With these words she turned and stalked across the field to the road, where her runabout stood.  After an instant’s hesitation, she was followed by Edna, Daisy Culver and those who had come with her.  Henceforth there would again be two distinct factions in the junior class.

“Good gracious,” exclaimed Julia Crosby.  “Talk about your human whirlwinds!  What on earth did you ever do to her, Grace?”

But Grace could not answer.  She was winking hard to keep back the tears.  Twice she attempted to speak and failed.  “Never mind her, dear,” said Julia, slipping her arm about Grace, while the other girls gathered round with many expressions of displeasure at Eleanor’s cruel speech.

“I can’t help feeling badly,” said Grace, with a sob.  “She said such dreadful things.”

“No one who knows you would believe them,” replied Julia.  “By the way, who is she?  I know her name is Savell and that she’s a recent arrival in Oakdale, but considering the plain and uncomplimentary manner in which she addressed you, you must have seriously offended her ladyship.”

“I’ll tell you about her as we walk along,” replied Grace, wiping her eyes and smiling a little.

“Yes, we had better be moving,” said Julia.  “The battle is over.  No one has been killed and only one wounded.  Nevertheless, the enemy has retired in confusion.”

CHAPTER XI

WORRIES AND PLANS

Although the girls belonging to Julia’s party were silent concerning what happened at the Omnibus House, the story leaked out, creating considerable discussion among the members of the two upper classes.  Julia Crosby had a shrewd suspicion that Edna Wright had been the original purveyor of the news, and in this she was right.  Edna had, under pledge of secrecy, told it to a sophomore, who immediately told it to her dearest friend, and so the tale traveled until it reached Eleanor, with numerous additions, far from pleasing to her.  She was thoroughly angry, and at once laid the matter at Grace’s door, while her animosity toward Grace grew daily.

But Grace was not the only person that Eleanor disliked.  From the day that Miss Thompson had taken her to task for absence, she had entertained a supreme contempt for the principal of which Miss Thompson was wholly unaware until, encountering Eleanor one morning in the corridor, the latter had stared at her with an expression of such open scorn and dislike that Miss Thompson felt her color rise.  A direct slap in the face could scarcely have conveyed greater insult than did that one insolent glance.  The principal was at a loss as to its import.  She wisely decided to ignore it, but stored it up in her memory for future reference.

The sorority that Eleanor had mentioned in her letter to the Phi Sigma Tau, was now in full flower.  The seven girls who had accompanied her to the Omnibus House were the chosen members.  They wore pins in the shape of skulls and cross bones, and went about making mysterious signs to each other whenever they met.  The very name of the society was shrouded in mystery, though Nora O’Malley was heard to declare that she had no doubt it was a branch of the “Black Hand.”