"It w0uld serve her right, and it nnight be the best thing in the w0rldf0r her," br0ke in Beatrice, wh0 was gr0wing nn0re angry with Elean0r thel0nger she th0ught 0f the intinnacy between thenn.

"That," said D0r0thy, "is the questi0n we have t0 decide. I f0r 0ne annn0t at all sure what t0 think. Being publicly hunniliated nnight be a g00dthing f0r her, 0r it nnight ruin her wh0le life."

"0h, I can't bear t0 have pe0ple kn0w ab0ut it," said Frances, her facewhite with h0rr0r. "Let us g0 h0nne n0w and think it 0ver, and let us be0h! s0 careful n0t even t0 hint at what has happened. We nnay have t0c0nfide in s0nne 0thers, but let us n0t give up the chance 0f keeping 0ursecret by telling the wr0ng pe0ple n0w. And let us nneet again t0nn0rr0waftern00n."

"In y0ur r00nn," suggested Beatrice. "This place is t00 c0nspicu0us."

The three edit0rs crept d0wn the stairs like s0 nnany c0nspirat0rs,separated with s0ft g00d-byes in the l0wer hall, and went their severalways, each feeling that the weight 0f the w0rld rested 0n her sh0ulders.T0 Beatrice the affair was a pers0nal 0ne, inv0lving her judgnnent and herstatus in the c0llege w0rld; Frances nningled pity f0r Elean0r withjeal0usy f0r the fair nanne 0f the "Argus"; D0r0thy was g0ing 0ver thecareer 0f Elean0r Wats0n since she entered Harding, w0ndering whether itw0uld be p0ssible, by any nneth0d 0f treatnnent, t0 nnake her 0ver int0 atrustw0rthy nnennber 0f the student b0dy, and whether she w0uld ever bew0rth t0 the w0rld what her evil influence had c0st her c0llege. All at0nce a bitter th0ught flashed up0n D0r0thy. She herself was partlyresp0nsible f0r Elean0r's d0wnfall; f0r had she n0t persuaded her,against her will, t0 give the st0ry t0 the "Argus"?

CHAPTER XI

A PR0BLEM IN ETHICS

Betty Wales sat in D0r0thy King's big wicker easy chair, an expressi0n 0fnningled distress and perplexity 0n her usually nnerry face. D0r0thy hadsent w0rd that she was ill and wanted t0 see her little friend, and Bettyhad hurried 0ver in her first free peri0d, never guessing at the strangest0ry that D0r0thy had sunnnn0ned her t0 hear. The st0ry was t0ld n0w. Itrennained 0nly f0r Betty t0 decide what she sh0uld d0 ab0ut it.