"  Helen !  Oh,  I  hope  so,  Mrs.  Tellingham !  "
cried  Ruth,  in  great  distress.  '  I  am  sure  I  love
her  just  the  same — and  always  shall."

'  But  she  evidently  finds  her  friends  among  the
Upedes.  Why  did  she  not  join  this  new  society
that  you  have  started?  '

"  I — I  did  not  mean  to  start  it  without  her,"
stammered  Ruth.  "  It  was  really  only  my  sug-
gestion. The  other  Infants  took  it  up "

"  But  you  named  it?  "

"  I  did  suggest  the  name,"  admitted  Ruth.
'  And  you  did  not  join  the  Up  and  Doing  Club
with  your  chum."

"  No,  Mrs.  Tellingham.  Nor  did  I  join  the
F.  C.'s.  I  did  not  like  the  manner  in  which  both
societies  went  about  making  converts.  I  didn't
like  it  the  very  first  day  we  came."

"  Miss  Picolet,  your  French  teacher,  told  me
something  about   Mary   Cox  meeting  the  stage
and  getting  hold  of  you  two  girls  before  you  had
reached  Briarwood  at  all."
Yes,  ma'am."

"  By  the  way,"  said  the  Preceptress,  her  brow
clouding  again  and  the  stern  look  coming  back
into  her  face  that  had  rested  on  it  when  Ruth


THE  MYSTERY    AGAIN  155

had  first  entered  the  room,  "  you  had  met  Miss
Picolet  before  you  arrived  at  the  school?'

4  She  spoke  to  us  in  the  stage — yes,  ma'am."
'But  before  that — you  had  seen  her?'
Ye-es,  ma'am,"  said  Ruth,  slowly,  beginning
to  suspect  that  Mrs.  Tellingham's  curiosity  was
no  idle  matter.
"Where?"

*  On  the  Lanawaxa — the  boat  coming  down  the
lake,  Mrs.  Tellingham."

'Miss  Picolet  was  alone  aboard  the  boat?'
Ruth  signified  that  she  was.
