“I refused point blank at first, and then he talked and talked in that smooth way of his until I began to think what a fine thing it would be to walk into the class and say, ’Girls, here are fifteen hundred dollars instead of five hundred.’  I was feeling awfully cross at you girls just then, because he made me believe that you were slighting me and leaving me out of things.  Besides, all of you had warned me against him, and I wanted to show you that I knew more than you did.

“I didn’t promise to give it to him that night, but the more I thought of it the more I inclined toward his views, and the upshot of the matter was that I drew it out of the bank and let him have it.”

Marian paused and looked piteously at Grace.  Then she said brokenly: 

“He lost it, Grace, every cent of it.  The week after I gave it to him he told me that luck had been against him, and that it was all gone.  When I asked him what he intended to do about it he promised that he would sell some real estate of his and turn the money over to me to give back to the class.  He said it was his fault for persuading me to do it, and that I shouldn’t suffer for it.  But he never kept his word.

“Last week I asked him for the last time if he would refund the money, and he laughed at me and said that I had risked it and ought to accept my losses with good grace.  I threatened to expose him, and he said if I did I should only succeed in making more trouble for myself than for him.  He had only speculated with what I had given him.  Where I obtained the money was none of his business, and as long as I had appropriated it I would have to abide by the consequences.

“Of course, I was desperate and didn’t know what to do.  I had no money of my own, and I didn’t dare ask my father for it.  I had to tell some one, so I told Eleanor.”

“Eleanor!” exclaimed Grace aghast.  “Oh, Marian, why did you tell her of all people.”

“I thought she was my friend,” declared Marian, “but I soon found out that she wasn’t.  As soon as I had told her, she changed entirely.  She told me last Friday that she had been watching for a long time in the hope of revenging herself upon the Phi Sigma Tau for their insults, and that at last she had the means to do so.

“Her friendship for me was merely a pretense.  She said that when I separated from my sorority she knew I was sure to do something foolish, so she decided to make advances to me and see what she could find out.

“She is going to call a class meeting for next Thursday after school, and she is going to expose me.  She says that it is right that the class should know just what sort of material the Phi Sigma Tau is made up of, and that one of its members is a sneak and a thief.”

“This is serious, and no mistake,” replied Grace soberly.  “Don’t you remember, Marian, that back in our junior year, when Eleanor tried to get Anne’s part in the play, I cautioned the girls to never put themselves in a position where Eleanor might injure them.”