etty,
though, rather to Billy's disappointment, she did not come under that
category.

"I never saw a broken arm, ner a broken leg, ner a broken anything," he
murmured sleepily. "I thought I'd have a chance now. Say, can I please
put my head in your lap?"

"My, but your knees wiggle something awful," Billy complained a minute
later. "Don't you think they're cracked, maybe?"

So Madeline put the sleepy elves in front with the driver and got in
herself beside Betty. Curled up in Madeline's strong arms she cried a
little and laughed a good deal, never noticing that Madeline was crying,
too. For just beyond the berry-patch there was a heap of big stones,
which made everything that Bob and Madeline had feared in that dreadful
time of suspense seem very reasonable and Betty's escape from harm
little short of a miracle.

It was striking eleven when the riding party and the surrey turned up
the campus drive and the B's noticed with dismay that the Westcott was
brilliantly lighted.

"I know what's happened," wailed Babe. "Our beloved matron has found us
missing and she's hunting for us under the beds and in all the closets,
preparatory to calling in the police. Never mind! we've got a good
excuse this time."

But the Westcott was not burning its lights to accommodate the matron.
The B's had not even been missed. Katherine met them in the hall and
barely listened to their excited accounts of their evening's adventure.

"There's been plenty doing right here, too," she said.

"What?" demanded the three.

"College thief again, but this time it's a regular raid. For some reason
nearly everybody was away this evening, and the ones who had anything
to lose have lost it--no money, as usual, only jewelry. Fay Ross thinks
she saw the thief, but--well, you know how Fay describes people. You'd
better go and see what you've lost."

Luckily the thief had neglected the fourth floor this time, so they had
lost nothing, but they sat up for an hour longer, consoling their less
fortunate friends, and listening to Fay's account of her meeting with
the robber.

"I'm pretty sure I should know her again," she declared, "and I'm
perfectly sure that I've seen her before. She isn't very tall nor very
dark. She's big and she looks stupid and slow, not a bit like a crafty
thief, or like a college girl either. She had a silk bag on her arm. I
wish I'd asked her what was in it."

But naturally Fay hadn't asked, and she probably wouldn't see t