The bed creaked once again as Duane turned out of it. Kitty, now wide awake, and feeling rather amused and curious, slipped quietly out too. The head of the dormitory, looking very tall and striking in a vividly-red dressing-gown, emerged at the same time, a lighted candle in her hand. She crossed to the opposite cubicle and, without ceremony, drew back the curtain. The cubicle was empty. Quickly she made a round of the dormitory; the nine cubicles occupied by juniors were all deserted. The only occupants of the dormitory at that moment were herself, Kitty and Hilary, who could be heard breathing deeply and steadily, soundly asleep.
"Shall we follow them, and see what they're up to?" asked Kitty eagerly, only too willing for an adventure.
"No fear!" replied Duane with a yawn. "Bed for me. They'll only be gorging themselves in the common-room, I expect. Little wretches! It'll do in the morning. Good night." Yawning again, she went off into her cubicle, carrying the light with her.
Kitty hesitated, disappointed, but not caring to switch on one of the lights, and at last decided that, under the circumstances, the most discreet thing to do was to follow Duane's example. In ten minutes, the latter was breathing as regularly and as evenly as Hilary. Kitty, lying awake, heard the delinquents return, and grinned to herself as she thought of their surprise in the morning. The head prefect, for once, evidently intended to exert her authority and enforce discipline.
Directly after morning lessons were over, at half past twelve, the nine juniors who slept in Dormitory A were summoned to their head prefect's study. Here they found Duane, Hilary and Kitty. The last named had much ado to refrain from smiling as the nine sheepish-looking juniors endeavoured to squeeze themselves into the little room. In the foreground was Peggy O'Nell, always the chief spokesman for the juniors. She was in the Fourth, an active, mercurial girl with a mop of thick black curls, sparkling blue eyes and a mischievous smile. She had won her position as leader of the juniors through sheer force of personality, and perhaps enjoyed a larger share of popularity than any other girl in the house. Close behind her was her faithful follower and shadow, little Erica Salter, Bertha's sister.
The friendship between the two was a curious one, for Erica was several years Peggy's junior and in the lowest form. She was a slim, fair-haired, fairy-like child, of rather a timid nature. In no respect did she resemble her sister Bertha. She adored the high-spirited, masterful Peggy with a slavish devotion; in her eyes Peggy could do no wrong. On the other hand, Erica was petted and made much of by the rest of the dormitory, because she was the youngest, the "baby."
"You'll find standing room, if there's nowhere to sit down," remarked Duane, in an affable drawl. "Would you mind shutting the door behind you? Thanks so much. Now we can get to business. I suppose you won't deny the fact that all nine of you left your dormitory in the middle of last night?"
"Wouldn't be much good, would it?" replied Peggy, somewhat impudently.
Duane ignored the impudence, and went on in the same tone:
"I also presume you are aware that, since a girl broke her leg last year at that same trick, it is one of the strictest house rules that girls are not to leave their dormitories after lights out, except in cases of necessity."