“You must like her,” said Grace.  “You know the members of this society must stand by each other.”

“But why did you ask her to join, Grace?” persisted Marian.  “She is different from the rest of us.  I don’t believe we shall get along with her very well.”

“I’ll tell you girls a secret,” replied Grace.  “Anne and Nora already know it.  Mrs. Gray wants us to be nice to Eleanor for a number of reasons, and, of course, we wish to please her.  Anne, Jessica, Nora and I were talking about it the other day, and while we were laying plans for this sorority, we decided to ask Eleanor to join.  We thought we could learn to know her better, and she would eventually become a good comrade.”

“It sounds ridiculous to talk about helping a clever girl like Eleanor, but from her conversation to-night you can see that she needs some wholesome advice occasionally,” said Nora bluntly.  “Mrs. Gray seems to think we can be of some use in that direction, so we are trying to carry out her theory.”

“I think I understand the situation,” said Miriam Nesbit, “and will do all I can to be nice to her, if she doesn’t attempt to patronize me.  I couldn’t stand that.  I know I used to do it.  I suppose that’s why it seems so unendurable to me now.”

“David Nesbit didn’t disturb us, after all,” remarked Eva Allen.  “It’s a wonder those boys didn’t put tick-tacks on the windows or do something like that.”

The girls had come to the turn of the street, and were about to pass the only really lonely spot during their walk.  It was an old colonial residence, the surrounding grounds extending for a block.  It had been untenanted for some time, as the owners were in Europe, although both house and grounds were looked after by a care-taker.  On the other side of the street was a field where the small fry of Oakdale usually held their ball games.

“I always hate passing this old house,” said Marian Barber.  “It is so terribly still back there among those pines.  I don’t——­”

She stopped short, an expression of terror overspreading her good-natured face, as she mutely pointed toward the old house.  Three ghostly figures swathed in white stole out from the shadow of the pines and glided down the wide, graveled drive toward the gate.  Their appearance was terrifying.  Their faces were white as their robes, and blue flames played about their eyes.  They carried out in every particular the description of the regulation churchyard ghost.

For an instant the six girls stood still, regarding those strange apparitions with fascinated terror.  Then Eva Allen and Marian Barber shrieked in unison and fled down the street as fast as their legs would carry them.  Grace, Nora, Anne and Miriam stood their ground and awaited the oncoming spectres, who halted when they saw that the girls did not intend to run.

“High School boys, on a lark,” whispered Grace to her friends.  “Let’s charge them in a body.”