ker rooms to dress and go home. The four girl chums were practically
alone.

"I do wish the rest of the basketball team would put in an appearance,"
said Grace, as she and Anne stopped to rest. "We need every minute we can
get for practice. The opening game is so very near, and it's really
difficult to get the gymnasium now, for the juniors seem to consider it
their especial possession. One would think they had leased it for the
season."

"They are awfully mean, I think," said Nora O'Malley. "They weren't at all
nice to us last year when we were freshmen and they were sophomores. Even
the dignity of being juniors doesn't seem to improve them any. They are
just as hateful as ever."

"Most of the juniors are really nice girls, but it is due to Julia Crosby
that they behave so badly," said Jessica Bright thoughtfully, "She leads
them, into all kinds of mischief. She is a born trouble-maker."

"She is one of the rudest girls I have ever known," remarked Nora with
emphasis. "How Miriam Nesbit can tolerate her is more than I can see."

"Well," said Grace, "it is hardly a case of toleration. Miriam seems
really fond of her."

"Hush!" said Anne, who had been silently listening to the conversation.
"Here comes the rest of the team, and Miriam is with them."

Readers of the preceding volume of this series, "GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE
YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL," need no introduction to Grace Harlowe and her girl
chums. In that volume was narrated the race for the freshman prize, so
generously offered each year by Mrs. Gray, sponsor of the freshman class,
and the efforts of Miriam Nesbit aided by the disagreeable teacher of
algebra, Miss Leece, to ruin the career of Anne Pierson, the brightest
pupil of Oakdale High School. Through the loyalty and cleverness of Grace
and her friends, the plot was brought to light and Anne was vindicated.

Many and varied were the experiences which fell to the lot of the High
School girls. The encounter with an impostor, masquerading as Mrs. Gray's
nephew, Tom Gray, the escape from wolves in Upton Woods, and Mrs. Gray's
Christmas ball proved exciting additions to the routine of school work.

The contest between Grace and Miriam Nesbit for the basketball captaincy,
resulting in Grace's subsequent election, was also one of the interesting
features of the freshman year.

The beginning of the sophomore year found Miriam Nesbit in a most
unpleasant frame of mind toward Grace and her friends. The loss of th