There were no dons or lecturers present when Miss Oliphant made this startling announcement, but Nancy Banister, Rosalind Merton, Priscilla Peel, Miss Day, Miss Marsh and several other girls were all in the room; they, each of them, looked at the speaker with startled and anxious inquiry.

Maggie herself did not return the glances; she was lazily helping herself to some marmalade.

“How perfectly shameful!” burst at last from the lips of Miss Day.  “You have lost five pounds, Miss Oliphant; you are positively certain that five pounds have been taken out of your purse.  Where was your purse?” Maggie was spreading the marmalade on her bread and butter; her eyes were still fixed on her plate.  “I don’t wish a fuss made,” she said.

“Oh, that’s all very fine!” continued Miss Day, “but if five pounds are lost out of your purse, some one has taken them!  Some one, therefore, whether servant or student, is a thief.  I am not narrow-minded or prudish, but I confess I draw the line at thieves.”

“So do I,” said Maggie in an icy tone; “still, I don’t mean to make a fuss.”

“But where was your purse, Maggie, dear?” asked Nancy Banister; “was it in your pocket?”

“No.  I found it last night in my bureau, under some books and papers.”  Maggie rose from the table as she spoke.  With a swift flash her brown eyes sought Priscilla’s face; she had not meant to look at her, she did not want to; but a fascination she could not control obliged her to dart this one glance of inquiry.

Prissie’s eyes met hers.  Their expression was anxious, puzzled, but there was not a trace of guilt or confusion in them.  “I don’t know how that money could have been taken, Maggie,” she said, “for I was in your room. studying my Greek.”  Prissie sighed when she mentioned her Greek.  “I was in your room studying Greek all the evening; no one could have come to take the money.”

“It is gone, however,” said Maggie.  She spoke with new cheerfulness.  The look on Prissie’s face, the tone in her voice made Maggie blush at ever having suspected her.  “It is gone,” she said in quite a light and cheerful way, “but I am really sorry I mentioned it.  As I said just now, I don’t intend to investigate the matter.  I may have fallen asleep and taken the five-pound note out in a dream and torn it up or put it on the fire.  Anyhow, it has vanished, and that is all I have to say.  Come, Prissie, I want to hear what Miss Heath said to you last night.”

“No,” suddenly exclaimed Annie Day, “Miss Peel, you must not leave the room just now.  You have made a statement, Miss Oliphant, which I for one do not intend to pass over without at least asking a few questions.  You did not tear up that note in a dream.  If it is lost, some one took it.  We are St. Benet’s girls, and we don’t choose to have this kind of thing said to us.  The thief must confess and the note must be returned.”

“All right,” said Maggie, “I sha’n’t object to recovering my property.  Priscilla, I shall be walking in the grounds; you can come to me when your council of war is over.”