a wonder, remained as it was on the night of the ride,
and looking from the window Miss Ashton saw the distinct marks of a
number of feet around the bank into which Myra Peters had fallen. She
also saw, and took off, the piece torn from her dress. This would
surely give her a clew to one of the girls; but, before using it, she
would make herself acquainted as far as possible with the time and
circumstances when it had occurred.

Mr. Stanton could fix the morning when he found the window unlocked,
and Miss Ashton remembered that on the previous evening Susan Downer's
brother had been there to call.

This put a really serious aspect upon the matter. She immediately
connected it with the boys from the Atherton Academy. She called a
Faculty meeting, hoping some of the teachers had heard the girls go
and come, or the sleigh, if indeed it had been a sleigh-ride that
tempted them.

But none of them had heard the least noise after bedtime, nor even
unusual sleigh-bells. If it had not been for the open window, the
footprints, and the torn bit of dress, Miss Palmer, who prided herself
upon, and made herself unpopular by, her vigilance, would have said it
could not have happened; as it was, there was no denying it, and no
question that something must be done.

Susan Downer's examination had proved so far satisfactory to Miss
Ashton, that it had shown her there had been a sleigh-ride given by
the Atherton boys; and she said reluctantly to herself, "I am afraid
the reliable-looking young man, Jerry Downer, had a hand in it. How
strange it is that we can trust young people so little!"

Then Miss Ashton felt ashamed of this feeling; for in her long
experience she had known a great many true as gold, who had gone out
from her training to be burning and shining lights in the world.

The quickest way to get at the bottom of the whole, she thought after
much deliberation, would be to take the bit of torn dress into the
hall, and ask to which young lady it belonged.

Accordingly, after morning prayers, she asked the school to stop a few
moments, held the piece of cloth up in her hand, and simply said,--

"The owner of it might need it for repairing her dress, and if she
would remain after the others left, it would be at her disposal."

The majority of the school laughed and chatted merrily about it. Some
few came up to see if it could have by any luck belonged to the torn
dresses of which not a few hung in their closets.

But