“I’ll go with you,” Gale said. “I have to see Professor Lukens about our Chemistry assignment tomorrow.”
The two girls went down to the campus. Gale saw Phyllis safely to the Glee Club meeting before she went on to the Chemistry Hall. The corridors and rooms were for the most part empty. She went to the classroom where the Professor often spent his afternoons going over papers. He was not there so Gale went on to the laboratory.
At the door she drew back hastily into the corridor. Someone was in the room but it was not the Professor. It was Miss Horton, the Dean’s secretary, and the girl was fussing with the lock on the cabinet where the experimental materials were kept. Gale watched her cautiously through a crack in the door. The glass doors were suddenly opened. A small glass vial found its way from the closet into the pocket of the girl’s coat.
Gale turned and fled down the hall. Outside she waited. Miss Horton came out. With a glance about she hurried down the steps and set off in the direction of the Dean’s office. Gale followed, hurrying her steps to keep the girl in sight. At the corner of the building Gale bumped into Valerie.
“Going to a fire?” Valerie asked. “Say, Gale, do you know where I can find——”
“Can’t stop now,” Gale said. “Val, something is going to happen. Find Doctor Norcot. Bring her to the Dean’s office right away. Hurry!” Gale urged when Valerie hesitated.
Valerie broke into a run. Gale hurried on her way. Miss Horton was disappearing into the building. Gale followed and it was not until she was in the building that she realized she had no definite idea at all why she was so alarmed. True, it was strange that Miss Horton should break into the Chemistry cabinet and take something—Gale wasn’t sure what. Could it have been Miss Horton who hurled that acid out the window at the Dean so many weeks ago? Could it have been Miss Horton who wrote that mysterious note to the girls? Could she have cut the rope to set Dean Travis’ canoe afloat?
Yes, all those things were quite possible. But what was she up to now? There were a lot of things in that Chemistry cabinet—things which in the wrong hands could cause a lot of damage.
On tiptoe Gale approached the door to the outer office. Miss Horton was stirring a white liquid in a glass. On her desk was the discarded vial from the Chemistry laboratory—empty! The contents had been put into the glass with something else. Gale watched the silent actions of the girl within the room. Miss Horton was nervous, erratic, in her movements. She appeared slightly crazed with an inner obsession. The telephone rang, the bell startling both Gale and the girl inside.
Miss Horton stared at the instrument for a moment then picked up the receiver. She sank into her desk chair.