But now we must face it. I am going
to tell you exactly what I think of you and why I think it, and you are
going to perform the same kind office for me. Will you please begin?"

Kathleen's face set in sullen lines. "You know what I think of you," she
muttered. "I just finished telling you. I told you last week, too."

"So you did," smiled Patience, "but surely you must think other
uncomplimentary things of me."

"Will you kindly take your hands off my shoulders and attend to your own
affairs?" Kathleen's voice choked with renewed anger.

Patience's hands dropped to her sides. "Very well. If you haven't
anything further to say on the subject of my short-comings, I'll proceed
to yours," was her brisk declaration.

"I won't listen to you," cried Kathleen passionately. "I won't stay here
and allow you to insult me."

She sprang toward the door, but Patience, divining her intention, turned
the key in the lock and calmly pocketed it. "Don't be a goose," she
advised. "You are too clever to be so childish. You are deliberately
trying to shut yourself out of all the pleasant part of college by going
about with a grievance on your shoulder. If you weren't so clever I
shouldn't take the trouble to say what I think. Why, you could be one of
the foremost girls in the sophomore class if you wished."

"I haven't seen any particular indication of admiration on the part of
my class," sneered Kathleen.

"You haven't given your class cause to admire you, have you?" asked
Patience imperturbably.

Sheer inability to reply to this unwelcome assertion held Kathleen
silent.

"Please don't misunderstand me," went on Patience. "I know I have no
right to criticize you, but as your roommate, I feel a certain interest
in your welfare."

"Very kind in you, I am sure," muttered Kathleen sarcastically.

Unmindful of the sarcasm, Patience continued: "I believe your chief
trouble lies in the fact that newspaper standards are so different from
those of a college. On a newspaper it is a case of get the story and no
questions asked. It isn't honor that counts. It is shrewdness,
determination, dogged persistence, hardness of head, and deafness to
personal appeal that wins the day."

A curious light leaped into the other girl's eyes. "How do you happen to
know so much about what counts on a newspaper?" she questioned sharply.

"Because my father edited one for years. All the newspaper folks know
James Merton Eliot. You must have heard of h