“Sit down,” ordered Leslie sharply, “and keep your voice down! You have made us all enough trouble. We don’t propose that you shall add to it.”
“I have not,” shrieked Dulcie. “I don’t know what you are talking about. You’re crazy if you say I told all that stuff you mentioned. Why don’t you put the blame where it belongs? You told me yourself that Loretta and Margaret were both gossips. You told Bess Walbert a lot of things yourself. She told me so. You used to tell Lola Elster a lot, too. Nat Weyman isn’t above gossiping, either. She has said some hateful things about you, if you care to know it.”
Fully launched, Dulcie bade fair to stir up dissension in a breath. Worse, her lung power seemed to increase with every word.
“Pay no attention to her,” Leslie advised her chums in a cold, level voice. “She can tell more yarns to the second than anyone else I know.”
“You said you could manage her, Les. For goodness’ sake do so. I am afraid she’ll be heard down stairs.” Joan Myers sprang to her feet in exasperation.
“Leave that to me.” Leslie’s eyes snapped. She was fast losing the admirable poise she had held so well. The real Leslie Cairns was coming to the surface.
Three or four lithe steps and she was facing Dulcie. The latter still stood by her chair shrieking forth invective.
“Listen to me, you idiot,” she said with an intensity of wrath that approached a snarl. “Cut out that screaming—now. We are done with you. We know you for what you are. Not one of us will ever speak to you again after you leave this room. Get that straight. If you ever repeat another word on the campus of the Sans’ business you will be a sorry girl. Don’t you forget that. You carried the idea that, if trouble came from your talk, you could slide out of it and leave us to face it. You couldn’t have cleared yourself. What you are to do from now on is——”
A sharp rapping at the door interrupted Leslie. Raising a warning finger to her lips, she crossed the room to answer the knock.
“Good evening, Miss Remson,” she coldly greeted. “Will you come in? Our club is holding a meeting in my room.” She made an indifferent gesture toward the assembled girls.