BILLIE SNORES SUCCESSFULLY
It was a wonder any of the girls could keep their minds on their lessons
that morning. As a matter of fact, they recited so poorly for Miss Ada
and Miss Cora that the two "Dill Pickles" turned sourer than ever and
threatened to report them to Miss Walters.
But what did they care? The night was before them!
Seven o'clock came, then eight o'clock, and then nine. The gong rang for
"lights out," and every girl was in bed and, apparently, sound asleep.
But underneath the bed of each and every girl who was to be in the party
was a box or a basket filled to the brim with smuggled dainties.
These containers held cold meat and pickles from the delicatessen shop
near by. There was jelly. Olives and biscuits and fancy cakes with
foolish icing on top were there--everything in fact that goes to the
making of a first class midnight feast.
Miss Ada Dill, making her evening round of the dormitories to see that
all was well and every girl in her place, found nothing to arouse her
suspicions until she came to Billie's dormitory. Then she paused,
started to close the door, opened it again and stood still, intently
listening.
And it was Billie who, in her eagerness not to be discovered, almost
gave the thing away. For Billie was snoring, gently but decidedly
snoring, and to Miss Ada's trained ear, the snore did not sound natural.
So in she came, and Billie, watching out of the corner of one eye, felt
a panicky desire to pull the covers over her head and hide.
Suppose Miss Ada should discover that five of the girls in dormitory "C"
were not undressed at all, but wore their nightgowns over their clothes?
Suppose--but this was too awful even to imagine--Miss Ada should
discover those baskets under the beds. Billie shivered and almost gave
the thing away a second time.
Miss Ada slowly made the rounds of the beds, scrutinizing each girl
sharply and passing them by one by one reluctantly until she came to
Billie's bed.
Billie was still snoring gallantly--she did not know what else to do. If
she stopped now it would be a dead give away. And yet to keep on was
almost impossible.
Poor little Billie! Afterward she could laugh at it, but at the time it
seemed nothing short of a nightmare. She knew that Laura and Vi and
Rose and Caroline were awake and waiting for the terrible moment when
Miss Ada should discover the conspiracy.
If she could only keep on snoring for a minute longer! thought Billie
desperately. And then the unbelievable thing happened. Instead of
commanding her in no uncertain tones to get out of bed, Miss Ada
turned--slowly but surely turned--and marched out of the room.
Not until the door was shut could Billie believe that she was really
safe. And not until she heard Miss Ada's footsteps die off down the hall
did she dare to stop snoring.
Then she drew a long breath and stretched out arms cramped by lying so
long in the same position. And in the dark stillness of the dormitory
she heard four more sighs--distinct and very plaintive.
For a full five minutes the girls lay still, hardly daring to breathe,
afraid that Miss Ada would change her mind and come back again.
But as the minutes passed and nothing happened, their courage returned
and Billie began to feel jubilant. She must be a good actress indeed to
fool Miss Ada!
And then----
Five ghostly figures sat up in bed, pushed back the bed clothes, and
slid silently to the floor. Once on their feet they shed their
nightgowns and their dark dresses only made a blurr in the blackness of
the room.
Still noiseless as mice, they drew out the precious baskets from under
the beds and crept over to where Billie was waiting for them.
"Where do we go from here, girls?" said Laura in a hysterical whisper.
"Goodness, but I'm scared to death."
"Keep quiet or you'll have something to be scared about," Billie
directed in a fierce little whisper. "Come on--I think the road's
clear."
They tiptoed to the door, and Billie opened it cautiously and peeped
out. There was no one in sight, and she stepped out into the hall
quickly, motioning to the girls to follow her.
Caroline, the last to leave the dormitory, stopped for a moment and
looked about at the sleeping girls. Then, satisfied that they were
really asleep and that none of them suspected the prank, she followed
the other girls out into the hall and closed the door carefully behind
her.
