What should she do? To leave Glenwood seemed to be the only answer to that oft-repeated question. But to get into Beaumonde required a clean record from the former academy, and would Mrs. Pangborn furnish such a record under the circumstances?

 

It was evening, and the other girls were probably enjoying themselves, visiting about and settling wherever there was the best prospect² of fudge—the only confection students were allowed to make in their rooms.

 

But Viola would not go out, she was in no humor for visiting. While reclining on her small white bed, thinking the situation over until her head ached from very monotony, a note was slipped under her door. She saw it instantly but did not at once attempt to pick it up—the sender might be waiting outside and notice her readiness to become acquainted with the contents.

 

Hearing the light step make its way down the hall Viola took and opened the note.

 

"Humph!" she sniffed³, "from Adele Thomas." Then she glanced over the note. It read:

 

 

MY DEAR VIOLA:

 

We are all so worried about you. Do please come out of your room or let some of us in. We wish very much to talk to you, but if you persist in keeping us at bay won't you please make up your mind to apologize at once to Miss Higley? There are so many counts against us this month that the latest is positively⁴ dangerous in its present form. Do Viola, dear, answer, and tell us you feel better and that you will comply with the request of the committee. Lovingly yours,

 

LOWLY.

 

 

"Apologize!" echoed the girl. "As if my mother's daughter could ever stoop to that weak American method of crawling out of things!" and her dark eyes flashed while her olive face became as intense as if the girl were a desperate woman.

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