After she had gone, the girls went to bed, but said nothing more about the thing that was uppermost in their thoughts. It was Miss Allen and her attitude toward the matter that caused the most conjecture in the minds of both girls as they laid their heads upon their pillows that night.
CHAPTER XXV
THE VERDICT
“And what makes you think you made a mistake in Marjorie Wilkinson’s paper?” asked Miss Allen, after Miss White had requested for permission to give the girl a second test. “You aren’t in the habit of doing your work carelessly.”
“Well—mother was ill, you know; and Marjorie’s subsequent work has been so good, that I felt there must be some explanation.”
Miss Allen shut her lips tightly. “I am sorry to refuse to grant your request, Miss White,” she said, “but if I allowed a second test for no more reason than you suggest, it would establish a precedent: every girl who fails in any examination will demand another opportunity. The final examinations are less than two weeks off; Marjorie will have the chance to show her ability in them.”
“I see your point of view, Miss Allen,” said Miss White. “I had hoped you would grant my request without further explanation; but, as you say, it would not be right, for such an insignificant reason. So I will tell you the whole story.”
She repeated to the Principal the facts of Ruth’s confession; she told how cleverly the girl had spoiled the paper; she recalled the fact that the papers had been marked at home, destroyed, and the averages mailed to the school. Everything, indeed, had seemed to play into Ruth’s hands in order to help her to escape detection.
Miss Allen listened with increasing anger as the narrative progressed. The whole thing was inconceivable—a disgrace to her school. “Ruth Henry must be expelled at once!” she declared emphatically.
“No, no,” pleaded Miss White. “Remember that she confessed it herself; if someone had told on her, it would be different. Suppose we send for her—and for Miss Phillips, too, since it is a matter which so intimately concerns the scouts.”