must have seriously offended her ladyship."

"I'll tell you about her as we walk along," replied Grace, wiping her
eyes and smiling a little.

"Yes, we had better be moving," said Julia. "The battle is over. No one
has been killed and only one wounded. Nevertheless, the enemy has
retired in confusion."

CHAPTER XI

WORRIES AND PLANS

Although the girls belonging to Julia's party were silent concerning
what happened at the Omnibus House, the story leaked out, creating
considerable discussion among the members of the two upper classes.
Julia Crosby had a shrewd suspicion that Edna Wright had been the
original purveyor of the news, and in this she was right. Edna had,
under pledge of secrecy, told it to a sophomore, who immediately told it
to her dearest friend, and so the tale traveled until it reached
Eleanor, with numerous additions, far from pleasing to her. She was
thoroughly angry, and at once laid the matter at Grace's door, while her
animosity toward Grace grew daily.

But Grace was not the only person that Eleanor disliked. From the day
that Miss Thompson had taken her to task for absence, she had
entertained a supreme contempt for the principal of which Miss Thompson
was wholly unaware until, encountering Eleanor one morning in the
corridor, the latter had stared at her with an expression of such open
scorn and dislike that Miss Thompson felt her color rise. A direct slap
in the face could scarcely have conveyed greater insult than did that
one insolent glance. The principal was at a loss as to its import. She
wisely decided to ignore it, but stored it up in her memory for future
reference.

The sorority that Eleanor had mentioned in her letter to the Phi Sigma
Tau, was now in full flower. The seven girls who had accompanied her to
the Omnibus House were the chosen members. They wore pins in the shape
of skulls and cross bones, and went about making mysterious signs to
each other whenever they met. The very name of the society was shrouded
in mystery, though Nora O'Malley was heard to declare that she had no
doubt it was a branch of the "Black Hand."

Eleanor was the acknowledged leader, but Edna Wright became a close
second, and between them they managed to disseminate a spirit of
mischief throughout the school that the teachers found hard to combat.

Grace Harlowe watched the trend that affairs were taking with
considerable anxiety. Like herself, there were plenty of girls in school
to whom