ure I have
displeased and hurt Father, or he would have written me before this."

"I think Miss West has behaved abominably, and I hope you will forgive
me for having asked you to help her. If she is still in the office on
Saturday I shall not hesitate to take her to task for her
double-dealing."

"I am quite frank in saying that you may tell her whatever you choose."
Grace's voice sounded very hard.

"Grace Harlowe, what has come over you?" exclaimed Elfreda. "You usually
preach moderation, but now you are as vindictive and resentful as an
Indian."

"Not quite," retorted Grace, half smiling. "I am merely what one might
term 'deeply incensed.' It isn't a dangerous state, but it usually lasts
a long time. Now, I've said the very last word of my say. It is your
time to talk, Patience."

"I haven't much to say," began Patience, "except that Miss West is
naturally rather hard and self-centered and her work as a reporter has
accentuated it. Her ambition blinds her sense of honor. I suppose she
has one, although I have occasionally doubted it."

"Don't you approve of newspaper work for women?" asked Mabel quickly.

"I ought to." The words slipped out unawares. "That is--I----"

"I know why!" cried Elfreda, wagging her head in triumph. "Because she
is an editor's daughter and knows that a newspaper could not run
successfully without women. James Merton Eliot, the well-known newspaper
editor, is her father."

Exclamations of surprise greeted this announcement. To Miriam, Anne and
Mabel this was news indeed, but the astonishment of Patience arose from
a far different cause.

"How did you know it?" Patience asked Elfreda in open amazement.

"Oh, I heard you explaining to Grace at luncheon one day just how the
Sunday section of a newspaper was put together. I could see you knew
what you were talking about, and made up my mind then that you didn't
get your information from Miss West. Then you dropped a letter one day
when we were crossing the campus addressed to James Merton Eliot, The
Elms, South Framingham, Massachusetts. I picked it up and handed it to
you, but I couldn't help seeing the address. I didn't think anything of
it until I happened to read an article in a magazine on noted men of
affairs, and found the same name staring me in the face. For a long time
I couldn't think of why that particular name seemed familiar. Then I
remembered. Still, I had never heard you say a word about your father's
business. One