r."

"I am not," stoutly contradicted Dulcie. Nevertheless her sudden flush
belied her words.

"Of course you are," went on Leslie imperturbably. "Understand, I didn't
_want_ the rest of the gang here tonight, and that's that. What I
started out to say when Nat and Joan and Margaret and you butted in, one
by one, was this: We must bestir ourselves and make a fuss over the
freshies. This year's freshman class is, I'm told, the largest entering
class for ten years. I don't feel like bothering myself with the diggy,
priggy element of freshies, but even they will have to be considered.
I'd do anything to spite that Sanford crowd and upset the progress they
have made against us."

"What progress have they made, I'd like to know?" demanded Harriet
Stephens scornfully. "If you mean the way they got back at us for
ragging Miss Dean, I think that was _simply disgraceful_ in them to call
a meeting as they did and blacken our standing at Wayland Hall. It is a
wonder we managed to keep our rooms at the Hall after all the row they
made about a little bit of ragging."

"We kept them, just the same, and you may thank Joan and I for it,"
significantly reminded Leslie. "I know old Remson is so sore at us she
could snap our heads off. The funny part of it is, she will never know
how cleverly we blocked her little game. That reminds me. I don't want
the rest of the Sans to know the way we worked that scheme. Eight of us
in the secret is enough. Remember, if it ever got out we would be all
through at Hamilton College."

"Do you believe we would be expelled, Les?" asked Dulcie Vale, looking
worried.

"I don't believe it. I _know_ we would. Nothing could save us. Never
mind being scared, though. No one will ever know the rights of our plot
unless some one of you girls here is silly enough to tell it. That's why
I am cautioning you to be careful."

"Leslie is precisely right about that," Natalie Weyman hastened to
agree. "We shall have to be very careful what we do this year. I think
that a little missionary work among the freshies would be a good thing
for all of us. Later on we can drop them if they grow to be too much of
a bore."

"They will take care of themselves as they get used to college,"
predicted Leslie. "If some of 'em turn out to be really smart, like Lola
Elster, for instance, then we needn't be slow about running with them.
_You_ think, Nat, that I have a crush on that Miss Walbert." Leslie
turned directly to Natalie