For some reason which she could not quite fathom herself, indignation blazed up in Billie at Rachael’s patronizing tone.
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘that type of girl’, Ray. She seems to me a thoroughly good sort——”
“A diamond in the rough?” drawled Ray.
“Perhaps,” flashed Billie. “But I like her and she saved my life. I’d be worse than ungrateful if I consented to listen to unkind remarks about her.”
Before the girls realized her intention or could make a move to stop her, Billie had pushed through the little group and started toward the broad, lighted portal of the Hall.
“The little spitfire!” murmured Rachael Carew. “Who would expect her to fly out at me like that? Anyone would think that queer jay of a girl was her twin sister, to hear her talk.”
“You should know Billie well enough not to run down anyone who has done her a favor,” Laura remarked. “Loyalty is Billie’s dominating trait, you know.”
“Of course it is,” said Rose Belser. “That’s why we all love her——”
“All except Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks,” remarked Connie Danvers and began to sing softly under her breath:
“Oh, Amanda and her Shadow,