t, and not
even Jessica was there to witness it, although she had formerly been taken
as a matter of course. When invited to attend practice she had scornfully
refused it.

"No, thank you," she said. "If anything should go wrong to-morrow I'd be
accused of treachery. No one's reputation is safe in this class." At which
remark several sophomores had the grace to blush.

The day dawned bright and clear. Grace arrived at the gymnasium long
before the others. She was worried and anxious over the behavior of her
team. She was half afraid that some one of them would absent herself, in
which case one of the substitutes would have to be called, and Grace
doubted whether they could be relied upon.

Two months before, she had been certain that there were no players like
those of the sophomore organization. Now she had no confidence in them or
herself. She had a faint hope that when the game opened, her players would
forget their grievances and work for the honor of the sophomores. She
would do her best at all events, and Nora could be depended upon, too. All
this passed rapidly through Grace's mind as she waited for the team to
appear.

The spectators were arriving in numbers. The gallery was almost full, and
it still lacked fifteen minutes of the time before the game would be
called. The proverbial little bird had been extremely busy, and all sorts
of rumors regarding the two teams were afloat. The juniors were, as usual,
seated in a body and making a great deal of unnecessary noise. The members
of the sophomore class were scattered here and there. Anne and Jessica sat
with three or four of the girls who had refused to pay any attention to
the talk about Anne. A dozen or more of Miriam's flock sat together
watching for the appearance of their favorite. Occasionally they glanced
over toward Anne, whispered to each other, and then giggled in a way that
made Anne wince and Jessica feel like ordering them out of the gallery.

Grace and Nora stood talking together at one end of the gymnasium. Grace
kept an anxious eye on the clock. It was five minutes of two and Miriam
had not arrived. "Would she dare to stay away?" Grace wondered. At two
minutes of two there was a burst of applause from the section of the
gallery where Miriam's admirers were seated. Grace glanced quickly around
to see what had caused it, and beheld Miriam serenely approaching, a
satisfied smile on her face. She had waited until the last minute in the
hope of ma