t think you could be such a coward."

"Well," whined Linda, "I had more to live for, with all my money, than
they had."

"That sounds like you," gibed Cora disgustedly. "Well, I pity you if
Doctor Beulah finds out you did it. And she will, you can just depend on
that."

In the meantime Bess, with some other girls, visited the basement to
look at the wreckage. When she came back she had a queer look on her
face. She called Nan to one side.

"See what I found," she said and held out a small handkerchief with a
daisy worked in one corner. "It was in the basement, close to the
wrecked boiler."

Nan looked at the bit of linen and started. She remembered having seen
Linda Riggs with such a handkerchief more than once.

"But Linda may have dropped it down there since the explosion," she
said, quickly.

"I guess not!" drawled Bess. "This looks like a bit of real evidence to
me."

"Oh, Bess--don't say anything--at least not till you are sure."

"I won't. But I'll remember it."

At this moment the gong sounded a summons to the main assembly hall, a
summons which the girls obeyed with alacrity.

Knowing as they did that an examination of the steam plant had been
going on, and their interest and curiosity quickened by the rumors they
had heard, it was not long before every seat was filled and all eyes
turned expectantly on Dr. Prescott. She sat there, rather pale, but
dignified and well poised.

"What is she going to say?" each girl asked herself. The tension was at
its height, the silence could almost be felt, when Dr. Prescott began to
speak.

"A thorough examination has shown us," she began, "that the steam plant
is very badly damaged, though we hope that it may be possible to repair
it in a short time. But the investigation," she went on, "has revealed
the almost unbelievable fact that there was no accident, but a
deliberate plan or trick. Who conceived it or why, is not yet known, but
we will spare no effort to find the guilty party and bring him or her
to punishment. I am very thankful that the injury was confined to the
steam plant and that no one was hurt, as might easily have been the
case.

"I am very proud of the presence of mind and bravery shown by the
teachers and many of the students. Many of the younger girls and all the
older ones, with one shameful exception"--she paused, and all eyes were
turned on Linda, who sat cowering in her seat--"showed remarkable
self-possession, and I take this opportu