ANOTHER RAID
Hester Grimes, as the doctor said, had appeared late that afternoon at
the Doyles' little tenement. She had gone there from the basketball
game instead of going directly home.
To tell the truth, she did not wish to be questioned by her mother,
nor did she want to meet Lily. If she had felt hatred against her
mates in Central High before, that feeling in her heart was now
doubled!
For, as all anger is illogical (indignation may not be) Hester turned
upon the girls and blamed them for the referee's decision. Because
Miss Lawrence had put her out of the game Hester would have been glad
to know that her team mates had gone to pieces and been defeated.
She had managed to recover outwardly from her disappointment and
anger, however, when she arrived at the domicile of her humble
acquaintances. Mrs. Doyle knitted jackets, and Hester had ordered one
for her mother.
"Ma is always lolling around and complaining of feeling draughts,"
said Hester. "So I'll give her one of these 'snuggers' to keep her
shoulders warm. She's always snuffing with a cold when it comes fall
and the furnace fire is not lit."
"Lots o' folks are having colds just now," complained Mrs. Doyle.
"Johnny's snuffling with one."
"Oh, he'll be all right--won't he, Rufie?" said Hester, chucking the
baby under his plump little chin, but speaking to his faithful nurse.
"In course he will, Miss Hester," cried Rufus, and then opened his
mouth for a roar of laughter, that made even the feverish Johnny crow.
"Rufus never gets tired of minding Johnny," said the widow, proudly.
"But he does miss his Uncle Bill."
Rufe's face clouded over. "He ain't never home no more," he said,
complainingly.
"But you can go over to see him at the gymnasium," said Hester.
"Not no more he can't, Miss," said the widow. "Rufus used to go over
to see Uncle Bill evenings; but Uncle Bill can't have him there no
more."
"Why not?" asked Hester, quickly; and yet she flushed and turned her
own gaze away and looked out of the window.
"Bill's had some trouble there. He's afraid the Board of Education
would object. Somebody got into the building----"
"I heard about it," said Hester, quickly.
"Wisht Uncle Bill had another job," grumbled Rufus.
"Rufie's real bright about some things," whispered his mother. "And
sharp ain't no name for it! He is pretty cute. You can't say much
before him that he don't remember, and repeat."
"Wisht that old gymnasium building would burn up; then Uncle Bill
could come home," muttered Rufe.
Mrs. Doyle went to see to her fire. Hester beckoned the boy to the
window and whispered to him. Gradually Rufe's face lit up with one of
his flashes of cunning. Money passed from the girl's hand to that of
the half-witted youth.
Just then Dr. Agnew appeared and Hester took her departure.
On the following morning Franklin Sharp, the principal of Central
High, called a conference of his teachers at the first opportunity. He
was very grave indeed when he told them that another raid had been
made upon the girls' gymnasium.
"Not so much damage is reported as was done before. But, then, the
paraphernalia before destroyed was not all removed. But this time the
scoundrel--or scoundrels--tried arson.
"A fire was built in a closet on the upper floor. Bill Jackway smelled
smoke and got up to see what it was. He found no trace of the
firebug--can discover no way in which he got out----"
"But how did he get in?" asked one of the teachers.
"That is plain. It had rained early in the evening. Footprints are
still visible leading across a soft piece of ground from the east
fence to a window. The window was open, although Bill swears it was
shut and locked when he went to bed at ten o'clock. That is how the
marauder entered the building. How he got out is a mystery," declared
the principal.
"It is a very dreadful thing," complained Miss Carrington. "I do not
see what we can do about it."
"We must do something," said Miss Gould, with vigor.
"Suppose you suggest a course of procedure, Miss Gould?" said the
principal, his eyes twinkling.
"I think it would be well," said Miss Gould, "to sift every rumor and
story regarding this matter. There is much gossip among the girls. I
have heard of a threat that one girl made in the gymnasium----"
"That is quite ridiculous, Miss Gould!" cried Miss Carrington, with
some heat. "You have been listening to a base slander against one of
my very best pupils."
"You mean this Hester Grimes, Henry Grimes's daughter?" said the
principal, sternly.
"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 classes. 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 principal.
"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."