CHAPTER XVI
THE HAWK AMONG THE CHICKENS
Lluella and The Fox, more used to these orgies than some of the othergirls, had retained some presence of mind. Their first thought--ifthis should prove to be the teacher or the matron--was to try and savesuch of the feast as could be hidden. Each girl flung up a spread tothe pillows, and so hid the viands on the two beds. Then Mary Cox wentquickly to the door.
The cowering girls clung to each other and waited breathlessly. Maryopened the door. There stood the abashed Belle Tingley, her plate inone hand, the gilded vase in the other, and beside her was the tinyfigure of Mademoiselle Picolet, who looked very stern indeed at The Fox.
"I might have expected _you_ to be a ringleader in such an escapade asthis, Miss Cox," she said, sharply, but in a low voice. "I very wellknew, Miss Cox, when the new girls came this fall that _you_ weredetermined to contaminate them if you could. Every girl here willremain in her seat after prayers in the chapel to-morrow morning.Remember!"
She whipped out a notebook and pencil and evidently wrote Mary Cox'sname at the head of her list. The Fox was furiously red and furiouslyangry.
"I might have known you would be spying on us, Miss Picolet," she said,bitingly. "Suppose some of us should play the spy on _you_, MissPicolet, and should run to Mrs. Tellingham with what we might discover?"
"Go to your room instantly!" exclaimed the French teacher, withindignation. "You shall have an extra demerit for _that_, Miss!"
Yet Ruth, who had been watching the teacher's face intently, saw thatshe became actually pallid, that her lips seemed to be suddenly blue,and the countless little wrinkles that covered her cheeks were moreprominent than ever before.
Mary Cox flounced out and disappeared. The teacher pointed to thechums' waste-basket and said to Bell, the unfaithful sentinel:
"Empty your plate in that receptacle, Miss Tingley. Spill the contentsof that vase in the bowl. Now, Miss, to your room."
Belle obeyed. So she made each girl, as she called her name and wroteit in her book, throw away the remains of her feast, and pour out thechocolate. One by one they were obliged to do this and then walksedately to their rooms. Jennie Stone was caught on the way out with amost suggestive bulge in her loose blouse, and was made to disgorge achocolate layer cake which she had sought to "save" when the unexpectedattack of the enemy occurred.
"Fie, for shame, Miss Stone!" exclaimed the French teacher. "That ayoung lady of Briarwood Hall should be so piggish! Fie!"
But it was after all the other girls had gone and Ruth and Helen wereleft alone with her, that the little French teacher seemed to reallyshow her disappointment over the infraction of the rules by the pupilsunder her immediate charge.
"I hoped for better things of you two young ladies," she said,sorrowfully. "I feared for the influence over you of certain mindsamong the older scholars; but I believed you, Ruth Fielding, and you,Helen Cameron, to be too independent in character to be so easily ledby girls of really much weaker wills. For one may _will_ to do evil,or to do good, if one chooses. One need not _drift_.
"Miss Fielding! take that basket of broken food and go down to thebasement and empty it in the bin. Miss Cameron, _you_ may go to bedagain. I will wait and see you so disposed. _Alons_!"
But before Ruth could get out of the room, and while Helen was hastilypreparing for bed, Miss Picolet noticed something "bunchy" under Ruth'sspread. She walked to the bedside and snatched back the coverlet. Thestill untasted viands were revealed.
"Ah-ha!" exclaimed the French teacher. "At once! into the basket withthese, if you will be so kind, Miss Fielding."
Had Heavy seen those heaps of goodies thus disposed of she must havegroaned in actual misery of spirit! But Helen, being quick in herpreparations for bed, hopped into her own couch before Miss Picoletturned around to view that corner of the room, and with Helen under thebedclothes the hidden dainties (though she _did_ mash some of them)were not revealed to the eye of the teacher, who stood grimly by thedoor as Ruth marched gravely forth with the basket of broken food.
For a minute or two Helen was as silent as Miss Picolet; then sheventured in a very small voice:
"Miss Picolet--if you please?"
"Well, Mademoiselle?" snapped the little lady.
"May I tell you that my chum Ruth had nothing to do with thisinfringement of the school rules? That the feast was all mine; thatshe merely partook of it because we roomed together? That she hadnothing to do with the planning of the frolic?"
"Well?"
"I thought perhaps that you might believe otherwise," said Helen,softly, "as you made Ruth remove the--the provisions," said Helen."And really, she isn't at all to blame."
"She cannot be without blame," declared Miss Picolet, yet less harshlythan she had spoken before. "An objection from her would have stoppedthe feast before it began--is it not, Miss Cameron?"
"But she is not so _much_ to blame, Miss Picolet," repeated Helen.
"Of that we shall see," returned the little lady, and waited by thedoor until Ruth returned from the basement. "Now to bed!" ejaculatedMiss Picolet. "Wait in chapel after prayers. I really hoped the girlsof my dormitory would not force me to call the attention of thePreceptress to them because of demerits this half--and I did notbelieve the trouble would start with two young ladies who had justarrived."
So saying, she departed. But Helen whispered Ruth, before she got inbed, to help remove the remaining goodies to the box in the closet.
"At least, we have saved this much from the wreck," chuckled Helen.
Ruth, however, was scarcely willing to admit that that the salvagewould repay them for the black marks both surely had earned.