Eleanor Savell had not yet returned to school.  Whether or not she would be allowed to return was a question that occasioned a great deal of discussion among three lower classes of girls.  Edna Wright and the other members of the sorority organized by Eleanor were loud in their expressions of disapproval as to Miss Thompson’s “severity” toward Eleanor.  They talked so freely about it, that it reached the principal’s ears.  She lost no time in sending for them, and after a session in the office, they emerged looking subdued and crestfallen; and after that it was noted that when in conversation with their schoolmates, they made no further allusion to Miss Thompson’s methods of discipline.

There was a faint murmur of surprise around the study hall one morning, however, when Miss Thompson walked in to conduct the opening exercises, accompanied by Eleanor, who, without looking at the school, seated herself at the desk nearest to where the principal stood.

When the morning exercises were concluded, Miss Thompson nodded slightly to Eleanor, who turned rather pale, then rose, and, facing the school, said in a clear voice: 

“I wish to apologize to Miss Thompson for impertinence and insubordination.  I also wish to publicly apologize to the members of the Phi Sigma Tau for having accused them of treachery concerning a certain matter that recently came up in this school.”

“Your apology is accepted, Miss Savell.  You may take your own seat,” said the principal.

Without looking to the right or left, Eleanor walked proudly up the aisle to her seat, followed by the gaze of those girls who could not refrain from watching her.  The Phi Sigma Tau, to a member, sat with eyes straight to the front.  They had no desire to increase Eleanor’s discomfiture, for they realized what this public apology must have cost her, although they were all equally puzzled as to what had prompted her to humble herself.

Eleanor’s apology was not due, however, to a change of heart.  She still despised Miss Thompson as thoroughly as on the day that she had manifested her open scorn and dislike for the principal.

As for Grace and her friends, Eleanor was particularly bitter against them, and laid at their door a charge of which they were entirely innocent.

Eleanor had told her aunt nothing of her recent trouble in school, but had feigned illness as an excuse for remaining at home.  After attending the basketball game her aunt had told her rather sharply that if she were able to attend basketball games, she was certainly able to continue her studies.  Eleanor had agreed to return to school the following Monday, and had started from home at the usual time with no intention whatever of honoring the High School with her presence.  She passed the morning in the various stores, lunched in town and went to a matinee in the afternoon.  In this manner she idled the days away until the holiday vacation came, congratulating herself upon her success in pulling wool over the eyes of her long-suffering aunt.