hree parts--"

"Indeed!" said Miss Pugsley, with ominous calm. "And what happens next,
pray?"

"It turns green, and explodes with a loud report."

And this was exactly what did happen. Poor Colney!

Peggy Montfort did not form one of the party in Bedlam that night. The
room lay at the extreme end of the corridor, round a corner, so that it
was in a manner shut off from the rest of the wing. It was an
extraordinary place. Stretched on the walls, dried or drying, were
specimens of every possible variety,--bats, frogs, snake skins, bird
skins. Along the mantelpiece were jars and bottles, all containing other
specimens preserved in spirits. In one corner stood part of a human
skeleton. It stood on one leg, with a jaunty air, having indeed but one
leg to stand on; both arms were wanting, but the skull, which was a very
fine one, made up for much. On account of this fragmentary skeleton, few
of the younger girls ever dared to enter Bedlam, and some of them would
run past the door with face averted, and beating heart, fearing lest the
door should be open and they should catch a glimpse of the gruesome
thing. But this object was the pride of Colney's heart. She could not,
of course, afford to buy a whole skeleton, so she was collecting one,
bit by bit; even Peggy had been quite uncomfortable one day, when Colney
had told her, hanging over each bone with delight, where and how she had
come by each one. It was always honestly, one could be sure of that.

Everywhere in the room, underfoot and overhead, were setting-boards and
pill-boxes, blowpipes and crucibles. One could not move without
upsetting something; and yet it was here that the Gang came to have its
annual supper.

Colney Hatch was dissecting a mouse. She was perfectly happy, and
oblivious of the world, when the door opened, and in came fluttering the
wild spirits of the junior and sophomore classes. Last year the
sophomores had been freshmen, and must not know anything about the Gang,
save in wondering envious whispers and surmises. Next year the juniors
would be seniors, and they too must forget that such a thing as the Gang
had been, and think only of dramatics, examinations, and graduation.
Such had been the unwritten law at Miss Russell's, since time was.

Here were Vanity and Vexation of Spirit, one smiling and dimpling, the
other with her usual air of blase superiority. Here was Blanche Haight,
the leader among the sophomores; here were six or eight girls,