is
little Miss Rawle who is really fond of you. Yet you are continually
running away from her. If I were Miss Rawle I would let you severely
alone; you don't deserve her friendship. You don't and can't appreciate
it."

Kathleen stared at Patience in angry amazement. No one had ever before
spoken to her quite so plainly. Then she found her voice.

"I think you are not only insulting, but impertinent and meddlesome as
well. I suppose Miss Rawle complained to you because I didn't keep my
engagement with her and you thought it your duty to take me to task for
it. Understand, once and for all, you are not to interfere in my
affairs. I shall answer to no one for my actions. I did not choose you
for a roommate. You are the last girl I would choose. I won't stand
being criticized and lectured at every turn. Save your criticisms for
those who are silly enough to take them seriously, but please don't
imagine for an instant that what you may think or say carries the
slightest weight with me."

Before Patience could frame a reply the newspaper girl had rushed from
the room, slamming the door with a vehemence that fairly shook the
walls.

She did not return to the room until after dinner, and then only long
enough to slip into her coat and hat. During that brief moment she
neither spoke to nor noticed Patience, who went quietly on with her
studying as though nothing had happened. Kathleen's outburst had made no
impression upon this calm-faced girl, but Patience's all too truthful
words had sunk deeper into the newspaper girl's mind than she cared to
admit.

CHAPTER VI

A FACE TO FACE TALK

For a week at least Alice Rawle stayed religiously away from Wayne Hall
and her idol, during which time Kathleen went serenely about her
business, apparently undisturbed by the lull in the attentions of her
one "crush." Then a certain sharp-eyed sophomore noted the fact and,
happening to run across the newspaper girl in the gymnasium one
afternoon, remarked laughingly, "I hear your little friend, Miss Rawle,
has transferred her allegiance to Miss Eliot."

"What utter nonsense," declared Kathleen. Yet she frowned her
displeasure at the intimation, and immediately held Patience responsible
for Miss Rawle's deflection. She decided to look into the matter that
very afternoon and found time to stop and see Alice on her way home from
her class. She rang the bell at Livingston Hall a little before five
o'clock, only to find that Miss