ot answer because I know nothing," she said.

A slight look of relief was visible on the faces of the unfortunate
girls who had gone to town with Kathleen on the preceding night. A few
more questions were asked, Ruth replying on every occasion in the
negative. "I can't say," or "I will not say," were the only words that
were wrung from her lips.

"In short," said Miss Mackenzie very quietly, "you have decided, Ruth
Craven--you, an ignorant, silly little girl--to defy the governors of
this school. All justice has been dealt out to you, and all patience.
The consequence of your mad action has been explained to you with the
utmost fullness. You have been given time--abundant time--to consider.
You have chosen, from what false motives it is impossible to say--"

"My dear," interrupted Mrs. Naylor, "the child means well, I am
assured."

"From what false motives it is impossible to say," continued Miss
Mackenzie, not taking the slightest notice of the little governor's
futile appeal, "you have decided to wreck your own life and to ruin the
school. It was to have been your noble privilege to save the school in a
time of extremity. You have chosen the unworthy course. It is therefore
my painful duty to call upon Miss Ravenscroft as head-mistress to expel
you, Ruth Craven, from this school. You are no longer a member of the
Great Shirley School; you are--"

"Hold!" cried Kathleen.

Her voice rang out sharp and clear. It was heard all over the school,
and was so imperative, so startling, so unexpected, that even Miss
Mackenzie lost her self-control and fell back in silence.

"Hold!" cried Kathleen again. "You have said enough. I don't think you
ought to go on. You are torturing the noblest girl in the world. But
Kathleen O'Hara, bad as she is, cannot endure this last insult.
Girls--Wild Irish Girls, you who belong to my society--I as your queen
desire you to come forward. Come forward in a body at once."

What was there in the young voice that impelled? What was there in the
young face that stimulated, that caused fear to slink out of sight and
courage to come to the fore, that caused hearts to beat high with
generous emotion? Not a single girl failed Kathleen in this moment of
her appeal. They clambered over their seats; they bent under the forms;
they got out in any fashion, until she was surrounded by the sixty girls
who formed her society. She glanced round her; her dark-blue eyes grew
full of sweetness, and there wa