Betty was laughing now over something funny exchanged between the girls.

"But it's really very serious," she heard Betty say next. "I dread to go to school tomorrow. Tell me ev'rything that you can remember about that examination. You wouldn't mind telling the princ.i.p.al what you just told me, would you?"

The answer must have been satisfactory, for Betty chuckled. The subject must have changed then, for Betty made some remark not connected with this recent affair and shortly the telephone conversation closed.

CHAPTER XV: DETECTIVE WORK

In the good, steadfast atmosphere of a sensible home, whose heads were not easily stampeded, Betty felt better. Father was told quietly by Mother. But Betty's sleep was troubled that night and it was with many an inward qualm that she started to school the next morning. She intended to go on through the day, as her mother advised her, with as much quiet dignity as she could command, discussing the matter with no one.

Peggy, however, referred to the conversation of the day before when she met her by her locker, next to Betty's. "The boys _were_ up to something, as I told you. It wasn't Jakey but the boy behind him, Sam, that I was glaring at, as you said. He tried to s.n.a.t.c.h a piece of paper off my desk, a blank sheet, it was, and I thought the boys were doing that just to be smart, taking things off the girls' desks and seeing what they could do without being caught. I mean that bunch of boys, you know, not Mickey or Andy. So maybe somebody got hold of part of your paper."

"The wind from that open window blew some paper off my desk once," mused Betty. "I believe it must have been Jakey that handed it to me, but I didn't think it was part of my paper that was written on. I stuck it under the rest. I did write out my translations on an extra paper first, for I didn't want to make any erasures and have a messy paper. But Jakey knows as much as I do. It certainly wasn't Jakey whose paper was like mine."

"Time will tell," said Peggy. "Don't worry too much, Betty. Whatever happens, your friends among us girls will believe what you say."

"Thanks, Peggy. You're a comfort. Please don't say anything to Carolyn yet."

"She might know something."

"How could she?"

"I don't know. But at least I can tell her how I was questioned, and everybody knew that you had to stay after school, so how can you help telling her?"

"I'll tell her that I was questioned, too."

Betty however, had started to school as late as she dared. In consequence lessons and the day's program were upon them. At lunch she remained in the room until after Carolyn and the rest of those going up to lunch had gone, and pretended to be detained by some notes she was writing. Perhaps it was not a pretense either, she thought, for she needed the notes. But she would not have taken them then if she had not wanted to avoid being with the rest of the girls. A few who were not going to lunch were nibbling crackers or chocolate bars and stirring about the room a little. The colored girl in her Latin cla.s.s was there and Betty wondered if she had enough money for the lunch, little as some of it cost.

Sure enough, there were some chocolate bars and an apple in her locker!

She had the chocolate bars in her sweater pocket and the apple had been presented to her in the hall by no less a friend than Budd LeRoy. She, too, would miss lunch and divide with Sally. Quickly she ran out to her locker, rifled the pocket of her sweater, discarded since the early cold morning, and brought her apple and her pocket knife.

"Have a bar with me, Sally," she said, "if you are not going to lunch either, and I'll cut this apple in two."

"Whythanks, Betty. That looks good. No, I thought I wouldn't go to lunch today. But you'd better keep all of your apple."

"It's too big and it looks awfully juicy," added Betty as she cut the apple in halves. "With my compliments, Miss Sally," and Betty a.s.sumed quite an air as she handed the fruit to Sally, who laughed and thanked Betty again.

"Have you always lived in this city?" asked Betty for something to say, as Sally sat down in her own seat which was opposite Betty's, by chance, just as in the Latin cla.s.s.

In the soft voice and accent peculiar to her race at its best, Sally answered this question and asked Betty how she liked this and that teacher, Miss Heath among others. Miss Heath had not met her cla.s.s that morning, to Betty's deep disappointment.

"I saw Miss Heath come in the uppah hall," said Sally, "jus' befo' the last cla.s.s. She hurried into the office and I suppose she couldn't get here this mawnin.'"

"Oh, is she here?" asked Betty brightening.

"Yes. Say, Betty, did you see Jakey Bechstein take some of your papers off your desk at the test?"

"No; did he?"

"Yes, while you were sharpening your pencils. The boys were having fun behind Miss Masterson's back when she was pulling down one window and putting up another for ventilation, though she didn't know I suppose that they're not supposed to do that with the system they've got here.

They were pretendin' to look at each other's papers and grab a few off the desks and Jakey grabbed yours. But he kept them a while, and I saw him sneak them back just before you started for your seat."

"I didn't notice. But Jakey knows as much about Latin as I do. What would be the point?"

"Keeping you from getting ahead of him," said Sally, taking a large bite of the apple and being obliged to catch some of the juice in her handkerchief. "Jakey's not studying so much, I reckon, since he started basketball."

Betty listened soberly and remembered the remark Jakey had made about not studying for the test. _Could_ it be that he had copied anything from her paper?

It was worth while staying from lunch and sharing with Sally to hear this. Yet could she use the information to help herself out?

"If anything should come up about Jakey, Sally, or anybody, would you be willing to tell Miss Heath what you saw?"

"I sure would. I guess the teacher kept you and Peggy about something like that yesterday, didn't she? I saw her look at Peggy when I heard Peggy snap off the kid that s.n.a.t.c.hed at her paper."

"Miss Masterson did ask some questions, Sally."

Betty was deep in her lesson for the next hour when the girls came back from lunch. "Where _were_ you, Betty?" asked Carolyn.

"Oh, I just decided that I didn't want to go up, and I happened to have some chocolate bars and an apple. I'll fill up when I get home after school."

"I always do, and eat lunch, too," said Peggy. "Miss Heath was upstairs for lunch. I saw her go into the teachers' lunch room. It was funny for her to come in the middle of the day, wasn't it?"

The girls wondered, but Miss Heath, though not feeling equal to a day of teaching, had come over for something else, as she had an idea which she wanted to share with the a.s.sistant princ.i.p.al. When Betty depressed, went into the office of the a.s.sistant princ.i.p.al after school, Miss Heath was there and looked like a fountain in the desert, or the sun shining through clouds, to Betty.

"Good afternoon, Betty," she said pleasantly, though with dignity. "I came over to see about the little matter of the test. As soon as your princ.i.p.al is at liberty, I want to go over the questions with you."

This was surprisingdid she mean the real _princ.i.p.al_? Evidently not, for when Mr. Franklin came into the office, stopped on the way by several people, both teachers and pupils, she drew out a paper. "I am ready to go over the questions with Betty, Mr. Franklin," she said.

"Very well," said he, closing the door.

"Do you remember the questions, pretty well, Betty?" asked Miss Heath.

"I would know them if I saw them."

"Have you looked up anything you did not know?"

"YesI wasn't sure about several things that I wrote down; but I have forgotten what they were now."

"Perhaps you will recall them as I go through the questions. I have your paper here," and Miss Heath took out what Betty recognized as her own paper.

What was the point of doing all this! Betty felt confused, but she would answer all the questions if that would help establish her innocence of the cheating.

One by one the examination questions, or directions in regard to what was desired, were read. Betty replied slowly, saying in several places, "I didn't put that all down on my paper, I think, Miss Heath. I thought afterward that I had omitted it, though I went all over it so carefully."

Later, when they came to the translation, she said, "I couldn't think of the name of that Dative, so I just put Indirect Object, because you said that in a way all Datives were indirect objects. But I looked it up and I could tell you now."