e audience.
The girls, of course, were hatless here; but that morning Rebecca had
been seen wearing the "scrambled-egg tam," as Helen insisted upon
calling it.

There was an intake of breath all over the room. Rebecca walked down the
aisle in search of an empty seat.

And suddenly half the seats were empty. She could have her choice--and a
large one.

"Goodness!" Helen gasped.

Every senior and junior in the room had arisen and had left her seat.
Not a word had been spoken, nor had they glanced at Rebecca Frayne, who
at first was unaware of what it portended.

The older girls filed out silently. Professor Leidenburg entered by the
door beside the organ just in time to see the last of them disappear. He
looked a bit surprised, but said nothing and took up the matter at hand
with but half an audience.

Rebecca Frayne had seen and understood at last. She sat still in her
seat, and Ruth saw that she did not open her lips when, later, the
choruses were sung. Her face was very pale.

Nobody spoke to her when the class was dismissed. This was not an
intentional slight on the part of her mates; simply, the girls did not
know what to say.

The seniors and juniors were showing Rebecca that she was taboo. Their
attitude could not be mistaken. And so great was the influence of these
older girls of Ardmore upon the whole college that Rebecca walked
entirely alone.

Ruth and Helen walked down the hill behind Rebecca that afternoon. Ruth
was very silent, while Helen buzzed about a dozen things.

"I--I wonder how that poor girl feels?" murmured the girl of the Red
Mill after a while.

"Cold, I imagine!" declared her chum, vigorously. "I'm half frozen
myself, Ruth. There's going to be a big frost to-night and the lake is
already skimmed over. Say, Ruth!"

"Well?" asked her friend, absently.

"Let's take our skates first thing in the morning down to that man who
sharpens things at the boathouse; will you?"

CHAPTER XIII

THE GIRL IN THE STORM

Ruth Fielding was quite as eager for fun between lessons as either Helen
or Jennie, and the prospect of skating on such a large lake as Remona
delighted her. The second day following the incident in the chorus
class, the ice which had bound Lake Remona was officially pronounced
safe.

Gymnasium athletics lost their charm for those girls who were truly
active and could skate. There were luxurious damsels who preferred to be
pushed about in ice-chairs by more active g