ey ought not to let such girls into a school like Pinewood
Hall."

"Hul-_lo!_" exclaimed Jennie, suddenly interested. "Who's been treading
on _your_ tootsies, Belle?"

"Why, it's that Nelson girl," snapped Judy.

"And what's Nancy been doing?"

"Well, it's what she _is_," exclaimed another, eagerly. "You are pretty
thick with her, Jen. Do you know who she is?"

Jennie nodded.

"You don't!"

"I know just as much about her as she knows about herself," declared
Jennie, with gravity.

"And that's just nothing," cried Judy, with a little laugh. "That's what
Cora says."

"And who told Cora?" asked Jennie.

"Grace. And Grace knows!"

"And who told Chicken-Little-Ducky-Lucky-Goosy-Poosy-Montgomery that the
sky had fallen?" demanded the sarcastic Jennie.

"Did you know that Nancy Nelson came here from a charity school, and
that she has no folks?" asked Belle Macdonald, with considerable
bitterness.

"Yes," said Jennie, nodding.

"Well! what do you suppose your mother would say if she knew you were
familiar with such a girl?"

Jennie suddenly became grave. "She'd say," declared the fun-loving girl,
her voice shaking a little, "she'd say: 'That's a good girl, Jennie.
She's an orphan--be kind to her.'"

"Oh, rats!" cried Judy. "She doesn't even know she's an orphan. Cora
says she believes Nancy's parents are in jail."

"Maybe Cora has a wider acquaintance among jails than the rest of us,"
said Jennie airily, preparing to go upstairs.

"And what was Nancy doing with her hat and coat at this hour?" put in
another girl, craftily. "The Madame noticed that right away."

"The Madame!" gasped Jennie, stopping instantly.

"Oh, they've all gone into the office," said Belle, eagerly.

"Who--all?"

"Corinne and Cora and Nancy."

"They've caught Nancy because she was going to run away?" cried Jennie.

"Run away?" repeated the other girls in chorus.

The angry Jennie shook the bag in their faces.

"Do you know what _this_ is?" she demanded. "Do you know what you girls
by your meanness almost drove Nancy Nelson to?

"I'll tell you! She knows you all dislike her--hate her, in fact. She is
so unhappy here that she was going to run away from Pinewood Hall and
get work somewhere--that is what she was going to do.

"She packed this bag and tossed it out of the window, and then she ran
down to the door intending to slip away. But she remembered that she had
been forbidden to leave the building at this time of day,