Ruth counted on her fingers.
"Annabel, Sue, Wee, Angela and Patty--myself, of course, and you, if you"ll come."
"Why, it would be another We Are Sevens," Blue Bonnet said. "That"s the name of our club. Isn"t that odd?"
"Sleep over it, Blue Bonnet, and let us know to-morrow. It"ll keep," Wee Watts suggested.
"All right, suppose I do. I"ll try to let you know to-morrow if I can.
I"d really like to write to the girls--"
A knock at the door interrupted the sentence.
"Is Miss Ashe here?" Martha inquired. "If she is, Miss North would like to see her in the office."
"Mercy, how popular some people are!" Ruth remarked. "What is it, Blue Bonnet? More trouble?"
"Not this time," Blue Bonnet said, her head up, her eyes shining. "My conscience is clear anyway."
Miss North, as usual, was busy. She motioned Blue Bonnet to a chair and went on with her work. When she had finished, she unlocked a drawer in her desk and taking out a book, handed it to Blue Bonnet.
"Is this your property, Miss Ashe?" she inquired.
Blue Bonnet took the book, opened it, looked it over from cover to cover and handed it back.
"No," she said, "it isn"t mine. It"s French. I couldn"t translate it."
"You are quite sure that it is not your book, or one that you borrowed?"
Blue Bonnet glanced at the book again.
"Perfectly sure, Miss North. I never saw it before."
"That is very strange, Miss Ashe. The book was found in your drawer while you were at home for the week-end. Miss Martin found it covered with some underwear."
The puzzled expression on Blue Bonnet"s face would have cleared her in any court of justice; but Miss North had dealt with consummate actresses in her time. She was on her guard.
Blue Bonnet took the book again in her hands and turned over a few leaves, her face still surprised and bewildered.
"In _my_ drawer! Who do you suppose could have put it there?"
She looked Miss North clearly in the eyes.
"That is what I am trying to find out. It is the kind of book that is expressly forbidden in the school, Miss Ashe. This is a very serious matter."
Blue Bonnet laid the book on the desk instantly, giving it a little push as if contaminated by the touch.
"And you think, Miss North, that _I_ would have a book like that in my drawer?"
"I should not like to think it, Miss Ashe, but--"
Blue Bonnet did not let her finish the sentence.
"Doesn"t my word count for anything? I am in the habit of telling the truth."
Miss North hesitated. She believed the girl innocent, but she had had so many experiences--boarding-school was a hotbed for them, she sometimes thought. Her position was a trying one.
"I _want_ to believe that you are telling the truth. Miss Ashe, but--I am sorry to say that I have known girls, who thought they were truthful, to dissemble--to--"
"I am not one of those girls, Miss North. I give you my word of honor that I never saw that book, or one like it, in my life, until this minute. That is all I can say--you may believe me or not."
She started to leave the room, her head held a trifle higher than usual, her eyes bright and snapping.
"One moment, Miss Ashe. There is no need for anger. This, as I stated before, is a serious matter. It is possible that the girl who brought this book into the school did not realize its full import; its true significance. No girl could read it without taking away much of the bloom that it is our privilege to guard and preserve. Even I, at middle age, should find this book--obnoxious."
"And you think that I would secrete a book of that kind in my drawer?
That I would touch it any more than you would?"
Blue Bonnet"s eyes were appealing now, almost pathetic in their mute inquiry.
"Do you know of any one who would be likely to put the book in your drawer, Miss Ashe?"
Miss North had ignored Blue Bonnet"s question for a moment.
"No, Miss North, I do not. I don"t believe any of the girls I know would have done it."
"Very well. You may go now. The matter will be thoroughly investigated."
"And in the meantime I remain under suspicion?"
Blue Bonnet looked as if she had been struck a blow. It was the first time in her life that her word had ever been doubted in the slightest particular. She had a great reverence for the truth. It was an inheritance. "Straight and true like an Ashe, Honey"--the words rang in her ears now--would always--like an armor they wrapped themselves about her--protected her....
"We have many of us rested under an injustice, Miss Ashe, but right always triumphs. I am old fashioned enough to believe that. The matter will be sifted to the bottom."
Blue Bonnet went up to her room feeling that a cloud had settled upon her--a cloud black and ominous.
Joy Cross sat in her accustomed seat by the window, reading. She did not glance up as Blue Bonnet entered, but, if anything, turned her face farther away.
Blue Bonnet sat down listlessly. Her first thought was to question Joy in regard to the book, but she hated to mention it; to have any one know that she was mixed up in such an unsavory affair. Who could have done such a thing--such a contemptible, cowardly thing? Who, in school, disliked her enough to put her in such a position? How had it happened?
Round and round in a groove went her thoughts, bringing no solution. She got up after a while, and opening her top bureau drawer, took out a small box safely guarded in one corner. From the box she drew a miniature which she gazed at long and tenderly.
Joy Cross put away her book and left the room.
Blue Bonnet took the miniature to the light. Her throat ached with the sobs that she had suppressed in Joy"s presence. Now the torrent broke.
"Oh, Mother, Mother!" she cried, sinking into a chair, "why can"t I have you to tell me what to do?--why did you have to leave me when I needed you so?--other girls have mothers--fathers, too--"
So violent was her grief that she did not hear the door open softly, nor see the gentle, sweet-faced woman who came swiftly toward her and knelt beside her.