have unconsciously
pulled it to."

"It is very strange," replied Anne, in whose mind a vague suspicion had
taken root. Then she made a mental resolve to do a little private
investigating on her own account.

When Grace reached home that night she found two boxes awaiting her.

"Oh, what can they be?" she cried in great excitement, for it was not
every day that she found two imposing packages on the hall table, at the
same time, addressed to her.

"Open them and see, little daughter," replied Grace's father, pinching her
unscratched cheek.

The one was a large box of candy from her classmates, the contents of
which they helped to devour the next day.

The other box held a bunch of violets and lilies of the valley. In this
were two cards, "Mrs. Robert Nesbit" and "Mr. David Nesbit."

"Poor old David!" thought Grace, as she buried her nose in the violets.
"He is trying to atone for Miriam's sins."

CHAPTER XX

A PIECE OF NEWS

After the excitement of the famous game came a great calm. The various
teachers privately congratulated themselves on the marked improvement in
lessons, and were secretly relieved with the thought that basketball was
laid on the shelf for the rest of the school year.

Miriam Nesbit left Oakdale for a visit the Monday after the game, and did
not return for two weeks. The general opinion seemed to be that she was
ashamed of herself; but the expression on her face when she did return was
not indicative of either shame or humility. She was more aggressive than
before, and looked as though she considered the whole school far beneath
her. She refused to even nod to Grace, Nora, Anne or Jessica, while Julia
Crosby remarked with a cheerful grin that she guessed Miriam had forgotten
that they had ever been introduced.

During the Easter holidays, Tom Gray came down and his aunt gave a dinner
to her "adopted children" in honor of her nephew. Nora gave a fancy dress
party to about twenty of her friends, while Grace invited the seven young
people to a straw ride and a moonlight picnic in Upton Wood.

The days sped swiftly by, and spring came with her wealth of bud and
bloom. During the long, balmy days Grace inwardly chafed at schoolbooks
and lessons. She wanted to be out of doors. As she sat trying to write a
theme for her advanced English class, one sunny afternoon during the
latter part of April, she glanced frequently out the window toward the
golf links that lay just beyond the High