renege. Last year I let
basket-ball alone. I'd had enough of it the first two years here at
Wellington. I wasn't in touch with these girls that Marian's so down on.
Roberta Hurley was managing the teams then, you know. She recommended
me to Miss Rutledge as her successor. I wish now I'd refused to act as
manager."

"I'm sorry _I_ had anything to do with it," regretted Laura Nelson. "Of
course, Marian has been lovely to both of us. I was stupid enough to
mistake it for real friendship until she came right out the other night
and asked us to keep those three girls off the team. Then I knew she'd
only been getting an axe ready for us to grind."

"Oh, I saw through her from the first, but I thought I'd humor her.
We've had a good many rides and dinners at her expense. I supposed it
would be easy enough to keep those three off the team. When I saw them
play I knew differently. That Jane Allen is a wonder with the ball; the
little French girl, too. If I had dropped either of them the sophs would
have raised the roof. I had to save my own reputation. It didn't matter
so much about the Stearns girl. She and Marian were pretty evenly
matched."

"She's a better player than Marian," frankly disagreed Laura. "As it is,
I think we are in for trouble. We've antagonized Dorothy Martin. You
heard what she said to us. She won't hesitate to say it to anyone else
who claims Miss Stearns ought to have made the team. Dorothy's always
stood high at Wellington. She has lots of friends."

"Oh, she'll calm down," predicted Selina. "She hates to be crossed.
Personally, I don't admire her. She poses too much. She's either a prig
or a hypocrite. A little of both, I guess. When Marian raged about my
asking her to act as judge she said she knew for a fact that Dorothy's
father had lost all his money and that Dorothy was hanging on to Jane
Allen and this French girl, I never can remember her name, because they
took her around with them and spent lots of money on luncheons and
dinners."

"Then she's no better than we are!" exclaimed Laura, looking relief at
this piece of news.

"Of course she isn't," retorted Selina. "As nearly as I can make out
it's nip and tuck between Marian and this Jane Allen as to which of them
will run the sophomore class. One has about as much principle as the
other. Marian has been nice to us. The Allen girl has never bothered
herself to get acquainted with us. I understand she's very haughty. I
should have really enj