ding place among the draperies. "And I want this
evening to be a sweet memory to us all."

She stepped aside with a swift movement, and the big red lantern swayed
and threatened to topple as the cord tightened.

"Why, what's that?" cried a voice, and all eyes were turned to the
gaudy swaying globe. Before anyone could speak, Elinor gave another
hard tug, tearing out the bottom of the lantern, and down came the
shower of gay little gauze bags with their cargoes of bonbons,
pell-mell on the heads of the crowd!

"Hallelujah! It's the fee!" cried Griffin, with a green and gold
packet in her hands. "Hurrah for Kendall Major! She's the stuff!"

"Verses, too!" cried Margaret Howes. "Verses on every one of them.
Read them aloud, everybody in turn. Hurry up and get them all
together."

"Silence, will you?" shouted Griffin, pounding like mad. "Keep still
till the exercises are over. The first little girl to speak her piece
is Miss Doris Leighton. Come up, Doris, dear. Don't put your finger
in your mouth, and speak so we can all hear you. Fire away."

Patricia thought Doris Leighton looked pale as she stood up on the
model stand to read the nonsense verse that was on her candy bag, but
her loveliness wrought the same spell on the others as it always had,
and they listened to her silvery voice in appreciative silence, and
applauded her warmly at the end.

One after another, the girls mounted the stand beside Elinor, and read
the little verses, while the assembly listened, and even the model,
decorously cloaked, came from her little room, and with her crocheting
in hand sat smiling at the nonsense.

When the last verse had been read and the laughter died down, Griffin
raised her voice again.

"Nobody's asked me for a speech," she began and paused.

"Didn't think you had to be asked," came from the crowd in a laughing
voice.

Griffin looked sadly in the direction of the voice.

"Nobody's asked me," she repeated more firmly, "and so I'm not going to
make any. So there!"

Groans of relief sounded from the side of the room whence the voice had
come, and there was a general giggle.

"I merely raised my voice above the general clamor," Griffin went on
with an icy stare towards her hidden critic, "to suggest that we show
our appreciation of the delightful entertainment Miss Kendall has so
thoughtfully provided us by giving her the Night Life Song, or the
Academy Howl, whichever she prefers." She bowed to Eli