From this remark of Laura's it may be easily seen that she was still a
little grouchy about having to give up five dollars' worth of sodas and
candy. But away down in her heart she derived more real pleasure from
the thought of what her gold piece would buy for the Haddons than she
would out of a great deal more than five dollars' worth of pleasure for
herself.
"Billie," spoke up Vi suddenly after they had walked some little way in
silence, "what did you ask Mrs. Haddon about that lost invention for?"
"Yes, it sounded as if you really knew something about it," Laura took
her up eagerly. "You don't, do you?"
"Not a thing in the world," Billie replied quickly. "Only," she added
slowly, the same thoughtful look in her eyes that had been there before,
"so many queer things have happened to me lately that I'm getting sort
of queer myself, I guess. I can't help thinking about that cave Teddy
and I found."
"Well, I don't blame you for thinking of it," said Laura, looking
curiously at her chum. "I think of it myself--quite often. But what has
that to do with the stolen machinery models?"
"Nothing, of course," said Billie, adding as the three towers of the
grand old Hall loomed into view. "But I would like to have a look at the
inside of that cave again. Maybe the models were taken there and broken
up. The cave was full of junk."
Laura, really curious by this time, was about to put a question when she
saw Amanda and the "Shadow" approaching, and the question died in her
throat.
The three classmates, who never deliberately "cut" anybody, nodded to
the two girls in a friendly enough manner, but the latter looked
straight at them and never so much as winked an eye.
"Whew!" whistled Laura, softly, as the chums stopped and looked back
after the unmannerly girls. "Cut, by jinks!"
"And by Amanda, of all people!" added Vi, in the same tone.
"Well, come on," said Billie, and she turned and led the way up the
steps. "There's no use standing there and looking after them like a lot
of wooden Indians. I'd like--" she added, her temper getting the better
of her for the moment, "I would like to wring that girl's neck."
"Do you know," said Vi a few minutes later when they were washing
themselves in the dormitory, "that Amanda has entered for the
composition prize?"
The girls looked at her unbelievingly.
"Amanda!" cried Billie, laughing at the absurdity of the thing. "Why,
Amanda can hardly write her own name. You know that."
"Of course I know it," agreed Vi, scrubbing her face vigorously. "That's
why it seems so silly. Unless she has something up her sleeve," she
added meaningly.
"How did you find out?" asked Laura, curling up on the bed and regarding
her chum severely. "Did she tell you?"
"Tell me!" repeated Vi with a chuckle. "That _is_ a good one. No, I just
happened to overhear her telling Eliza that she had entered for the
composition prize and that she was going to give Billie Bradley the
surprise of her life."
"She surely does love me," sighed Billie, as she pulled her pretty curls
into place. "I don't see why she doesn't pick on somebody else for a
change."
"Well, you'd better look out, that's all," said Vi, wrinkling her
forehead seriously. "I'm almost sure she is planning some crooked work,
and it's up to us to double cross her."
"Hear, hear!" cried Laura delightedly. "And Vi is the one who is always
calling me down for using slang. Fine for a beginner, Vi darling. Keep
it up."
The result of this revelation of Vi's was to make the girls watch Amanda
and the "Shadow" more carefully than ever before. And if it had not been
for just this watchfulness there is no telling what might have happened
to Billie Bradley, and through her, to her classmates.
And this was the way it happened.
Luckily for the three North Bend chums, Amanda and her "Shadow" shared
the dormitory with them and Rose Belser. And so it was that Billie,
coming in unexpectedly one day heard the very end of a sentence spoken
in a loud whisper by Amanda. And though it was only the end of the
sentence, it told a great deal to Billie, whose suspicions had already
been aroused.
"--at ten to-night, in Miss Race's room," were the words she caught. The
fact that Amanda stopped speaking at sight of her and grew an unsightly
brick red, gave Billie further proof that the girl was plotting
mischief. Very probably the scapegoat was to be--herself.
