CHAPTER XVI
MORE MYSTERIOUS HAPPENINGS
Very soon after this surprising occasion, there was another social eventand another surprise for our young friends; but not a _pleasant_surprise for anybody. A disgraceful thing happened. Miss Julia Rhodes'smusic pupils gave a public concert in the Assembly room. It was not theconcert that was disgraceful; though, owing to the embarrassment of mostof the performers, the music was bad enough; and Hazel and Cora feltthat they had completely wrecked the occasion when, in stooping to drawout the bench on which they were to sit while playing their duet, theyunexpectedly bumped heads, much to the amusement of the audience and tothe detriment of their duet.
No, bad as it was, it wasn't the concert but what happened while it wasgoing on, that publicly disgraced Highland Hall. A number of the villagepeople were invited to the concert and the day pupils, of whom therewere perhaps a score, had been asked to bring their parents and friends.
All these guests had hung their wraps in the lower hall, whereordinarily the day pupils hung theirs. Several of the women hadcarelessly left their purses in their pockets. When they attempted topay their carfare on the way home, not one of them had a single penny.Some pilfering person had taken every scrap of cash from every purse,and in some cases even the purses were missing.
The principal losers wrote indignant notes to Doctor Rhodes, whonaturally was anything but pleased.
Right after prayers the next morning, Doctor Rhodes called the school toorder. His face was sterner than usual and his voice was unusuallyharsh. He told the girls what had occurred, and what a disgrace it wasto any school to have such very unpleasant things happen to its trustingguests.
"Moreover," said he, "many losses of jewelry and money by the pupils inour own dormitories have been reported to me from time to time; and,while it would have been possible, night before last, for a thief tohave slipped into that lower hall from outside, I have a feeling thatthere is some one right in our own school who isn't--well, to put itplainly--quite as honest as she might be. I don't like to say this or tothink it. I am sorry for the necessity.
"It has been suggested that the person taking these various things mightsave herself trouble if she were to leave them on the table in thelibrary some time during the day. That room is never occupied duringschool hours; so the repentant thief would be entirely safe fromobservation. I am giving some one a very good chance to get out of anunpleasant predicament. I hope she will take advantage of it and mendher ways from this time forward."
Of course after that, even a very stupid person could have guessed thetopic of conversation wherever little groups of girls gathered together.Oh, how their tongues did wag! Oh, how they whispered and nodded theirheads! And oh, how many more young persons had lost things that theyhadn't hitherto mentioned. Of course they wondered all day long what washappening in the library. But the day passed and the library table wasstill empty. Nothing had been returned.
Jean and Bettie were dressing for dinner the next night when Sallie, ina most unusual state of excitement, burst into their room, and flungherself upon Jean's bed.
"I'm--I'm so mad I could scream," sobbed Sallie, thumping the pillow withher clenched fist and lashing the air with her feet. "I could kill allthat Rhodes family. I--I--I--"
But now Sallie's words were drowned in sobs.
"Goodness, Sallie, don't cry so," said Jean. "You're in an awful state."
"Who _wouldn't_ be in an awful state if--if--" More sobs.
"There, there," comforted Jean, patting the heaving shoulders. "Get aglass of water for her, Bettie. That's right. Now take a little drink,Sallie."
"If--if it were anybody but you," said Sallie, suddenly jerking herselfupright, "I'd throw that water straight in your face! I'm so _mad_!"
But Sallie clawed the wet hair from her own face, drank the water andhanded the glass to Bettie.
"There, now," said she. "I guess I can talk. You know where I room up onthe top floor with Abbie? Well, _you_ know and everybody else knows thatAbbie has no money; and that I have just about as much as Abbie haswhich is just none at all. We are the only people in this school whohave _no_ spending money. The other Doctor Rhodes used to give--"
"The _other_ Doctor Rhodes," gasped Bettie.
"I didn't mean to say that," returned Sallie, quickly. "What I mean isjust this. I have no money and everybody knows it. Very well, then. I'mthe very person that would steal money. And jewelry. I--or poor oldAbbie."
"But you wouldn't," soothed Jean.
"But--but some folks _think_ I would. Now, a real paying pupil would getmad and go home if Mrs. Rhodes searched her bureau drawers, wouldn'tshe?"
"I should say so," agreed Jean.
"Well, Mrs. Rhodes and Mrs. Henry Rhodes searched mine and Abbie's."
"But they didn't _find_ anything," comforted Bettie, "so you don't needto care."
"But they _did_. There was a pocketbook under the pin cushion. Mrs.Drayton's calling cards were in it. She lost hers here the other night,you know--and that wasn't the worst. There was money in it--more than twodollars."
"Were you right in the room all the time?" queried horrified Bettie.
"No, I happened to go upstairs quietly and there they were looking inall our bureau drawers and under our mattresses and even in the pocketsof our clothes. They had already found the purse."
"Was Abbie there?"
"No, she was down in the kitchen. Doctor Rhodes sent for me and forAbbie to go to the office. He asked us which of us took that pocketbookand I could see that poor old Abbie was just as surprised as I was--youknow you can always see just what she thinks. And, oh! Abbie thought _I_took it. She gave me _such_ a suspicious look.
"And then, Doctor Rhodes asked her if she had ever known of my stealinganything before that. Oh, _think_ of him asking that! And Abbie--well,you know Abbie is never very positive about anything. She said 'I don'tknow. I don't guess I ever did.' But I could just see that she thought I_had_ taken that miserable purse. She's so simple minded that shebelieves anything you tell her. She could see that those Rhodes peoplewere accusing me, so she believes, of course, they were right."
"But _we_ don't," Jean and Bettie assured her.
"But other people will. I don't know what to do. I'd run away if I hadany place to run to."
"If you ran away," said Jean, wisely, "they'd be _sure_ you had done it.It's braver to stay right here and go on just as usual. _We_ know youdidn't do it--why, we _know_ you didn't. And tomorrow when I have mydrawing lesson I'll tell Mrs. Henry Rhodes that you told me all about itand I'll let her see that Bettie and I believe in you. And she'll tellDoctor and Mrs. Rhodes--I'll ask her to. Mrs. Henry understands girls;and she always helps us when we ask her to."
"Don't worry," comforted Bettie. "It'll come out all right--I know itwill. Things always do if you just wait long enough."
"I wonder," said Isabelle's fretful voice in the hall, "what's happenedto dinner--it's ten minutes past the time."
"My goodness!" cried Sallie, "I forgot all about that bell."
"I wish," said Jean, after Sallie had scurried away down the corridor,"that Sallie wasn't a boarding school orphan. She's much too nice. Ilike her ever so much."
"Yes," agreed Bettie, "she's one of the sweetest girls in this schooleven if she hasn't any clothes or pocket money or anything. And I'dbelieve in her even if they found a bushel of strange purses under herpin cushion."
Girls of Highland Hall: Further Adventures of the Dandelion Cottagers Page 17