"Von sbirro veseet de maiden," said the Signor, in a whisper.

"Oh! what shall we do?" gasped Clara.

"_Taisez_!" hissed Achille, who seemed to come out n.o.bly in the great trouble--"_taisez_, and all shall be well; my faith, yes--it is so."

"They will us not see," whispered the Signor.

"_Mais non_!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Achille. "But that police? What of him? We must wait."

"Oh, yes," I said, "pray do not move. It is one of the servants who has been discovered. I am sure that we shall be safe if we keep quite still."

But the words were no sooner out of my mouth than there was a burst of light through the half-closed shutters behind us, a buzz of voices, and Lady Blunt, the four teachers, and several of the pupils, hurried into the drawing-room; and then, seeing the partly closed shutters, stood for a moment as if afraid to come any further.

I darted from _pauvre_ Achille, giving him a sharp jerk at the same moment; and, as my elbow crashed through a pane of gla.s.s, and I slipped behind the great green blind in the corner, I heard an exclamation in French. There was a great splash, followed by a noise as of some large body snorting and floundering in the great tank; and my blood ran cold, as I wanted to run out, but felt chained to the spot where I was concealed.

"I have murdered him, I know!" I gasped.

At the very same moment there was a fearful scream from poor Clara, as the light of half-a-dozen candles shone upon her s.m.u.tty face, where there was the mark of a hand all down one cheek. And, frightened though I was, I seemed to notice everything, as if my senses were all sharpened; and, at one and the same time, I saw my own trouble, Clara, and my poor Achille drowning in the great tank.

Poor Clara covered her face in an instant, and a loud rustling of the ivy on the edge of the cistern, the sound of a body falling, and then came retreating feet along the gravel.

"Escaped," I muttered; and then a sigh came with a great gasp, as I exclaimed, "Oh! if Clara will only not betray me, I shall be safe, too."

But, oh, what a tableau was there!--night-caps, dressing-gowns, flannel garments, every token of hurried half-dressing; while the light from candle after candle streamed down upon poor Clara, p.r.o.ne upon the white stones of the conservatory.

"Good heavens!" I heard Mrs Blunt exclaim, "that it should have come to this!--that my establishment should be debased by the presence of such a creature. Abandoned, lost girl, what will become of you?"

Oh, how my poor teeth did chatter!

"Dreadful!" squeaked Miss Furness.

"Shocking!" echoed Miss Sloman.

"_Ach ten, bad madchen_" croaked the Fraulein; while Miss Murray and the pupils present sighed in concert.

"Lost one!" began Mrs Blunt again.

Crish! crash! crash! came the sound of breaking gla.s.s upon the leads; the girls shrieked, and, in an agony of fear, the whole party dashed back to the drawing-room door; while, in the dim light given by a fallen candle, I saw poor Clara slowly raise her head and look towards the open window--our window.

But there was no other sound; and at last, after quite five minutes'

pause, came the lady princ.i.p.al's voice from the drawing-room, in awful tones--

"Miss Fitzacre; come in directly, and close the window after you."

"For goodness' sake, don't fasten it," I whispered; "and oh, Clara, pet, don't--pray, don't--betray me!"

"Hush!" whispered the poor darling, rising up like a pale ghost.

And as I stood, squeezed up in the corner, trembling ever so, she closed the conservatory window, looking out as she did so; then entered the drawing-room, clattered the shutters to; and then, by the sound, I knew that they had all entered the breakfast-room, so I stole out of my hiding-place, and tried the window.

At first my heart sank, for I thought it was fastened; but, no, it yielded to my touch, and as I pushed, the shutters slowly swung open, to show me the room all in darkness. Stepping quickly in, I closed window and shutters, and then stole over to reach the door where I could hear the buzz of voices, and Mrs Blunt scolding fearfully.

I crossed the room as quietly as I could, feeling my way along in the darkness--for Clara had trampled out the fallen candle--when all at once I gave myself up for lost I had knocked over one of the wretched little drawing-room chairs; and I stood trembling and stooping down, meaning to creep under the large ottoman if I heard any one coming.

