her arm round Joy--to give her a word of encouragement--but she
couldn't. There was something that repelled her in the convulsed form;
the thin body with its narrow, heaving shoulders; the unattractive blond
head.

"Well, there is only one thing to do now, of course you understand that,
Joy. You must go to Miss North immediately."

Joy raised her head; her eyes wide with terror.

"Oh, no, not that! I can't do that. I can't! I can't!"

"You _will_," Annabel said sternly. "Stop that crying! Haven't you any
nerve at all? You will go to Miss North at once! Immediately, do you
understand? or I will. An innocent girl has suffered long enough."

Annabel had drawn herself up to her full height. Her cheeks blazed. She
was a fair representative of her illustrious grandsire as she stood
there, her fighting blood up.

"You understand? You go at once--this minute!"

Joy staggered to her feet. Annabel watched her as she started for the
door; followed her as she crossed the building to her own room and
paused.

Annabel paused too, but only for a second.

"Miss North is in her office at this hour," she said. "Go
immediately"--and Joy went, her limbs almost refusing to bear her to the
floor below.

What transpired in that office will never be known to any one save Miss
North and Joy Cross. The gong had sounded for dinner before Joy emerged,
white and silent, and neither she nor Miss North appeared at the evening
meal.

Blue Bonnet felt better after she had confided in Annabel. She scarcely
knew why, except that Annabel seemed to see a way out of the difficulty,
and she had the reputation of being reliable and level headed.

With a lighter heart than she had known for several days, she dressed
for dinner and entered the dining-room with a smile on her lips.

"Praise be!" Sue said, when Blue Bonnet laughed at one of her jokes. "I
thought you had given up laughing, Blue Bonnet. You haven't even smiled
since Tuesday. Coming down to the Gym to dance to-night?"

"I think I will. I've got to run up-stairs first and get a clean
handkerchief."

She ran up-stairs lightly, and, entering her room, switched on the
light. She started for the bureau, but the sight of her room-mate,
stretched face downward on her bed, arrested and changed her course.

"Why, Joy," she said, "what on earth's the matter? Haven't you been to
dinner?"

Joy Cross sat up. She was as pitiable a looking sight as one could
imagine. Her face, always white a