d I could forget that mighty fact for one little fleeting moment,"
thought Miss Preston, but, aloud, she asked:

"And do you think that I am not fully conscious of it, Mrs. Stone?"

"Oh, most conscious! most conscious! You could not be more conscientious,
I am sure, but you sometimes let a misdemeanor, such as occurred last
night, go unpunished, and it establishes an unfortunate precedent, I
fear."

"Did you ever know me to punish any girl placed in my charge?" asked Miss
Preston, a slight flush creeping over her face.

"Certainly not! Certainly not!" cried Mrs. Stone, hastily, for she had
touched upon a point which she knew to be a very sensitive one with her
principal, and wished to smooth matters down a trifle. "I do not mean
punishment in the generally accepted term, but do you think it wholly wise
to let the girls feel that they can do such things and, in a measure, find
them condoned?"

"Do you think that forbidding them would put an end to them?"

"Merely forbidding might not do so, but exacting some penalty for such
disobedience would probably make them think twice before they disobeyed
again."

"Did they disobey this time?" Miss Preston asked quietly.

Mrs. Stone looked a trifle disconcerted as she answered:

"Possibly it was not direct disobedience, but it certainly savored of
deceit."

"I should be glad to have you ask any girl who has become a member of that
comical C. C. C. if she thinks she has been guilty of deceit, and I'll
venture to say that she will look you squarely in the eyes and say:
'Deceit! How could _that_ fun be deceitful?'"

"Do you not think that it may lead to other undesirable lines of
conduct?"

"It may lead to other sorts of innocent fun," was the dry remark. "Mrs.
Stone, were you ever young? Surely, you have not forgotten what the world
looked like then. Wasn't it invariably the thing you were least expected
to do that it gave you the most satisfaction to do? Listen to me one
moment, for, while I appreciate your sincere interest in my work and
myself, I cannot allow you to run off with the idea that I regard my girls
as prone to deceitful actions. It is just fun, pure and simple, and the
natural result of happy, healthy girlhood. Far better let it have a safe
vent than try to suppress it, and take very strong chances of directing it
into less desirable channels. At the worst, a deranged stomach can follow,
and a glass of bi-carbonate of soda-water is a simple remedy, if no