As she worked along the desks where IV B had been sitting, collecting stray pencils and pieces of india-rubber, she noticed a book lying on the floor and picked it up. It was a French grammar, with "Etta Jessop"
written on the fly-leaf and had evidently been accidentally dropped. She turned over the pages idly. In the middle was a sc.r.a.p of paper torn from an exercise-book, and on this was scribbled: "Where will she be to-night?" while in a different hand, underneath, as if in answer to the question, were the words: "Side gate at 8. Pa.s.s, "John Barleycorn"."
This was most important. It was the first, indeed the only definite, information they had to go upon. Lizzie replaced the slip of paper and laid the book on the floor just where she had found it. Etta would no doubt soon discover her loss, and come back to fetch it. In the meantime this very valuable piece of news must be communicated to Ulyth.
The chums talked the matter over earnestly.
"Something"s happening at the side gate at eight o"clock, and they"ve got a pa.s.sword; that"s clear," said Lizzie.
"Then I think it"s our plain duty to go and investigate," returned Ulyth. "If the worst comes to the worst we could report ourselves, and tell Teddie why we went. She"d understand."
"I hope it won"t need that," fluttered Lizzie nervously.
The girls were not allowed out of the house after preparation, so any excursions into the garden were distinctly against the rules.
Feeling very culpable at thus breaking the law of the school, Ulyth and Lizzie crept quietly from the cloak-room door soon after eight had struck. It was not yet dark, but the sun had sunk behind the hills, and the garden was in deep shadow. They pa.s.sed the tennis-courts and the rose parterre, and ran down the steps into the herbarium. Just at the outskirts of the shrubbery a small figure was skulking among the bushes.
At the sound of footsteps it gave a low, peculiar whistle, then advanced slightly from the shadow and stood at attention, as if in mute challenge of the new-comers. Irene Scott, for it was she, was evidently on sentry duty. No one with a knowledge of camp-life could mistake her att.i.tude.
"We"ll bluff it off," whispered Ulyth, and, taking Lizzie"s arm, she marched quietly past, murmuring: "John Barleycorn".
The effect of the pa.s.sword was electrical. Irene looked immensely astonished. She had certainly not expected such knowledge on the part of seniors.
"Are you in it too? Oh, goody!" she gasped; then very softly she called: "All"s well!" and, turning, dived back among the bushes.
Lizzie and Ulyth pushed on towards the side gate. It was open, and inside, under the shelter of a big laurel, stood a woman with a basket.
She was a gipsy-looking person, with long ear-rings, and she wore a red-and-yellow handkerchief tied round her neck. As the girls approached she uncovered her basket with a knowing smile.
"I"ve brought plenty to-night, Missies," she said ingratiatingly.
"Cheesecakes and vanilla sandwiches and coco-nut drops and cream wafers.
What"ll you please to have?"
"Are you selling them?" asked Ulyth in much amazement.
The woman glanced at her keenly.
"I"ve not seen you two before," she remarked. "Yes, dearie, I"m selling them. They"re wholesome cakes, and won"t do you any harm. Try these cream wafers."
"No, thanks! We don"t want anything," stammered Lizzie.
"If you"ve spent all your money," persisted the hawker, "I"m always open to take a trinket instead. There"s a young lady been here just now, and gave me this in place of a sixpence," showing a small brooch pinned into her bodice. "Of course such things aren"t worth much to me, but I"d do it to oblige you."
At the sight of the little brooch Ulyth flushed hotly.
"We"re not allowed to buy cakes and tarts," she replied. "I"m sure Miss Bowes doesn"t know that you come here to sell things. It"s not your fault, of course, but please don"t come again. It"s breaking the rules of the school."
The woman covered up her basket in an instant.
"All right, Missie, all right," she said suavely. "I don"t want to press things on you. That"s not my way. You won"t catch me at this gate again, I promise you. Good night!" and, slipping out into the lane, she was gone directly.
Ulyth shut the door and bolted it.
"She mayn"t come to this particular spot again," said Lizzie, "but she"ll find some other meeting-place, the cunning old thing. I could see it in her eye. So this is their grand secret! What a remarkably honourable and creditable one!"
"It"s worse than I thought," groaned Ulyth. "They must have been going on with this business for some time, Lizzie. Do you know, that brooch was Rona"s. I recognized it at once. It"s one she brought from New Zealand, with a Maori device on it."
"I thought better of Rona."
"So did I. She"s improved so much I didn"t think she"d slip back in this way."
"I believe Tootie Phillips is the ring-leader."
"There"s no doubt of it. From all we"ve seen, the juniors have got a systematic traffic with this woman, and post scouts to keep watch while she"s about. You heard Irene call: "All"s well!""
"They"ll be feasting in their bedroom to-night."
"Rona won"t dare, surely. Lizzie, I shouldn"t have thought much of it if they"d done it once just for a lark. We"re all human, and juniors will be juniors. But when it gets systematic, and they begin to sell their brooches, that"s a different matter."
"What are you going to do? Tackle the kids and tell them we"ve found out, and they"ve got to stop it?"
"Will they really stop it just at our bidding? Or will it only put them on their guard and make them carry the thing on with more caution?"
"Then give a hint to the monitresses?"
"I wonder if we ought. I wish Catherine and Helen were different."
"Well, what do you suggest?"
"There"s only one other way. Mrs. Arnold is coming to The Woodlands on Friday afternoon. Suppose we wait, catch her alone, and tell her all about it. She"s our "Guardian of the Fire", and we ought to be able to ask her things when we"re in difficulties. She doesn"t belong to the school, so it isn"t like telling a teacher or a monitress. We know we can trust her absolutely."
"Right-O! But it seems a long time to have to wait."
"It can"t be helped," said Ulyth, as they hurried back through the garden.
She had decided, as she thought, for the best, though, as the result proved, she had chosen a most unfortunate course.
CHAPTER XVI
Amateur Conjuring
Ulyth went to her bedroom that evening in much agitation of mind. She was torn by conflicting impulses. At one moment she longed to tax Rona frankly with a breach of school rules, air the whole subject, and state her most emphatic opinion upon it. If Rona alone had been concerned in the matter she would have done so without hesitation, but the knowledge of the number of girls who were involved made her pause.
"I might do more harm than good," she reflected. "After the way Tootie has been inciting them to take sides against the seniors, they"d be up in arms at the least hint. It will be worse if they know they"re discovered, and yet go on in an even more underhand fashion."
Ulyth"s abstraction was so marked that her room-mate could not fail to notice it.
"What"s the matter with you to-night?" she asked. "I"ve never seen you so glum before. Have you been getting into a row with Teddie?"