Grace nodded. Then taking the cup Miriam offered she dropped two lumps
of sugar in it, and began drinking her tea in silence.

"What's the matter, Grace?" asked Anne anxiously.

"Nothing," replied Grace. "I feel reflective. I suppose that's why I
haven't anything to say. Did Miriam tell you about the basketball try
out on Exeter Field?"

"Yes; but not for mine--I mean--I'm not interested in basketball,"
amended Elfreda, hastily. "I tell you this trying to cut out slang is no
idle dream."

There was a shout of laughter from the three girls.

"Now, see here," bristled the stout girl. "You needn't laugh at me. What
I meant was that--that it is very difficult to refrain from the use of
slang," finished Elfreda with such affected primness that the laughter
broke forth afresh.

"Humph!" she ejaculated disgustedly. "I don't see anything to laugh at.
Goodness knows I'm trying hard to break myself of the habit."

"Of course you are," sympathized Anne. "We aren't laughing at you. It
was the funny way you ended your last sentence."

Elfreda's face relaxed into a good-natured grin. "I am funny sometimes,"
she admitted calmly. "Even Pa, who doesn't smile once a year, says so."

"I must go," said Anne, rising. "I haven't looked at my history lesson,
and it is frightfully long, too."

"I'll go with you," announced Grace. "I must mend my blue serge dress. I
stepped on it while going upstairs this morning and tore it just above
the hem. I had to change it for this, and was almost late for chapel."

"I waited for you in the hall as long as I could," said Anne. "I meant
to ask you what happened, but forgot it. Grace, what do you suppose
Elfreda said before you came upstairs?"

"I can't possibly guess," rejoined Grace. "J. Elfreda's remarks are
varied and startling."

The two girls were now in their own room.

"These are nice ones," averred Anne. "She said that you and Miriam and I
were the first girls she'd ever cared much about. She said that she had
never tried to do anything to please any one but herself until she came
here. Then when you stood up for her, and fixed things so she could go
to the reception, she said she held up her right hand and swore to
herself that she'd try to be worthy of our friendship. That's why she's
trying not to use slang, and to be more generous. She keeps her things
in order, too. You noticed how nice everything looked to-day."

"Miriam, not I, is responsible for the change," said Grace.