Miss Lawrence looked astounded. Now there were left only Marjorie and Gladys, one on either side of the room. It was an unfortunate situation, for so fond were the girls of each other that each would almost rather fail herself than to have her friend fail. On they went, spelling the words as fast as Miss Lawrence could pronounce them. Finally she gave Gladys the word "weird." It was a hard word, and one often misspelled by people much older and wiser than these children. "W-i-e-r-d," said Gladys, in a confident tone. "Next," said Miss Lawrence, with a sympathetic look at Gladys. "W-e-i-r-d," said Marjorie, slowly. Her father had drilled her carefully on this word, bidding her remember that it began with two pronouns: that is, we followed by I. Often by such verbal tricks as this he fastened the letters in Marjorie's mind. The match was over, and Marjorie had won, for the first time in her life. Gladys was truly pleased, for she would rather have lost to Marjorie than any one else, and Miss Lawrence was delighted, though mystified. "I won! I won!" cried Marjorie, as she ran into the house and found her mother. "Oh, Mother, I won the spelling-match! _Now_, aren't you glad I went after my book?" "I'm glad you won, dearie; but hereafter I want you to stick to civilized behavior." "I will, Mother! I truly will. I'm so glad I won the match, I'll stick to anything you say." "Well, my girlie, just try to do what you think Mother wants you to, and try not to make mistakes." CHAPTER X IN INKY PLIGHT "It's perfectly fine, Glad; I think it will be the most fun ever. How many are you going to have?" "About thirty, Mother says. I can't ask Kitty, and Dorothy Adams. All on the list are about as old as we are." "Kitty'll be sorry, of course; but I don't believe mother would let her go in the evening, anyway. She's only nine, you know." The two friends, Marjorie and Gladys, were on their way to school, and Gladys was telling about a Hallowe'en party she was to have the following week. The party was to be in the evening, from seven till nine, and, as it was unusual for the girls to have evening parties, they looked forward to this as a great occasion. Nearly all of the children who were to be invited went to the same school that Gladys did, so she carried the invitations with her, and gave them around before school began. The invitations were written on cards which bore comical little pictures of witches, black cats, or jack-o'-lanterns, and this was the wording: Though the weather's bad or pleasant, You're invited to be present At Miss Gladys Fulton's home On Hallowe'en. Be sure to come. Please accept, and don't decline; Come at seven and stay till nine. Needless to say these cards caused great excitement among the favored ones who received them. Boys and girls chattered like magpies until the school-bell rang, and then it was very hard to turn their attention to lessons.