cidents which
she had not noticed much at the time, but were nevertheless occasions
on which Hazel had not acted in a strictly honourable manner.

"There was the Punch and Judy on the beach," thought Linda, "when she
asked the man to begin, and promised we would give him some pennies,
and then said she hadn't any money with her. And once she found Winnie
Ingham's penknife, and kept it in her pocket for a week without
telling her. And it was she who told Greta Collins to call 'stingy'
after Nellie Parker, because she only put down threepence for the
fireworks; and it was too bad, for Nellie hardly has any pocket money,
and she had given all she had. Oh, dear! I wish Hazel wouldn't do such
things. She's so nice in every other way. I like her immensely. But
what I think is horrid she only laughs at and calls fun. Sylvia never
does." And with that last comparison between her two friends, Linda
put her elbows on her desk, and her fingers in her ears, and tried to
settle herself to the stern task of learning the subjunctive mood of
the verb _rendre_, having a lively horror of Mademoiselle's wrath on
the morrow if she went to the French class with an ill-prepared
lesson.

CHAPTER IX

What Miss Kaye Thought of It

Tuesday passed just as usual, and no casual observer would have
noticed that anything was amiss with the members of the third class.
Elsie Thompson had evidently been frightened into silence by Hazel's
threat, no one else mentioned the subject, and beyond the fact that
Nina looked pale, and Linda rather distressed, the matter seemed
likely to sink into oblivion. At about a quarter to four, however,
when Miss Arkwright was in the very middle of explaining the
difference between a nominative of address and a nominative in
apposition, the door opened suddenly, and Miss Kaye made her
appearance. She so seldom came into a class during the afternoon that
the hearts of three of her pupils began to thump, their guilty
consciences telling them beforehand that her errand must surely
concern them and no others. Nor were they mistaken. After apologizing
to Miss Arkwright for interrupting the lesson, Miss Kaye turned
towards the girls with that stern look in her eyes which they knew and
dreaded to meet.

"Hazel Prestbury, Linda Marshall, and Nina Forster," she said in a
voice that though quiet was full of emotion, "I am deeply grieved to
find that you have been deceiving me. Elsie Thompson told me
yesterday that sh