had been a glass opposite the door, so that she could
have seen her face," remarked Bess, going off into another gale of
laughter.

"Come on," said Rhoda, when they had settled down. "Let's go for a walk
on the campus and get some fresh air. Thank goodness, we can do that,
anyway."

"Oh, dear," sighed Nan, as they went downstairs. "No coasting, no
skating for three days. What a fate!"

"No matter," comforted Grace. "The feast was worth it. The memory
lingers."

"It does," agreed Laura. "I can taste that layer cake yet. But come,
girls, I challenge you to a race around the campus. One, two,
three--go!"

"Wait until I make certain my shoe is tight," cried Grace.

"And wait until I get my cap fastened on," added Nan.

"No primping now!" exclaimed Laura. "Everybody ready?"

"What's the prize?" questioned Bess. "I can't run well unless I know
it's worth it."

"You get the hole out of a doughnut," said Nan. "All sugared over, too."

"And a glass of frozen ice-water," added Grace.

"This is all the way around the campus," went on Laura. "No cutting
corners, remember. You must follow the trees and the hedge. One cent
fine if you don't. All ready? One--two--three, go!"

With wild shouts and much laughter the race around the campus was on.

Nan won "by a nose," as Laura rather slangily put it, and the girls,
glowing and breathless, looked like anything else than confessed
law-breakers doing penance.

The sight of their happy faces was too much for Linda, who, with Cora,
was passing them, drawing the _Gay Girl_ and carrying their skates over
their shoulders.

"Some people try mighty hard to show that they're having a good time,"
she remarked to her companion.

"Blessings brighten as they take their flight, as the girl said when she
couldn't leave the campus," grinned Cora maliciously.

"Well," countered Nan, "at least we're not doing penance for sneaking in
the dark and listening at doors."

The flush on Linda's face showed that the shot had reached the mark.

"You think you know a lot, don't you?" she mocked, as she and Cora went
on.

"How I detest that Nan Sherwood," hissed Linda. "I'll get square with
her some day, and that day isn't so far off either. I know just how I'm
going to fix her."

"Why do you keep on being so mysterious?" asked Cora impatiently.
"You're always hinting and getting my curiosity aroused and then
stopping short. Go on and tell me now."

But Linda refused, saying that she wa