sily influenced by the Evil Genius.
Marjorie had already begun to think of the small, dark girl as that. She
was glad not to be the girl they had discussed. Then, her thought
changing, a vision of two wet blue eyes and a tear-stained face set in
fluffy yellow curls came to her, and Marjorie knew that she had seen the
object of their discussion. A wave of sympathy for the offender swept
over her. "I don't believe she could do anything deceitful or horrid,"
she reflected stoutly. "Her eyes are as true and as blue as Mary's. I'm
going to like her and be her friend, if she'll let me, for she certainly
seems to need one. I did so want to be friends with the Picture Girl,
but I can't help wishing she had been just a little bit braver."

While Marjorie strolled thoughtfully home, deep in her own cogitations,
the five girls, having joined forces again, were discussing her.

"Did you see that pretty girl standing across from the school as we came
out?" asked Susan Atwell, the girl with the dimples.

"Yes," returned Irma Linton. "I noticed her there the other day, too. I
wonder who she can be."

"I don't know," said Muriel Harding. "She is awfully sweet though, and
dresses beautifully. She----"

"I know all about her," interrupted Geraldine Macy. "Her father is the
new manager for Preston & Haines. They only moved here from the city
last week. Her name is Dean. That is, her last name. I don't know her
other name."

"I am surprised that you don't know that," was the sarcastic comment of
Mignon La Salle, the little dark girl.

"You needn't be," flung back the stout girl. "There are lots of things I
don't know that I'd like to know. For instance----"

"Don't be cross, Jerry," interrupted Mignon, hastily. "I was only
teasing you." She cast a peculiar glance at the ruffled Jerry from under
her heavy lashes which the young woman failed to catch. "Tell us some
more about this new girl. I really didn't pay hardly any attention to
her to-day."

"There isn't anything more to tell that I know of," muttered Jerry,
sulkily, her desire to distribute news quite gone. "Wait until Monday
and see. I know she's going to enter Sanford High and that she's a
freshman."

"Then as freshmen it's our solemn duty to be nice to her and make her
feel at home," stated Muriel, seriously.

Mignon La Salle shrugged her thin shoulders. "Perhaps," she said,
without enthusiasm. "I shall wait until I see her before I decide that."

Meanwhile, Marjorie