THE FINGER OF SUSPICION
That very morning as Grace was about to leave Miss Duncan's class room
she heard her name called in severe tones. Turning quickly, she met the
teacher's blue eyes fixed suspiciously upon her.
"Did you wish to speak to me, Miss Duncan?" Grace asked.
"Yes," answered Miss Duncan shortly. She continued to look steadily at
Grace without speaking.
Grace waited courteously for the teacher's next words. She wondered a
little why Miss Duncan had detained her.
"Miss Harlowe," began the teacher impressively, "I have always
entertained a high opinion of you as an honor girl. Your record during
your freshman year seemed to indicate plainly that you had a very clear
conception of what constitutes an Overton girl's standard of honor.
Within the past week, however, something has happened that forces me to
admit that I am deeply disappointed in you." Miss Duncan paused.
Grace's expressive face paled a trifle. A look of wonder mingled with
hurt pride leaped into her gray eyes. "I don't understand you, Miss
Duncan," she said quietly. "What have I done to disappoint you?"
Miss Duncan picked up a number of closely written sheets of folded paper
and handed them to Grace, who unfolded them, staring almost stupidly at
the sheet that lay on top. A wave of crimson flooded her recently pale
cheeks. "Why--what--where did you get this?" she stammered. "It is my
theme."
[Illustration: "It Is My Theme."]
"You mean it is the original from which you copied yours," put in Miss
Duncan dryly. "Is that your hand-writing?"
"No," replied Grace, in a puzzled tone.
"Is this your writing?" questioned Miss Duncan, suddenly producing
another theme from the drawer of her desk.
"Yes," was Grace's prompt answer. "I handed it in to you instead of
putting it in the collection box. You remember I told you I had lost the
first one I wrote and asked for more time."
"I remember perfectly," was the significant answer. "Is this theme,"
pointing to the one Grace still held, "the one you say you lost?"
"The one I say I lost," repeated Grace, a glint of resentment darkening
her eyes. "What do you mean, Miss Duncan?"
Her bold question caused the instructor's lips to tighten. "You have not
answered my question, Miss Harlowe," she said icily.
"No, this is not my theme," answered Grace; "that is, it is not in my
hand-writing. I do not recognize the writing." Grace ceased speaking and
stared at the theme in sudden consternation. "Some one found my theme
and copied it." Her voice sank almost to a whisper. A flush of shame for
the unknown culprit dyed her cheeks anew.
"It would be better, perhaps," interrupted the teacher sarcastically,
"if you admitted the truth of the affair at once, Miss Harlowe."
"There is nothing to admit," responded Grace steadily, "except that I
lost my theme on the evening I wrote it. When I found it was gone I came
to you at once and asked for another day's time. That same night I
rewrote it as well as I could from memory and handed it to you the
following day."
An ominous silence ensued. Then Miss Duncan said stiffly: "Miss Harlowe,
the young woman who wrote the theme you have in your hand dropped it
into the collection box of another section during the very evening you
would have me believe you were writing it. It was brought to me early
the next morning."
"How do you know that it was dropped into the box the evening before?"
flung back Grace, forgetting for an instant to whom she was speaking.
"Your question is hardly respectful, Miss Harlowe," returned Miss
Duncan, coldly reproving. "I will answer it, however, by saying that I
sent for the young woman and questioned her regarding the time she
placed her theme in the box, without letting her know my motive in doing
so. Her frank answer completely assured me that she was speaking the
truth. At the same time she explained that she had been late with her
theme on account of mislaying it. She had written it two days before and
placed it in her desk. Then it had mysteriously vanished and suddenly
reappeared in the same pigeonhole in her desk in which she had placed
it. She assured me that directly she found it she took it to the box.
Your theme is so suspiciously similar to hers that it is hardly possible
to believe it to be merely a coincidence. In the face of the
circumstances it looks as though you were the real offender."
Grace regarded Miss Duncan with mute reproach. She could not at once
trust herself to speak.
