"Really, the way you girls behave in this school is atrocious! Fancy three big girls of fifteen sitting on the floor in that ugly attitude. And why are you sitting in the dark? Why are you here at all for that matter? Is there not an organ recital you ought to be attending?"
"The organ recital was optional, Miss Burton," said Jack respectfully. Respect seemed to her the easiest way of getting rid of this very unwelcome visitor. "And Nita and Gerry and I thought we would rather stay in here in the warm, and have a cosy talk over the fire."
"But why turn the lights out?" demanded the mistress, suspicious of the extreme innocence of the three faces before her. The innocence of two of them, rather! Gerry was not good at disguising her expression at any time, and at the moment she was looking distinctly uncomfortable.
"We like sitting in the firelight best," said Jack glibly. "It makes it seem so much more cosy and mysterious. Don't you think so yourself, Miss Burton?" From the keen interest of her tone an uninitiated observer might have thought that it was really a matter of importance to her to discover the mistress's private opinion on this engrossing topic.
Miss Burton, however, was not to be thus beguiled.
"No, I cannot say that I do," she said stiffly. She gave another suspicious look around, but although she was not by any means convinced of the innocency of her three pupils' proceedings, there seemed to be nothing that she could lay hold of, and she turned reluctantly towards the door.
And then at that inauspicious moment, Gerry's pocket—stuffed far beyond its ordinary capacity with chestnuts—must suddenly give way!
There was a sound of ripping material, and the next moment a cascade of chestnuts poured out upon the floor. In a moment Miss Burton was upon them, and the mystery of the strange smell became apparent to her.
"I thought so!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "I knew you were up to some sort of mischief! Attendance at Chapel may be optional, as you say, but I am quite sure that you are not allowed to stay away in order to roast chestnuts!"
"There's no rule that says we mayn't, that I know of," said Jack, rather impudently.