mence.

"And Kittie isn't much better," added Grace, with spirit. "I don't see
how Margaret can go with them."

"She's a newcomer here, that's the reason," said Betty--bouncing Betty
she was now, for she was whirling about and "teetering" on her skates in
a dizzying fashion. "When she gets to know those girls she won't have
any more to do with them than--we do."

"And there was a time, even after they made those first slurring remarks
about Amy, that they seemed real nice," spoke Grace.

"It was too good to last," asserted Mollie. "Oh--the cat!"

Mollie shot out the word as though she would like to exercise some of
the proclivities of a feline herself, and scratch.

"What possessed her to stop where she did, and talk loud enough for Amy
to hear?" asked Grace.

"It's hard to tell," decided Betty with a sigh. "Shall we go after her?"
and she nodded in the direction taken by Amy, who could not now be seen
because of the intervening crowds.

"No; best let her cry it out, poor child," said Mollie, softly. "She was
crying when she skated away."

"Well, if we can find the boys we'll just mildly hint that those
chocolates are about due," observed Grace, and she and the others looked
about for Will and his chums, little dreaming of the danger which, at
that moment, menaced poor Amy.

Those of you who have read the previous books of this series need no
special introduction to my heroines. Others may care for just a brief
one. The initial volume, entitled "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale; Or,
Camping and Tramping for Fun and Health," told how Betty, Mollie, Grace
and Amy decided to go on a walking tour. Incidentally they solved the
mystery of a five hundred dollar bill, and won the lasting gratitude of
a Mr. Henry Blackford, a young business man.

In the second book, "The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake; Or, The
Stirring Cruise of the Motor Boat _Gem_," there was a queer ghostly
mystery on an island, but the girls were a match for it. As may be
guessed from the title, the story has to do with boating, Betty having
become the proud possessor of a fine craft.

When Mollie Billette got her touring car the girls saw no end of good
times ahead of them, and their hopes were fully realized. The third
volume, named "The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car; Or, The Haunted Mansion
of Shadow Valley," involved the girls from the very start in a series of
queer happenings. They could not discover, until the very end, why a
certain girl fe