Sunday morning church as two."

"So you expended two cuts to escape me?" he asked with a smile.

"Oh, it wasn't you," Patty remonstrated hastily. "It was just--the
obligatoriness. And besides," she added frankly, "my legitimate cuts
were used up days ago, and when I once begin over-cutting, I am
reckless."

"And may I ask what happens when you over-cut?" the bishop inquired.

"Well," said Patty, "there are proctors, you know, that mark you when
you are absent; and then, if they find that you've over-cut, the
Self-Government Committee calls you up and asks the reason. If you can't
produce a good excuse you are deprived of your privileges for a month,
and you can't be on committees or in plays or get leave of absence to go
out of town."

"I see," said the bishop; "and will you have to suffer all of those
penalties?"

"Oh, no," said Patty, comfortably; "I shall produce a good excuse."

"What will you say?" he inquired.

"I don't know, exactly; I shall have to depend on the inspiration of the
moment."

The bishop regarded her quizzically. "Do you mean," he asked, "that,
having broken the rule, you intend to evade the penalty by--to put it
flatly--a falsehood?"

"Oh, no, bishop," said Patty, in a shocked tone. "Of course I shall tell
the truth, only"--she looked up in the bishop's face with an
irresistible smile--"the committee probably won't understand it."

For an instant the bishop's face relaxed, and then he grew grave again.
"By a subterfuge?" he asked.

"Y-yes," acknowledged Patty; "I suppose you _might_ call it a
subterfuge. I dare say I am pretty bad," she added, "but you have to
have a reputation for something in a place like this or you get
overlooked. I can't compete in goodness or in athletics or in anything
like that, so there's nothing left for me but to surpass in badness--I
have quite a gift for it."

The corners of the bishop's mouth twitched. "You don't look like one
with a criminal record."

"I'm young yet," said Patty. "It hasn't commenced to show."

"My dear little girl," said the bishop, "I have already preached one
sermon to-day, which you didn't come to hear, and I can't undertake to
preach another for your benefit,"--Patty looked relieved,--"but there is
one question I should like to ask you. In after years, when you are
through college and the question is asked of some of your class-mates,
'Did you know--' You have not told me your name."

"Patty Wyatt."

"'Did you know Patty