I was so surprised I couldn't help hearing
a couple of sentences. Then I coughed and came out of the lab and they
looked as if they'd like to kill me. 'The girls are getting altogether
too much to eat,' said Miss Ada." Laura mimicked her to perfection.
"'Yes,' said Miss Cora, 'we must give them less--a good deal less.'"

"Well, I'd just like to see them try it, that's all," said Billie,
adding with a sigh: "Thank goodness, we still have Miss Walters, anyway.
She won't let us quite starve to death!"

CHAPTER XIII

FOUR ENEMIES

"Are we really going to have one, Billie Bradley? Oh, how wonderful!"

Several weeks had passed, and this afternoon the five of them, Laura
Jordon, Vi, Nellie Bane, Connie Danvers and Billie, were sitting close
together at the very farthest end of Billie's dormitory talking over
some plans that made them feel delightfully like conspirators.

"A real feast!" said Violet Farrington eagerly. "With sandwiches and
pickles and cake and--and--everything! Oh, Billie, who all are going to
be in the party?"

"All the girls from Nellie's dorm, we four and Caroline Brant," Billie
said, in a voice scarcely above a whisper.

"But I don't think Caroline will come," said Laura doubtfully. "You know
she would lots rather study than go to a party. That's her idea of a
good time."

For although Caroline Brant had proved a good friend to the chums,
especially to Billie, they had tried in vain to draw her into their
little escapades. She was what the girls usually referred to scornfully
as "a grind," yet, strange to say, they all loved her.

She willingly helped them with their lessons, had often coached some of
the more backward of them for tests, passing them when otherwise they
would have hopelessly flunked, and cheerfully helped them out of scrapes
when they needed help.

So now it was not strange that Laura should expect her to refuse an
invitation to this new escapade--the most forbidden of all forbidden
escapades, the midnight feast.

"Well, I'm going to ask her, anyway," Billie said in answer to Laura's
objection. "The worst she can do is to say she won't come."

"But you're going to ask Rose, aren't you?" Connie broke in, adding, as
Billie frowned and looked doubtful: "She'd never in the world forgive
you if you didn't."

"Yes, we'll ask Rose," said Billie, after a minute's hesitation. "Here
she comes now," she added, as the door opened and Rose entered. "Come on
over here," she call