“Hurry up,” she said.  “We’ll talk when we get outside school.  Don’t stop for a minute.  If Miss Thompson notices that we are gone, she’ll send after us.”

The girls silently donned their wraps and fled from the building like fugitives from justice.  Once on the street a lively confab ensued, all talking at once.

“Let’s take turns talking,” cried Grace, laughing.  “We shall understand each other a little better.”

“Now, what do you think of Miss Eleanor?” cried Nora.  “She has certainly shown her true colors this time.”

“I never heard of anything more unjust than the way she accused us, when we knew nothing about her old plan,” said Marian Barber.

“It was abominable,” said Eva Allen.

The other girls expressed their disapproval in equally frank terms.

“I suppose it did look as though I told you girls,” said Mabel Allison, who had joined them at the gate.  “You know I was with you at recess, right after the paper had been passed to me.  I don’t think Miss Savell intended me to see it.  It was passed to me by mistake.”

“Very likely,” agreed Grace.  “I wonder who did tell Miss Thompson.  I saw several girls with the paper, but hadn’t the remotest idea what it was all about.  You know Miss Thompson is awfully down on ‘skipping school.’  She threatened last year to suspend Edna Wright for it.”

“There will be weeping and wailing in the ‘Skull and Crossbones’ crowd,’” exclaimed Nora.  “They are all in this mix-up, and if they aren’t suspended, they’ll be lucky.”

“Are you going to stand up for Eleanor now, in the face of what she said about all of us before those girls, Grace?” asked Marian Barber hotly.

“No,” said Grace shortly.  “She deserves to be punished.  The things she said to Miss Thompson were disgraceful, and I shall never forgive her for the way she spoke of us.”

“I wouldn’t say that, Grace,” remarked Anne.  “You can never tell what may happen to change your views.”

“It will have to be something remarkable in this instance,” replied Grace grimly, as she bade the girls good-bye.  “Remember, girls, basketball practice again to-morrow, and the rest of the week.  Miss Thompson has promised me the gymnasium.  Please make it a point to be on hand.”

“Good-bye, Grace,” chorused her friends, and went on down the street discussing the probable fate of the would-be truants.

* * * * *

To return to those youthful transgressors.  They were spending a most uncomfortable half hour with Miss Thompson.  She was merciless in her denunciation of their conduct, and the terror of suspension arose in more than one mind, as they listened to her scathing remarks.  It had all seemed a huge joke when they planned it, but there was nothing funny about it now.  When, with the exception of Eleanor, the principal dismissed them, they filed decorously out, very uneasy in mind.  Miss Thompson had taken their names, but had not stated their punishment and it was certain that they would be made to feel the full weight of her displeasure.