pered in her ear and her eyes
danced merrily. On that chance meeting with Cora and Linda in the hall
Cora had told her and Grace that they were staying in a suite of rooms
on the third floor, and had asked them to come to see her and Linda.

And now, to while away the time till the girls' return, Bess proposed to
take advantage of Cora's invitation and call upon her--and Linda.

She slipped along the hall, ran up the stairs to save waiting for the
elevator, and finally found the door, the number of which Cora had given
her some time before.

She heard voices raised in altercation within, and paused before
knocking. Then she heard Nan's name spoken in Linda's unpleasant tones,
and, quite unintentionally, she stood a moment playing eavesdropper.

"I tell you, she is a thief!" Linda was saying, in a voice that showed
she was in one of her frequent rages. "Nan Sherwood has been acting
funny ever since she came to Palm Beach, and that's why I've followed
her here to see what she is up to."

"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Cora shot back, and Bess was curiously
reminded of the turning worm. "I don't believe Nan Sherwood is any
thief. I think she's a mighty nice girl. And every time I think of the
mean trick you played on her, and how you nearly wrecked the school as
well----"

Bess drew in a sharp breath and immediately came to her senses. She
knocked loudly on the door, but the raised voices of the girls within
drowned the sound.

Linda had turned on Cora in a fury.

"You take that back," she shrilled. "If you dare tell anybody about my
wrecking that steam plant----"

But Bess, unable to contain herself another moment, tried the knob, felt
the door yield, and burst in upon the astonished girls.

"Oh!" she cried triumphantly, "I knew I couldn't be wrong! It was you,
Linda, after all!"

CHAPTER XXVIII

CAUGHT

It was lucky for Bess that Linda's father happened in at that moment,
for Linda, in her rage at thus being found out, looked as though she
would like to tear her enemy limb from limb.

As for Cora, she gave one horrified look at Bess, burst into tears, and
fled from the room.

Mr. Riggs, who was not at all the pompous, conceited man that the girls
at Lakeview Hall had come to think him, looked after Cora for a moment
in surprise, then turned smilingly back to the two girls and asked Linda
to introduce him to her friend.

For one electric moment it looked as though Linda were about to refus