ree from blame in her own esteem. She
simply could not beg anybody's pardon, and she was not going to do it,
because--well, because she had not been to blame--so there!

On this particular evening, after five solid minutes of silence on the
part of her exasperating roommates, she raised her heavy eyes, and let
them rest expressionlessly on the two wind-freshened faces, till Bea's
roses blossomed to her hair.

"We're not doing anything," rebelliously, "you are so boss-y."

"Moo-oo," muttered Berta to her plate. "Bow-wow-wow." Bea choked over her
glass and fled precipitately, leaving her partner to capture a pitcher of
milk ostensibly to drink before going to bed.

Of course they would have regretted missing dessert as well as soup, if
Gertrude had not asked permission to carry some of the whipped cream to
her room. It was easier to do something unnecessarily generous than to
beg Sara's pardon--which was merely plain hard duty. The girls were not
in the study when she entered with her offering, but soon Bea dashed in
and dropped breathlessly on the couch, with a conspicuous effort to act
as if accustomed to arrive without her present double. Gertrude listened
unsuspiciously to the flurried explanation that Berta was kept by
a--a--a--friend, before she revealed the brimming trophy from dessert.

Bea clapped her hands. "Oh, you darling! the very thing! Won't that
pup"--an abrupt and convulsive cough subsided brilliantly into, "that pet
of a Berta be pleased! I'll take it to her this instant."

However, she did not invite Gertrude to accompany her, and upon her
return after a prolonged absence, she conducted herself with odd
restlessness. In the intervals of suggesting that they put up an engaged
sign or read aloud or darn stockings or play patience before going to a
certain spread, she stared at the clock. Promptly at eight she escaped
from the door, near which she had been lingering for the past
quarter-hour, with the carefully distinct announcement that she was going
after Berta, and later she might attend the spread.

Five minutes later she was bending over a fluffy little creature nestling
on Gertrude's best pillow in one of the partitioned off bathrooms at the
end of the corridor.

"He's been pretty good," said Berta as she surrendered the spoon, "and he
likes the cream, only the bubbles in it keep him awake, I think. Somebody
hammered at the door so long that I had to stuff a lot into his mouth
every time he s