Still the girls were silent, although tears had risen to many of their eyes. Miss Thompson could hear the words “Oh, what a shame!” coming from more than one pair of lips.
She waited for an instant, and then said:
“I must put a question to each and all of you. I had hoped the guilty person would confess; but as it is, I am obliged to ask who has done this mischief.”
She then began to question one girl after another in the class. There were twelve in all in this special class, and each as her turn came replied in the negative. Certainly she had not done the mischief; certainly she had not torn the book. Evelyn’s turn came last. She replied quietly:
“I have not done it. I have not seen the book, and I have not torn out the inscription.”
No one had any reason to doubt her words; and Miss Thompson, looking very sorrowful, paused for a minute and then said:
“I have asked each of you, and you have all denied it. I must now question every one else in the school. When I have done all that I can I shall have to submit the matter to Miss Henderson, but I did not want to grieve her with the news of this terrible loss until I could at least assure her that the girl who had done the mischief had repented.”
Still there was silence, and Miss Thompson left the schoolroom. The moment she did so the buzz of eager voices began, and during the recess that followed nothing was talked of in the Fourth Form but the loss which poor Miss Henderson had sustained.
“Poor dear!” said Sophie Jenner; “and she did love her brother so much! His name was Walter; he was very handsome. He came once to the school when first it was started. My sister Rose was here then, and she said how kind he was, and how he asked for a holiday for the girls; and Miss Henderson and Miss Lucy were quite wrapped up in him. Oh, who could have been so cruel?”
“I never heard of such a fuss about a trifle before,” here came from Evelyn’s lips. “Why, it is only a book when all is said and done.”