st word."

"I have never posed as being a sweet girl, and I am not in a passion
now. I have asked you a question which you have evaded. You have
insinuated things about girls who call me their friend and I will never
let such matters pass. I wish you to answer my question before we go one
step further."

Erma stood still. The others did as she did. Berenice laughed lightly.
"How very silly. A perfect tempest in a tea-cup simply because I choose
to get off a joke."

"If that is a joke, it is in horribly bad taste," was Erma's retort.

"You are unjust, Erma. How many times have I heard you laugh at Helen
for trying to stand in with the teachers, and for letting Mame copy her
translations."

"Hundreds of times, but you always heard me laugh and jest when the
girls themselves were present and when every one who heard, knew that it
was mere fun. It was mere give and take between every one of our set who
were present. You have yet to hear me criticise an absent girl, or jest
about her."

Again Berenice shrugged her shoulders as though she would dismiss the
subject.

"I am glad I am not ugly-tempered," she said and walked away without a
backward glance at the others. For a moment, Erma was wounded. Then the
humor of the situation came to her. She laughed until the silvery echoes
rang from one end of the corridor to the other; and the girls begged to
be quiet lest the hall-teacher follow in their footsteps and they be
sentenced to solitary confinement on the campus.

After receiving the congratulations of her friends, Hester had gone to
her room. Helen was busy preparing a lesson for the session the
following morning.

"Of course, you know what has happened," cried Hester. "Of course you
do. I can see by your eyes. Miss Watson sent for me to come to her and
then told me. I knew who proposed my name. It was you, Helen Loraine. I
cannot possibly thank you, and I never in the world can repay you."

Flinging her arms about her roommate's neck, Hester embraced her warmly
all the while declaring that she would never be able to repay her.

"Yes, you surely can," said Helen. "Play a good game and justify my
recommending you. That will please me best of all."

"I shall do that for your sake, for my own, and for the team's."

Helen stood silent a moment, considering whether she had better tell
Hester all her plans. She decided that she would and drawing Hester down
on the cosy corner, which had been improvised from trunks