look in your cubicle?"

Dreda stamped with impatience.

"Of course I haven't. My cubicle, indeed! As if I would keep a book
there! It was in my desk, I tell you. I left it there last night. I
saw it with my own eyes this morning. Oh! don't ask silly questions--
don't waste time. She is waiting for me. What am I to do?"

"Come!" cried Susan quickly, and sped upstairs towards the classroom,
while Dreda followed hard in her wake, leaving the other girls to
discuss the situation round the fire. The universal impression was that
Dreda had stowed away the book in some hiding-place, and had promptly
forgotten all about it. She was always doing it; never a day arrived
but she went about inquiring in melancholy accents if anyone had seen
her indiarubber, her penknife, her keys, her gloves. She was always
leaving things about, and, upon suddenly discovering their presence,
popping them into impromptu hiding-places to save running upstairs--
behind a photograph, in an empty flower-pot, beneath a mat or cushion,
anywhere and everywhere, as circumstances prompted. Nothing was certain
but that nine times out of ten she would forget the whole incident, and
would have no better clue to help her in her search after the missing
article than that she had put it "somewhere!"

"Poor old Dreda!" said Barbara sympathetically. "Hard lines, when she
has worked so hard! The Duck will be down upon her like a ton of
bricks. She loathes untidiness. Poor old Dreda--she'll get a rowing
instead of praise. It's tragic when you think of that fine cover, and
all the beautiful black letters!"

"She's been an awful bore. It will do her good to be taken down a bit."

"Poor Dreda all the same. Things that do you good are so _very_
disagreeable. I like her enthusiasm, when it doesn't interfere with me!
And she's a real good sort. A bore at times, but a good little
meaner."

"It's no use meaning, if you don't perform, where The Duck is concerned.
I wouldn't be in her shoes."

Meanwhile Dreda had turned out the contents of her desk for a second
time, while Susan stood anxiously looking on. When the last paper had
fluttered to the ground, the two girls faced one another in eloquent
silence.

"It isn't there," said Susan at last. "There must be some mistake.
Think, dear! Are you _quite_ sure that you put it here, and nowhere
else? What did you do after you finished binding the papers? Where did
you go? Think of everything you