“No. Listen. You know I told you, Lilian, that I thought something was the matter with Virgie. Well, I found out what it was. Her father has had bad luck or something, and said she would have to go home after this semester. Now I have thought up a wild scheme by which she may earn enough to stay through the second semester. Don’t tell me, girls, that it can’t be done, because I’ve got Virgie sleeping the sleep of the just, after a sleepless week, in the hope of being able to stay!”
The girls listened attentively as Isabel gave them the details of the letter and of her talk with Virgie. “Of course there will be lots of things that will be disagreeable about it, if she does things outside of the Psyche Club, but I believe Virgie has the grit to stick it out, and we can stand by her.”
“Girls do get through doing things like that in other schools,” said Cathalina. “Now I hate to wash out and press my georgette waists, but I sent a darling one to the wash and it came back ruined!”
“But where will Virgie find the time from her lessons for all this?”
“I suspect she will have to give up lots of fun,” said Isabel, ruefully. “I don’t know that I can have a good time when she is working so hard, and she will want to do most of it herself. I can let her off from society duties, except debates, and she needs all the practice she can get in that. We are both working for prizes.”
“Are there any collegiate scholarships established?” asked Cathalina.
“I don’t know. We were talking about scholarships and she wouldn’t want any fixed up just for her, she said.”
“I don’t see why she should feel that way about it. Besides, Father wants to do things for this school and told me to find out what else Miss Randolph wanted. He can make the debate prize bigger anyway.”
“I think that could be done,” said Isabel. “Virgie wouldn’t know anything about it till she got it. If it would take her home and bring her back it would be better! She thinks she must go home this summer anyway. Her father has not seen her, you know, and she is anxious to know how he really is. He works so hard, she says.”
“There’s that grand nut candy that you and Virgie make, Isabel,” said Lilian. “Why couldn’t Virgie sell that to the girls—let them come for it, or have a little sale on Saturday afternoon or evening?”