welve to-night, then, girls--oh, yes, I have managed the key."

CHAPTER XXVII.

TRUANTS.

It was a proverbial saying in the school that Annie Forest was always in
hot water; she was exceedingly daring, and loved what she called a spice
of danger. This was not the first stolen picnic at which Annie reigned as
queen, but this was the largest she had yet organized, and this was the
first time she had dared to go out of doors with her satellites.

Hitherto these naughty sprites had been content to carry their baskets
full of artfully-concealed provisions to a disused attic which was
exactly over the box-room, and consequently out of reach of the inhabited
part of the house. Here, making a table of a great chest which stood in
the attic, they feasted gloriously, undisturbed by the musty smell or by
the innumerable spiders and beetles which disappeared rapidly in all
directions at their approach; but when Annie one day incautiously
suggested that on summer nights the outside world was all at their
disposal, they began to discover flaws in their banqueting hall. Mary
Price said the musty smell made her half sick; Phyllis declared that at
the sight of a spider she invariably turned faint; and Susan Drummond was
heard to murmur that in a dusty, fusty attic even meringues scarcely kept
her awake. The girls were all wild to try a midnight picnic out of doors,
and Annie in her present mood, was only too eager for the fun.

With her usual skill she organized the whole undertaking, and eight
agitated, slightly frightened, but much excited girls retired to their
rooms that night. Annie, in her heart of hearts, felt rather sorry that
Mrs. Willis should happen to be away; dim ideas of honor and
trustworthiness were still stirring in her breast, but she dared not
think now.

The night was in every respect propitious; the moon would not rise until
after twelve, so the little party could get away under the friendly
shelter of the darkness, and soon afterward have plenty of light to enjoy
their stolen feast. They had arranged to make no movement until close on
midnight, and then they were all to meet in a passage which belonged to
the kitchen regions, and where there was a side door which opened
directly into the shrubbery. This door was not very often unlocked, and
Annie had taken the key from its place in the lock some days before. She
went to bed with her companions at nine o'clock as usual, and presently
fell into an uneas