every detail of her embarrassment.

"You've been out, Gipsy Latimer; it's easy enough to tell that! So
you're the one who's been seen every evening in Mansfield Road!"

"Out!" gasped Gipsy, galvanized into speech by the utter falsity of the
accusation. "No, indeed! I haven't been out of the house at all."

"It isn't the slightest use denying it," returned Miss Poppleton
harshly. "I might have known it would be you. Besides--" (here she began
to examine the waterproofs and hats that were hanging upon the hooks),
"Oh, you wicked, wicked girl! Here's proof conclusive that you are
telling a deliberate untruth! Why, your 'sailor' and your mackintosh are
quite wet! Look at them, marked with your name, and try to deceive me if
you dare!"

"But, Miss Poppleton, indeed, indeed, you're mistaken!" protested Gipsy
with warmth. "If you want proof, look at my shoes--they're not wet."

"You may think you're very clever, but you're not able to blind me!
Whose galoshes are these, I should like to know, all muddy and covered
with gravel? I suppose you'll pretend your initials are not 'G. L.' Go
along immediately to your bedroom. I intend to sift the matter to the
bottom. So this is how you repay me for my kindness in keeping you
here!"

From Miss Poppleton's point of view the case against poor Gipsy
certainly looked extremely black. Apparently she had been caught in the
very act of returning from some clandestine excursion, and was leaving
her incriminatingly moist garments in the cupboard when she was
surprised.

The more the affair was investigated, the more everything seemed to
indicate her guilt. The girls who had been present with her at
preparation were obliged, much against their will, to confess how she
had left the room without Miss Lindsay's knowledge by crawling under the
table, and what had been merely a piece of mischief assumed a far graver
aspect when coupled with other circumstances. It was really a very
serious fault of which poor Gipsy was accused. She was supposed not only
to have set the school rules deliberately at defiance by taking a
surreptitious walk alone in the evening, but to have shielded herself by
the most brazen falsehoods. Remembering how, when she had first come to
Briarcroft, she had begged to be permitted to go out, had chafed against
the confinement of her life, and had constantly quoted the larger
liberty allowed in American schools, Miss Poppleton could easily believe
that she would be ready