"Why!" cried Lily, rather sharply, "you speak as though Hessie was always getting into trouble." "You cannot deny but that she has frequently made a _faux pas,_ as it were," said Jess, smiling. "And what she does wrong," added Laura, with some bitterness, "usually affects the rest of us." "She did not do a thing wrong!" cried Lily stormily. "You girls are just too mean!" "Oh, come on, Lil," said Bobby. "Tell us the worst. We're prepared for murder, even." "You are very rude, Clara Hargrew," declared Lily Pendleton. "Hessie is not to blame. She failed in rhetoric, and when Miss Carrington tried to put a lot of home work on her she refused to take it." "What?" gasped Jess. "Oh! She did refuse, did she?" snapped Bobby. "And a fat lot that would help her!" "Well, I don't care!" cried Lily. "Gee Gee is just as mean----" "Granted!" agreed Bobby, with emphasis. "But tell us how much Hessie has been set back?" "Of course Miss Carrington has punished her if she was impudent," said Laura decidedly. "She has punished us all!" cried Lily. "She refuses to allow Hessie to skate to-night. She's out of it." "Out of the carnival?" cried several of her listeners in chorus. "And Hester," cried Bobby, "is in the Dress Parade. What did I tell you? Gee Gee was just hoping to queer us." "It is Hester Grimes who has queered us," Laura said, much more sternly than she usually spoke. "And we were all warned to be so careful!" "Now, don't blame Hessie!" cried Hester's chum angrily. "I'd like to know who we are to blame, then?" demanded Jess Morse, with disgust, "Knowing that Gee Gee is what she is, why couldn't Hester keep her own temper?" "Well! I just guess--" But after all it was Mother Wit who, though greatly offended, became peacemaker. "There, there!" she said. "Enough is done already. We shall miss Hester. But we mustn't get angry with each other and therefore spoil the whole Dress Parade. That masquerade should be the most spectacular number on the program." "But who will take Grimes' place?" demanded Bobby. Laura stood beside Janet Steele, whose eyes were wide open, her cheeks glowing, and even her lips ajar with excitement. Laura had a very keen mind, and already she had apprehended that Janet was more deeply interested in this discussion, and the subject of it, than a stranger naturally would be. She turned now to stare into the Red Cross girl's face. "Oh, Miss Steele!" she said, "didn't you tell us that you loved to skate?" "Ye-es," admitted Janet. "And she's as big as Hessie Grimes!" exclaimed Jess on the other side, and catching her chum's idea. "Would you take Hester's part in the masquerade?" asked Laura pointblank. "But she doesn't belong to Central High!" wailed Lily Pendleton. "Nonsense!" exclaimed Jess. "What does it matter? This is all for a show. It is no competition with other members of the League." "Right-o, Jess!" crowed Bobby Hargrew. "We-ell!" murmured Lily doubtfully.