The girls giggled at that retort. It did seem funny to hear Mrs. Cupp joke, in even the grimmest manner.
But Mrs. Cupp was rapidly recovering from her softer mood. Laura said afterward that if it took a ghost-fright to make Mrs. Cupp “livable,” if the matron were threatened with the guillotine, for instance, she might really be good company while the effect of the announcement of the coming tragedy lasted.
“I want to know who the guilty party is,” said the Lakeview Hall matron. “Who got up this party, and who paid for it?”
“I’m the guilty one,” said Nan, promptly. “I must be held solely responsible.”
“Oh, no, she is not alone responsible. I helped,” cried Bess, “and if Nan is to be punished, I ought to be, too.”
“And so did I,” Amelia put in. “T’won’t be fair for only one to be punished.”
“And you know,” said the red-haired girl, with saucy significance, “we all helped eat Nan’s lovely supper.”
“Ahem! I see the point, Laura,” Mrs. Cupp observed. “But it does not change the facts. A rule of the Hall has been broken—flagrantly broken. That you girls fled away to this spot for your reprehensible act adds to the offence. We are responsible to your parents and guardians for your health and safety. The result of an escapade like this nobody can foretell. Something might have happened in this old boathouse to harm you girls and bring ill-repute to the Hall.”
The party of school-law breakers looked rather solemn. Mrs. Cupp folded the napkin she had used and brushed the crumbs from her black broadcloth skirt.
“Nothing excuses an infraction of the rules. But I am inclined to show leniency to everybody but the prime mover in this affair. And that is——”