She was about to call out, but Billie stopped her. “We’ll want to break it to her gently,” she warned, but her warning came too late. Polly Haddon had heard their voices and had glanced back indifferently. Then, recognizing the girls, she turned and came hurrying toward them. At sight of her, Nick Budd dropped his burden in the snow and ran for all he was worth back the way he had come. Billie tried to put herself between Polly Haddon and that bulky object in the snow, but once more she was too late. For the woman had seen. With a little cry, Polly Haddon crumpled suddenly and lay out in the snow, as inert as a bundle of old clothes. “Good gracious!” cried Laura frantically. “Now just when everything is beautiful and lovely, she’s gone and died!” CHAPTER XXV—PRETTY FROCKS But Polly Haddon had not died. One very seldom does—of happiness. Some way the girls managed to get her inside the Hall and administer hot drinks and hot food and in a surprisingly short time she was herself again. Not quite herself, for she was beautified and transfigured with happiness into a very different Polly Haddon from the one the girls had known. Miss Walters was summoned and made her come into her own private rooms. Of course the girls went also, and while Mrs. Haddon was stretched luxuriously on a couch in Miss Walters’ sitting-room, Billie told how she had frightened the simpleton into confessing his guilt and restoring the stolen goods. Billie was so modest about her leading part in the affair that Laura was forced to interrupt occasionally, and, disregarding Billie’s frowns, add a bit of explanation here and there that enabled her audience to visualize the thing just as it had happened. The machinery model had been brought inside and deposited in one of the study halls, and now Miss Walters asked Mrs. Haddon what she wished done with it. “We can keep it here for you, in the big school safe,” she suggested, “or we can have it carried over to your house, just as you wish.” “Oh no, leave it here,” said Polly Haddon quickly. “I will notify that Philadelphia knitting company that the invention has been recovered, and if they still wish to buy it, it probably will not remain here long. Oh, how can I thank you all——” her voice broke, and for a little while all of them felt a bit uncomfortable while Polly Haddon sobbed out her happiness and gratitude. It was over at last, however, and the girls were free to go back to their dormitory and the curiosity of their friends. Here, perched on the bed with Connie and Vi, Laura gave a graphic account of everything just as it had happened to a sympathetic audience of some twenty girls. She rang Billie’s praises to such an extent that the poor girl tried to hide herself in an inconspicuous corner, only to be dragged forth into the limelight again by a couple of laughing and heartless maidens.