by L. T. Meade
suggestions which hercompanion urged.
Annie had always been the soul of disorder--of wild pranks, of naughtyand disobedient deeds--but, hitherto, in all her wildness she had neverintentionally hurt any one but herself. Hers was a giddy andthoughtless, but by no means a bitter tongue--she thought well of allher school-fellows--and on occasions she could be self-sacrificing andgood-natured to a remarkable extent. The girls of the head class tookvery little notice of Annie, but her other school-companions, as a rule,succumbed to her sunny, bright, and witty ways. She offended them ahundred times a day, and a hundred times a day was forgiven. Hester wasthe first girl in the third-class who had ever persistently dislikedAnnie and Annie, after making one or two overtures of friendship, beganto return Miss Thornton's aversion; but she had never cordially hatedher until the day they met in Cecil Temple's drawing-room and Hester hadwounded Annie in her tenderest part by doubting her affection for MrsWillis.
Since that day there was a change very noticeable in Annie Forest--shewas not so gay as formerly, but she was a great deal more mischievous--she was not nearly so daring, but she was capable now of little actionsslight in themselves, which yet were calculated to cause mischief andreal unhappiness. Her sudden friendship with Susan Drummond did her nogood, and she persistently avoided all intercourse with Cecil Temple,who hitherto had influenced her in the right direction.
The incident of the green book had passed with no apparent result ofgrave importance, but the spirit of mischief which had caused this bookto be found was by no means asleep in the school. Pranks were played ina most mysterious fashion with the girls' properties.
Hester herself was the very next victim. She too was a neat and orderlychild--she was clever and thoroughly enjoyed her school work. She wasannoyed, therefore, and dreadfully puzzled, by discovering one morningthat her neat French exercise-book was disgracefully blotted, and onepage torn across. She was severely reprimanded by Mdlle. Perier forsuch gross untidiness and carelessness, and when she assured thegoverness that she knew nothing whatever of the circumstance, that shewas never guilty of blots, and had left the book in perfect order thenight before, the French lady only shrugged her shoulders, made anexpressive gesture with her eyebrows, and plainly showed Hester that shethought the less she said on that subject the better.
Hester was required to write out her exercise again, and she fancied shesaw a triumphant look in Annie Forest's eyes as she left theschool-room, where poor Hester was obliged to remain to undergo herunmerited punishment.
"Cecil," called Hester, in a passionate and eager voice, as Miss Templewas passing her place.
Cecil paused for a moment.
"What is it, Hetty?--oh, I am so sorry you must stay in this lovelybright day."
"I have done nothing wrong," said Hester; "I never blotted thisexercise-book; I never tore this page. It is most unjust not to believemy word; it is most unjust to punish me for what I have not done."
Miss Temple's face looked puzzled and sad.
"I must not stay to talk to you now, Hester," she whispered; "I ambreaking the rules. You can come to my drawing-room by-and-by, and wewill discuss this matter."
But Hester and Cecil, talk as they would, could find no solution to themystery. Cecil absolutely refused to believe that Annie Forest hadanything to do with the matter.
"No," she said, "such deceit is not in Annie's nature. I would doanything to help you, Hester; but I can't, and I won't, believe thatAnnie tried deliberately to do you any harm."
"I am quite certain she did," retorted Hester, "and from this moment Irefuse to speak to her until she confesses what she has done andapologises to me. Indeed, I have a great mind to go and tell everythingto Mrs Willis."
"Oh, I would not do that," said Cecil; "none of your school-fellowswould forgive you if you charged such a favourite as Annie with a crimewhich you cannot in the least prove against her. You must be patient,Hester, and if you are, I will take your part, and try to get at thebottom of the mystery."
Cecil, however, failed to do so. Annie laughed when the affair wasdiscussed in her presence, but her clear eyes looked as innocent as theday, and nothing would induce Cecil to doubt Miss Forest's honour.
