tra played and the couples whirled
in the big dining-room. They were talking just as earnestly as if they
had not seen each other every day for a year. Bea's dimple twinkled and
she took a step forward under the impulse to join them for the fun of
chaffing them about such polite devotion.

At that moment Gertrude touched her shoulder.

"Oh, Beatrice Leigh, have you anybody engaged for this number and the
next? My brother has turned up unexpectedly, and I haven't a single
partner for him. Won't you take care of him while I rush around to fill
his program? Do! There's a dear!"

"All right," said Bea, "can he talk?"

"N-no, not much, but you can, and he's awfully easy to entertain. Tell
him about the girls or college life or anything. He's interested in it
all. Will you? Oh, please! There goes Sara now. I've got to catch her
first thing."

"Bring on the brother," exclaimed Bea magnanimously, "I'll talk to him."

And she did. Twenty minutes later, when Gertrude in her frantic search
through the shifting crowds explored the farthest group of easy chairs in
senior corridor, she discovered Miss Bea still chattering vivaciously to
a rapt audience of one.

"I've been telling him about our playing at politics last month," she
paused to explain; "he was interested."

The brother smiled down at her. "It is certainly a most entertaining
story," he said.

"Things generally are when Bea tells them," commented Gertrude, "that is
one of her gifts."

"Oh, thank you!" Bea swept her a curtsey. "But don't hurry. Didn't you
know that I promised him a dance as a reward for listening to my
dissertation on reform. Some day I'll maybe tell you the story."

This is the story:

Did Gertrude ever tell you about our playing at politics when we were
sophomores? Possibly you have heard politics defined as present history,
and history as past politics. On that understanding, this tale is a
history. It is the history of a great reform. When I sit down to reflect,
a luxury for which I seldom have time even in vacation, it really seems
to me that I have been reforming all my life. Lila has reformed a good
deal since she entered college, and Berta has been almost as bad as I.
Robbie Belle is the best one among us, but she does not realize it. That
is the reason why she is such a dear. She never preaches--that is, never
unless it is her plain duty as at that time in the north tower, when we
were freshmen, you remember. If she disapproves of a