Page:Emily Climbs.pdf/108

 dresses for other people and Ilse dresses for herself. I must write a character sketch of her when I have studied her a little more. What a satisfaction that will be!

“I met her first in Ilse’s room and Mary Carswell introduced us. Evelyn looked down at me—she is a little taller, being a year older—and said,

“‘Oh, yes, Miss Starr? I’ve heard my aunt, Mrs. Henry Blake, talking about you.’

“Mrs. Henry Blake was once Miss Brownell. I looked straight into Evelyn’s eyes and said,

“‘No doubt Mrs. Henry Blake painted a very flattering picture of me.’

“Evelyn laughed—with a kind of laugh I don’t like. It gives you the feeling that she is laughing at, not at what you've said.

“‘You didn’t get on very well with her, did you? I understand you are quite literary. What papers do you write for?’

“She asked the question sweetly but she knew perfectly well that I don’t write for any—yet.

“‘The Charlottetown and the Shrewsbury ,’ I said with a wicked grin. ‘I’ve just made a bargain with them. I’m to get two cents for every news item I send the and twenty-five cents a week for a society letter for the .’

“My grin worried Evelyn. Preps aren’t supposed to grin like that at Juniors. It isn’t done.

“‘Oh, yes, I understand you are working for your board,’ she said. ‘I suppose every little helps. But I meant real literary periodicals.’

“‘?’ I asked with another grin.

“ is the High School paper, appearing monthly. It is edited by the members of the Skull and Owl, a ‘literary society’ to which only Juniors and Seniors are eligible. The contents of are written by the students and in theory any student can contribute but in practice hardly anything is ever accepted from a Prep. Evelyn is a Skull and Owlite and her cousin is editor of