et her an
invitation to the Mayor's reception. By the by, who's going to the Young
People's Ball at the Town Hall? It's to be a particularly good one this
year."

"I am, for one," said Val Barnett, "and I think a good many of the Form
will be there. Helen Walker, and Joyce Hickson, and Annie Gray are
asked, I know."

"Are you going, Dorothy?" enquired Hope, with a taunt in her tone.

"Dorothy never goes anywhere!" laughed Blanche Hall.

Dorothy buried her head in her desk and took no notice; but her silence
was pain and grief to her.

"Hope's too mean for anything!" whispered Ruth Harmon to Noelle Kennedy.
"I'm sorry for Dorothy."

"And Pittie's too bad. It's not worth while preparing one's work if Hope
gets all the praise for nothing. Why is Pittie always so hard on
Dorothy?"

"Oh, because Dorothy doesn't flatter her up; besides, she loves
presents. I wonder what she'd say if she could hear what her darling
Hope says about her sometimes?"

"I wish she'd find her out."

"She can't, unless someone tells, and I hate sneaks."

"Well, I'm really sorry for Dorothy Greenfield. Hope and her set seem to
have taken a spite against her. I don't mind if her dresses are shabby,
and if she's the only girl in the Form who doesn't own a watch. I vote
we make up a special clique to be on her side."

"All right; I'm your man! I admire Dorothy she's so 'game'--she never
gives way an inch, whatever Hope says she just sticks her head in the
air and looks proud."

"She flares up sometimes."

"Well, I don't blame her. I like a girl who won't be kept down."

"What could we do to boost Dorothy up a little in the Form? Most of the
girls are like sheep; if anyone leads hard enough, they'll follow."

"Well, I've an idea."

"Go ahead!"

"You know Dorothy's splendid at acting. She ought to take a principal
part in our Christmas play."

"But she can't rehearse. She's barred the gym. and tied to the classroom
for the rest of the term."

"That's my point. I think Dorothy got much too hard a punishment. Miss
Tempest was angry because she answered back, and never took into account
that she had owned up about going to that wedding, and that it was
honest of her to tell."

"Yes, 'The Storm-cloud' was savage because Dorothy was cheeky, but I
think she's got over it a little now; she's been far nicer to her
lately."

"Have you noticed that too? Well, I believe Miss Tempest knows she
treated Dorothy severely, and she's sorry, on