eeks in
an expensive Philadelphia hospital. Even with the small fees the
surgeons charge because of dad, the board will amount to more than he
can afford to pay. Alice and I ought to be learning stenography or
something useful."

"Well, now, your father would say," suggested Betty, with determined
optimism, "that the Christmas vacation is too far off to make any plans
about what you're going to do afterward. You know Bobby Littell has set
her heart on you and Alice spending the recess with them in Washington.
Anyway, lots of things can turn up before Christmas, Norma--even the
treasure!"

Norma tried to smile.

"I dream about that chasm nearly every night," she said. "Sometimes I
think the Indians came back and got the stuff, Betty. They're so clever
about climbing, and I know they wouldn't easily give up."

"Nonsense!" chided Betty. "The treasure is there, and we've just got to
think up a way to get it out. At all costs you mustn't cry yourself sick
about the future--you'll spoil all the fun awaiting you in the weeks
before Christmas. And you know you can't study as well when you're
depressed, and, goodness knows! one has to study at Shadyside."

"I've a headache now," confessed Norma, pushing her tumbled hair out
of her eyes. "I can't go down to dinner--I'm a perfect sight. There's
the bell!"

"Just lie down and try to rest," advised Betty, smoothing the tangled
covers with a deft hand. "I'll bring you up some supper on a tray. Aunt
Nancy thinks you're an angel on general principles, and she has a special
soft spot in her heart for you because her mother used to cook for your
grandmother. Come on, Alice, we'll turn the light out and let her rest
her eyes."

"I do wish some one would think up a way to get those pearls and the
gold," fretted Betty, turning restlessly on her pillow that night. "If
Norma and Alice are ever going to be well-off now is the time. When
they're so old they can't walk, money won't do 'em any good!"

Which showed that Betty, for all her sound sense, was still a little
girl. Very old ladies, who can not walk, certainly need money to make
them comfortable and keep them so.

The next night was Friday, and Betty welcomed the prospect of the second
degree necessary to stamp the freshmen as full-fledged members of the
Mysterious For. The week had been noticeably tinged with indigo for at
least two of Betty's friends, and she hoped the initiation might take
their minds from their troubles.