. - - 5. BILLIE BRADLEY AT TWIN LAKES - _or Jolly Schoolgirls Afloat and Ashore_ - - A tale of outdoor adventure in which Billie and her chums have a - great variety of adventures. They visit an artists’ colony and - there fall in with a strange girl living with an old boatman who - abuses her constantly. - - 6. BILLIE BRADLEY AT TREASURE COVE - _or The Old Sailor’s Secret_ - - A lively story of school girl doings. How Billie heard of the - treasure and how she and her chums went in quest of the same is - told in a peculiarly absorbing manner. - - _Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._ - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York - - - - -THE GIRL SCOUT SERIES - - By LILIAN GARIS - - _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors._ - _Price per volume, 50 cents. Postage 10 cents additional._ - - [Illustration: The Girl Scout Pioneers] - - _The highest ideals of girlhood as advocated by the foremost - organisations of America form the background for these stories - and while unobtrusive there is a message in every volume._ - - 1. THE GIRL SCOUT PIONEERS - _or Winning the First B. C._ - - A story of the True Tred Troop in a Pennsylvania town. Two - runaway girls, who want to see the city, are reclaimed through - troop influence. The story is correct in scout detail. - - 2. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE - _or Maid Mary’s Awakening_ - - The story of a timid little maid who is afraid to take part in - other girls’ activities, while working nobly alone for high - ideals. How she was discovered by the Bellaire Troop and came - into her own as “Maid Mary” makes a fascinating story. - - 3. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST - _or the Wig Wag Rescue_ - - Luna Land, a little island by the sea, is wrapt in a mysterious - seclusion, and Kitty Scuttle, a grotesque figure, succeeds in - keeping all others at bay until the Girl Scouts come. - - 4. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP COMALONG - _or Peg of Tamarack Hills_ - - The girls of Bobolink Troop spend their summer on the shores of - Lake Hocomo. Their discovery of Peg, the mysterious rider, and - the clearing up of her remarkable adventures afford a vigorous - plot. - - 5. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT ROCKY LEDGE - _or Nora’s Real Vacation_ - - Nora Blair is the pampered daughter of a frivolous mother. Her - dislike for the rugged life of Girl Scouts is eventually changed - to appreciation, when the rescue of little Lucia, a woodland - waif, becomes a problem for the girls to solve. - - _Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._ - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York - - - - -THE LINGER-NOT SERIES - - By AGNES MILLER - - _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors._ - - _Price per volume, 50 cents. Postage 10 cents additional._ - - _This new series of girls’ books is in a new style of story writing. - The interest is in knowing the girls and seeing them solve the - problems that develop their character. Incidentally, a great deal - of historical information is imparted._ - - [Illustration: _The_ LINGER-NOTS and the MYSTERY HOUSE] - - 1. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE MYSTERY HOUSE - _or The Story of Nine Adventurous Girls_ - - How the Linger-Not girls met and formed their club seems - commonplace, but this writer makes it fascinating, and how they - made their club serve a great purpose continues the interest to - the end, and introduces a new type of girlhood. - - 2. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE VALLEY FEUD - _or the Great West Point Chain_ - - The Linger-Not girls had no thought of becoming mixed up with feuds - or mysteries, but their habit of being useful soon entangled - them in some surprising adventures that turned out happily for - all, and made the valley better because of their visit. - - 3. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THEIR GOLDEN QUEST - _or The Log of the Ocean Monarch_ - - For a club of girls to become involved in a mystery leading back - into the times of the California gold-rush, seems unnatural - until the reader sees how it happened, and how the girls - helped one of their friends to come into her rightful name and - inheritance, forms a fine story. - - 4. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE WHISPERING CHARM - _or The Secret from Old Alaska_ - - Whether engrossed in thrilling adventures in the Far North or - occupied with quiet home duties, the Linger-Not girls could work - unitedly to solve a colorful mystery in a way that interpreted - American freedom to a sad young stranger, and brought happiness - to her and to themselves. - - _Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._ - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York - - - - -THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES - - By ALICE B. EMERSON - - _12mo. