cept Ruth."

"I know," nodded Arline wisely. "I had thought of that, too. Never fear,
I won't breathe it to another soul."

"My half hour is more than up," exclaimed Grace ruefully, glancing
toward the little French clock on Arline's chiffonier. "I must hurry
away this instant. I'll see you again in a day or two. I am so sorry for
your disappointment. You're the bravest little Daffydowndilly. If my
prospects of going home were suddenly swept away, I'm afraid I'd be too
busy with my own woes to think about making other people happy."

"You would do just what I am planning to do, Grace Harlowe," declared
Arline emphatically. "After all, perhaps it is just as well I can't
always have my own way. I might become a monument of selfishness."

"There doesn't seem to be much danger of it," laughed Grace, as she put
on her hat and slipped into her long coat. "There is a strong
possibility, however, that 'not prepared' will be my watchword
to-morrow. I think I shall write a theme on the decline of the art of
study and use personal illustrations. It seems such a shame that
mid-years had to come skulking along on the very heels of Christmas,
doesn't it?"

Arline nodded. "I haven't looked at my French for to-morrow, either,"
she confessed, "and I've been saying 'not prepared' for the last two
recitations. Ruth and I have planned a systematic study campaign during
vacation, so you see the ill wind will blow some little good," she
concluded wistfully.

Grace smiled very tenderly at the little, golden-haired girl who was
bearing her cross bravely, almost gayly. "Good-night, little
Daffydowndilly," she said impulsively, bending to kiss Arline's rosy
cheek. "I think you can teach all of us a lesson in real unselfishness."

CHAPTER XIV

PLANNING THE CHRISTMAS DINNER

The ensuing days before Christmas were filled to the brim with business
for Grace and Arline, who had been making secret tours of investigation
about Overton with regard to the girls who were not going to their homes
or to friends for the vacation. The managers at Martell's and Vinton's
had been interviewed, and both proprietors had agreed to furnish
practically the same dinner at the same price, which was considerably
more than fifty cents, and was to be paid privately from Arline's own
pocket money.

"I feel like a conspirator," confided Arline to Grace as the two girls
sat at the library table in the living room at Wayne Hall late one
afternoon going ov