al. Ruth came home from school to find Mr. Howbridge waiting for
her in the sitting room with Tess, who had arrived some time before,
entertaining him.

As the door was open into the hall, Ruth heard the murmur of their
voices while she was still upstairs at her toilet-table; so when she
tripped lightly down the broad front stairs it was not eavesdropping if
she continued to listen to her very earnest little sister and the
lawyer.

"But just supposing Uncle Peter _had_ been 'approached,' as you say, for
money for that hospital--and s'pose he knew just how nice Mrs. Eland
was--don't you think he would have left them some in his will, Mr.
Howbridge?"

"Can't say I do, my dear--considering what I know about Mr. Peter
Stower," said the lawyer, drily.

"Well," sighed Tess, "I do wish he had met my Mrs. Eland! I am sure he
would have been int'rested in her."

"Do you think so?"

"Oh, yes! For she is the very nicest lady you ever saw, Mr. Howbridge.
And I _do_ think you might let us give some of the money to the hospital
that Uncle Peter forgot to give--if he had been reminded, of course."

"That child should enter my profession when she grows up," said Mr.
Howbridge to Ruth, when Tess had been excused. "She'll split hairs in
argument even now. What's started her off on this hospital business?"

Ruth told him. She told, too, what Tess did each month with her own pin
money, and the next allowance day Tess was surprised to find an extra
half dollar in her envelope.

"Oh--ee!" she cried. "Now I _can_ give something to the hospital fund,
can't I, Ruthie?"

Meanwhile, Agnes, with Eva Larry, Myra Stetson, and others of her
closest friends (Agnes had a number of bosom chums) waited solemnly in
Mr. Marks' office. More than the basket ball team was present in anxious
waiting for the principal's appearance.

"Where's Trix Severn?" demanded Eva in a whisper of the other girls.
"She ought to be in this."

"In what?" demanded another girl, trying to play the part of innocence.

"Ah-yah!" sneered Eva, very inelegantly. "As though you didn't know what
it is all about!"

"Well, I'm sure I don't," snapped this girl. "Mr. Marks sent for me. I
don't belong to your old basket ball team."

"No. But you were with us on that car last May," said Agnes, sharply,
"You know what we're all called here for."

"No, I don't."

"If you weren't told so publicly as we were to come here, you'll find
that he knows all about your being in i