"That is the girl," admitted Miss Gould. "I know little about her----"

"And I know a good deal," interposed Mrs. Case, grimly. "Miss Carrington finds her good at her books, and her deportment is always fair in cla.s.ses. I find her the hardest girl to manage in all the school. She has a bad temper and she has never been taught to control it. It has gone so far that I fear I shall have to shut her out of some of the athletics," and she related all that had happened at the basketball game with the East High girls the afternoon before.

"I do not approve of these contests," said Miss Carrington, primly.

"They are sure to cause quarreling."

"If they do, then there is something the matter with the girls,"

declared Mr. Sharp, briskly.

"And I have received this request from the girls of the team--seven of them--this morning," continued Mrs. Case, producing the "round robin."

"The only girls beside Hester who did not sign it is a girl who always chums with her--the only really close friend Hester has to my knowledge in the school.

"Now, I should like very much to be instructed what to do about this?

The girls are perfectly in the right. Hester is not dependable on the team. There should be another girl in her place----"

"Oh, but it is quite unfair!" cried Miss Carrington. "And remember her father is quite an important man. There will be trouble if Hester is put down in these tiresome athletics; or if this story that is going about is repeated to Mr. Grimes I can't imagine what he _would_ do."

"Mr. Grimes does not run the Board of Education, nor does he control _our_ actions," declared Mr. Sharp. "We must take cognizance of these matters at once. I believe you should remove Hester from the team, as requested, Mrs. Case. You have ample reason for so doing. And this matter of the attempt to burn the gymnasium must be investigated fully."

"But no girl could do these things in the gymnasium," cried Miss Carrington, with considerable asperity.

"But she could get somebody else to do them--especially a girl who is allowed as much spending money as Hester Grimes," said the princ.i.p.al.

"I can imagine no sane person committing such a crime. It is wilful and malicious mischief, and could only be inspired by hatred, or--an unbalanced mind. That is my opinion."

CHAPTER X

MOTHER WIT AND THE GRAY MARE

For some reason, that lively young "female Mercury," as Jess Morse sometimes dubbed her, Bobby Hargrew, did not hear of this new raid upon the girls' gym. early that morning; so, like the other pupils of Central High, she could not visit the athletic building until after school. She went then with Nellie and Laura and Jess, and the quartette were almost the first girls to enter the building that day.

"It's a dreadful thing," said Laura, in discussing the affair.

The girls were all noticeably grave about the matter this time. There was little excitement, or talk of "how horrid it was" and all that.

There was a gravity in their manner which showed that the girls of Central High were quite aware that the case was serious in the extreme.

One of their number was accused of being the instigator of these raids on the gymnasium. True, or false, it was an accusation that could not be lightly overlooked. Laura Belding was particularly grave; and Nellie Agnew had cried about it.

The four friends went out into the field and examined the footprints in the earth.

"Those were never Hessie's 'feetprints,' for, big as her feet are, she never wears boots like _those_!" giggled Bobby.

"He was a shuffler--that fellow," said Jess. "See how blurred the marks are at the heel?"

"And he shuffled right up to this window--And how do you suppose he opened it, if, as Mr. Jackway says, it was locked on the inside?"

"Mystery!" said Bobby.

"Give it up," added Jess. "What do you say, Mother Wit?"

"That is the way he opened it," said Laura, softly, looking up from the foot prints.

"What's that?" cried Jess.

"Why--I hear you talking, but you don't say anything!" laughed Bobby.

"_How_ did he open it?"

"From the inside," said Laura.

"Why, Laura!" gasped Nellie. "You do not distrust Mr. Jackway?"

"Hush! Of course not," cried Jess, in a lower tone.

"No, I do not distrust him," said Laura Belding.

"What do you mean, then, by saying that the fellow opened the window from the inside?"

"And that's ridiculous, Laura!" cried Jess. "He walked up to the window from across the field--you can see he did. And there's no mark showing how he went away. He did not leave by the window. He could not have been inside when he came from outside----"

"Hold on! Hold on!" warned Bobby. "You're getting dreadfully mixed, Jess."

"But I don't see what Laura's driving at," declared her chum.

"Why," said Mother Wit, calmly, "the person who made those shoe prints walked backwards. Don't you see? That is what makes the shuffling mark at the heel. And see! the step is so uneven in length. He escaped by the window; he didn't enter by it."

"Well!" cried Nellie Agnew. "That explains without explaining. The mystery is deeper than ever."

"Why is it?" demanded Jess.

"Don't you see? Before, we thought we knew how the fellow got in. It seems to be an easier thing to get out of the gym. than into it. But now Laura knocks that in the head. The mystery is: How did he get in?"

"Oh, don't!" cried Bobby. "It makes my head buzz. And Laura is a regular lady detective. She's always finding out things that 'it would be better, far, did we not know!'"

She said this to Nellie Agnew, when they had separated from Laura and Jess, and were walking toward home.

"Say! do you know how Laura explained that canoe tipping over with Purt Sweet and Lily Pendleton?" pursued the lively one.

"I didn't know that they had an accident," laughed Nellie. "Those canoes are awfully ticklish, I know."

"I should say they were! Well, Purt and Lil borrowed Hessie's canoe and they no more than got started before they went head first into the water--and Lil, of course, helpless as usual, had to be 'rescued.' The number of times that girl has been 'rescued' this season is a caution!"

"I do admire your elegant language," said Nellie, reprovingly. "But what did Laura say?"

"She explained it all for them. Both Purt and Lil were trying to tell how such a wonderful thing chanced to happen as an overturn, when Laura said she could explain it satisfactorily to all hands. She said that Purt had made a mistake and parted his hair too far on one side, and that had overbalanced the canoe!"