heir own studies, or else settled down to
work on their topics for a more extended period.

It was a cold evening, and whenever a girl entered from the hall a
breath of frosty air came with her, and most of those gathered in the
room were likely to look up and shiver. Few of those assembled failed to
notice Rebecca Frayne when she came in.

"Goodness! See who has came," whispered Helen.

"Oh, Rebecca!" murmured Ruth, looking up as the girl in question crossed
the room.

"Hasn't she the cheek of all cheeks to breeze in here this way?" Helen
went on to say with more force than elegance. "That awful tam again."

One could not fail to see the tam-o'-shanter very well. It was
noticeable in any assembly.

Perhaps half of the girls in the reference room were seniors and
juniors. Several of the members of the younger classes nodded to the
newcomer, though not many noticed her in this way.

There was, however, almost immediately a general movement by the girls
belonging to the senior and junior classes. They got up grimly, put away
the books they were at work upon, and filed out, one by one, and without
saying a word.

Helen stared after them, and nudged Ruth.

"What is it?" asked her chum, who had been too busy to notice.

"Did you see that?" asked Helen.

"Did I see what?"

"There isn't a senior or a jun left in the room. That--that's something
more than a coincidence."

Ruth was puzzled. "I really wish you would explain," she said.

Helen was not the only girl remaining who had noticed the immediate
departure of the members of the two older classes. Some of the
sophomores were whispering together. Rebecca's fellow-classmen glanced
at her sharply to see if she had noticed what had occurred.

"I can't believe it," Ruth said worriedly, after Helen explained. "They
would not go out because she came in."

The next day, however, the matter was more marked. Rebecca could sing;
she evidently loved singing. In the classes for vocal music there was
often a mixture of all grades, some of the seniors and juniors attending
with the sophomores and freshmen.

Ruth Fielding, of course, never missed these classes. She hoped to be
noticed and have her voice tried out for the Glee Club. Professor
Leidenburg was to give a little talk on this day that would be helpful,
and the class was well attended.

But when Rebecca Frayne came into the small hall just before the
professor himself appeared, there was a stir throughout th