Miss Picolet, had tried to defame her in
the mind of the Preceptress.

Now, what Ruth _knew_ was very little indeed. What she _suspected_
regarding a meeting between the French teacher and the man with the
harp, at the campus fountain, was an entirely different matter. But
Mrs. Tellingham had put her question so that Ruth did not have to tell
her suspicions.

"I really know nothing about it, Mrs. Tellingham," she said, finally.

"That is all. I do not believe you--or Miss Cameron--would willingly
malign an innocent person. I have known Miss Picolet some time, and I
respect her. If she has a secret sorrow, I respect _it_. I do not
think it is nice to make Miss Picolet's private affairs a subject for
remark by the school.

"Now, we will leave that. Sound Miss Cameron about this Mercy Curtis.
If you girls will take her in, she shall come on trial. It lies with
you, and your roommate, Miss Fielding. Come to me after chapel
to-morrow and tell me what you have decided."

And so Ruth was dismissed.

CHAPTER XIX

THE TRIUMVIRATE

Mercy Curtis came in a week. For Helen of course was only too
delighted to fall in with Mrs. Tellingham's suggestion. Duet Number 2,
West Dormitory, was amply large enough for three, and Ruth gave up her
bed to the cripple and slept on a couch. Helen herself could not do
too much for the comfort of the newcomer.

Dr. Davidson and Dr. Cranfew came with her; but really the lame girl
bore the journey remarkably well. And how different she looked from
the thin, peaked girl that Ruth and Helen remembered!

"Oh, you didn't expect to see so much flesh on my bones; did you?" said
Mercy, noting their surprise, and being just as sharp and choppy in her
observations as ever. "But I'm getting wickedly and scandalously fat.
And I don't often have to repeat Aunt Alviry's song of 'Oh, my back and
oh, my bones!'"

Mercy went to bed on her arrival. But the next day she got about in
the room very nicely with the aid of two canes. The handsome ebony
crutches she saved for "Sunday-Best."

Ruth arranged a meeting of the Sweetbriars to welcome the cripple, and
Mercy seemed really to enjoy having so many girls of her own age about
her. Helen did not bring in many members of the Upedes; indeed, just
then they all seemed to keep away from Duet Two, and none of them spoke
to Ruth. That is, none save Jennie Stone. The fat girl was altogether
too good-natured--and really too kind at heart