INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE.
"Keep your seats, young--ladies, I suppose I must call you. I have
something to say to you." We thought it was coming and were glad to have
it over with. "Something has occurred, very grave in its nature."
"Pshaw!" I thought. "Having a feast in the Gym is not so terribly
grave." I had for the moment forgot entirely about the boys' escapade.
"Last night, Mr. Ryan, our night watchman, who faithfully keeps watch
over the building while you are sleeping, was coming to his duties from
the village where he lives when he was startled by an apparition. Three
figures, garbed in white, came suddenly upon him out of the darkness.
This was just outside the school grounds and about five minutes after
nine o'clock--immediately after your unmasking, I take it. Mr. Ryan was
very startled, so much so that he turned and ran all the way back to the
village and he declares that these figures ran after him. He says that
he was able to note that two of them were tall and one quite short. The
poor old man is very superstitious and thinks they were ghosts, but we
are too enlightened to believe such a thing. In fact, we have reason to
believe we know the girls who perpetrated what, no doubt, they consider
a joke, but to our minds it is nothing more than a cruel prank that none
but unlady-like, ill-bred hoydens could be capable of." Here she paused
and grasping firmly the last few superfluous chins that had formed above
her collar, she resolutely pushed them back and resumed her discourse.
"I need hardly say on whom my suspicions have fallen--the fact of its
having been two tall figures and one short one can mean only Mary
Flannagan and the Tucker twins."
We sat electrified! Why Mary and the Tuckers any more than any other
three girls in the school? Mary was certainly not the shortest girl in
the school and the Tuckers were certainly not the tallest. It was so
silly that I would have laughed aloud if I had not been too indignant.
Tweedles sat up very straight and sniffed the air like war horses ready
for battle, while Mary Flannagan looked for all the world like a little
Boston bull dog straining at his leash to get at the throat of some
antagonist.
Now at this juncture a remarkable thing occurred when we consider Annie
Pore's timidity. She stood up and with that clear wonderful voice,
musical whether in speaking or singing, said:
"Miss Plympton, I am exactly the height of the Tuckers and Mary
Flannagan is my intimate friend and roommate! I insist upon being held
in exactly the same ridiculous suspicion that you have placed my three
friends."
"I am a little shorter but will walk on my tip toes the rest of my life
if it is necessary to prove that I was with the Tuckers and Mary
Flannagan from the time of unmasking last night until we went to our
room at ten!" I blurted out, springing to my feet.
I was very angry with the boys for getting us into this scrape, but
since we were there, I was determined to stay with my friends. Of course
it was Harvie and Wink and Shorty who had met old Mr. Ryan. They had
left the building just before nine, and he, poor old thing, being of a
naturally superstitious turn of mind had come to the school earlier than
usual, as he knew it was Hallowe'en and feared something might catch
him. The boys saw he was scared and, boy-like, had given chase.
"What have you to say for yourself, Miss Flannagan?" said Miss Plympton,
ignoring Annie and me as though we had never existed.
"Nothing but this: 'I deny the allegation and defy the alligator,'" said
Mary, quoting Mrs. Malaprop with as much composure as she could muster.
"And you, Miss Caro--ginia Tucker?" she demanded, looking first at Dum
and then at Dee and finally striking a medium course and looking between
them.
"I--" tweedled the twins and then both stopped. "I--" still tweedling.
"One at a time!" snapped our principal.
"I don't know what you accuse us of exactly," said Dum, taking the lead.
"If you accuse me of being the same height as my twin and of being much
with her, I plead guilty. If you accuse us both of being much taller
than our esteemed contemporary, Mary Flannagan, we both will plead
guilty. As for running out in the night and scaring poor old Mr. Ryan to
death,--why, that is absurd. We can prove as many alibis as necessary.
Remember, though, we are merely twins and not triplets, nor yet
quartettes. One alibi apiece is all we mean to furnish."
"And I," said Dee, as Dum paused for breath, "I! I don't mean for one
instant to furnish an alibi or anything else. I was not out of the Gym
after we unmasked at nine until ten when we went to our rooms. I am
accustomed to having my word believed and I do not intend to prove
anything one way or the other. A criminal is innocent until he is proven
guilty, anyhow, and I will leave the matter entirely in your hands." Dee
sat down with a crash and opened a book. Miss Plympton looked somewhat
taken aback, but she continued in her hard and even tones:
"Do you mean to tell me then, Miss Vir--oline Tucker,--I mean the one
who has just sat down,--do you mean to tell me you have no idea who the
masked figures were who ran after Mr. Ryan?"
"No, I did not mean to tell you that," said Dee, shutting her book very
deliberately and rising again. "You did not ask me that question. But
since you intimate that you did, rather than befoul my mouth with even
the semblance of a lie, I will tell you that I have a very strong idea
who the masked figures were, but that I have not the slightest idea of
informing you or any one else on whom my suspicions rest."
As Dee bumped down into her seat there was a murmur of admiration and
wonder from the assembled school. Even Annie's bravery sank into
insignificance by the side of this daring deed of Dee's.
The Juniors who had been implicated in the feast of the night before
were greatly astonished and somewhat relieved at the turn of affairs.
They had felt that something was in the wind and certainly thought it
was their feast at midnight. It seems that old Mr. Ryan had run all the
way home and when he reached there was so out of breath that it took him
many minutes to tell his wife what was the matter. He had refused to go
to the school to keep watch on such a night, when graves give up their
dead. The wife had come in the early morning to resign for her timid
spouse. The tale had grown greatly in the telling and now the negro
servants had it that sparks of fire flew from the eyes of the ghostly
trio. No doubt that was Wink's cigarette, for he had threatened to light
it before he was well out of the building.
