She slipped along the hall, ran up the stairs to save waiting for the elevator, and finally found the door, the number of which Cora had given her some time before.
She heard voices raised in altercation within, and paused before knocking. Then she heard Nan's name spoken in Linda's unpleasant tones, and, quite unintentionally, she stood a moment playing eavesdropper.
"I tell you, she is a thief!" Linda was saying, in a voice that showed she was in one of her frequent rages. "Nan Sherwood has been acting funny ever since she came to Palm Beach, and that's why I've followed her here to see what she is up to."
"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Cora shot back, and Bess was curiously reminded of the turning worm. "I don't believe Nan Sherwood is any thief. I think she's a mighty nice girl. And every time I think of the mean trick you played on her, and how you nearly wrecked the school as well——"
Bess drew in a sharp breath and immediately came to her senses. She knocked loudly on the door, but the raised voices of the girls within drowned the sound.
Linda had turned on Cora in a fury.
"You take that back," she shrilled. "If you dare tell anybody about my wrecking that steam plant——"
But Bess, unable to contain herself another moment, tried the knob, felt the door yield, and burst in upon the astonished girls.
"Oh!" she cried triumphantly, "I knew I couldn't be wrong! It was you, Linda, after all!"