She gave no sign that she had heard anything out of the ordinary, but
when she had found the book she had come for and was out in the hall
once more, her heart was pounding heavily and her face was hot.
Ever since they had come to Three Towers Amanda had done her best to
discredit Billie. She had not succeeded so far, but some time she might.
Was this the time? thought Billie, a dull rage taking possession of her.
No! She would not let Amanda get the better of her. She would outwit
her, now that she had been warned. Then a dreadful thought came to her.
Suppose Amanda, thinking she had given her secret away, postponed her
miserable plot, whatever it was, until another time? No wonder Billie
answered questions queerly that afternoon, so queerly, in fact, that one
teacher asked her if she were ill and would like to be excused!
But Billie did not want to be excused--that would mean more time to
herself to think. And so she blundered through the miserable afternoon
and her heart jumped with relief when the last gong sounded that meant
liberty.
Connie and Laura overtook her in the hall on the way to the dormitory
and Laura looked actually anxious.
"What was the matter with you this afternoon?" she asked. "Why, you
answered 'no' three times when it should have been 'yes,' and it sounded
so silly I'd have had to laugh if I hadn't been scared to death!"
"What is it, Billie?" added Connie, putting an arm about her friend.
"You look dreadfully white. Aren't you feeling well?"
Then, pulling them into a secluded corner of the dormitory, Billie told
them what she had heard, and as Vi came in just as she had finished, she
had to tell it all over again, just for her benefit.
Of course the girls were all angry, and Laura wanted to go and have it
out with Amanda at once, but Billie, who had had all the afternoon to
think out the best thing to do, commanded her to say nothing about it to
any one.
"Listen," she said, tensely. "Somebody's apt to come in at any minute,
and then I can't say it. This is what we will do to-night.
"We'll pull our nighties on over our clothes, get into bed and pretend
to go to sleep. Then we'll wait till Amanda starts whatever she's going
to do, and we'll follow her and see what she's up to."
"And then," said Laura, driven to more forceful slang by the necessity
for emphasis, "we'll just about _settle_ her!"
True to their plans, they retired to the dormitory that night before
Amanda or the "Shadow" or Rose Belser arrived there, and they hurriedly
slipped their nightgowns over their clothes and got into bed.
"Poor Connie's wailing her heart out," chuckled Laura, "because she's in
another dorm and can't be in at the death. I say, Vi, push the collar of
your dress down. It shows outside your nightie."
"Sh-h," warned Billie. "I hear somebody coming----"
The somebody proved to be no other than Amanda and Eliza, and when they
entered they found Billie and Laura and Vi sleeping peacefully with a
cherubic expression of utter innocence on their faces.
It seemed to the girls that they had never lived through an hour so long
as that between nine o'clock and ten that night. And it was with more
than relief that they heard a slight stir at last and saw a shadowy
figure slip out of bed and make noiselessly for the door. And while they
held their breath for fear their breathing might betray them, they saw a
second shadow flit after the first one. "The Shadow," in fact!
They waited till the conspirators had had time to get well down the
hall, then they too slipped quietly out of bed, pulled their nightgowns
off, and started in pursuit.
"Sh," whispered Billie. "Take your time. We want to let them do it
before we catch them at it."
When they reached Miss Race's door they were surprised to see a light in
the room. Was it possible Amanda had been brazen enough to turn on the
light herself?
Cautiously Billie peeped into the room and saw that Amanda and Eliza
were busily at work doing something to the teacher's desk at the other
end of the room. They were alone, so it must have been Amanda who had
switched on the light. The girl was bold with the courage of stupidity.
Laura uttered a stifled exclamation, and would have pushed past Billie
but the latter held her back. For still another minute she hesitated,
then called to the girls softly.
"Now," she said, and ran swiftly into the room, Laura and Vi beside her.
So quickly and silently did they come that they were almost upon the two
girls before either of them looked up. Then----
"Amanda Peabody!" cried Billie, her voice choked with anger. "We've
caught you this time! Now let's see what you were doing!"