the blackboard this morning? 'The young ladies will hereafter refrain
from leaving the school grounds after the hour of six p.m., unless
written permission is first secured from the Principal. Any infraction
of this rule will result in suspension or permanent dismissal.' We're
determined not to stand for this rule a single minute. We intend to
strike for our liberties."

"Well," said Mary Louise reflectively, "I'm not surprised. The wonder is
that Miss Stearne hasn't stopped your evening parades before now. This
is a small school in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else;
otherwise you'd have been guarded as jealously as if you were in a
convent. Did you ever know or hear of any other private boarding school
where the girls were allowed to go to town evenings, or whenever they
pleased out of school hours?"

"Didn't I tell you?" snapped Mable, addressing the group. "Mary Louise
is always on the wrong side. Other schools are not criterions for this
ramshackle establishment, anyhow. We have twelve boarders and four day
scholars, and how Miss Stearne ever supports the place and herself on
her income is an occult problem that the geometries can't solve. She
pays little Miss Dandler, her assistant, the wages of an ordinary
housemaid; the furniture is old and shabby and the classrooms gloomy;
the food is more nourishing than feastful and the tablecloths are so
patched and darned that it's a wonder they hold together."

Mary Louise quietly seated herself upon the bench beside them.

"You're looking on the seamy side, Mable," she said with a smile, "and
you're not quite just to the school. I believe your parents sent you
here because Miss Stearne is known to be a very competent teacher and