mpire. The nation's been in mourning ever
since she left!"

Mary giggled, and the new girls looked interested. Peggy's solemn face
carried conviction.

"Goodness me," Carita exclaimed, "couldn't the Germans afford to keep
her?"

Peggy shook her head.

"No," she declared, pretending to weep in her handkerchief, "it makes me
cry to think of their disappointment--the poor things!"

A gong sounded, but the girls lingered.

"I want to see you after dinner, Carita," Blue Bonnet said as she left
the room.

"We go down to the gymnasium and dance a while, after dinner," Mary
called out.

"All right. I engage the first three dances then, Carita. Don't forget."

Blue Bonnet went down to her room thoughtfully; a vision of those
homesick children before her eyes. She wondered what people meant by
sending such infants away from home. Why, there was one who seemed
scarcely old enough to comb her own hair. All of a sudden she felt
old--grown up; responsibility weighed on her--the responsibility of
Carita.

On her own hall she passed Mrs. White.

"What a serious face," the teacher said. "I hope it is not
homesickness."

Blue Bonnet smiled brightly.

"No, I think I've fought that all out."

"That's good! Youth is not the time for tears."

"But I have just come from a regular downpour."

"It sounded like a downfall. I was in Madame de Cartier's room, just
underneath. We thought the ceiling was coming through."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I am afraid it was my fault. Those children were so
horribly homesick that I suggested a game."

"That was very thoughtful, I am sure. Some of those young girls really
suffer terribly. Sometimes it makes them quite ill."

Blue Bonnet wondered why Fraulein could not have been so reasonable.
_She_ certainly was disagreeable. She wished Carita might be under Mrs.
White's wing. What a dear Mrs. White was, anyway.

Blue Bonnet opened her bedroom door, still lost in thought. The early
winter twilight filled the room, almost obscuring her room-mate who sat
near a window straining her eyes over a book.

Blue Bonnet snapped on the light.

"You'll ruin your eyes," she said pleasantly. "That's what my aunt
always says to me when I read in the twilight."

Joy forced a half smile and continued reading.

"I suppose we get dressed for dinner now?" Blue Bonnet, ventured,
beginning to unfasten her waist.

"Yes."

"Is dinner just at six?"

"Yes."

"What do we do in the meantime?"

"Study--