ith this La Salle girl. Mark me, some day she will
turn on Mary, and then see what happens! I'll have a talk with my
sore-hearted little Lieutenant and cheer her up, if I can."

Mr. Dean kept his word, privately inviting his sober-eyed daughter to
meet him at his office after school and go for a long ride with him in
the crisp autumn air. Once they had left Sanford behind them, Marjorie,
who understood the purpose of the little expedition, opened her
sorrowing heart to her General. Sure of his sympathy, she spoke her
inmost thoughts, while he listened, commented, asked questions and
comforted, then repeated his prediction of a happy ending with a
positiveness that aroused in her new hope of better days yet to come.

Marjorie never forgot that ride. They tarried for dinner at a wayside
inn, justly famous for its cheer, and drove home happily under the
November stars. As she studied her lessons that night she experienced a
rush of buoyant good fellowship toward the world in general which for
many days had not been hers. Yes, she was certain now that the shadow
would be lifted. Sooner or later she and Mary would step, hand-in-hand,
into the clear sunlight of perfect understanding. She prayed that it
might dawn for her soon. As is usually the case with persons innocent of
blame, she took herself sharply to task for whatever part of the snarl
she had helped to make. She did not know that the stubborn soul of her
friend could be lifted to nobler things only by suffering; that Mary's
moment of awakening was still far distant.

But while Marjorie prayed wistfully for reconciliation, Mary Raymond sat
in the next room, her straight brows puckered in a frown over a sheet of
paper she held in her hand. On it was written:

"DEAR MARY:

"Be sure to come to the practice game to-morrow. I think you
will find it interesting. If it is anything like the last one,
several persons are going to be surprised when it is over. I
won't see you after school to-day, as I am not coming back to
the afternoon session.

"MIGNON."

Mary stared at the paper with slightly troubled eyes. Estranged from
Marjorie, she and Mignon had become boon companions. Since that eventful
morning when she had chosen her own course, she had discovered a number
of things about the French girl not wholly to her liking. First of all
she had expected that her latest sturdy defiance of the Deans would
elicit the highest approbation on t