mothers were willing we should. So to be very slangy, 'It's
up to you, Captain!'"

"But suppose this girl merely takes advantage of your kindness and
involves you all in another tangle?" remarked Mrs. Dean quietly. "It
seems to me that she proved herself wholly untrustworthy last year."

"I know it." Marjorie sighed. She would have liked to say that Mignon
had already tied an ugly snarl in her affairs. But loyalty to Mary
forbade the utterance. Then, brightening, she went on hopefully: "If we
never try to help her, we'll never know whether she really has a better
self. Sometimes it takes just a little thing to change a person's
heart."

"You are a dear child," Mrs. Dean bent to press a kiss on Marjorie's
curly head, "and your argument is too generous to be downed. I give my
official consent to the proposed reform, and I hope, for all concerned,
that it will turn out beautifully."

"Oh, Captain," Marjorie nestled closer, "you're too dear for words.
There's another reason for my wishing to be friendly with Mignon. Mary
has met her and likes her."

"Mary!" Mrs. Dean looked her astonishment. "By the way, Marjorie, where
is Mary? I had quite forgotten her for the time being. You didn't
mention her as being with you at Sargent's."

"She wasn't there," explained Marjorie. "She didn't wait for me after
school. She must have gone on with--with someone and stopped to talk.
I--I think she'll be here soon." A hurt look, of which she was entirely
unconscious, had driven the brightness from the face Marjorie turned to
her mother.

Mrs. Dean was a wise woman. She discerned that there had been a hitch in
the programme of her daughter's daily affairs, but she asked no
questions. She never intruded upon Marjorie's little reserves. She knew
now that whatever her daughter had kept back had been done in accordance
with a code of living, the uprightness of which was seldom equalled in
a girl of her years. She, therefore, respected the reservation and made
no attempt to discover its nature.

"What are you going to do first in the way of reform, Lieutenant?" she
inquired brightly.

"Well, I thought I would invite Mignon to my party, the one you said I
could give for Mary. I'd like to have it next Friday night. Friday's the
best time. We can all sleep a little later the next morning, you know."

"Very well, you may," assented Mrs. Dean. "Does Mary know of the
contemplated reform?"

"No. You see I hated to say much to her about Mig