y you can't believe any such thing about me!" Judith cried out
in distress. "Do you realize that those two girls actually accuse _me_
of being a _thief_?"

"Wait a moment, please." The matron raised a protesting hand. "Let me
finish what I wished to say. Miss Seaton does not believe you guilty of
intentional theft. She accused you of being a kleptomaniac. She also
accuses Miss Allen and Miss Bennett of knowing it and aiding you in
keeping your failing a secret."

"What?" almost shouted Judith.

"Oh, this is too much!" It was Jane who now sprang furiously up from her
chair, her gray eyes flashing. "I won't endure it. I insist, Mrs.
Weatherbee, that you send for these girls and let us face them."

"Yes, send for them! I won't leave this room until Marian Seaton takes
back every single thing she's said about me," was Judith's wrathful
ultimatum.

"I was about to suggest when you and Miss Allen interrupted me that I
had thought it advisable to bring you girls together. Still, I deemed it
only fair to let you understand the situation beforehand," stated the
matron rather stiffly. "I have already sent Miss Seaton and Miss Gilbert
word to come here at eight o'clock. It lacks only five minutes of eight.
They will be here directly. We will not go further in this matter until
they come. You will oblige me by resuming your chairs."

Mrs. Weatherbee's expression was that of a martyr. She was in for a very
disagreeable session and she knew it. Marian's accusation against Judith
made necessary an investigation. It had come to a point where Judith's
honesty must be either conclusively proved or disproved beyond all
shadow of doubt. If Judith, as Marian boldly declared, were really a
kleptomaniac, she was a menace to Madison Hall.

Ordinarily Mrs. Weatherbee would have been slow to believe such a
thing. The fact, however, that the silk sweater which she had intrusted
to Judith to mail had never reached its destination, had implanted
distrust in the matron's mind. To have recently learned that Judith had
been exhibiting to her girl friends a sweater that answered to the
description of the one she had knitted for her niece was decidedly in
line with her private suspicions. Neither had she forgotten Judith's
laughing assertion to the effect that she was not sure she could be
trusted not to run off with the sweater.

Jane and Judith reluctantly reseating themselves, an embarrassing
silence fell. Each of the three girls was busy ra