“Perhaps—as it was your voice which I first heard—you had better tell me your side of it, Miss Rathmore,” agreed the principal.
“There’s only one side to it, Madame!” exclaimed Cora. “I was just telling those girls—and Miss Pevay, who interfered——”
“Corinne is the captain of the West Side. You belong on the West Side. By no possibility could your captain have interfered if you chose the public hall for any discussion,” said the Madame, with sudden sharpness. “I want all you freshmen to understand that: The school captains must be respected and obeyed.”
“Well—I—I didn’t mean to be disrespectful,” murmured Cora, suddenly abashed.
“Perhaps not. But, Miss Rathmore, I fancy you will have to watch yourself closely to correct a tendency in that direction,” observed the Madame, drily. “Now, you may continue your statement.”
Cora was quite put out for the moment. She had taken her first plunge into the matter, had been brought up short, and now scarcely knew how to carry on the attack on Nancy which had seemed so easy the minute before.
“Well—well—I—I——”
“Why do you stammer so, Miss Rathmore?” asked the principal. “Is it a fact that that which seemed so desirable to say just now appears to you in another light when you have taken time to think it over?”
Stung by this suggestion Cora threw all caution to the winds. Her black eyes flashed once more. She even stamped her foot as she pointed her finger at Nancy.
“I tell you what it is, Madame Schakael!” she cried. “I won’t stay in the same dormitory with that girl another day. If you make me I’ll write home to my mother.”