oint?" quickly
responded Helen.

"You didn't have to," rejoined Mercy, sharply. "We knew."

"At least," Ruth said to Heavy, quietly, yet with decision, "you will
ask your old friend to go?"

"Why--if you don't mind."

"There seems to have been some truth in Mary's supposition, then,"
Ruth said, sadly. "She thinks I intended to keep her out of a good
time. I never thought of such a thing. If Mary Cox does not accept your
invitation, Heavy, I shall be greatly disappointed. Indeed, I shall be
tempted to decline to go to the shore with you. Now, remember that,
Jennie Stone."

"Oh, shucks! you're making too much fuss about it," said the stout
girl, rising lazily, and speaking in her usual drawling manner. "Of
course I'll have her--if she'll go. Father's bungalow is big enough,
goodness knows. And we'll have lots of fun there."

She went her leisurely way to the door. Had she been brisker of movement,
when she turned the knob she would have found Mary Cox with her ear
at the keyhole, drinking in all that had been said in the room of the
triumvirate. But The Fox was as swift of foot as she was shrewd and sly
of mind. She was out of sight and hearing when Jennie Stone came out into
the corridor.

CHAPTER III

ON LAKE OSAGO

The final day of the school year was always a gala occasion at Briarwood
Hall. Although Ruth Fielding and her chum, Helen Cameron, had finished
only their first year, they both had important places in the exercises
of graduation. Ruth sang in the special chorus, while Helen played the
violin in the school orchestra. Twenty-four girls were in the graduating
class. Briarwood Hall prepared for Wellesley, or any of the other female
colleges, and when Mrs. Grace Tellingham, the preceptress, graduated a
girl with a certificate it meant that the young lady was well grounded
in all the branches that Briarwood taught.

The campus was crowded with friends of the graduating class, and of
the Seniors in particular. It was a very gay scene, for the June day was
perfect and the company were brightly dressed. The girls, however,
including the graduating class, were dressed in white only. Mrs.
Tellingham had established that custom some years before, and the
different classes were distinguished only by the color of their ribbons.

Helen Cameron's twin brother, Tom, and Madge Steele's brother, Bob,
attended the Seven Oaks Military Academy, not many miles from Briarwood.
Their graduation exercises and "