They found their fellow conspirators in dormitory "F" already up and
stirring. The lights were lit, hampers were out on the table ready to be
opened, and the real fun of the party was commencing when the five
arrived.
They were greeted with subdued enthusiasm, for no one dared to speak
above a whisper, and Connie demanded to know why Billie was late.
"We couldn't do a thing without you," she said. "You had the program and
everything----"
"And besides," finished Nellie, "we'd promised not to start anything
until you came."
"We thought you'd been caught," Connie added reproachfully.
"We were just about to put out the lights and get into bed ourselves,"
chimed in another girl, "because we thought if you were caught, Miss Ada
would come over here and catch us too."
"But what made you late?" asked Connie again.
"If you'll stop talking and listen a minute," said Billie, her eyes
shining with excitement, "I'll tell you what a narrow escape we had."
The girls gathered around eagerly while she told her story, and when she
had finished they gazed at her with horrified eyes.
"Billie, what ever made you do such a thing?" cried Nellie. "Why, if you
had just kept still she probably would never have suspected a thing."
"I know that now," said Billie ruefully. "It was a crazy thing to do,
but when I'd once started it I didn't dare stop."
"Well, I think you deserve a gold medal," said Laura loyally. "If it had
been me----" this wasn't correct English, but Laura was too excited to
notice it--"I'd have giggled or something and given the whole thing
away."
"Goodness! wouldn't Miss Ada be happy if she could really catch us at
something," said Nellie, but the girls would not listen to her.
There wasn't a bit of danger. Weren't they going to have somebody at the
door to mount guard and to warn them of the slightest noise downstairs?
They had decided to draw lots to see who should be chosen for this very
disagreeable position of guard and now they set to work at once to "get
the agony over with" as Rose Belser said.
Rose had been very quiet, for her, and there was a queer expression in
her eyes when she looked at Billie that would have made the latter
wonder if she had had time to notice it. However, there was one girl who
did notice it, and that was Caroline Brant.
Strangely enough, it was Rose who drew the blank that made her "guardian
of the portal" for the first twenty minutes. At the end of that time the
girls would draw again and let another poor unfortunate take her place.
Rose was inclined to grumble at her hard luck at first, for she wanted
to be in the fun as much as any of the girls. But suddenly there came to
her an idea--a way that she might punish Billie for daring to become so
popular at Three Towers Hall.
Of course, she could not hurt Billie without hurting all the rest of the
girls but--her lips shut tight and her eyes narrowed to slits--goodness
knew they deserved it. It was they who had helped to make Billie so
popular.
The plan she had thought of was very easy. All she had to do was to slip
from dormitory "F" into her own, leaving both doors open a little so
that the light from one could shine into the other.
Then, as she passed Amanda Peabody's cot, just a little jostling to
awaken her and the thing would be as good as done. Amanda, seeing the
light, would be sure to investigate, and, while she was gone, she, Rose,
could undress quickly, put on her gown, and slip into bed. Then when the
discovery came--and Rose knew Amanda well enough to be sure there would
be a discovery--she would be safe in bed and unsuspected. That is,
unless the girls should tell.
She looked over her shoulder at the happy scene in dormitory "F," and
for a minute she felt guilty. Then one of the girls came over and put an
arm about Billie and her lips tightened again.
Of course if the girls knew that she had been the one to give them away,
no one would have anything to do with her. She would probably have to
leave Three Towers Hall.
But how would they know? She could tell them that she had slipped into
dormitory "C" to get a handkerchief--or something else, she could think
that up later--and while she was gone, Amanda had slipped out and given
the alarm. It was all very simple.
She looked back into the room where the fun was in full swing and once
more her heart forsook her. It would be a dreadful thing for the girls.
They would probably be expelled from Three Towers.
But here was her chance, if she was going to do it--and it might be her
only one. One of the girls was giving a whispered and funny recitation,
and the girls were doubled up with laughter, fairly holding on to
themselves to keep from making a noise.
The look in Rose's eyes hardened. She forsook her post