care."

The tears rushed to Marjorie's eyes.

"Oh, Uncle Henry!" she began, then checked herself abruptly, and, with a
half suppressed sob, turned and fled back to her own room.

It was more than an hour later when Elsie presented herself at her
cousin's door.

"May I come in, Marjorie?" she inquired in a rather conciliatory tone.

Marjorie looked up from the letter she was writing; her face brightening
with sudden hope.

"Of course you may," she said, heartily.

"Oh, Elsie, do let us make up; I can't stand not being friends with
people I love."

Elsie advanced slowly into the room and closed the door.

"Papa has been talking to me," she said, "and I have promised him to
forgive you for what you said to me the other night. You--you didn't
tell him anything, did you?"

"No," said Marjorie indignantly, "of course I didn't. He asked me, but I
wouldn't tell. I'm afraid I made him angry."

Elsie looked much relieved.

"That's all right," she said, speaking more pleasantly than she had done
since the meeting of the Poetry Club. "We won't say any more about it.
I've torn up that silly poem, and nobody is going to remember it. If
Beverly Randolph should ever say anything to you, you can tell him it
was just a joke. Now come into my room, and I'll tell you all about the
good time Carol and I had yesterday."

But although Marjorie accepted the olive branch, and she and Elsie were
apparently as good friends as ever that evening, her confidence in her
cousin had been cruelly shaken, and she told herself sadly that she
could never feel quite the same towards Elsie again. Still, it was a
great comfort to be on good terms once more, and to see the worried
expression disappear from Aunt Julia's face, even though she could not
help feeling a slight shock on hearing her aunt remark in a low tone to
her uncle at the dinner table:

"Isn't Elsie sweet? I really think she has the most lovable, forgiving
disposition I have ever known."

CHAPTER XVII

BEVERLY SINGS "MANDALAY"

IT was a stormy December afternoon, about ten days later, and Marjorie
was alone in her room preparing her lessons for the next day. Elsie had
gone shopping with her mother, and Hortense had been sent on an errand.
Marjorie was aroused from the intricacies of a difficult mathematical
problem by a ring at the bell, and on going to the door, found Beverly
Randolph standing on the threshold.

It was the first time the two had been alone toget