h above that of the kindly,
efficient dean whom the Overton girls idolized, and began her campaign
by criticizing and finding fault with Miss Wilder's methods whenever the
slightest opportunity presented itself. At first her unfair tactics bade
fair to meet with success. The various members of the Board, and even
Dr. Morton, wondered vaguely if, after all, too much confidence had
been reposed in Miss Wilder.

Wholly intent on establishing herself as a fixture at Overton College,
Miss Wharton allowed the matter concerning Jean Brent and Grace to rest
while she attended to what she considered vastly more important affairs.
The thought that she was keeping both young women in the most cruel
suspense did not trouble her in the least. On the contrary she decided
that they deserved to be kept in a state of uncertainty as to what she
intended to do with them, and deliberately put over their case until
such time as suited her convenience.

Both Jean and Grace went about, however, with the feeling that a sword
was suspended over their heads and likely to descend at any moment.
Grace expected, daily, to be summoned to Miss Wharton's office, there to
refuse to divulge Jean Brent's secret and then ask the pertinent
question, "Do you intend to lay this matter before the Board?" If she
received an affirmative answer, then she planned to return to Harlowe
House, write her formal resignation as manager of it and mail it to
President Morton. But day followed day, and week followed week, and
still the dread summons did not come. Grace discussed frequently the
possible cause of Miss Wharton's negligence in the matter with Emma,
her one confidante. Emma was of the opinion that, in trying to fill Miss
Wilder's position, Miss Wharton had her hands full. Although Emma was
apt to clothe the most serious happenings in the cloak of humor, she was
a shrewd judge of human nature.

"Just let me tell you one thing, Gracious," she remarked one blustering
March evening as the two young women fought their way across the campus
against a howling wind. They were returning from an evening spent with
Kathleen West and Patience Eliot. "Miss Wharton is no more fitted for
the position of dean at Overton College than I am for the presidency of
the United States. She may have been successful in some little,
out-of-the-way academy in a jerkwater town, but she's sadly out of place
here. She has about as much tact as a rhinoceros, and possesses the
aesthetic pe