ll you go first and announce supper?"

There was a buzz of delight and admiration from the guests, as headed by
Marjorie and Seldon, the little procession marched into the dining-room.
For a moment the very sight of the gayly decked table with its weight of
goodies and wonderful red roses caused Marjorie's brown eyes to blur.
Then, as Seldon bowed her to the head of one of the tables, she winked
back her tears, and nodding gayly to the eager faces turned toward her
and said with her prettiest smile: "It's the very nicest surprise that
ever happened to me, and I hope you will all have a perfectly splendid
time to-night."

"Three cheers for Marjorie Dean! May we give them, Mrs. Dean?" called
Robert Barrett.

Mrs. Dean's smiling assent was lost in the volume of sound that went up
from thirty lusty young throats.

"Now, Franklin High," proposed Mary Hammond, and the Franklin yell was
given by the girls. The boys, who were nearly all students at the La
Fayette High School, just around the corner from Franklin, responded
with their yell, and the merry little company began hunting their places
and seating themselves at the tables.

Marjorie was far too much excited to eat. Her glances strayed
continually down the long tables to the cheery faces of her schoolmates.
It seemed almost too wonderful that her friends should care so much
about her.

"Marjorie Dean, stop dreaming and eat your supper," commanded Mary, who
had been covertly watching her friend. "Clark, you are sitting next to
her. Make her eat her chicken salad. It's perfectly delicious."

"Will you eat your salad or must I exercise my stern authority?" began
Clark, drawing down his face until he exactly resembled a certain
roundly disliked teacher of mathematics in the boys' high school. There
was a laugh of recognition from the boys sitting nearest to Clark. He
continued to eye Marjorie severely.

"Of course, I'm going to eat my salad," declared Marjorie, stoutly. "You
must give me time, though. I'm still too surprised to be hungry."

But the greatest surprise was still in store for her. When everyone had
finished eating, Robert Barrett began his duties as toastmaster. Ethel
Duval came first with "What Friendships Mean to a Schoolgirl," and
Seldon Ames followed with a ridiculously funny little toast to "The High
School Fellows." Then Mr. and Mrs. Dean were toasted, and Lillian Hale,
a next-door neighbor and the only upper-class girl invited, gave solemn
cou