The mistress glared at her.
"Don't be impertinent!" she said. "If you are allowed to do it, why did you attempt to conceal the chestnuts? Come with me to Miss Oakley—we will see what she has to say about it."
Any other mistress would have dealt with the affair herself, and not have taken it up to the Head in such a drastic manner. Jack gave a gasp of dismay. But she realised the futility of arguing with Miss Burton, and with a shrug of her shoulders she walked towards the door. Nita and Gerry followed in her wake, and the three culprits were marched along the corridors to the headmistress's study, Miss Burton keeping a strict eye upon them and bearing the chestnuts in her hands.
Miss Oakley was enjoying a quiet hour in her study, but she aroused herself at once to attend to the mistress's complaint. Miss Burton was a newcomer, and although the headmistress had realised already that her methods were not altogether the methods in vogue at Wakehurst Priory, yet courtesy as well as school discipline demanded that her complaints should be attended to. So she listened gravely enough to the recital of the reprehensible conduct of the three Lower Fifth girls, and their attempted concealment of the chestnuts.
"Geraldine Wilmott had hidden them in her pocket," said the mistress, having made out the worst possible case against the three culprits. "That shows that she had a guilty conscience, I am inclined to think that this girl is the worst of the three. She was very rude and insolent to me the other morning in class."
Miss Oakley glanced at Gerry's crimson face in surprise. The new girl always seemed so shy and quiet that rudeness and insolence were about the last things she expected from her. However, whatever the facts might be of the incident in class, they had nothing to do with the matter in hand, and she turned again to her contemplation of the chestnuts.
"May I ask where you obtained these chestnuts?" she inquired mildly.
Jack answered for the other two.
"Nita and I got them while we were out walking this afternoon, if you please, Miss Oakley."
"I don't think it does please me," said the mistress quietly. "The only chestnut trees that I know of near here belong to Sir John Boyne, and I know he is very particular about trespassers on his estate. Did you go into his plantation to get them?"