d instantly darted off in pursuit of him. As well have tried
to capture the original of the character!

The mad chase lasted perhaps five minutes. Miss Woodhull was powerless.
How could she accuse Jack of disrespect to her or disregard of her
commands when he could not possibly have known them? He was only acting
his part to perfection any way. Besides Tam never had caught the goblins:
The shoe had been on the other foot. But at that second Jack tripped over
a ring set in the floor of the gym and went sprawling, his pumpkin
lantern flying out of his hand and breaking into a dozen fragments. Tam
was almost upon him, but before he could lay hold Jack was up again, had
made a spring, caught one of the flying rings which dangled high above
his head, swung like a monkey from that to the next, and so on down the
line until he was in range of the gallery, at which he hurled himself
bodily, landed upon the railing, balanced a half-second and was safe upon
the gallery floor, to the boundless amazement of the onlookers and
absolute banishment of their suspicions regarding the identity of Miss
Stetson. That spring settled his fate with Miss Woodhull: No girl in
Leslie Manor could have performed such a feat, and all the dancers were
staring speechless. It was the ominous silence before the storm.

"That masquerader is not a girl, Miss Bonnell! It is some boy! Who has
perpetrated this outrage? Miss Baylis, order all the outer doors closed
and guarded and a thorough search made. This matter shall be sifted to
the very bottom. No, you will all remain in this room and immediately
unmask under Mrs. Bonnell's eyes. I shall superintend the search," and
Miss Woodhull sailed majestically from the room.

CHAPTER X

THE SEARCH

"We're in for it," whispered Tweedle-dee to Tweedle-dum, as the two
comical figures drew unobtrusively into the rear of the group of girls
now removing their masks under Mrs. Bonnell's half-amused, half-serious
eyes, for she began to suspect that some sort of innocent prank had been
played which, like many another would have harmlessly played itself out
if let alone. She had always been opposed to the rigorous ban placed upon
boys and their visits to Leslie Manor by Miss Woodhull, believing and
justifiably too, that such arbitrary rules only led to a livelier desire
in the girls to meet said boys by hook or by crook.

"Hush!" whispered Tweedle-