the Madame, in the
same low voice.

"Oh, Madame! forgive me!" gasped the culprit at last, and slipped out of
bed.

"Where are your robe and slippers?"

"Right here, Madame," answered the frightened freshman, getting into
them in a hurry.

"Well! stand there. Tell me why you are in the wrong room?"

"Oh, it isn't Jennie's fault--'deed it isn't, Madame!" gasped Nancy.

"I am not going to eat you, child," said the principal of the school,
with some exasperation. "Having broken a rule, please stand up properly
and answer my questions.

"How came you here, Nancy Nelson?"

"Jennie--Jennie found me crying in the hall."

"What for?"

"I--I felt bad."

"You were ill?"

"Oh, no, ma'am," Nancy hastened to say. "I was not ill at all. Only I
was--was lonely--and--and sorry--and----"

"Not altogether clear, Nancy," said the Madame; but her voice was lower
and softer. "Tell me why you were crying in the hall?"

But now Nancy had begun to get a grip upon herself. She realized the
position she was in. If she obeyed Madame Schakael's order she must
"tell on" the girls then holding their orgie in Number 30.

"Do you hear me, Nancy?" asked Madame Schakael, firmly.

"Yes, Madame," whispered the girl.

"Can't you answer me?"

"No--no, Madame."

"Why not?"

Nancy was silent for fully a minute, the Madame waiting without a sign
of irritation.

"That--that, too, I cannot answer," said the miserable girl, at last.

"Do you realize what such a refusal means, Nancy?"

"You--you will have to punish me."

"Seriously."

"Yes, Madame; seriously."

"And your record to date has been quite the best of any girl of your
class."

Nancy locked her hands together and gazed at the principal. But she
could say nothing.

"You say Jennie Bruce is not to blame?" asked Madame Schakael, after
another minute of silence.

"Oh, no, Madame!"

"Oh, dear me!" cried the other girl, "You just don't understand,
Madame----"

Nancy made a pleading gesture to stop her newly-made friend. Madame held
up her hand, too.

"I believe what Nancy Nelson says, Miss Bruce," she observed, gravely.
"You shall not be punished."

"I don't care for that!" cried the impulsive Jennie. "But Nancy ought
not to be punished, either."

"Will you let _me_ be the judge of that, Jennie?" asked the Madame,
softly.

Jennie was abashed.

"Nancy is out of her room out of hours. That is a fault--a serious
fault. You both know that?"

"Yes, Madame," sai