The ripple of amusement continuing, Miss Debbs looked up from absorption in her meal and met the defiant gaze of Edina Tooker. Miss Debbs’ face grew red.
“Another tardy one!” she exclaimed. “What do you mean, Edina Tooker, by reporting here at this late hour?”
The girl’s face grew sullen. She scraped one clumsy boot over the other.
“I couldn’t help it, Miss Debbs,” she said, in a voice scarcely audible. “I just come back.”
“Came,” corrected Miss Debbs in her deep, husky voice. “Try to speak grammatical English, at least! May I ask,” she added sarcastically, “where you have been and why you have just come back?”
The ripple of amusement rose again, surging toward the girl in the outlandish garb. Edina’s face was scarlet, her lip trembled in spite of a gallant effort at self-control.
“I—I went for a walk,” she said.
“Ah!” declaimed Miss Debbs in her best elocutionary style. “You went for a walk! May I ask where you went for a walk at this time of the evening, neglecting to return to Three Towers Hall until ten minutes past the supper hour?”
Edina shifted from one foot to the other. Her scarlet face was pitiful to see. She tried to speak, but was apparently unable to bring forth a sound.
Billie Bradley could bear it no longer. She got to her feet and faced the teacher.