The mischievous sprite, however, who was sowing such seeds ofunhappiness in the hitherto peaceful school was not satisfied with twodeeds of daring; for a week afterwards Cecil Temple found a book of MrsBrowning's, out of which she was learning a piece for recitation, withits cover half torn off, and, still worse, a caricature of Mrs Willissketched with some cleverness and a great deal of malice on thetitle-page. On the very same morning, Dora Russell, on opening herdesk, was seen to throw up her hands with a gesture of dismay. The neatcomposition she had finished the night before was not to be seen in itsaccustomed place, but in a corner of the desk were two bulky andmysterious parcels, one of which contained a great junk of richplum-cake, and the other some very sticky and messy "Turkish delight;"while the paper which enveloped these luxuries was found to be that onwhich the missing composition was written. Dora's face grew verywhite--she forgot the ordinary rules of the school, and, leaving herclass, walked down the room, and interrupted Miss Good, who wasbeginning to instruct the third-class in English grammar.
"Will you please come and see something in my desk, Miss Good?" she saidin a voice which trembled with excitement.
It was while she was speaking that Cecil found the copy of Mrs Browningmutilated, and with the disgraceful caricature on its title-page.Startled as she was by this discovery, and also by Miss Russell'sextraordinary behaviour, she had presence of mind enough to hide thesight which pained her from her companions. Unobserved, in the stronginterest of the moment, for all the girls were watching Dora Russell andMiss Good, she managed to squeeze the little volume into her pocket.She had indeed received a great shock, for she knew well that the onlygirl who could caricature in the school was Annie Forest. For a momenther troubled eyes sought the ground, but then she raised them and lookedat Annie. Annie, however, with a particularly cheerful face, and herbright dark eyes full of merriment, was gazing in astonishment at thescene which was taking place in front of Miss Russell's desk.
Dora, whose enunciation was very clear, seemed to have absolutelyforgotten herself; she disregarded Miss Good's admonitions, and declaredstoutly that at such a moment she did not care what rules she broke.She was quite determined that the culprit who had dared to desecrate hercomposition, and put plum-cake and "Turkish delight" into her desk,should be publicly exposed and punished.
"The thing cannot go on any longer, Miss Good," she said; "there is agirl in this school who ought to be expelled from it, and I for onedeclare openly that I will not submit to associate with a girl who isworse than unladylike. If you will permit me, Miss Good, I will carrythese things at once to Mrs Willis, and beg of her to investigate thewhole affair, and bring the culprit to justice, and to turn her out ofthe school."
"Stay, Miss Russell," exclaimed the English teacher, "you strangely andcompletely forget yourself. You are provoked. I own, but you have noright to stand up and absolutely hoist the flag of rebellion in thefaces of the other girls. I cannot excuse your conduct. I will myselftake away these parcels which were found in your desk, and will reportthe affair to Mrs Willis. She will take what steps she thinks right inbringing you to order, and in discovering the author of this mischief.Return instantly to your desk, Miss Russell; you strangely forgetyourself."
Miss Good left the room, having removed the plum-cake and "Turkishdelight" from Dora Russell's desk, and lessons continued as best theycould under such exciting circumstances.
At twelve o'clock that day, just as the girls were preparing to go up totheir rooms to get ready for their usual walk, Mrs Willis came into theschool-room.
"Stay one moment, young ladies," said the head-mistress in that slightlyvibrating and authoritative voice of hers. "I have a word or two to sayto you all. Miss Good has just brought me a painful story of wanton andcruel mischief. There are fifty girls in thi
s school, who, untillately, lived happily together. There is now one girl among the fiftywhose object it is to sow seeds of discord and misery among hercompanions. Miss Good has told me of three different occasions on whichmischief has been done to different girls in the school. Twice MissRussell's desk has been disturbed, once Miss Thornton's. It is possiblethat other girls may also have suffered who have been noble enough notto complain. There is, however, a grave mischief, in short, a moraldisease in our midst. Such a thing is worse than bodily illness--itmust be stamped out instantly and completely at the risk of any personalsuffering. I am now going to ask you, girls, a simple question, and Idemand instant truth without any reservation. Miss Russell's desk hasbeen tampered with--Miss Thornton's desk has been
