CHAPTER XVI
The Eve of the Match
It was the thirtieth of October, the eve of the great match between the "Lincs Ladies" and Redlands.
Ordinarily all Redlands would have been in a perfect fizzle of excitement; the Team was strong, the best, so Miss Lambton and the coach agreed, that Redlands had run for the past six years; and the weather was perfect, fine and dry and windy, so that the field at Deeping Royal was safe to be in the best of all possible conditions for the match.
But despite all this, gloom reigned throughout Redlands, from Ingrid down to little Tiddles; who, although she could not understand the issues, could at least understand that her adored Joey was sad.
Miss Conyngham had not budged one inch from her pronouncement, in spite of all that the College dared to urge. The Professor had seen a girl climbing in at the window of the Lab, and yet no girl had come forward to own to it. Until the culprit gave herself up voluntarily, the whole school must be under punishment. And the punishment was "gating" at all times except the walks in "croc." That meant that no Redlands girl, with the exception of the Team, who naturally must be exempt, could go to the great match.
The College groaned and conjectured and groaned again. It gave Miss Conyngham up as a bad job; gentle though she was, she was harder to move than "Maddy" with her austere manner, or Miss Wrestow, the senior mistress, with her strict views on discipline. It tackled understanding people, like Miss Craigie and Miss Lambton, and implored intervention. But nothing made any difference; Miss Conyngham had given her ultimatum, and by that the school had to abide. Until the culprit gave herself up, the whole of Redlands was under the ban.
Joey sometimes wondered if she were still suspected, in spite of her emphatic denial and Miss Conyngham's apparent acceptance of it. She knew that the Professor had suspected her; Ingrid had been sure that he whispered her name to Miss Conyngham when she came in late on that dreadful morning, and the look in his eyes had been so vindictive, Ingrid said, that he must have really wanted to get her severely punished, perhaps even sent away. Ingrid had been very indignant about it, and championed Joey so publicly that no one in the College would have dared to doubt her.
Besides at first everyone was sure that the clearing up of the mystery was only a matter of a few hours, or, at the most, a few days. Ingrid called a meeting of the Upper School; Gabrielle of the Lower. Both pointed out with proper Head-Girl firmness that the offender was bound in honour to come forward—and no one did! And that second half of October went slipping away, with the College still under its ban and the mystery unsolved.
The suspense began to get upon everybody's nerves, and excitable people started to cast accusations about, more or less wildly. It did no good, and only wore still thinner the already thin patience of the girls. And the thirtieth came, and still the criminal was undiscovered and the College paying in bitterness of spirit for her silence.