"Have you anything to say to me, Miss Harlowe?" was the stern question.
"Only, that what I have previously said to you is the truth," answered
Grace, fighting down her desire to cry. Then, seized with a sudden idea,
she said in a tone of subdued excitement, "Will you allow me to look at
that theme again, Miss Duncan?"
Miss Duncan picked up the theme from the desk where Grace had laid it
and handed it to her. A strip of paper had been pasted over the name in
the upper left hand corner. Grace scanned each closely written page
attentively. "This is my theme," she declared finally, "and I have
thought of a way to prove that I wrote it. I did not steal it from
another girl. I would not be so contemptible."
"I shall be very glad to have conclusive proof that you did not,"
commented Miss Duncan rather sarcastically. "Appearances are not in your
favor, Miss Harlowe."
"I am sorry that you doubt my word, Miss Duncan," said Grace with gentle
dignity, "because I am going to prove to you how utterly wrong you have
been in suspecting me of such contemptible conduct. I wrote this theme
in the room of a member of the senior class. She read it after I had
written it. I feel sure that she can identify this as mine because when
I rewrote it I could not remember a word of the original ending which
she had particularly commended. I did the best I could with it, but it
wasn't in the least like the other," Grace ended earnestly.
"Will you tell me the name of the young woman in whose room you wrote
your theme?" asked Miss Duncan, her stern face relaxing a little.
"It was Miss Ashe," returned Grace frankly.
Miss Duncan raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I should say you had
strong evidence in your favor, Miss Harlowe."
"Will you ask Miss Ashe to come to your room after your last class
to-day, Miss Duncan?" she asked eagerly. "I should like to show her the
theme without explaining anything to her at first. I give you my word of
honor I will say nothing about it to her in the meantime." Then,
realizing that her word of honor was at present being seriously
questioned, Grace blushed painfully.
Miss Duncan, understanding the blush, said less severely, "Very well,
Miss Harlowe." She scrutinized Grace's fine, sensitive face for a
moment, then added, "You may come at the same time if you wish."
Grace brightened, then shook her head positively. "Please let me come to
see you to-morrow morning instead." She wished to give Miss Duncan
perfect freedom to ask Mabel any questions she might find necessary to
ask.
"To-morrow morning, then," acquiesced Miss Duncan graciously.
Grace turned to leave the room. At the door she hesitated, then walking
back to the desk she said almost imploringly: "Please don't punish the
other girl now, Miss Duncan. I do not know who she is, but I am sure she
must have found my theme and copied it on the spur of the moment. I
can't believe that she did it deliberately. If she did, then being found
out by you will be lesson enough for her."
"I have not as yet exonerated you from this charge, Miss Harlowe,"
declared Miss Duncan stiffly, her brief graciousness vanishing like
magic. "If the other girl is to blame, then she must suffer for her
fault. Until I have seen Miss Ashe I shall say nothing. After that I can
not promise."
Grace bowed and left the class room, her feeling toward the unknown
plagiarist entirely one of pity. She had vindicated herself at the
expense of exposing some one else without intent to do more than assert
her own innocence, and she now wondered sadly if there were not some way
in which she might persuade Miss Duncan to change her mind.
On her way from Miss Duncan's class room that morning Grace found
herself walking directly behind Emma Dean. She was sauntering across the
campus, her near-sighted eyes fixed on a small, hurrying figure just
ahead of her.
"Hello, Grace," was Emma's affable salutation as she turned at the touch
of Grace's hand on her shoulder. "I was watching Miss Taylor. What a
disappointment that girl is. The first week or two after her arrival at
Wayne Hall I thought her delightful, but she has turned out to be
anything but agreeable. She barely nodded to me this morning. I believe
she is developing snobbish tendencies, which is a great mistake. Deliver
me from snobs! We have very few of them at Overton, thank goodness."
But Grace could not help thinking that somewhere in the college
community lived a girl who possessed a fault far greater than that of
being a snob.