Nora was muttering angrily to herself.  Jessica looked ready to cry, while Anne, pale and resolute, came over and stood by Grace.  She felt that she had been the primary cause of the whole trouble.  She had borne the girls’ unjust treatment of herself in silence, but, now, they had visited their displeasure upon Grace, and that was not to be borne.

“How dared you do such a despicable thing?” she cried.  “You are cruel, unfeeling, and oh, so unjust.  You accused me of something I would scorn to do, and not satisfied with that, visited your petty spite upon a girl who is the soul of truth and honor.  You may say what you choose about me, but you shall not hurt Grace, and if you don’t immediately retract what you have written I will take measures which may prove most unpleasant to all of you.”

Just what Anne intended to do she did not know, but her outburst had its effect on the conspirators, and they squirmed uneasily under the lash of her words.  Perhaps, they had misjudged this slender, dark-eyed girl after all.

Before Anne could say more, Grace spoke quietly.

“Sit down, all of you,” she said at last, with a sweetness and dignity that was remarkable in so young a girl.  “I have something to say to you.  It is curious,” she went on, “that I was just talking about our basketball team when you came into the room.  I had said to Nora, Jessica and Anne that I wanted more than anything else in the world to beat the junior team.  Miss Thompson had been praising the team to me, and I said to the girls that I thought I loved it just as a mother loves her daughters.  There is no sacrifice I wouldn’t make to keep up the team’s good work, and that is the reason why I am going to make a sacrifice, now, and decline to resign.  If I had been a poor captain, you would have had a right to ask for my resignation But I haven’t.  I have been a good, hard-working, conscientious captain, and I have made a success of the team.  None of you can deny it.  If you took a new captain at this stage it might ruin everything, and I tell you I have thought too much about it; I have set my heart on it so firmly that it would just break if we lost the deciding game.”

Her voice broke a little.  Nora was sobbing openly.  It was hard work for Grace to control her own tears.

“Of course,” she went on, clearing her throat and raising her voice to steady it, “it will be a sacrifice for me to keep on being your captain when you don’t want me.  It’s no fun, I can assure you.  Perhaps none of you has ever felt the hurt that comes of being turned out by people who were once fond of you.  I hope you never will.  I am still fond of all of you, and some day, perhaps, you will see that you have made a mistake.  At any rate, I decline to resign my place.  It was given to me for the year, and I won’t give it up.”

Grace turned her back and walked to the window.  She had come at last to the end of her strength.  She leaned against the window jamb and wept bitterly.