d and sank on the last lines of the old song,
and the girls broke into hearty applause, which was startlingly
reinforced from the doorway of the lumber cellar. The janitor's sallow
face appeared from the gloom and his deep voice boomed an encore.

"Fine! Fine!" he cried, nodding his head approvingly. "That beats
them all! My wife, she used to sing that song, and I liked it fine,
but you beat them all!"

Patricia blushed with pleasure, and Griffin called out heartily,
"Bring her in, Eitel. There's going to be another!"

As the janitor padded away to the domestic portion of the basement to
fetch his smiling wife, Griffin added to Patricia, "They're an awfully
good sort. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, indeed!" cried Patricia. "It's sweet of them to like it!"

Doris Leighton smiled at Elinor in the crowd and murmured a word of
praise for the singing, adding, however, that she was afraid that the
janitor could hardly appreciate it.

"What's that?" asked Griffin, whose quick ear had caught the last
words. "Not appreciate it? Why, do you know that Eitel used to be
butler for Patti in his youth? Fie, fie, my child; likewise, go to."

Patricia caught her breath. "I hope he likes the next one," she said
anxiously, whereat Griffin chuckled.

"Don't be too scared," she said in a quick undertone. "It's forty
years since he served the Diva, and he only stayed a month. I merely
exploited him musically to bluff off the Class Beauty. Hush! here they
are, large as life. Now, warble your prettiest, for Mrs. Eitel really
knows good stuff when she hears it."

So Patricia flung her whole self into the sparkling "April Girl," and
at the finish had the reward of an ovation. The students clapped and
the Eitels applauded with hands and feet, and cried "Encore!" till they
were red in the face.

"I'll sing just one more, and then I'll have to stop," she said with
eager brightness. "My voice isn't strong enough to do much, you know,
though I'm awfully glad you like the songs."

So she sang another, a lullaby, that sank to its finish in flattering
silence. Not a word was spoken as she stepped to the floor, but Elinor
put out her hand and gave Patricia's a hard squeeze.

Mrs. Eitel broke the silence. "That music has made me strong," she
declared, beaming. "These dishes I will now wash up for the reward of
those songs. Go along now, young ladies, and think nothing about the
disorder and the scrappishness, for it is