Miette gazed at Dorothy in utter astonishment. She seemed pleased as well as bewildered.
“Then it is not so bad,” she faltered, “and perhaps I could get it back?”
“You might, certainly,” responded Dorothy, “if you went directly to Mrs. Pangborn and explained it all.”
“Oh, but I cannot explain it all,” demurred Miette. “That is just what annoys me.”
Dorothy was disappointed but not discouraged. She determined to urge the French girl further.
“Now, Miette,” she said in gentle but decided tones, “we will just suppose this was my affair and not yours. I will place myself in your place, and perhaps we may find some plan to overcome the difficulty in that way. They do it in lawsuits, I believe,” she parenthesized, “and I just love to try law tactics.”
The idea seemed to amuse Miette, and both girls soon found a comfortable spot under a big chestnut tree, where Dorothy promptly undertook to propound the “hypothetical question.”
“You see,” she began, “I wrote a note to a girl friend during class, and after Miss Bylow had forbidden us to write notes in class—”
“But I did not do that!” interrupted Miette. “I wrote my note long before study hour!”
“Did you really?” asked Dorothy in surprise. “Why then what have you done wrong at all? It was only of writing during class time that you have been accused.”