ould be in when, after the concert
was over, Arabella, cautiously, would turn the latch, and enter their
chamber!

Patricia was wide awake, and listening, when at last Arabella reached
their door. Softly she tried to open it so carefully that if Patricia
were asleep she might remain so.

Patricia had turned the key in the lock, and she fully enjoyed lying
comfortably on the bed, and listening while on the other side of the
door her chum was turning the knob first one way and then the other.

There's no knowing how long she would have permitted Arabella to stand
out in the hall, but suddenly she remembered that Miss Fenler strode
down the corridors every night after lights were supposed to be out,
just to learn if any one of the girls were defying the rule.

With a rather loud "O _dear_!" Patricia flounced out of bed, went to the
door, pretended to be so sleepy that she could not at once find the
key, and then, as the door opened, gave an exaggerated yawn.

For once Arabella was quick-witted.

"Miss Fenler is just coming up the stairs," she said.

Patricia forgot the scolding that she had been preparing for Arabella,
and instead she said:

"Hurry! Put out the light. You can undress in the dark, but for
goodness' sake, don't stumble over anything!"

CHAPTER III

MISCHIEF

A few days later, Dorothy stood at the window looking out upon a
windswept road, where not even so much as a dry leaf remained to tell of
the vanished Autumn.

The sky was cloud-covered, and the gaunt trees bent and swayed as if a
giant arm were shaking them.

"We missed our afternoon trip down to the village," she said, "but no
one would care to walk in this gale, and even--why, who--? Nancy, come
here! _Isn't_ that Patricia?"

Nancy ran to the window.

"Why, no--yes,--Well, it certainly is Patricia," she said.

"And just look at the parcel she's carrying!"

"Whatever it is, she must have wanted it, to go out such day as this,"
said Nancy, "and look! Miss Fenler is out on the porch,--why, she's
actually feeling of it to see what's in the parcel. Really, I don't see
why it's all right for her to do that."

"It does seem queer," agreed Dorothy, "but you know it is the rule that
the girls must not bring large parcels into this house, unless they're
willing to show what is in them.

"There! The paper has burst open, and,--Well, did you see that?"

Miss Fenler was actually thrusting a long bony finger into the opening
with