But no one claimed it! Here, then, was a dilemma! It would not be possible to go to every room, and examine the wardrobe of every scholar; besides, now it was known that the bit had been found, and might easily be made to lead to a discovery of the guilty ones, what more natural than that the dress should be hidden away, or sent from the academy building to prevent the possibility of detection!
Miss Ashton was disappointed over this failure. She was not much of a detective, and had less reason for being so than falls to the lot of many teachers. 123
She wrote to the principal of the Atherton Academy, inquiring whether he had given leave to a party of his boys to take a sleigh-ride on the night of the twentieth of November. She knew Jerry Downer had been one of them, as he had called on his sister, who was one of her pupils, on that night.
She received an immediate answer, saying, “He had not given leave for any sleigh-ride on that night, and was both surprised and sorry that a boy he had always considered so reliable as Jerry Downer should have been among them. He would inquire into the matter at once.”
And he lost no time; sending for Jerry, he put the question point-blank, his usual straightforward way of dealing with his boys,—
“Did you go on a sleigh-ride the evening of the twentieth of November?”
“Yes, sir,” said Jerry unhesitatingly.
“Did I give you leave to go?”
“No, sir; but I supposed the party had asked you, or they would not have gone.”
“Your supposition was entirely erroneous. My leave had never been asked. Who besides yourself made up the party?”