Miss Ryder's teachers were by no means blind to the excitement pervading the school, but its cause was wrapped in mystery. Amelia Bowers seemed to be occupying the centre of the stage and claiming the calcium light as her due, while Amelia's own particular clique gathered in knots in all the corners, and went about brimming over with some portentous secret which they imparted to the other girls with a generosity approaching lavishness.
It was after running into a crowd of arch conspirators in the music-room alcove and producing a solemn hush that Miss Barnes sought the Youngest Teacher and labored with her.
"Belinda," she began in her usual brusque fashion, "what's the matter with the girls?"
"Youth," replied the Youngest Teacher laconically.
She was trimming a hat, and when Belinda trims a hat it is hard to divert her serious attention to less vital issues.
"Have you noticed that something is going on, and that Amelia Bowers is at the bottom of it?"
Belinda looked up from her millinery for one fleeting instant of scorn. "Have I noticed it? Am I stone blind?"
Miss Barnes ignored the sarcasm.
"But what are they doing? The light-headed set is crazy over something, and I suppose there's a man in it. They wouldn't be so excited unless there were. Now, who is he? What is he? Where is he?"
"Search me," replied the Youngest Teacher with a flippancy lamentable in an instructor of youth.