.
Finally, after a wealth of argument had been expended, she wrote her
name in a very wobbly hand, and sealed it with a tear. By nature,
Rosalie was not a fighter; she preferred gaining her rights by more
feminine methods.

Irene McCullough had also to be forced. She was a cautious soul who
looked forward to consequences. One of the most frequently applied of
St. Ursula's punishments was to make the culprit miss desserts. Irene
suffered keenly under this form of chastisement; and she carefully
refrained from misdemeanors which might bring it upon her. But Conny
produced a convincing argument. She threatened to tell that the
chambermaid was in the habit of smuggling in chocolates--and poor
harassed Irene, threatened with the two-fold loss of chocolates and
dessert, sullenly added her signature.

"Lights-out" rang. The Virgil Union adjourned its first meeting and went
to bed.

* * * * *

Senior Latin came the last hour of the morning, when everyone was tired
and hungry. On the Monday following the founding of the Union, the
Virgil class gathered outside the door, in growing perturbation as the
actual time for the battle approached. Patty rallied them in a brief
address.

"Brace up, Rosalie! Don't be a cry-baby. We'll help you out if the last
lines come to you. And for goodness' sake, girls, _don't_ look so
scared. Remember you're suffering, not only for yourselves, but for all
the generations of Virgil classes that come after you. Anyone who backs
down now is a COWARD!"

Patty established herself on the front seat, directly in the line of the
fire, and a slight skirmish occurred at the outset. Her heavy walking
boots were conspicuously laced with pale blue baby ribbon, which caught
the enemy's eye.

"That is scarcely the kind of shoe laces that a lady adopts. May I ask,
Patty--?"

"I broke my other laces," Patty affably explained, "and since we didn't
go shopping on Friday, I couldn't get any more. I don't quite like the
effect myself," she conceded, as she stuck out a foot and critically
surveyed it.

"See that you find some black ones immediately after class," Miss Lord
acidly suggested. "Priscilla, you may read the first ten lines."

The lesson progressed in the usual manner, except that there was a
visible tightening of nerves as each recitation was finished, and they
waited to hear the next name called. Conny's turn ended with the
sixtieth line. No one had gone beyond tha