CHAPTER XII.
THE WAYS OF SCHOOLGIRLS The clang of the gong announced the end of school for the day, but some of the sophomores lingered in their locker-room.
They had a very disagreeable communication to make that afternoon, to one of their class, and now that the time had come were inclined to shrink from the ordeal.
"I think Miriam should break the news herself," observed Marian Barber, "as long as she is to succeed Grace." "Miriam isn't here," said Eva Allen, "she went home early.

She told me she could not bear to see anyone unhappy.

She is so sensitive you know ?" Eva Allen was devoted to Miriam's cause.
"Oh, I don't know about that," said practical Marian.

"She'll make a good captain, however, because she has showed more loyalty to the team than Grace has." Marian firmly believed what she said.

She had never been an ardent admirer of Miriam, and had at first stubbornly refused to repudiate Grace.