It was evident she was thinking of nothing else but the injustice
and littleness of the act they had been contemplating. She felt deeply,
and talked as she felt. For a moment she was an orator worthy the name.

"For this ostracising, I have as little sympathy. A student does wrong,
and you would cut her off immediately from all who are trying to do right.
If your purpose is to assist those weaker than yourself, you will never
succeed by such a method. If every one was to be ignored for every bit of
deceit they practice, I fancy most of us would be going around by
ourselves, rather lonely." A smile passed over the faces of her hearers--a
smile of amusement and surprise, for hitherto Elizabeth had been a quiet,
shy girl, almost timid in company; and now upon the instant she had taken
the lead. She had come forth alone when all the odds were against her,
boldly declaring her opinion, and fearless to defend the course she
believed to be right.

"If we are going to begin this reformation, let us begin aright--at the
root of the evil, and carry it through all its branches. Let us begin with
the students who leave us under false impressions--telling us romances of
their adventures, their powerful friends, their finances." To do Elizabeth
justice, the girl with traits like these she mentioned had no definite
form in her mind. She was only supposing a case. Yet, unconsciously, her
mind had received during these months of school an idea of such a person.
She could not embody these qualities with a human form. Yet more than one
of her hearers recognized these as characteristics of one who had been
foremost in the denunciations of dishonest examinations. "Let us begin
with the girls who turn out their lights and go to bed long enough to
deceive Mrs. Schuyler, and then get up again to prowl--and to the girl who
gets a book from the town library and allows a dozen to read it before it
is returned, when she has pledged herself to withdraw the books for her
use alone.

"We, as a set of Christian girls"--the expression was new to Elizabeth,
but it does not take one long to become a Christian--"would ostracise any
who did not come up to our standard of ethics! I say here so that you may
all know where I stand"--her cheeks grew scarlet, and in the energy of her
emotions she emphasized strongly--"I will not declare the name of anyone
who 'ponies' in class, nor will I cut them from my list of acquaintances.
I shall let them know I despise