as I thought." Grace returned the letter. "Miss Wharton has
learned of your sale, Miss Brent. She is very indignant. Are you
prepared to tell her what you confided to me?" Grace eyed the girl
squarely.

"Why should I, Miss Harlowe?" burst forth Jean. "No; I will tell Miss
Wharton nothing."

"Nor will I," was Grace's quiet rejoinder. "Whatever she learns must
come from you. I wrote to Miss Lipton and received a letter from her
assuring me that you are not at fault in the matter that made your
advent into Overton College a mystery to me. I need no further
assurance. Miss Lipton's school is known to the public as being one of
the finest preparatory schools in the United States. If it were Miss
Wilder instead of Miss Wharton I should advise you to tell her all. I am
so sorry you did not tell us in the beginning. You must do whatever your
conscience dictates. If necessary I will show Miss Wharton my letter
from Miss Lipton, but I shall not betray your confidence unless you
sanction my speaking."

"Please don't tell her," begged Jean.

"It shall be as you ask," returned Grace, but she was secretly
disappointed at what might be either Jean's selfishness or her pure
inability to see the unpleasantness of the position in which she was
placing the young woman who had befriended her.

When Grace entered the familiar office and saw Miss Wharton's dumpy
figure occupying her dear Miss Wilder's place she felt a distinct
sinking of the heart. The dean surveyed her out of cold blue eyes, that
seemed to Grace to contain a spark of deliberate malice.

"Good afternoon, Miss Harlowe," she said stiffly. As she spoke the door
opened and Jean Brent walked calmly in. She bowed to Miss Wharton in a
manner as chilly as her own and took a seat at one side of the room. The
dean waved Grace to a chair. "Now, young women," she began in a severe
tone, "I wish a full explanation of this disgraceful sale that recently
took place at Harlowe House. I will first ask you, Miss Brent if you had
Miss Harlowe's permission to conduct it?"

"No. She refused to permit it. I held it in her absence," answered Jean,
defiance blazing in her blue eyes.

"I see; a clear case of disobedience. What was your object in holding
it?"

"I needed money. I lost the greater part of my money on the train when I
came to Overton."

"Why did you need money?" Miss Wharton exhibited a lawyer-like
persistency.

"To pay my college fees," Jean made prompt answer.

"But