. "They didn't mind being late. Polly
would rather motor than dance any day."

"H'm!" Jim replied, slowly, "but it happens to be Lois that I'm worrying
about."

"Well, you needn't," Bob answered, laughing. "When I was dancing with
her to-night, I asked her if she didn't like you better than she used
to, and she said: 'Oh, lots, Bobby; I think he's a duck.'"

CHAPTER XVI

MUMPS

"Cheer up, Polly! it can't be as bad as all that," Betty said, laughing,
in spite of herself. For the spectacle of her friend's woe-begone
expression was too exaggerated to be funny.

"I didn't think the game was so bad," Lois remarked, cheerfully;
"nothing to worry over."

They had just returned from the gym, where the regular team had been
practicing in preparation for the coming indoor meet.

February was almost at an end, and the girls had completely recovered
from the Junior Prom. The date for the game was settled, and Seddon Hall
was to play the Whitehead school team the following week.

"If we were only playing in our own gym," Polly said, forlornly, "we
might have a chance; but to have to travel for an hour on the train
first, have luncheon in a new place, and then play in a strange gym, why
we'll none of us be up to our best."

"You talk as if we were all very nervous and highly strung children,"
Betty said, impatiently. "We've all played in other gyms before."

"Fanny never has," Lois reminded her.

"Well, what of it? She won't get scared. I know her better than you do,"
Betty insisted. "We've two more days to practice, anyway."

"Two more days? Do you suppose that's enough time for Eleanor to learn
not to make fouls, and for Fanny to learn your passes?" Polly demanded.
"It's all very well for you to be cheerful; you're not captain."

"But worrying won't help any, Poll," Lois said, quietly. "If you are
going to get in a blue funk, what can you expect of the others?"

"Nothing!" Polly answered; "I know I'm silly, but that team beat us last
year on our own floor, and our team was twice as strong then as it is
now."

Lois and Betty gave up arguing. They understood exactly how Polly felt,
but they knew, too, as soon as the game began she could be depended upon
to regain her courage and hope.

The next two days the team worked hard. They practiced passes and
signals, and Eleanor did her best to remember the unaccustomed lines.
By Saturday morning Polly felt a little more cheerful.

"What time do we leave?" Lois