de for spending
the festival at home; and these, with one exception, were invited
away. The school was on the tiptoe of expectation, when, one morning
after prayers, Miss Ashton sent for Susan Downer to come to her room.

This was the first time such a thing had happened to Susan, and if she
had been an innocent girl she would have been elated by it; but, alas,
we well know that she was not, so it was with much trepidation that
she answered the summons.

"Susan," said Miss Ashton kindly, "I am in a good deal of trouble; I
thought you might help me. How long is it since your brother came to
see you?"

What a relief to Susan! Miss Ashton had often inquired about Jerry,
and once came into the room to see him, so she answered glibly,--

"Week before last, on Wednesday."

"He came in the evening, I believe."

"Yes, ma'am: it was a beautiful moonlight night, and a party of boys
that were taking a sleigh-ride brought him over."

"Did he go back with them?"

"I suppose so," said Susan unhesitatingly. Jerry had not told her of
his possible return in the cars.

"Does your brother know many of the young ladies here?"

"He knows his cousins, of course, and Marion Parke, and some of the
girls that happened to come into the parlor when he was here, to whom
I introduced him."

"Can you tell me the names of the girls?"

Susan hesitated a moment. What could Miss Ashton want to know for?
What could Jerry have done to make her suspect him?

All at once the thought of the sleigh-ride flashed upon her, and she
colored violently. He had brought the note for Mamie Smythe. The girls
had gone on the sleigh-ride. She had heard the whole story from them
on their return.

Miss Ashton watched the color come and go; then she said quietly,--

"The names of the girls to whom you have introduced him, please."

Now, it so happened that these girls were not among the
sleighing-party, and after a moment's hesitation Susan named them.

"Thank you," Miss Ashton said pleasantly. "That is all now."

"All now, _now_," repeated Susan to herself, as she went back to her
room. "Is there anything more to come by and by I wonder?"

Miss Drake, Susan's teacher in logic, found her a very absent-minded
pupil during the next recitation, and gave her the lowest mark for the
poorest lesson of the term.

In truth, the more Susan thought the matter over, the more troubled
she became. Miss Ashton never would have asked those questions without
a par