iss Duncan raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I should say you had
strong evidence in your favor, Miss Harlowe."

"Will you ask Miss Ashe to come to your room after your last class
to-day, Miss Duncan?" she asked eagerly. "I should like to show her the
theme without explaining anything to her at first. I give you my word of
honor I will say nothing about it to her in the meantime." Then,
realizing that her word of honor was at present being seriously
questioned, Grace blushed painfully.

Miss Duncan, understanding the blush, said less severely, "Very well,
Miss Harlowe." She scrutinized Grace's fine, sensitive face for a
moment, then added, "You may come at the same time if you wish."

Grace brightened, then shook her head positively. "Please let me come to
see you to-morrow morning instead." She wished to give Miss Duncan
perfect freedom to ask Mabel any questions she might find necessary to
ask.

"To-morrow morning, then," acquiesced Miss Duncan graciously.

Grace turned to leave the room. At the door she hesitated, then walking
back to the desk she said almost imploringly: "Please don't punish the
other girl now, Miss Duncan. I do not know who she is, but I am sure she
must have found my theme and copied it on the spur of the moment. I
can't believe that she did it deliberately. If she did, then being found
out by you will be lesson enough for her."

"I have not as yet exonerated you from this charge, Miss Harlowe,"
declared Miss Duncan stiffly, her brief graciousness vanishing like
magic. "If the other girl is to blame, then she must suffer for her
fault. Until I have seen Miss Ashe I shall say nothing. After that I can
not promise."

Grace bowed and left the class room, her feeling toward the unknown
plagiarist entirely one of pity. She had vindicated herself at the
expense of exposing some one else without intent to do more than assert
her own innocence, and she now wondered sadly if there were not some way
in which she might persuade Miss Duncan to change her mind.

On her way from Miss Duncan's class room that morning Grace found
herself walking directly behind Emma Dean. She was sauntering across the
campus, her near-sighted eyes fixed on a small, hurrying figure just
ahead of her.

"Hello, Grace," was Emma's affable salutation as she turned at the touch
of Grace's hand on her shoulder. "I was watching Miss Taylor. What a
disappointment that girl is. The first week or two after her arrival at
Wayne Ha