y creatures already."

There was more laughing at this, as Anne and Jessica were by far the
quietest members of the sorority.

"Remember, we practise to-morrow after school," called Grace as she
separated from her team at her street.

As she walked slowly down the quiet street, deep in thought, her ear
caught the sound of an approaching automobile, and she looked up just in
time to see Eleanor drive by in her machine. Grace nodded to her, but
her salutation met with a chilly stare.

"How childish she is," thought Grace. "I suppose she thinks that hurts
me. Of course it isn't exactly pleasant, but I'm going to keep on
speaking to her, just the same. I am not angry, even if she is; although
I have far greater cause to be."

But before the close of the week Grace was destined to cross swords with
Eleanor in earnest, and the toleration she had felt was swallowed up in
righteous indignation.

During the winter, theatrical companies sometimes visited Oakdale for a
week at a time, presenting, at popular prices, old worn-out plays and
cheap melodramas. These companies gave daily matinees as well as
evening performances, and the more frivolous element of High School
girls had in time past occasionally "skipped school" to spend the
afternoon in the theatre. By the girls, this form of truancy was
considered a "lark," but Miss Thompson did not look at the matter in the
same light, and disciplined the culprit so severely whenever she found
this to be the cause of an afternoon's absence that the girls were slow
to offend in this respect.

All this Eleanor had heard, among other things, from Edna Wright, but
had paid little attention to it when Edna had told her. Directly after
cutting Grace Harlowe, she had turned her runabout into Main Street,
where a billboard had caught her eye, displaying in glaring red and blue
lettering the fact that the "Peerless Dramatic Company" would open a
week's engagement in Oakdale with daily matinees.

Eleanor's eyes sparkled. She halted her machine, scanning curiously the
list of plays on the billboard. "The Nihilist's Daughter" was scheduled
for Thursday afternoon, and Eleanor decided to go. She wasn't afraid of
Miss Thompson. Then, possessed with a sudden idea, she laughed
gleefully. At last she had found a way to effectually annoy the
principal.

CHAPTER XV

A WOULD-BE "LARK"

Eleanor Savell and the seven girls who formed their sorority were the
first to enter the study hall