'Oh, why did we not come up sooner?' groaned Peggy. 'Who would ever have thought of Miss Martin taking it like this?'
'I feel,' continued the head-mistress sadly, 'that we have one girl among us of so dishonourable a nature that she seeks to hide her fault by throwing the blame on to the shoulders of another. Who that girl may be I cannot tell, but her own conscience must surely convict her.'
She paused again, and her glance passed slowly round the room. Peggy's face grew burning hot.
'I am determined,' Miss Martin went on, 'to probe this matter to the bottom, and I now call upon any girl who may have any knowledge on the subject to rise up and tell what she knows.'
Peggy tried to look at Nora, but Nora was several rows behind her. For one moment she hesitated, and in that moment she was lost. Emily Thompson had risen in her place.
'Well, Emily,' said Miss Martin gravely, 'do you know anything about this unhappy affair?'
'I do, Miss Martin,' replied Emily in a low voice.
'Tell me at once, then,' commanded the head-mistress.
'I would much rather not, please,' said Emily, casting down her eyes. 'I don't like getting another girl into trouble.'
'Emily Thompson, this is not the time to shield a companion, and I order you to say at once what you know.'