on, though--that is, if arrangements can be made to billet me with
somebody who doesn't mind having a Goody Two-Sticks around.

"Now, good-bye, Ruthie,
"From your fidgetty friend,
"MERCY CURTIS."

This letter delighted Ruth, and she went in search of Helen to show it
to her. The chums were due at their first recitation in a very few
moments. Ruth found Helen talking with Mary Cox and Belle Tingley on
the steps of the building in a recitation room in which Ruth and Helen
were soon to recite. Ruth heard Belle say, earnestly:

"I believe it, too. Miss Picolet wasn't downstairs in her room at all.
When she caught me she came from upstairs, and that's how I didn't give
any warning. I didn't expect her from that direction and I was looking
downstairs."

"She had been warned, all right," said the Fox, sharply. "It's plain
enough who played the traitor. Nasty little cat!"

"I believe you," said Belle. "And she only got half a demerit. They
favored her, of course."

"But why any demerit at all, if she was a spy for Miss Picolet?"
demanded Helen, in a worried tone.

"Pshaw! that's all for a blind," declared the Fox.

And then all three saw Ruth at the bottom of the steps. The Fox and
Belle Tingley turned away without giving Ruth a second glance, and went
into the building. But Helen smiled frankly on Ruth as her chum
approached, and slipped an arm within her own:

"What have you got there, Ruthie?" she demanded, seeing the open letter.

"It's from Mercy. Read it when you get a chance," Ruth whispered,
thrusting it into her chum's hand as they went in. "It's just as you
said--Dr. Davison is going to bring it about. Mercy Curtis is coming
to Briarwood, too."

Helen said nothing at all about The Fox and her room-mate. But Ruth
saw that the Upedes--especially those who had been caught in the French
teacher's raid on Duet Number 2--whispered a good deal among
themselves, and when they looked at Ruth they did not look kindly.

After recitation, and before dinner, several of the girls deliberately
cut her as Mary Cox had. But Helen said nothing, nor would Ruth speak
first. She saw plainly that The Fox had started the cabal against her.
It made Ruth feel very unhappy, but there was nothing she could do to
defend herself.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE MYSTERY AGAIN

The organization of the Sweetbriars had gone on apace. Two general
meetings had been held. Every new-comer to the school, who had en