At Daisy’s desk Jan kept right at her back so that she could see its contents plainly. Daisy could hardly restrain her annoyance as she tossed her paper about with movements that were so unnatural that Jan knew she was on the track of what she sought.
“There isn’t a bit here,” said Daisy, hastily throwing a copy-book to one side. “Take this pinkish shade. It’s nicer for dolls, anyway.”
But Jan was too quick for her. “Pink wouldn’t go with the dress I began,” she said, reaching over quickly and raising the copy-book. “Why, there are several sheets of this Dutch paper! You covered it up and didn’t see it, Daisy.”
Daisy flushed crimson, even up into the roots of her hair. “What right have you to touch my desk, Janet Howe?” she cried angrily. “I never allow any one to do that.”
“Oh, very well. You needn’t get so mad. I didn’t know you objected,” said Jan quietly. “And if you didn’t want to give me the paper you weren’t obliged to. Why didn’t you say so when I asked you?”
Daisy saw that she had made a mistake. Perhaps it was only her guilty conscience that made her fear Jan. Surely that troublesome young person looked as calm and innocent as the new moon, not at all eager for the paper. Perhaps she really did want it for the doll’s dress and nothing else. In any case, it would not do for her to act guilty.
She laughed affectedly, and said: “How absurd you are, Jan. Of course I’m willing you should have the paper. You startled me, that’s all, and it does make me furious to have any one touch my things. Take all the paper, if you want it—I am sure I’m willing.”
“No, indeed; but if you can spare one sheet I’d be glad,” said Gwen. Then with a sudden realization of the value of witnesses, she turned to Dorothy Schuyler, who had just entered the schoolroom. “See this paper Daisy has given me. Gladys gave it to her. It came from Holland. Did you ever see any like it?” she said.
“Never. Isn’t it pretty?” said Dorothy, feeling the texture as she paused on her way to her own desk. And Jan knew that, if she needed it, there was some one who could prove that she had received the paper from Daisy and not from Gladys.
At this point in her plotting Jan stopped for two days, keeping Gladys quiet in the meantime by a hint of hope which set her agog with eager impatience.