ost sure I shan't come
back. And anyhow I'm the only friend she has. I've got to stick to her.
If you could hear her mourning over her loneliness! Nobody cares for
her--nobody in all the world! And the girls don't like her. I promised to
be her friend. She--she needs me."

"Humph!" growled Berta sourly, but somehow her arm was stealing around
the slight shoulders so far beneath her own, "that's the silly kind of a
person you are. If any creature needs you, from a lame kitten to a lion
with a toothache, you'll cling. Idiocy, that's what it is! Your brother
warned me last summer to restrict your charities. And now to help her
with her writing, and she your most dangerous rival for the editorship!"

"Ah, but she doesn't know it, you understand. She doesn't know that I am
eligible. The editors have been so awfully kind to me and gave me book
reviews to do and reports to make, and they printed my verses and two
editorials. Every freshman who has had so many words published is
eligible for election on the board at their annual meeting next month.
Lucine's last story was clipped so much that she is short about two
thousand words; and this is her last chance to qualify by getting her
essay accepted for the next issue. I've got to help."

"Yes, certainly you've got to help a rival qualify for a competition in
which she is likely to defeat you. Do you realize that?" Berta swung
Laura around in front of her and studied her curiously while she spoke.
"You are a good steady worker, you understand. You have critical ability
and a simple, sincere style. If elected you would make an excellent
editor, but--now listen, but, I say, you are not a genius like Lucine
Brett. She is brilliant. Oh, I acknowledge that, even if I do despise her
for being selfish and disagreeable and ego----"

"Hush! She tries--she doesn't understand----You mustn't talk that way. I
won't listen. I promised to be her friend. She wonders why the girls
don't like her."

"And yet she expects you to help her defeat you! She is willing to accept
that sacrifice from you! When it means so much to you that----"

"Oh, hush, Berta!" Laura slipped out of the range of that keen
straight-ahead gaze and nestled under the protecting arm again. "She
doesn't know that I am eligible, I tell you. My articles weren't signed
usually except with initials. And she is not thinking about other girls'
qualifications--she's bothered about her own. It's got to be a fair race
with everyb