An urgent matter, which she had put off until her brother’s departure, must now claim her attention. She ordered the entire Fifth Form, together with Hermie and Veronica, to repair to the practising-room, where Raymonde was still kept prisoner.
The girls marched in as quietly as if they were going to church. Their Principal sat by the table, with two little parallel lines of worry on her usually smooth forehead, and a grieved look in her grey eyes.
“It is very distressing to me to be obliged to make this enquiry,” she began, “but it is absolutely necessary that we find out what has become of those missing notes. I put you all on your honour to tell me what you know. Can any girl throw any light on the matter?”
She looked anxiously and wistfully round the little circle, but nobody replied. Raymonde sat with downcast eyes, and the old obstinate expression on her face. The eyes of all the other girls were focused upon her.
“I am most loath to accuse anyone of such a dreadful thing as taking money,” continued Miss Beasley, “but unless you can offer me some explanation, Raymonde, I shall be obliged to send you home. The facts look very black against you. You were treasurer, and cannot produce the funds; 283 you were seen buying a postal order, and you received a handsome fountain pen by post.”
“If you please, Miss Beasley,” interposed Veronica, “how could Raymonde be buying a postal order when Hermie and I saw her practising here?”
“It is most puzzling, I allow; but both Mrs. Sims the postmistress, and Mrs. West, who happened to be buying groceries in the shop, agree emphatically that it was Raymonde who came to the counter. They say that she was not in school uniform, but wore a green dress and a small cap.”
“Raymonde has no green dress!”
“But she has admitted to me that she bought the postal order.”
The girls looked at their chum in consternation. Raymonde buried her face in her hands.