race simply. "But we can't, so there is no use in
wishing. However," she continued, her face brightening, "we are going to
have Mabel with us, and that means a whole lot. All Overton will be glad
to see her--that is, all the juniors and seniors and the faculty and a
few others."

"There is only one Mabel Ashe," said Anne softly. "Won't it be splendid
to have her with us?"

Grace nodded. Then, after writing busily for a moment, she looked up and
said abruptly: "There is just one thing that bothers me, Anne, and that
is the way Miss West is behaving. What shall I tell Mabel when she asks
me about her? In my letters I haven't made the slightest allusion to
anything."

"Tell Mabel the truth," advised Anne calmly. "By that I don't mean that
you need mention the Sphinx affair, but if you say to her frankly that
we have tried to be friendly with Miss West and that she appears
especially to dislike us, she will understand, and nine chances to one
she will be able to point out the reason, which so far no one seems to
know."

"I suppose I had better tell her," sighed Grace. "I hate to begin a
holiday by gossiping, but something will have to be done, or Mabel will
find herself in an embarrassing position, for I have a curious
presentiment that Miss Kathleen West will pounce upon her the moment she
sees her, just to annoy us."

Since the evening of the bazaar, when Kathleen had nodded curtly to
Grace at the entrance to the Sphinx's tent, she had neither spoken to
nor noticed the four girls who had in the beginning received her so
hospitably. No one of them quite understood the newspaper girl's
attitude, but as she was often seen in company with Alberta Wicks and
Mary Hampton, they were forced to draw their own conclusions. Grace
fought against harboring the slightest resemblance to suspicion against
the two seniors and their new friend.

"Does Miss West know that Mabel is coming to Overton for Thanksgiving?"
asked Anne.

"No," returned Grace, looking rather worried. "I suppose some one ought
to tell her."

"I'll tell her, if you like," proposed Anne quietly. "I think she is in
her room this evening. I heard her say to one of the girls at dinner
that she intended to study hard until late to-night."

"No," decided Grace, "it wouldn't be fair for me to shirk my
responsibility. Mabel wrote me about Kathleen West in the first place,
and I promised to look out for her. If she doesn't yearn for my society,
it isn't my fault.