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors._ - _Price 50 cents per volume._ - _Postage 10 cents additional._ - - Ruth Fielding was an orphan and came to live with her miserly uncle. - Her adventures and travels make stories that will hold the interest - of every reader. - - [Illustration: Ruth Fielding in Alaska] - - Ruth Fielding is a character that will live in juvenile fiction. - - 1. RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL - 2. RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL - 3. RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP - 4. RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT - 5. RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH - 6. RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND - 7. RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM - 8. RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES - 9. RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES - 10. RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE - 11. RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE - 12. RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE - 13. RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS - 14. RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT - 15. RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND - 16. RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST - 17. RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST - 18. RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE - 19. RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTING - 20. RUTH FIELDING IN THE FAR NORTH - 21. RUTH FIELDING AT GOLDEN PASS - 22. RUTH FIELDING IN ALASKA - 23. RUTH FIELDING AND HER GREAT SCENARIO - 24. RUTH FIELDING AT CAMERON HALL - 25. RUTH FIELDING CLEARING HER NAME - -CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York - - - - -THE RUBY AND RUTHY SERIES - - BY MINNIE E. PAULL - - _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid._ - - _Four bright and entertaining stories told in Mrs. Paull’s - happiest manner are among the best stories ever written for young - girls, and cannot fail to interest any between the ages of eight - and fifteen years._ - - [Illustration: Ruby at School] - - RUBY AND RUTHY - - Ruby and Ruthie were not old enough to go to school, but they - certainly were lively enough to have many exciting adventures, - that taught many useful lessons needed to be learned by little - girls. - - RUBY’S UPS AND DOWNS - - There were troubles enough for a dozen grown-ups, but Ruby got - ahead of them all, and, in spite of them, became a favorite in - the lively times at school. - - RUBY AT SCHOOL - - Ruby had many surprises when she went to the impossible place she - heard called a boarding school, but every experience helped to - make her a stronger-minded girl. - - RUBY’S VACATION - - This volume shows how a little girl improves by having varieties - of experience both happy and unhappy, provided she thinks, and is - able to use her good sense. Ruby lives and learns. - - _Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._ - - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York - - - - -THE BETTY GORDON SERIES - - BY ALICE B. EMERSON - - _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_. - _Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_. - - [Illustration: BETTY GORDON at BRAMBLE FARM] - - 1. BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE FARM - _or The Mystery of a Nobody_ - - At twelve Betty is left an orphan. - - 2. BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON - _or Strange Adventures in a Great City_ - - Betty goes to the National Capitol to find her uncle and has - several unusual adventures. - - 3. BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL - _or The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune_ - - From Washington the scene is shifted to the great oil fields of - our country. A splendid picture of the oil field operations of - today. - - 4. BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL - _or The Treasure of Indian Chasm_ - - Seeking treasures of Indian Chasm makes interesting reading. - - 5. BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP - _or The Mystery of Ida Bellethorne_ - - At Mountain Camp Betty found herself in the midst of a mystery. - - 6. BETTY GORDON AT OCEAN PARK - _or School Chums on the Boardwalk_ - - A glorious outing that Betty and her chums never forgot. - - 7. BETTY GORDON AND HER SCHOOL CHUMS - _or Bringing the Rebels to Terms_ - - Rebellious students, disliked teachers and mysterious robberies. - - 8. BETTY GORDON AT RAINBOW RANCH - _or Cowboy Joe’s Secret_ - - Betty and her chums have a grand time in the saddle. - - 9. BETTY GORDON IN MEXICAN WILDS - _or The Secret of the Mountains_ - - Betty receives a fake telegram and finds both Bob and herself held - for ransom in a mountain cave. - - 10. BETTY GORDON AND THE LOST PEARLS - _or A Mystery of The Seaside_ - - Betty and her chums go to the ocean shore for a vacation and Betty - becomes involved in the disappearance of a string of pearls. - - 11. BETTY GORDON ON THE CAMPUS - _or The Secret of the Trunk Room_ - - An up-to-date college story with a strange mystery that is bound - to fascinate