“I know it must seem despicable, Miss Allen, but there was dear Ted, so disappointed, and he was such a splendid student.  I could come here, but he simply had to have that two hundred dollars to go back to Yorktown.”  The voice took courage with its tale of loyalty.

“And you are simply a wonderful little girl to have managed it all,” declared Jane, showing not a single trace of resentment.  “It is actually fascinating—­to think you actually exchanged identities!”

“But I had no such laudable excuse,” moaned Bobbie.  “My folks just wanted me to go to college—­any old college in any old way—­and we always thought dad’s good honest money would pave the way.  But it didn’t, and I never could pass the exams, so I simply fell into this from sheer vanity.”

“That is not so,” expostulated the new Shirley.  “Bobbie would never have dreamed such a thing if Dol Vin did not happen along with her wonderful plan.  You may imagine she was the real brains—­of the plot.”

“Dol Vin—­”

“Yes, she taught—­a summer gym class at our place,” explained Bobbie, “and when she heard my wail about not being able to get into college she offered the scheme.  At first it did seem abhorrent, but she glossed it over so—­”

“And obtained such a generous commission—­” put in the real Shirley.

“Then you see, Kitten here was passed right in on her second exams, while I sailed in on the exams she took for the scholarship,” confessed Bobbie, digging her heels in the cinder path recklessly.

“And you both thought this an unpardonable offense?”

“Certainly, we knew every moment we were both hypocrites,” blurted Bobbie.  “Kitten has been fairly blistering under the stigma.”

“The train is gone,” said Shirley the original.  “And, Miss Allen, you are not dressed for this.  We will have to go back, I suppose.”

Jane had been thinking quickly, in fact her brain had been fairly churning with the new turn in events.  She jumped from the bench and confronted the downcast freshmen.

“I have it!” she exclaimed.  “It is just perfect.  Here you two girls both came in on dad’s scholarship, have both made good and are both now eligible to finish the course.  Don’t you see how magically it has all turned out?”

“We don’t,” admitted Bobbie.

“That’s because you don’t know how generous Deanie Rutledge can be.  We will go right back and tell her the whole thing and she will, I am positive, think the matter one inspired by the noble effort you made” (to Shirley) “to keep your brother in college.  Bobbie, you did want to come to college, that is always a laudable ambition, and think of the thousands who fail every year?”

“But they don’t come,” persisted the still doubting Bobbie.  “But you did.  And if you were a little rebel at first, doesn’t that explain it?  Your preparation was all wrong—­you heard Deanie say so.  Come on, now, I’ll walk and let you lead Firefly, Bobbie.  I know it will be a treat to you to even lead him.  Sorry you can’t ride in that tight skirt.”