serious charge
against Anne without one bit of ground on which to base your suspicions.
You have always disliked her because she won the freshman prize, and you
know nothing whatever against her."

"No," said Miriam scornfully, "nor anything to her credit either. Who is
she, anyway? The daughter of a strolling third-rate actor, who goes
barnstorming about the country, and she has been on the stage, too. She
has a very good opinion of herself since Mrs. Gray and certain Oakdale
girls took her up, but I wouldn't trust her as far as I could see her. Why
should girls of good Oakdale families be forced to associate with such
people? I suppose she wanted to be on good terms with the juniors, too,
and took that method of gaining her point."

"That is pure nonsense," exclaimed Nora. "Don't you think so, girls?"

But the other girls made no reply. They were thinking hard. Suspicion
seemed to point in Anne's direction. What a pity Grace had been so rash
about taking Anne up if her father were a common actor. Miriam was right
about not caring to associate with Anne. After all, they knew very little
about her. Grace Harlowe was always picking queer people and trying to
help them.

"I think we ought to be very careful about taking outsiders into our
confidence," firmly said Eva Allen, one of the team. "I didn't know Miss
Pierson had ever been an actress." There was a note of horror in her voice
as she pronounced the last word.

"I have always heard that they were very unreliable people," said another
miss of sixteen.

Grace was in despair. She felt that she had lost. By dragging up Anne's
unfortunate family history, Miriam had produced a bad impression that she
was powerless to efface.

"Girls," she said, "you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You know
perfectly well that Anne is innocent. If you wish to be my friend you must
be Anne's also. Please say that you believe her."

"Count on me," said Nora.

But the other sophomores had nothing to say.

Grace looked about her appealingly, only to meet cold looks and averted
faces. Miriam was smiling openly.

"The meeting is adjourned," said Grace shortly, and without another word
she went to her locker and began taking out her wraps. Nora followed her,
but the majority of the girls walked over to the other end of the room and
began to talk in low tones with Miriam.

Grace realized that her team had deserted her for Miriam. It was almost
unbelievable. She set her lips and