n. The result was a solemn harangue to the whole school.

"I don't know who has played this contemptible practical joke," she
proclaimed witheringly. "It may seem humorous to small minds, but to
me it is pitiable. There were no doubt instigators amongst you, and
for the sake of those ringleaders I shall punish you all. You will
spend Wednesday afternoon in your class-rooms copying out 'Lycidas,'
instead of taking our projected trip on the river. It is hard to
punish the innocent with the guilty, but those responsible for this
occurrence are probably known to their companions, who will, I hope,
visit their displeasure upon them, and cause them to regret that they
have deprived the school of a holiday."

Miss Beasley's method of punishment, though voted abominably unfair by
the majority, was certainly efficacious. Such grave suspicion fell on
the Mystic Seven that the indignant monitresses took the matter in
hand, and insisted on investigating the entire business. Popular
opinion raged hotly against the culprits, for the promised expedition
to the river had been regarded as the treat of the term.

"I believe it's all your fault, Raymonde Armitage!" scolded Linda
Mottram. "If there's any mischief about, one may be sure you're at the
bottom of it. We don't want your monkey tricks here. They're on the
level of a kindergarten for little boys. If anything more of this sort
happens, you may expect to find yourself jolly well boycotted. I
shan't speak to you, in any case, for a week, and I hope none of the
other monitresses will. You deserve sending to Coventry by
everybody."

"How hard it is to be public-spirited!" mourned Raymonde to her chums
afterwards. "I'm sure I gave everybody a treat, and especially Gibbie.
I'm a martyr to the cause of emergencies. For goodness' sake don't any
of you drink poison by mistake, or they'll lay the blame on me and
send me to the gallows!"

CHAPTER VII

The Crystal Gazers

It was about this time that a wave of the occult passed over the
school. It began with Daphne Johnson, who happened to read a magazine
article on "The Borderland of the Spirit World," and it spread like an
epidemic of influenza. The supernatural was the topic of the hour.
Ghost stories were at a premium, and any girl who could relate some
creepy spiritual experience, which had happened to the second cousin
of a friend of a friend of hers, was sure of a thrilled audience. This
taste for the psychic was partic