t!_" she demanded, thinking that he had not understood her.

"Cutta da long hair?" he asked, lifting the strands.

"Sure," cried Patricia, "What else would I want cut off? Certainly not
my _nose_."

"Alla right," said Tony, but he thought it strange, and wondered if the
little girl's mother would appear at any moment, angry, and vengeful.

Patricia's temper had been gradually cooling, and now, as she saw the
long locks that Tony had clipped, she was desperately sorry that she had
come. It was half done, however, so she could not "back out." One does
not care to appear with the right side of one's head with short hair,
and the left side with hair half-way toward one's girdle!

Patricia sighed, and allowed him to continue. What else could she do?
She had been proud of her hair, but when she saw herself in the mirror,
her vanity came to her aid.

She had given up her fine head of hair, but look! Here was another
chance to make a sensation. Not a girl at school had her hair "bobbed."

"Probably they'll tell me that only very little girls have their hair
like this, but I don't care. They'll be surprised, and it's the only
way I can go without ribbons, and I said I'd wear big bows or nothing."

Of course the pupils stared when Patricia appeared in the class-room,
and that delighted her.

"I guess my Dutch cut made more show than my ribbons would have," she
whispered.

Making a show was about all that Patricia cared for, the only other
thing that she appeared to think worth while was meddling in other
people's affairs.

CHAPTER VII

WHEN NANCY DANCED

Mrs. Marvin decided to make the weekly socials very different from what
they had been.

It had been her custom to hire musicians from the city to give a little
recital, and then serve light refreshments, and allow the latter part of
the evening to be spent in indoor games, or dancing.

The social part of the evening was always enjoyed, but many of the
musicians, both vocal and instrumental, had given selections of so
strictly classical character that some of the pupils complained that
they did not care for it.

She determined to ask three pupils to arrange a program for each
evening, each of the three being expected to take part in the
entertainment.

One Monday morning she unfolded her plan, and announced that on Friday
of that week would occur the first social having a pupils' program.

"I have asked Dorothy Dainty to take charge of the little rec