and Patty stood hesitating whether to comply or not,
when the question was settled by the ringing of the tea bell, and both
girls were obliged to hurry to the refectory. Patty did not think much
of this incident at the time, only setting it down to Muriel's caprice,
and being quite accustomed to her cousin's ill humours; but in the light
of after events it wore a different aspect. One morning at nine o'clock,
when Miss Rowe had taken the register, and the girls were in their
places waiting for school to begin, Miss Harper entered the room with an
extremely grave look on her face. Instead of commencing the lesson as
usual, she stood for a few moments without speaking, and her silence
filled her class with an uneasy apprehension that all was not right.

"Girls," she said at last, "something has happened which gives me more
pain than anything else I have experienced during the five years I have
taught at The Priory. Yesterday the monitress, when tidying the room,
found this book, which she very rightly brought at once to me. I regret
to tell you that it is a translation of Caesar's _De Bello Gallico_; in
fact, what is commonly known as a 'crib'. That any girl in my class
could so have lost her self-respect as to condescend to use it to
prepare her lesson, fills me with shame, as it shows such an absolute
lowering of the high standard of honour which we have always tried to
maintain. I ask each of you now, do you know who is the owner of this
book, or can you account for its presence here?"

There was no reply. Every girl looked at her neighbour, but nobody had
any information to volunteer. Muriel's eyes were fixed on her atlas; she
did not appear the least affected by Miss Harper's words, though a keen
observer might have noticed she was a little paler than usual. Patty's
heart beat quickly. Quite suddenly the horrible remembrance flashed
across her of the book which Muriel had replaced so quickly in the desk.
Muriel had certainly at the time been writing a translation of the Latin
lesson, though she had denied it flatly; and it was a curious
coincidence that she should have seemed so unreasonably angry with her
cousin for staying in the room. Was the book hers? Patty blushed hotly
at the very idea. What ought she to do? It was impossible to tell her
conjectures to Miss Harper in the presence of the whole class. If Muriel
were guilty, she would surely confess the matter herself. It could not
be necessary to turn informer a