Then she dragged the whimpering, whining girl over to a spot where the wind had formed the snow into a small drift. Into this she flung the protesting girl, and the next instant was upon her, washing her face with the snow, and it is safe to say that no girl ever had her face so thoroughly washed before. And the crowd of girls behind Billie cheered her on gleefully. There is no telling just how long Billie might have kept it up, for she was enjoying herself immensely, if Laura had not brought her to her senses. The latter leaned down, took a firm grip of the belt on Billie’s coat and jerked her to her feet. “Better let her go,” she warned. “We will have Miss Walters or one of the teachers out here in a minute. Come on, Billie. She’s had enough.” So Billie reluctantly stepped back while Amanda picked herself out of the snow, wiped her red and dripping face on her sleeve, and pushed through the laughing, mocking crowd of girls toward the school. She stopped just before she reached the door, however, and faced her tormentors, her face distorted with rage. “You think you’re smart, all of you!” she cried furiously, then added, as her eyes fell on Billie, who had drawn a handkerchief from her pocket and was wiping her hands carefully. “And you, Billie Bradley, standing there grinning! Some day I’ll make you grin out of the other side of your mouth. Just wait!” “Would you like your face washed again?” Billie demanded, darting forward threateningly. “Come on, let’s get it over with——” But Amanda did not wait for the threat to be carried out. She scuttled precipitately into the Hall amid delighted giggles from the girls. Amanda, fairly choking with rage at the laughter, stopped and shook her fist in the direction of it. Then, with all sorts of plans in her heart for “getting even,” she went on toward the dormitory. CHAPTER VIII—JUST LIKE BILLIE! Several days followed during which the girls settled down earnestly to their studies. For scholarship was held very high at Three Towers Hall, and any one who did not stand well in class was apt to find herself not only in ill favor with the teachers but with the students as well. The girls had reported to Miss Walters the result of their visit to Polly Haddon, and the principal had seemed unusually interested and sympathetic. “Now that you girls have taken the Haddon family under your wing,” she had said, smiling at the chums, “I think we shall have to see the thing through—at least until the mother is strong enough to begin work again. But in the meantime,” she had added, with a nod of the head that meant dismissal, “I don’t want interest in the Haddon family to make my girls neglect their studies. I expect great things of you this year.” And so the girls, “feeling warm all over,” as they always did after a talk with Miss Walters, went back to their work, confident in the thought that the Haddons would not be left to starve, at least.