won't keep people away. This weather is enough to discourage any
one."

All morning she watched anxiously for the clouds to lift, going from
window to door until her mother told her to stop fretting about the
weather and save her strength for the coming game.

The game was set for two o'clock, but at one, Grace put on her raincoat
and set out for the High School. She knew she was early, but she felt that
she couldn't stay in the house a minute longer.

One by one the sophomore team and its substitutes assembled, but the rain
had dampened their spirits and the enthusiasm of the past few days had
left them.

Grace looked worried, as she noticed how listless her players seemed. She
wished it had been one of those cold, crisp days that set the blood
tingling and make the heart beat high with hope.

Still Grace felt confident that her team would rise to the occasion when
the game was called. They were two well-trained, too certain of their
powers to ever think of failing.

The bad weather had evidently not depressed the spirits of their
opponents. The juniors stood about laughing and talking. Julia Crosby
moved from one girl to the other whispering slyly.

"Wretch!" thought Grace. "How disagreeable she is. She was born too late.
She should have lived in the middle ages, when plotting was the fashion.
She is anything but a credit to her class and dear old Oakdale High
School."

Grace's rather vehement reflections were cut short by the approach of Miss
Thompson, who stopped to say a word of cheer to the girls before taking
her seat in the gallery.

"Well, Grace," she said, "this is a rather bad day outside, but still
there will be a few loyal souls to cheer you on to victory. May the best
man win. You must put forth every energy if you expect to conquer the
juniors, however. They have held the championship a long time."

"They will not hold it after to-day if we can help it," answered Grace.
"We feel fairly sure that we can whip them."

"That is the right spirit," said Miss Thompson. "Confidence is first
cousin to success, you know."

"Was there ever a teacher quite like Miss Thompson?" asked Nora as the
principal left them to take her seat in the gallery.

"She is a dear," said Marian Barber, "and she's on our side, too."

"There's the referee now!" exclaimed Grace. "Now, girls, make up your
minds to play as you never played before. Remember it's for the honor of
the sophomores."

By this time the gallery