e, she decided she would say it anyhow.

With a bold spirit and a scornful eye, she marched into the room and
stood before the astonished Adele.

"Miss Windsor," she said, and she hardly recognized her own voice, so
deep and vibrant were its tones, "did you ever hear of snakey-noodles?
Snakey-noodles! snakey-noodles! snakey-noodles!" she repeated three
times like a magic incantation.

Judy must have thought that she had suddenly lost her mind, for she
glanced at her with a frightened look and the other girls with
difficulty concealed their smiles. Edith, whose keen perceptions at once
informed her that something was up, took a seat by the window where she
could command a good view of the entire proceedings.

Adele, looking into Molly's honest, stern eyes, shrank a little and
started to rise.

"No, I shan't let you go until I have finished," said Molly. "Whenever
the spirit moves you to ask a favor of Judy again, just say the word
snakey-noodles over several times to yourself and then I think you'll
leave Judy alone. Now, you may go, and remember that people who tell
malicious, wicked stories, who impersonate ghosts, steal luncheons and
get other girls into trouble are not welcome at Wellington. This is not
that kind of a college."

It was, of course, a random shot about the campus ghost, but Molly put
it in, feeling fairly certain that none but the daring Adele would have
attempted that escapade.

"Remember, too," she added, as a parting shot, "that girls don't get
into clubs here by blackmail. Even if Judy had put you up, you wouldn't
have had the ghost of a chance."

Nobody was more interested than Edith in wondering what the strange
Adele would do now. "Will she defend herself or will she fly?" Edith
asked herself. But Adele did the most surprising thing yet. She burst
into tears.

"You have no right to speak to me as you did," she wept into a scented
and hand-embroidered handkerchief.

"Haven't I?" said Molly, drawing her gently but firmly to the door.
"Well, go to your room and think about it a while and see if you don't
change your mind." And with that she quietly thrust Adele into the hall,
closed the door and locked it.

Then, such a burst of subdued laughter rose within No. 5 as was never
heard before. Molly collapsed on the sofa while the girls gathered
around her. Judy sat on the floor, her head resting on Molly's shoulder.

"It was as good as a play," cried Edith. "I never saw anything finer.