nd it makes you look top heavy."

Polly surveyed herself in the mirror.

"That's easily fixed," she said. "Watch!"

She undid her hair and rolled it into a round knob under one ear.
"There, now it's even."

"But it doesn't match," Lois objected. "You look like a pie-bald pony
now."

Polly glanced about the room. A round celluloid powder-box caught her
eye. She emptied the powder out and fitted the box over her hair.

"That better?" she inquired.

Lois was still laughing over this absurd picture, when the door opened,
and in walked Betty and Fanny.

"You two?" Polly exclaimed. "Oh, what a lark!"

"When did you get it?" Lois asked.

"Suddenly, last night, at dinner," Betty answered. "We had salad with
French dressing. And, oh, when I swallowed that vinegar!"

"I certainly did think I was going to choke to death," Fanny said,
feelingly. "I jumped right up from the table."

"Yes, and knocked over a glass of water," Betty prompted, "and announced
to the whole dining-room that you reckoned you had the mumps. Everybody
laughed so hard they couldn't eat any more dinner," she concluded.

"I'm so glad you both got it," Polly said.

"Do you suppose we'll look like you two do to-morrow?" Betty asked
rudely.

"Worse, probably," Lois consoled her.

Eleanor and Evelin came down with it the next day. After that there were
no more cases. Fortunately, it did not spread throughout the school.
Perhaps some of the girls were disappointed, for the stories of the good
time in the Infirmary made school seem very stupid by comparison.

One day Miss King brought Betty a note from Angela. It was wrapped
around a copy of the _Gossip_, the Whitehead school paper.

"Dear Mumpy (she wrote):

"Read the news item on page ten. I think it's funny. If you want
to answer it in our issue of the _Tatler_ this month, send me word
what to say, and I'll see to it. Hurry up and get well. We all
miss you lots, especially in Latin class. Love to the rest.

"Ange."

Betty opened the paper at the tenth page and read:

IMPORTANT NEWS ITEM.

"Sudden disappearance of valuable mump germs. Last seen in a
silver trophy cup on or about February twenty-fifth. Seddon Hall
basket ball team under suspicion of theft, but no arrests have
been made. Any information regarding same will be gratefully
received."

"That settles it." Betty stopped reading to laugh. "We took their mump
germs with a v