“Oh, that reminds me, Red Head dear. Look out for that Dolorez. She is not what she pretends to be, and she is determined to steal our game from us to-morrow, so that her side will have the big battle with Breslin. I heard her say she would do it. Something about a little trick up her sleeve. And even Marian warned her. It was the other afternoon after practice—just as the girls carried me out. They—Marian and Dolorez—spoke a trifle louder than they thought, where they hid in the corner, sneering as I passed.” “I don’t see what trick she could play.” “Oh, no, that’s just it. We could not see. But watch her every minute, and then the trick may pop out. She’s a wonderful player, by the way.” “Marvellous. I never saw a girl with such strength. She is foreign of course. That may account for it.” “Also she is older. That, too, may account for it. It looks to me as if friend Dolorez has had a lot of experience in basketball as well as in—gossip.” “But about Helen,” Jane reverted. “What shall we do? She insists I shall absolutely say not a word to Mrs. Weatherbee, and yet the other girls are all hearing the foolish stuff. First, it was that I had adopted her. Then when that did not do enough mischief, they have it she is demented. That she plays out in the fields at all hours, and also that strange figures, like foreign men, haunt the campus, so that these timid little friends are afraid to go out after dark.” “Yes, I know. Since I have been invalided I have heard all sorts of rumors. I have even had girls come to me and demand that she be asked to leave college. These girls were not really spiteful, but they had been worked up to such a state of fear by the other trouble makers. Imagine anyone following Helen here!” “Judith, I never told you what made me change my mind so suddenly about taking the class presidency. It was that very afternoon of election, I overheard a conversation that persuaded me. Then, when they carried me off, and I felt if I followed my own sweet will, I would be abandoning you, to that sort of influence—then I gave in.” “Oh, I guessed that, Janey. And strange, I kept thinking all the while that you would. We all wanted you so badly, it did not seem possible we could be so sadly disappointed. But now, that you do hold the power of influence, you see how useful it is. What shall we do about Helen?” “I can’t bear to see the little freshies’ fun all spoiled after all their hard work in putting together their great London melodrama,” Jane said, “and I do not believe they will have any audience unless I make some announcement about Helen. Yet—she would never consent, I feel sure.” “Then why not do it without her knowledge? It is surely the lesser evil. I will do it, if you feel she might particularly blame you. She never would suspect me of having sense enough to understand.” “Oh, thanks, Judy. But what is to be done I shall do. But to advertise Helen as the special attraction in the face of all this?”