Emma did not answer for a moment. Grace watched her, her gray eyes
troubled.

"I'll tell you precisely what I heard this morning. Before I left
Overton Hall to come here for luncheon I stopped for a moment to see
Miss Duncan. Miss Arthur, that new teacher of oratory, was with her. I
walked into the room just in time to hear Miss Duncan say 'I can
scarcely credit it. I am surprised that Miss Harlowe--' then she saw me,
turned red and stopped short. Miss Arthur looked rather sheepishly at
me. I pretended that I had heard nothing, asked the question I intended
to ask, and went on my way, much perturbed in spirit. I can't bear to
hear you criticized in the smallest degree, Grace," was Emma's vehement
cry. "I am sure it was about this sale they were talking. It's all very
well for Miss Brent to take the stand that she has the privilege of
doing as she pleases with her own clothing, but there is something
about the very idea of a sale of wearing apparel that quite upsets
Overton traditions and causes Harlowe House to lose dignity. One can't
imagine an enterprising clothes merchant living at Holland or Morton
House or even at Wayne Hall. The students should have had the good taste
to discourage it, but, from what I hear, Miss Palmer had expatiated on
the glories of Miss Brent's wardrobe to the clique of girls she chums
with, and they gathered like flies about a honey pot. You'll usually
find the girls with the largest allowances are always eager to obtain
much for the smallest possible outlay. I think, too, that Miss Palmer's
influence is not wholesome. It led to Evelyn Ward's folly last year.
Evelyn hasn't been unduly friendly with her so far this year. I've
noticed that."

"I can't believe Evelyn had anything to do with this sale," asserted
Grace. "She may have known of it, but she never sanctioned it."

"At least she didn't attend it," commented Emma, "but, come to think of
it, neither did Althea Parker. Don't you remember, I mentioned to you
that I met Evelyn on the campus that fateful Saturday and she said she
was going to spend the afternoon with Miss Parker?"

"Then if Miss Parker was ringleader in the affair, why didn't she have
the courage to attend the sale?" was Grace's quick question.

"For further information inquire of Miss Brent," advised Emma, shrugging
her shoulders.

"I will," sighed Grace. "I seem fated to puzzle over hard questions,
don't I?"

It was half-past four o'clock when Jean Brent entered t