Nothing could be more practical than that twenty-dollar bill.
And the red-haired Irish boy had put it into Mr. Gordon's mind to send
her this substantial tip.

She took the twenty-dollar bill out and looked at it again. It was very
real.

Cora Rathmore sat behind her in this class. Nancy happened to turn about
as she slipped the banknote out of sight again, and she saw that her
roommate was looking hard at her. Nancy turned away herself. She was
angrier with Cora than she had ever been before since the opening of
Pinewood Hall.

Jennie Bruce, one of the girls of her class whom Nancy admired the most,
leaned over and whispered to her:

"Goodness me! but you are the wealthy girl. Was that real money, or just
stage money?"

Jennie was a thin, snappy girl, with dancing eyes, a continual smile,
and as elusive as a drop of mercury. She just couldn't keep still, and
she was always getting minor marks in deportment because her sense of
fun was sure to bubble over at inopportune times.

"I--I guess it's real money," whispered Nancy, although talking during
lessons was frowned on by all the instructors.

But Nancy was only too glad when Jennie Bruce spoke to her. She was just
a little afraid of Jennie's sharp tongue; and yet she had never been the
butt of any of the harum-scarum's jokes. Perhaps Jennie had spared Nancy
because the latter was so much alone. The fun-loving one was not cruel.

"Twen-ty-dol-lars," whispered Jennie, with big eyes. "You certainly are
rich. What a lot of pickles that would buy!" and she grinned.

Nancy smiled. She knew that Jennie was only in fun when she suggested
such an expenditure. But the thought smote the lonely girl's mind that
by the spending of this money in "treating" she might gain a certain
popularity among the other girls.

Really, that was what made Grace Montgomery so popular. She had more
money to spend than almost any other girl in the school--in the freshman
class, at least. Nancy asked herself seriously if she should strive to
make friendships through such a channel.

Young as she was, the girl had serious thoughts at times, and this was
one of the times. She hid the money in the bosom of her dress and at
recess said nothing about it, although she saw several of the girls
whispering and pointing her out.

But the most surprising thing that happened was Cora coming to her
almost as soon as they were released from the classrooms for a short run
in the basement recreation