es. Apologize to Norma and Alice at once."

Ada set her lips obstinately. The teacher waited a moment.

"I will give you just three minutes," she declared. "If at the end of
that time you still refuse to obey me, I will send for Mrs. Eustice."

Ada shuffled her feet uneasily. She had no fancy to meet Mrs. Eustice,
whose friendship for the Guerins was well known. Mrs. Eustice had a
hot white anger of her own that a pupil who once witnessed it could
never forget.

"Well, Ada?" came Miss Anderson's voice at the end of the three minutes.

Ada hastily stumbled through a shame-faced apology, painful to listen
to, and then, the angry tears running down her face, turned and dashed
from the room.

CHAPTER XXII

ANOTHER MYSTERY

"Ready, Betty," said Miss Anderson briskly. "You enter at the left and
begin 'I thought I heard voices--' Don't look toward the auditorium.
Remember you are supposed to be in a small room."

Betty managed to command her voice, and the rehearsal went on. Miss
Anderson herself took the part of the maid and, as she had foreseen,
by the time they had finished the hour they were in a normal, happy
frame of mind.

No reference was ever made by any one to Ada's speech, but she never
appeared at another rehearsal. After two weeks' diligent practice, the
players were pronounced perfect and a night was set for the performance
of "The Violet Patchwork."

"Why don't we go to the woods and get some leaves to trim the assembly
hall?" suggested Betty two days before the time for the play. "Mrs.
Eustice's sister is coming to see her, and some other guests, and we want
it to look nice. We might get some nuts, too. Aunt Nancy promised us nut
cake with ice cream if we'll get her enough."

"All right, I like to go nutting," agreed Bobby. "But, for goodness'
sake, if we're going to walk a hundred miles this time, let's have
something to eat with us. Sandwiches and a regular spread. How many have
boxes from home?"

A canvass showed that a round dozen of the girls had been favored that
week, and, at Bobby's suggestion, they donated their goodies to "the
common cause."

"Not all the girls will want to go," said Betty. "Some are such poor
walkers, they'll decline at the first hint of a hike. Every one in the
V.P. will want to go, I think, and that's eleven. Then, counting the
girls with boxes and the others who have asked to come, we'll have
twenty. Twenty of us ought to manage to bring home enough leave