No wonder we had been able to pull off our midnight party without
detection since the school had been minus a night watchman! We were all
of us glad we were in trouble over something we had not done instead of
something we had done.
When Dee sat down with such a vicious bump, we wondered what next, but
Miss Plympton soon put our minds at rest. She made about half a dozen
new chins and then spoke, her voice not quite so even as before.
"It is not my intention to bandy words with mere school girls, but I
feel that in justice to myself, I must say that it is not merely the
fact of the contrasting heights of these malefactors, but it is also
evidence of a very convincing character that has been brought to light."
We were all ears, waiting for the disclosure. "It is a well-known fact
that the Misses Tucker use large handkerchiefs, gentlemen's
handkerchiefs. This has been brought to my attention through mistakes
that have occurred in the laundry,--ahem--using a similar kind
myself,--" Here a smile went over the listening school. "This morning a
handkerchief was picked up on exactly the spot where Mr. Ryan began his
race with the supposed ghosts." Exhibit No. 1 was then produced and held
up for inspection. It was a large and very shady-looking handkerchief
with a great red T in the corner. We knew it in a moment for the
property of Thomas Hawkins (alias Shorty). "See the initial!" pointing
to the red T.
We had joked Shorty the summer before about his very large and gaudy
handkerchiefs. He had a varied assortment of H's and T's in all colours
of the rainbow. Now Dum arose in her might. Her attitude was dignified
and quiet and she held up her hand for permission to speak.
"What is it, Caro--ginia?"
"I wish to say, Miss Plympton, that up to this juncture I have felt that
you have been making a mistake, the kind any one might make in a case of
mistaken identity, that you have jumped to a conclusion, feeling as you
do that my sister and I and our friends are rather wild,--but now let me
say, Miss Plympton, that you have overstepped the possibility of being
merely mistaken and I consider your remarks and accusations nothing
short of insulting. It is bad enough to think we would go out in the
night and deliberately scare a poor superstitious old man, but to
think," and here Dum's voice took on that oratorical ring that I have
heard Zebedee's take when he was very much in earnest about proving a
point, "to think that my sister and I would own such a terribly
inartistic looking handkerchief as the one you are holding, a great
thick, cotton rag with a red initial on it,--and furthermore openly to
accuse either one of us of carrying about our persons anything so
filthy, so unspeakably dirty,--I wonder you can touch it!" This she said
with such a vigorous intonation that Miss Plympton actually dropped the
despised handkerchief. "And now, Miss Plympton, my sister and I will
with your permission withdraw and will await an apology from you in our
room, 117 Carter Hall."
Before the amazed eyes of Miss Plympton and the whole school, those
intrepid twins actually got up and with the greatest composure marched
out of the assembly hall.
Instead of having to prove their innocence, they had completely turned
the tables on Miss Plympton and were demanding an apology from her about
something that was entirely foreign to the matter in hand.
Miss Plympton made some more chins and then quite like a good sport
accepted her defeat and dismissed us to our classes, and as far as I
know, to this day Mr. Ryan does not know what came so near getting him.
He was persuaded to resume his duties, however.
We nearly died laughing at Mary Flannagan, who got quite huffy at Dum
for being so scornful of Shorty's cotton handkerchief.
"It was a very appropriate, manly handkerchief and I don't think it was
at all nice of Dum Tucker to say such mean things about it," fumed Mary,
refusing to be comforted. "I hate a sissy boy who uses fine
handkerchiefs. The kind Shorty has are good for so many things. He uses
them to dust his shoes with and lots of other things."
"Never mind, Mary, it was a nice handkerchief and if you want it, I'll
go sneak it off the stage where old Miss Plumpton dropped it," I said,
teasing our funny friend. I did get it and had it nicely laundered and
put it on the school Christmas tree for Mary, much to her confusion.
Tweedles told me they had hardly been in their room five minutes when
Miss Ball came to see them as an emissary from Miss Plympton. She
brought Miss Plympton's apology for the slur put upon them in regard to
the handkerchief. It seems that their attitude in that matter had quite
won over that strange woman, as she herself never used anything but the
finest linen handkerchiefs and she quite appreciated their feelings.
"Miss Plympton hopes you will accept her apology," continued Miss Ball;
"she also hopes you will assist her in every way to find out the
offenders so she can bring them to justice."
"Now, Miss Ball, you know us well enough to feel that you are wasting
your breath, don't you?" asked Dee.
"Well, yes, but you must remember I am merely an emissary."
"Well, as man to man, Miss Ball, is it up to us to tell all we suspect
might possibly go on _outside_ of the school grounds?"
"Oh! then it may not have been pupils from our school?"
"Possibly not! But don't quote me. I merely suggest that you suggest,"
and Dee shut up like a clam.
Miss Ball was not at all in love with her job as emissary and had no
idea of trying to force a confession from Tweedles, so she left them no
wiser than she came and the Tuckers resumed their classes as though
nothing had occurred to interrupt the peace of the day.
Miss Plympton seemed to have more respect for our crowd than she had
before that scene in the assembly hall. The biggest thing that came from
that experience, though, was that Dum and Dee Tucker immediately sent to
Richmond for ladies' handkerchiefs.
"We'll save the big ones for blowers but we must have some showers!"
they tweedled.