started fortune-seekin' till to-morrow and the storm
over. Anyhow, I've really started, though! And if things don't happen
to my mind, I can show 'em what an honest boy I am by takin' back that
key. Come on, Baal, do come on! What in creation makes you drag so on
that strap and keep lookin' back? Come on, I say!"

Then, both helping and hindering one another, the lad and his pet
passed out of sight and for many a day were seen no more in that
locality.

Yet the strange events of that memorable day were not all over. At
study hour, that evening, came another surprise--a visit to her mates
of the invalid Gwendolyn. From some of them she received only a silent
nod of welcome; but Laura, Marjorie, and Dorothy sprang to meet her
with one accord, and Winifred followed Dorothy's example after a
second's hesitation.

"Oh, Gwen! How glad we are to have you back! Are you sure you're quite
strong enough to come?" questioned Marjorie, while less judicious
Laura exclaimed:

"But you can't guess what you've missed! We've had the greatest scare
ever was in this school! You'd ought to have come down sooner. What do
you think it was that happened? Guess--quick--right away! Or I can't
wait to tell! I'll tell anyhow! Dorothy was lost and everybody feared
she had been killed! Yes, Gwen, lost all the long night through and
had to sleep with the goat and--"

Gwendolyn's face was pale from her confinement in the sick room but it
grew paler now, and catching Dorothy's hand she cried out:

"Oh! what if I had been too late!"

Nobody understood her, not even Dorothy herself, who merely guessed
that Gwen was referring to their interview of the night before; but
she didn't know this proud girl fully, nor the peculiar nature of that
pride which, once aroused, compelled her to do what she most shrank
from. As Dorothy pushed a chair forward, Gwendolyn shook her head.

"Thank you, but not yet. I've got something to say--that all of you
must hear."

Of course, everybody was astonished by this speech and every eye
turned toward the young "Peer" who was about to prove herself of noble
"rank" as never in all her life before.

Dorothy began to suspect what might be coming and by a silent clasp of
Gwendolyn's waist and a protesting shake of her head tried to prevent
her saying more.

But Gwendolyn as silently put aside the appealing arm and folding her
own arms stood rigidly erect. It wouldn't have been the real Gwen if
she hadn't assumed this