"Of course it's true!" I said. "It's just exactly what Louis told us."

"Then it's the queerest thing I ever heard of," she exclaimed. "O girls,
I wish I could tell you what I know! You'd be so startled that you'd
jump out of your boots. If only Monsieur hadn't asked me not to mention
it to any one!"

"Haven't you even told Louis?" I asked.

"No. Monsieur particularly asked me not to speak of it to Louis. He
asked me to promise him that I would not, and he seemed _so_ upset about
it. But I think I know why now. I've tracked down a whole heap of things
lately. Some time I'll let you two in on it, if I can do so without
breaking any promises."

The Imp can be a trump when she wants to be. I wonder if we have
_permanently_ got on the right side of her at last?

To-day I persuaded Carol to show her poem, "The Mysterious Portrait," to
Miss Cullingford. She only agreed to do so for this reason. Our paper,
_The Argus_, is offering a prize of five dollars for the best poem
handed in by any member of the freshman class. I don't believe there's
another one who can write as well as Carol, and this is her best piece
of work. So at last she consented to let Miss Cullingford criticize it
for her, before she submits it to the contest committee. I'm just crazy
to have Carol get the prize.

She says Miss Cullingford took it and read it over,--it's not very
long,--and then began to ask her some questions about it. They were
principally about where she'd seen this portrait. Carol told her it was
in the house of a friend, but didn't say anything that would give Miss
Cullingford any clue as to where it really was. Miss Cullingford told
her that the poem was very good, and asked her to describe the portrait
to her a little more in detail. Carol did this as well as she could
from memory. At last Miss Cullingford told Carol to leave the verses
with her for a day or two, as she would like to consider them at her
leisure. It looks rather promising for Carol, I think.

April 9. Another awfully strange thing happened to-day. Our last hour
for the day was English literature, and when it was over Miss

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