, Maggie?" asked Miss Jennings, noticing the look at once. She
knew the girl's disposition, and almost dreaded what was coming.

"Old Forbes was robbed of five hundred dollars! Some one stole it from
his desk early yesterday morning. There's pretty good proof already as
to who was the thief. I wouldn't stand in her shoes for double the
money!"

She was still watching Faith with her eyes half closed. Miss Jennings
was too shrewd to be deceived a minute as to her actual meaning.

"Well, you'll save yourself trouble by keeping your mouth shut," she
said, crossly, "it dont pay to meddle with such matters as that, Maggie,
especially if you happen to be living under a cloud yourself. Somebody
might take a notion to turn the tables on you, you know. I'd as as soon
be a thief as some other things I might mention."

There was a sneer in her tones that was unmistakable. Faith turned just
in time to catch its full meaning.

"Oh, you needn't preach!" cried the other angrily. "Any one can see
you're fairly green with envy, eighty-nine! You'd give a whole lot to be
able to flirt with the boys, but, as Jim Denton says, you are too pale
and skinny!"

"For shame!"

It was Faith who spoke the words. She was facing the brazen-faced girl
with her eyes blazing angrily.

"How dare you speak like that to a poor, sick girl? Have you no heart in
your bosom, no decency or conscience! It does not seem possible to me
that girls can be so hateful toward each other. Are we not all sisters,
who have been commanded to love one another?"

There was silence for just a second as Faith finished speaking, then a
loud, coarse laugh broke from Maggie Brady's lips.

"Oh, Lord! Hear her, girls! Hear the little preacher in petticoats!
Isn't she eloquent, the pretty thing! Why, she ought to be a corporal in
the Salvation Army!"

There was a roar of laughter at the rude girl's words, during which Miss
Jennings caught Faith by the arm and half dragged her from the
cloak-room.

"Come, Faith, let us go! This is no place for you. That girl is the most
brazen hussy in the whole establishment, and that's saying a good deal,
as you'll find out later!"

They hurried out into the street as quickly as possible. Faith was
almost crying with indignation when they reached the sidewalk.

"Now, brace up, dear; it's all over for to-day," said Miss Jennings.
"You'll soon get used to it; that's exactly what every one of us have
had to go through with, but the gir