rtner could rescue it. An exclamation
of disappointment from Tom added to her discomfiture; and when Will, the
next instant, cried, "Wait a minute, till I get another racket, Miss
Smith has broken hers," Agnes, flinging down her own, exclaimed,--

"Miss Smith can have my racket; I'm not going to play any longer!"

"Not going to play? What do you mean?" shouted Will.

"I mean that I am not used to a surprise-party and to playing with
strangers," was the rude and angry answer.

"You--you ought to--" But Will controlled himself and stopped. He was
about to say, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Agnes, however, understood by the tone of his voice something of what he
meant, and turned scornfully away, her head up, and with a glance at Tom
that plainly showed she expected him to follow her.

But Tom made no movement of that kind. He stood where he was, looking
across at Will, who, red and ashamed, had approached Miss Smith, and was
evidently making some sort of apology to her for the insult that had
been offered to her; and Miss Smith was listening to this apology with
the coolest little face imaginable.

Tom, taking all this in, gave another of his odd little chuckles. Agnes
heard it, and flushed scarlet. So he was taking sides with Will
Wentworth, was he? And what--what--was that--Tilly? Yes, it was
Tilly,--Tilly with the racket she, Agnes, had flung down,--Tilly
standing in her place and--and--serving the ball back to that girl! So
Tilly was with them too? Well, she would see, they would all see, that
Agnes Brendon was not a person to be snubbed and disregarded in this
fashion, nor a person to be forced to make acquaintances with vulgar or
common people against her will. Oh, they would see, they would see! And
bracing herself up with these indignant resolutions, Agnes betook
herself to the hotel.

Before the end of the week there were two distinct parties in the house,
where heretofore there had been but one,--two distinct opposing forces.

On one side were Agnes and Dora and Amy; on the other side were Tilly
and Tom and Will. Dora and Amy were not naturally ill-natured girls, but
they were inclined to be worldly and were greatly under Agnes's
influence. She had been a sort of authority with them for a good while,
perforce of her dominant disposition and the knowledge she seemed to
possess of the worldly matters that were of so much interest to them.

"But I should think you would feel ashamed to side with