Eleanor had outwardly settled down to the routine of school work in a way that surprised even her aunt.  But inwardly she was seething with rebellion toward Miss Thompson and hatred of the Phi Sigma Tau.  She had fully determined that Anne Pierson should never play Rosalind, and had hit upon a plan by which she hoped to accomplish her ends.  The Phi Sigma Tau were completely carried away with Anne’s impersonation of Shakespeare’s heroine, and any blow struck at Anne would be equally felt by the others.  Anne had been absent from one rehearsal and thus Eleanor had had an opportunity to show her ability.  She had done very well and Miss Tebbs had praised her work, though in her secret heart Eleanor knew that Anne’s work was finer than her own.  But the means of gratifying her own personal vanity blinded her to everything except the fact that she wanted to play Rosalind regardless of Anne’s superior ability.

To settle Miss Thompson was not so easy a matter, and though Eleanor racked her brain for some telling method of vengeance, no inspiration came until one afternoon in early March.  Professor La Roche, irritated to the point of frenzy, ordered her from his class, with instructions to report herself to Miss Thompson.  As she entered the open door of the principal’s office she noticed that the room was empty of occupants.  She stopped, hesitated, then went softly in, a half-formed idea in her mind that did not at first assume definite shape.

“If Miss Thompson comes in, I suppose I shall have to report myself,” thought Eleanor.  “While I’m here, I’ll just look about and see if I can’t find some way to even up that public apology she made me make.”

Gliding over to the open desk, she ran her eye hastily over the various papers spread out upon it.  At first she found nothing of importance, but suddenly she began to laugh softly, her face lighted with malicious glee.

“Here’s the wonderful paper that Miss Tabby Cat Thompson is going to read before the ‘Arts and Crafts Club’ to-morrow,” she murmured.  “I heard her telling Miss Chester about it yesterday.  She said it took her six weeks to prepare it on account of the time she spent in looking up her facts.  It will take me less than six minutes to dispose of it.”

Seizing the essay with both hands, she tore it across, and then tore it again and again, until it was literally reduced to shreds.  These she gathered into a heap and left in the middle of the desk.  Glancing about to see that no one was near, she was about to step into the corridor when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps.  Quick as a flash she flung open the door of the little lavatory just outside the office and concealed herself just as a girl turned from the main corridor into the short passage leading to the principal’s office.  Eleanor, holding the door slightly ajar, peered stealthily out at the new-comer, who was none other than Grace Harlowe.

Having no recitation that hour, Grace had run up to the office to obtain Miss Thompson’s permission to use the gymnasium that afternoon for basketball practice.  A hasty glance inside the office revealed to Grace that the principal was not there.  She hesitated a moment, walked toward the desk, then turned and went out again.