CHAPTER XXIV
THE CAPTURE
The girls expected trouble and they had not long to wait for it. They had left Billie inside the dormitory, had gone into the hall, closed the door after them firmly and had defiantly placed themselves before it.
They rather welcomed the sight of Miss Cora, stiff-backed and stern-lipped, bearing down upon them like a tug of war. They had learned in their history, that in "union there is strength," and now they were about to test the truth of it. If one of them felt her courage slipping, all she had to do was to think of the breakfast they had had that morning and, presto, it was all back again.
Miss Cora stopped as she came to the foremost girls, and her eyes swept them coldly.
"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, adding as the girls did not show any intention of moving: "Let me pass, at once."
Then Rose stepped forward a little and drawled, in the insolent tone that only Rose knew how to use.
"Where are you going, Miss Dill?"
Miss Cora looked as stunned as if she had been hit on the head with a hammer. That one of the girls should have the insolence—the absolute impertinence—to ask her, Miss Cora Dill, where she was going!
Then a hot wave of anger flowed over her, and she found her voice.