so go and rest and don't
bother."

Nance's manner was often brusquest when she was tenderest, but Molly
understood her perfectly. She _was_ very tired. What with her new duties
on the _Commune_, club meetings and the pressure of studies, the world
was turning so fast she felt that she might fly off into space at any
moment.

"Professor Green would have scolded me for trying to overdo things," she
was thinking, half sadly. Gradually her body relaxed and her eyelids
dropped. Through the mists of half consciousness she heard the musical
rattle of the tea things, and presently there came the catchy, rather
nasal tones of Adele's voice over the clatter of china and silver.

"I like all your friends, Judy. They are remarkably bright."

"Aren't they a sparkling little coterie," answered Judy proudly.

"Now, Miss Wakefield is a born leader. Of course a leader must have the
gift of gab. She's a great talker, isn't she? Takes the conversation
right into her own hands and keeps it there, doesn't she?"

"Margaret does talk a lot," Judy admitted.

"Too much perhaps for any one not deeply interested, but then of course
I always am. Now, Edith Williams is the brighter of the two, but she
knows it, don't you think so?"

"Well, I suppose she does," replied Judy reluctantly.

"Katherine has more surface brightness, but of course she's superficial,
that is, compared with her sister."

"Edith is the brightest," said Judy.

"Mabel Hinton is all right, but she does dress so atrociously. And those
glasses! Can you imagine how she can wear them?"

Molly felt suddenly hot. She flung the comfort off and sat up
impatiently.

"I should think Judy would have sense enough to see she's being made to
discuss every friend she has," she thought.

"The Intruder" had now commenced on pretty Jessie Lynch. "Awfully jolly
to have so many beaux. Most men-crazy girls have none," she was saying,
when Molly marched into the room. She had not decided what she was going
to say, but she intended to say something.

"How red your face is, Molly, dear," observed Judy carelessly.

"And how fortunate that it's so seldom that way," went on the
imperturbable Miss Windsor. "Red faces are not becoming to red heads,
that is, generally speaking, but your skin is such an exquisite
texture, Miss Brown, that it doesn't matter whether it's red or white.
Did you see where a girl had written to a beauty editor and asked for a
cure for blushing? The editor told h