But they did not hear the noise; and, after waiting awhile, I ventured to open the door, when I could hear plainly poor Clara sobbing bitterly in the breakfast-room; and I was filled with remorse, as I felt how that I ought to be there to take my share of the blame. But I could not--no, I could not, I must own--summon up courage enough to go in and avow my fault.

I had hardly closed the drawing-room door, when I heard a hand rattle the door of the breakfast-room, as if some one was about to open it, so I bounded along the hall to the back staircase; and hardly in time, for the breakfast-room door opened just as I was out of sight, and I heard Mrs Blunt's voice, in loud tones, to the teachers, I suppose--

"Ladies, be kind enough to see that the drawing-room window is properly secured."

Up I darted to reach my own room, and it was well that I made for the back staircase; for there, regularly fringing the bal.u.s.trade of the best staircase, were all the younger pupils and the servants looking down and listening; while I could hear the sounds coming up from the hall, as my Lady Blunt and the teachers began again to storm at the poor silent girl, who never, that I could hear, answered them one single word, and in the act of slipping into my room, I nearly brushed the dress of one of the pupils.

And now, if Clara would only be a martyr, I felt safe, as I stood inside our room, and listened for a few moments to the words which came up quite plainly in the still night.

"Once more, I insist upon knowing who it was," shrieked Mrs Blunt, while her satellites added their feeble echoes.

"Tell, directly!" screamed Miss Sloman.

"Bad gell--bad gell!" croaked the Fraulein.

"You must confess," cried Miss Furness, in shrill, treble tones.

"Who was it, Miss Fitzacre?" cried Mrs Blunt.

And then there was a stamp upon the floor, but not a word from Clara; and I dared stay for no more, but closed the door, listened to Patty snoring more loudly and ever, and then dashed to the washstand, recalling poor Clara's s.m.u.tty face, and sponged my own quickly. Then I slipped on my _bonnet de nuit_, and undressed quicker than I ever before did in my life. Then just as I had finished, I heard them coming up the stairs--scuffling of feet and shutting of doors as the pupils hurried into their rooms, some skirmishing at a terrible rate past my door; so I slipped into bed with my head turned towards the window, and lay there with my heart beating tumultuously.

"Now, if they only did not come here first, I'm safe," I muttered.

I felt how exceedingly fortunate it was for me that Patty slept so soundly: for not only had she not seen me enter, but if she had slept all through the disturbance, and had not heard Clara go, why should I not have done the same? And I felt that it would help to remove suspicion from me.

They seemed a terribly long time coming, but I kept telling myself that Clara would not betray me; and I recalled with delight now that I had suffered punishment for her trick, when she moved the lady princ.i.p.al's chair to her fall.

"But there," I said to myself, "they shall tear me in pieces before they know anything I don't, want to tell. But, oh, did poor Achille escape?

and what was that fearful crash? I do hope it was the Signor, for poor Achille's sake. But how wet whoever it was must have been!"

"And you will prepare your things for leaving early in the morning, Miss Fitzacre," exclaimed Mrs Blunt, angrily, as she opened the door of the bedroom, and the light shone in. "Now, go to bed immediately. Is Miss Bozerne here?"

"Yes, ma'am," I replied, just raising my head from the pillow.

"Oh! that is right," said her ladyship; "and Miss Smith?"

There was no answer.

"Miss Smith! where is Miss Smith?" shrieked Lady Blunt from the door, evidently thinking that poor Patty was in the plot. "Miss Smith! Miss Smith!" she shrieked again.

"D-o-o-o-n't--Be quiet!" muttered the sleepy-headed little thing.

"Oh! that will do," said Mrs Blunt. "Don't wake her. Miss Bozerne, you must excuse me for locking you in during the rest of the night; but if you object, perhaps Fraulein Liebeskinden will allow you to sleep with--"