and
each other a little better."

"Now, what do you think of Miss Eleanor?" cried Nora. "She has certainly
shown her true colors this time."

"I never heard of anything more unjust than the way she accused us, when
we knew nothing about her old plan," said Marian Barber.

"It was abominable," said Eva Allen.

The other girls expressed their disapproval in equally frank terms.

"I suppose it did look as though I told you girls," said Mabel Allison,
who had joined them at the gate. "You know I was with you at recess,
right after the paper had been passed to me. I don't think Miss Savell
intended me to see it. It was passed to me by mistake."

"Very likely," agreed Grace. "I wonder who did tell Miss Thompson. I saw
several girls with the paper, but hadn't the remotest idea what it was
all about. You know Miss Thompson is awfully down on 'skipping school.'
She threatened last year to suspend Edna Wright for it."

"There will be weeping and wailing in the 'Skull and Crossbones'
crowd,'" exclaimed Nora. "They are all in this mix-up, and if they
aren't suspended, they'll be lucky."

"Are you going to stand up for Eleanor now, in the face of what she said
about all of us before those girls, Grace?" asked Marian Barber hotly.

"No," said Grace shortly. "She deserves to be punished. The things she
said to Miss Thompson were disgraceful, and I shall never forgive her
for the way she spoke of us."

"I wouldn't say that, Grace," remarked Anne. "You can never tell what
may happen to change your views."

"It will have to be something remarkable in this instance," replied
Grace grimly, as she bade the girls good-bye. "Remember, girls,
basketball practice again to-morrow, and the rest of the week. Miss
Thompson has promised me the gymnasium. Please make it a point to be on
hand."

"Good-bye, Grace," chorused her friends, and went on down the street
discussing the probable fate of the would-be truants.

* * * * *

To return to those youthful transgressors. They were spending a most
uncomfortable half hour with Miss Thompson. She was merciless in her
denunciation of their conduct, and the terror of suspension arose in
more than one mind, as they listened to her scathing remarks. It had all
seemed a huge joke when they planned it, but there was nothing funny
about it now. When, with the exception of Eleanor, the principal
dismissed them, they filed decorously out, very uneasy in mind. Miss
T