any girl reader. - - _Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._ - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York - - - - -THE CURLYTOPS SERIES - - By HOWARD R. GARIS - - _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_. - _Price per volume, 50 cents. Postage 10 cents additional._ - - [Illustration: THE CURLY TOPS AT CHERRY FARM] - - 1. THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM - _or Vacation Days in the Country_ - - A tale of happy vacation days on a farm. - - 2. THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND - _or Camping Out with Grandpa_ - - The Curlytops camp on Star Island. - - 3. THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN - _or Grand Fun with Skates and Sleds_ - - The Curlytops on lakes and hills. - - 4. THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK’S RANCH - _or Little Folks on Ponyback_ - - Out West on their uncle’s ranch they have a wonderful time. - - 5. THE CURLYTOPS AT SILVER LAKE - _or On the Water with Uncle Ben_ - - The Curlytops camp out on the shores of a beautiful lake. - - 6. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PETS - _or Uncle Toby’s Strange Collection_ - - An old uncle leaves them to care for his collection of pets. - - 7. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES - _or Jolly Times Through the Holidays_ - - They have great times with their uncle’s collection of animals. - - 8. THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS - _or Fun at the Lumber Camp_ - - Exciting times in the forest for Curlytops. - - 9. THE CURLYTOPS AT SUNSET BEACH - _or What Was Found in the Sand_ - - The Curlytops have a fine time at the seashore. - - 10. THE CURLYTOPS TOURING AROUND - _or The Missing Photograph Albums_ - - The Curlytops get in some moving pictures. - - 11. THE CURLYTOPS IN A SUMMER CAMP - _or Animal Joe’s Menagerie_ - - There is great excitement as some mischievous monkeys break out - of Animal Joe’s Menagerie. - - 12. THE CURLYTOPS GROWING UP - _or Winter Sports and Summer Pleasures_ - - Little Trouble is a host in himself and his larger brother and - sister are never still a minute, but go from one little - adventure to another in a way to charm all youthful readers. - - _Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._ - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York - - - - -THE BARTON BOOKS FOR GIRLS - - By MAY HOLLIS BARTON - - _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With colored jacket._ - _Price 50 cents per volume._ - _Postage 10 cents additional._ - - _May Hollis Barton is a new writer for girls who is bound to win - instant popularity. Her style is somewhat of a reminder of that of - Louisa M. Alcott, but thoroughly up-to-date in plot and action. Clean - tales that all the girls will enjoy reading._ - - [Illustration: Two Girls and a Mystery] - - 1. THE GIRL FROM THE COUNTRY - _or Laura Mayford’s City Experiences_ - - 2. THREE GIRL CHUMS AT LAUREL HALL - _or The Mystery of the School by the Lake_ - - 3. NELL GRAYSON’S RANCHING DAYS - _or A City Girl in the Great West_ - - 4. FOUR LITTLE WOMEN OF ROXBY - _or The Queer Old Lady Who Lost Her Way_ - - 5. PLAIN JANE AND PRETTY BETTY - _or The Girl Who Won Out_ - - 6. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE - _or The Old Bachelor’s Ward_ - - 7. HAZEL HOOD’S STRANGE DISCOVERY - _or The Old Scientist’s Treasure Box_ - - 8. TWO GIRLS AND A MYSTERY - _or The Old House in the Glen_ - - 9. THE GIRLS OF LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND - _or The Strange Sea Chest_ - - 10. KATE MARTIN’S PROBLEM - _or Facing the Wide World_ - - _Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._ - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: - -Punctuation has been standardised. Variations in spelling and -hyphenation have been retained as they appear in the original -publication. Changes have been made as follows: - - Frontispiece caption - FLUNG AN ARM ABOUT EDNA _changed to_ - FLUNG AN ARM ABOUT EDINA - - Page 9 - it may be roses, for instace _changed to_ - it may be roses, for instance - - Page 16 - her dress betweeen her and almost _changed to_ - her dress between her and almost - - Page 32 - anything but poverty-striken _changed to_ - anything but poverty-stricken - - Page 80 - begining to enjoy herself _changed to_ - beginning to enjoy herself - - Page 84 - when the saleswoman--voluable now _changed to_ - when the saleswoman--voluble now - - Page 89 - “I suppose it would,” she agreeed _changed to_ - “I suppose it would,” she agreed - - Page 104 - not-to-well disguised amusement _changed to_ - not-too-well disguised amusement - - Page 122 - they hurried up the backstairs _changed to_ - they hurried up the back stairs - - Page 167 - dormintories and the study halls _changed to_ - dormitories and the study halls - - Page 168 - “Get away, Billie!” One of them cried _changed to_ - “Get away, Billie!” one of them cried - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Billie Bradley and the School Mystery, by -Janet D. 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