“The same sort of things Miss Norris said to me in the gym when I spoiled her dress,” quavered Jewel.
“You are positive that she has said them? You know, don’t you, that campus gossip is anything but reliable? Remarks often become badly twisted on the way around,” Leslie made dry assertion.
“Yes; I know she has. Miss Felton heard her say something unkind about me to Miss Mayhew the other day and censured her for it. I’ve heard of things she has said from two other freshmen, too. They advised me to go to her and have it out with her. I’d rather not do it. I’m not afraid, but it seems more dignified to ignore her hatefulness, if I can. I made one mistake in answering Miss Norris on the night at the frolic, I don’t care to make a second.”
“You have the right idea. Stick to it. No one but yourself can make, or mar you.” Unconsciously Leslie repeated the very words she had said on a certain spring night of the previous year when a bevy of girls, headed by Mildred Ferguson, had arrayed itself against her.
“That’s the way I think, too. You can see for yourself how much better it was not to let it be known on the campus that I used to be a trapeze performer,” Jewel said soberly. “I’d have been talked over and sneered at until I’d have been glad to leave Hamilton.”
“Not by the girls who count as representative of Hamilton,” Leslie sturdily disagreed. “You’ve lost your nerve. Find it again, and don’t let the hissing of these geese worry you.”
“I’ll try to find it again.” Jewel gave a little half-hearted laugh. “Just the same I’m glad only you know about my stage days. You—you’re sure you never mentioned it, even to Miss Harper?” Jewel’s voice rose anxiously.
“Certainly not; even though I had, you’d still be safe,” Leslie humorously assured. “She’s an even better secret-keeper than I.”
Long after lights were out that night and Jewel slept, vastly comforted by Leslie’s kindly effort to cheer her up, Leslie lay wide-awake, pondering a summary method of interference in the freshman’s behalf against the persecution of Mildred Ferguson’s gossiping tongue. She finally dropped to sleep without having hit upon a decided scheme of action, though daylight and waking would again renew her thoughtful consideration of the problem.