. She swept past the two juniors who stood at the foot of the stairs
without the slightest sign of recognition, and neither girl saw the look
of triumph that animated her face the instant she had turned her back
upon them and hurried up the stairs.

"What shall we do?" asked Arline as once more they seated themselves at
the library table opposite each other.

"We can't do anything until we find the girl who listened, and the
question is how are we to find her?" Grace made a little gesture of
despair.

Arline shrugged her dainty shoulders. "I don't know. Perhaps she will
never repeat what she has heard. Curiosity alone may have prompted her
to listen. We may be agreeably disappointed."

Grace shook her head. "I wish I could believe that," she said. "I don't
wish to croak, but I have a curious conviction that the person who
listened had a motive deeper than mere curiosity."

CHAPTER XV

A TISSUE PAPER TEA

"What in the name of all mysterious is going on between you and
Alice-In-Wonderland Daffydowndilly Thayer?" demanded Elfreda Briggs as
she lovingly wrapped a large pasteboard box in white tissue paper and
tied it with a huge bow of scarlet satin ribbon. "This is Miriam's
present," she drawled calmly. "You will observe that she has obligingly
turned her back while I am engaged in wrestling with wrapping it. I
never could tie a bow. I have had this box in the closet for a week, and
it has fallen out every time we opened the door, but Miriam, beloved
angel, hasn't shown the slightest curiosity. You may look, my dear, the
big box is all put away," she declared, as though addressing a very
small child.

"What a ridiculous person you are, J. Elfreda Briggs," laughed Miriam.
"One might think me at the kindergarten age, instead of your guardian
and keeper."

"Tell me what it is, Elfreda," teased Grace.

"On one condition," answered Elfreda, reaching for a small square box
and beginning to wrap it in holly paper. "Tell me what you and Arline
are planning!"

"It's a secret," returned Grace. "I'd love to tell you, but I am pledged
until the day we go home. When we are all in the train and it has
started on the home stretch then you shall know."

"There is no time like the present," invited Elfreda.

"No," laughed Grace, shaking her head. "Not now. I have given my promise
to Arline."

"She won't tell even me," smiled Anne Pierson, who, with Grace, had
carried her Christmas gifts to Miriam's and Elfreda's