At one door—and it was the portal of the largest “quartette” room on the floor—a tall figure kept guard. At first this figure was so silent and motionless that it seemed like a shadow only. But when another shadow crept toward it, rustling along the wall on tiptoe, the guard demanded, hissingly:
“S-s-stop! who goes there?”
“Oh-oo! How you startled me, Madge Steele!”
“Sh!” commanded the guard. “Who goes there?”
“Why—why—— It’s I.”
“Give the password instantly. Answer!” commanded the guard again, and with some vexation. “‘I’ isn’t anybody.”
“Oh, indeed? Let me tell you that this ‘I’ is somebody—according to the gym. scales. I gained three pounds over the Easter holidays,” said “Heavy” Jennie Stone, who had begun her reply with a giggle, but ended it with a sigh.
“Password, Miss!” snapped the guard, grimly.
“Oh! of course!” Then the fat girl whispered shrilly: “‘Sincerity—befriend.’ That is what ‘S. B.’ stands for, I s’pose. Sweetbriars! and I have a big bag of sour pickles to offset the cloying sweetness of the Sweetbriars,” chuckled Heavy. “Besides, they say that vinegar pickles will make you thin——”
“I don’t need them for that purpose,” admitted the guard at the door, still in a whisper, but accepting the large, “warty” pickle Heavy thrust into her hand.