troubled you so?"

"That's precisely it, auntie, no one could repeat her remarks. They
were merely insinuations and depended upon the entire conversation for
their meaning."

"Insinuations? Perhaps that you had been arrested for stealing
melons?" and the aunt laughed at the idea. "Well, my dear, I believe
it will be well for you to be away from all this country gossip."

"But Viola Green goes to Glenwood School!" declared Dorothy.

"No! Really? Who is she?"

"A friend of Alice MacAllister, from Dunham. I was so surprised when
she said she went to Glenwood."

"But, my dear, what will that matter? There are many girls at
Glenwood. All you will have to do is to choose wisely in selecting
your friends from among them."

"If Tavia were only with me I would not need other friends," demurred
Dorothy.

"Does she want to go?" asked Mrs. White suddenly.

"I believe she does, but she denies it. I think she does that because
she does not want me to bother about her. She is such a generous girl,
auntie, and dislikes any one fussing over her."

"There's a step on the porch," and both listened. "Yes," continued
Mrs. White, "that's Tavia looking for you. Run down to her and I will
speak with both of you before she leaves."

CHAPTER VIII

AN INVERTED JOKE

"Dorothy! Dorothy!" called Tavia. "Come here just a minute. I want
to speak to you."

"Won't you come in?" asked Dorothy, making her way to the side porch.

"No, I can't, really. But I couldn't wait to tell you. I know what
the Green Violet meant by her mean remarks. And it's too killing. I
am just dead laughing over it."

"I'm glad it's funny," said Dorothy.

"The funniest ever," continued Tavia. "You know when we got out of the
wagon Miss Green was standing a little way off from Alice. That dude,
Tom Burbank, was with her (they say she always manages to get a beau),
and she was watching us alight--you know how she can watch: like a cat.
Well, Tom asked Nat what was the matter, and if he had been speeding.
Everybody seemed to know we had gone off in the auto, for which
blessing I am duly grateful. I don't often get a ride--"

"Tavia, will you tell me the story?" asked Dorothy with some impatience.

"Coming to it! Coming to it, my dear, but I never knew you to be so
keen on a common, everyday story before," answered Tavia, with
provoking delay.

"The remarks?"

"Oh, yes, as I was saying, Tom asked Nat were we speeding. And Nat