at. Billie!
what are you doing?"

For Billie had suddenly doubled on her tracks, rushed to the back of the
room, put her foot upon a steam radiator pipe and was trying to clamber
to the top of a bookcase.

It was a tall bookcase, and on the top of it stood a marble statue.

"Billie, look out!" screamed Violet as the bookcase shook and the statue
seemed about to topple over by reason of Billie's wild scrambling.

"You won't catch me this time," Billie was defying them, when--the awful
thing happened!

The marble statue toppled once more, trembled as though it were not quite
sure whether to fall or stay where it was, then came tumbling to the
floor with a crash.

The girls cried out, and then stood dumbly looking at the pieces.

CHAPTER II

THAT HUNDRED DOLLARS

Billie Bradley clambered down from her perch in awed silence.

"Girls," she said, her voice very low and solemn, "that 'Girl Reading a
Book' statue was worth a hundred dollars."

The girls started, and Laura cried out:

"How do you know it cost that much?"

"I heard Miss Beggs say so," Billie replied dully. "Now I certainly have
done it. Girls, what shall I do?"

"It--it couldn't be put together again, could it?" suggested Violet
weakly, leaning down to examine the pieces.

"Of course it couldn't," sniffed Laura, adding suddenly: "I suppose we
could run away and nobody would know the dif--"

"Look," cried Billie, excitedly pointing to one of the windows.

Following the direction of her glance the girls were just in time to see
the freckled face and mean little eyes of Amanda Peabody disappear from
the window.

"Oh, that sneak!" cried Laura in a rage, rushing across to the window
while the other girls followed close at her heels. "I wish I were a boy
and she were another one. I'd just show her!"

"Well, now she will tell and we couldn't run away even if we wanted to,"
said Billie, sinking down on a bench and looking at them wistfully. "Of
course we wouldn't really have wanted to," she added, after a minute of
uncomfortable silence. "Only it makes me mad to _have_ to do the right
thing. Oh, I don't see why somebody doesn't run that Amanda person out
of town," she went on, doubling up her fists and looking as if it might
have been just as well for that "Amanda person" that she was not there
at the minute.

"Teddy says he calls her 'Nanny,'" said Violet, with a flash of humor,
"because it 'gets her goat.'"

"Sounds just like Ted," s