nyone were seen
going out or returning in a surreptitious and unorthodox fashion, the
occurrence must be immediately reported, so that she could act promptly
and catch the delinquent. She said nothing about the affair to the
girls, as she did not wish to put them on their guard, but Miss Edith
and the mistresses were instructed to use extreme vigilance.

One of the manifold duties that had lately been heaped upon Gipsy's
shoulders was the task of sorting the stockings that came from the wash,
and putting in a pile those that required darning. She had been very
busy one evening with this rather uncongenial occupation, and had barely
finished the necessary counting and arranging, when the bell rang for
preparation. During the last few days Miss Lindsay had insisted upon
Gipsy joining the others and learning her lessons as usual, and had
scolded her if she were absent, even on an errand for another mistress.
It was most unreasonable to reproach her for what was seldom her own
fault; but knowing that Miss Lindsay would expect her to be in her
place, she hastily put the stockings away, and fled to fetch her books.

Preparation was being held in the Juniors' room, and the girls were
sitting on forms round the long table. Gipsy, scuttling in just in time
to avoid the mistress's censure, took a seat between Hetty Hancock and
Lennie Chapman, and, opening her French grammar, began to write an
exercise. All the Junior boarders were at work with the exception of
Dilys Fenton, Leonora Parker, and Barbara Kendrick, who were practising,
for the girls had to take turns to use the pianos, according to a
carefully arranged monthly music list. Gipsy plodded on with her
exercise, and had arrived at sentence No. 9 when suddenly a horrible
thought struck her. It had been rather dark in the linen room, and in
order to examine the stockings better, she had switched on the electric
light. She was almost certain that in her hurry she had forgotten to
turn it off again. Leaving on the electric light unnecessarily was one
of Gipsy's worst crimes, a negligence for which Miss Poppleton had often
rebuked her severely. If the Principal were to walk past the linen room
she would certainly enquire who had been there last, and would
administer a scolding, at the prospect of which Gipsy shivered.

She wondered if she dared ask Miss Lindsay to allow her to go and
ascertain. It was a mild, wet evening, much darker than usual, and the
mistress sat reading