Polly and Betty came up to inquire for her, after breakfast, and heard the news.
"Mumps!" they both said at once. And Polly cried. "Why, Betty, that's what was wrong with the Whitehead team."
"Of course, sore throats and everything. I'll bet they all came down with it the next day," Betty exclaimed. "No wonder they couldn't play any kind of a game."
Lois did not remain alone in the Infirmary for long. One by one the team joined her. Polly was the first. During study hour that night her throat began to hurt. She felt it; it was suspiciously lumpy.
"Here I am," she said the next morning, when Miss King had pronounced it mumps.
"Oh, Poll!" Lois was delighted. "You look funnier than I do. Only one side is swelling and it makes you look top heavy."
Polly surveyed herself in the mirror.
"That's easily fixed," she said. "Watch!"
She undid her hair and rolled it into a round knob under one ear. "There, now it's even."
"But it doesn't match," Lois objected. "You look like a pie-bald pony now."