Page:Conflict (1927).pdf/141

 Peggy nodded.

'I ought to. I've known him all my life'

'Too bad about his being expelled. Hunt LeBaron told me about it, to-night, on the quiet.'

'He's not being expelled. He's being dropped. There's a difference,' said Sheilah.

'Oh, you don't know, then!'

'Know what?' Was there something besides Felix's obscurity to account for the strange smile that had passed between the two boys of whom she had inquired for him?

'I hate to tell you,' said Peggy.

'Well, then, don't.'

But Peggy couldn't resist the temptation.

'He and two other boys are expelled because they were caught cheating in the midyear exams,' she announced.

Sheilah climbed into her berth that night with a heart heavier than she had carried since Dr. Sheldon had sent her away to boarding-school. She didn't sleep until towards morning, and then a strange thing happened. For the first time since that terrible night, when her father had held her in his arms, she dreamed about the Chinaman.