“Did you hear about the quarrel that she and Edna Wright had, after she attacked us?” asked Eva Allen.

“Yes,” answered Grace.  “I understand, too, that it has completely broken up their sorority.  They carried their part of the bazaar through together and then Eleanor told Edna that she was practically done with her.”

“You don’t mean it!  I hadn’t heard that!  Who told you so?” were the exclamations that followed this information.

“Daisy Culver told Ruth Deane, and Ruth told me,” said Grace.  “Ruth says that Edna feels dreadfully over it.  She was really fond of Eleanor.”

“Now I suppose that Miss Eleanor Vendetta de Savelli will be more impossible than ever,” giggled Nora.

“Perhaps not,” said Anne quietly.  “I think it a very good thing that Edna and Eleanor have separated, for Eleanor Savell is a far better girl at heart than Edna Wright.  Eleanor is better off without her.”

“I believe you are right, Anne,” said Grace with conviction.  “Although Eleanor’s reformation is not for us.  We’ve had experience.”

“‘Never too late to mend,’” quoted Jessica.

“True,” retorted Nora, “but for my part I think the Phi Sigma Tau have done their share toward the mending process.”

“Marian Barber!” exclaimed Grace.  “Where in the world did you unearth that man you introduced us to, at the bazaar?”

“Yes, I should say so,” echoed Nora.  “I didn’t like him one bit.”

A flush overspread Marian Barber’s plain face.  She frowned, then said very stiffly: 

“Really, girls, I can’t see why any one should dislike Mr. Hammond.  I think he is a remarkably nice young man.  Father and mother like him, too.  He has called to see me twice since the bazaar, and I am going to the theatre with him to-morrow night.  I like him very much better than any of these silly Oakdale schoolboys,” she added a trifle maliciously.

The girls listened, thunderstruck.  Was this good-natured, easy going Marian Barber who had spoken?  To their knowledge Marian had never before received attentions from even “silly schoolboys.”  She was well liked among girls, but had always fought shy of young men.

“Forgive me, Marian,” cried Nora impulsively.  “I didn’t dream that you were interested in Mr. Hammond.”

“I am not half as much interested in him as he is interested in me,” retorted Marian, bridling.  “He prefers me to any Oakdale girl he has met.”

The girls exchanged astonished glances at Marian’s complacent statement.

“Where did you first meet him, Marian?” asked Anne gently.

“At the bazaar,” replied Marian promptly.

“Who introduced him to you?” asked Grace curiously.