Joy was quick to come to the defence of her family.

"No--I can't find excuse in that. My people are truthful. They're queer, maybe, but they are truthful and honest."

Perhaps it was the gentle pressure of Blue Bonnet's hand, the sympathy in her eyes, that gradually brought forth the story of Joy's life.

Before she had finished, Blue Bonnet's tears mingled with Joy's, and the grasp tightened on the hand held in her own.

In that half hour Joy poured out her heart in a way she would have thought impossible an hour before. She told Blue Bonnet of her cold, indifferent father; of the patient, long-suffering mother who had planned and saved, and sacrificed to keep her in school, and of how she had longed to repay the devotion with the highest honors the school could give.

"It was the thought of my mother's awful disappointment that tempted me to lie to Miss Martin," she said. "It all happened so quickly I scarcely had time to think clearly. I was so afraid of being expelled--I will be now, of course. Miss North is going to bring the whole thing before the Faculty to-morrow."

"Oh, no--surely she won't do that!" Blue Bonnet cried. "Did you tell her what you've just told me, Joy?"

"No. I'm not playing for sympathy. I'll take what's coming, if--if only the girls didn't have to know."

"They don't," Blue Bonnet said determinedly. "n.o.body knows it but Annabel Jackson and myself. Annabel won't tell, and n.o.body ever knows what goes on in Faculty. Now, what is that?"

A knock had startled both girls. Blue Bonnet went to the door.

"Oh, dear," she said, "I forgot all about going to study hour. I just know that's Fraulein."

Fraulein it was.

"You were not in the study hall, Miss Ashe," she said, craning her neck to see into the room.

Blue Bonnet stepped outside and closed the door.

"No, I wasn't. I was engaged."

"You were excused?"

"No--I was not."

"Then I shall haf to report to Miss North."

The color came into Blue Bonnet's cheeks and her eyes flashed.

"Do," she said. "I don't mind giving you that little treat."

"I perfectly abominate that woman," she said, going back to the hearth rug. "She can anger me quicker than any one I ever knew. I was terribly rude to her; but she is so aggravating. She adores getting something on me."

When the gong sounded for bed Blue Bonnet had drawn a tub of hot water for Joy's bath, and urged her into it.

"It will make her sleep better," she said to herself as the door closed between them. "Poor girl; my heart aches for her. If she stays here the girls have just got to be nicer to her--that's all! And she's going to stay--she _must_, even if I have to send for Uncle Cliff to help straighten things out."

CHAPTER XII

INITIATED

It was the next afternoon after Blue Bonnet's interview with Joy Cross that she ran up to Carita's room to chat a moment during visiting hour.

"Whew!" Mary Boyd said, blowing into the room breezily and tossing an armful of books into the middle of her bed, "what's up? There's been a Faculty meeting. The seats of the mighty were filled to overflowing. I just saw every teacher in the building filing out. You should have seen Fraulein! She had Madam de Cartier b.u.t.tonholed in the hall talking to her like mad. She dropped her voice as I pa.s.sed, so I couldn't get a word."

"Mary!" Carita exclaimed, "you wouldn't have listened, would you?"

"Oh, I don't know. Yes, I think I should if I'd had the chance. I'd like to know what's the matter--there's something, all right."

"Mary, you're so curious," remarked Peggy Austin from the couch. "It was a regular meeting, wasn't it?"

"Indeed it wasn't. Faculty's met on Tuesday since time began. Guess I ought to know. I've just escaped being up before it twice."

Blue Bonnet was silent. She could have enlightened Mary; but she guarded the secret of Joy Cross's trouble. Blue Bonnet had been called to Miss North's office just before Faculty convened, but not a word as to the outcome of Joy's difficulty had been mentioned. Miss North had merely told her what she already knew; that Joy had put the book in the drawer and that Blue Bonnet was exonerated from all blame. Miss North complimented her on her patience, as well as her silence. She wished the matter to be kept as quiet as possible.

Blue Bonnet had gone out of the office with a lighter heart than she had known in some days--and yet she was troubled for Joy. She hoped Joy would not be sent home--hoped it with all her heart; and once while Miss North was talking, she had almost ventured to speak with her about it; but it seemed rather presumptuous--as if Miss North might not quite understand her own business.

She was wondering as Mary spoke how it would all end, and a little frown wrinkled her brow.

"What's the matter with you, Blue Bonnet?" Mary asked. "You're as sober as a judge. They weren't discussing you in the meeting, were they?"

Blue Bonnet started. Mary had come so close to the truth that it brought the color to her cheeks.

"Oh, I just wager they were! Look how she's blushing."

Carita was indignant.

"The very idea, Mary. What's Blue Bonnet done? You are the worst--"

"I know what's the matter with Blue Bonnet," Peggy Austin said. "She's _scared_ pink! She had better be, too. She's going to be initiated into the Lambs to-night. They won't do a thing to her! Why, when they took Angela Dare in, she had hysterics. They had to get a doctor for her. It nearly broke up their club. Miss North said it came near ending sororities for all time in the school."

"Oh, pooh," Mary scoffed. "Angela has no business in one anyhow. She's too emotional. One never knows what she's going to do. She has high strikes over exams--and just anything. Angela's only half human. She's like that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe--or somebody who was so frail in body--"

"Mrs. Stowe!" Blue Bonnet exclaimed.

"She means Mrs. Browning," Peggy said loftily. "English isn't Mary's long suit."

"No, but I can add two and two," Mary returned sharply.

Peggy was as weak in mathematics as Mary was in English.

Blue Bonnet finished her visit with Carita and went back to her room.

She opened her desk and getting out an invitation looked it over carefully. At the top of the note-paper reposed a tiny golden lamb, and underneath, the letters A. O. O. L. formed a monogram in blue and gold.

A skull and cross-bones had been drawn in ink and a message followed:

"The presence of Miss Blue Bonnet Ashe is demanded at twelve o'clock to-night, February the nineteenth, at number fifteen Fifth Avenue: the said Miss Ashe to appear in a winding sheet, noiseless shoes and a bath-robe. Miss Ashe has the privilege of bringing refreshments with her if inclined; the committee suggesting that they be in keeping with the shades of night: skeleton salad, ghost sandwiches, a.s.sorted spooks or witches'

delight. A roasted hobgoblin will be served soon after the meeting opens. Please be on time, and hold your honorable body in readiness for this or any other sacrifice that may be demanded by the Order.