light; but she dared not fall asleep lest she miss her train. At times
she lighted a match and looked at her watch and it surprised her to
realize how long a night can be when one is watching for daybreak.

At four o'clock she softly rose, put on her hat, took her suit case in
hand and stealthily crept from, the room. It was very dark in the
hallway but the house was so familiar to her that she easily felt her
way along the passage, down the front stairs and so to the front door.

Miss Stearne always locked this door at night but left the key in the
lock. To-night the key had been withdrawn. When Mary Louise had
satisfied herself of this fact she stole along the lower hallway toward
the rear. The door that connected with the dining room and farther on
with the servants' quarters had also been locked and the key withdrawn.
This was so unusual that it plainly told the girl that Miss Stearne was
suspicious that she might try to escape, and so had taken precautions to
prevent her leaving the house.

Mary Louise cautiously set down her suit case and tried to think what to
do. The house had not been built for a school but was an old residence
converted to school purposes. On one side of the hall was a big drawing-
room; on the other side were the principal's apartments.

Mary Louise entered the drawing-room and ran against a chair that stood
in her way. Until now she had not made the slightest noise, but the suit
case banged against the chair and the concussion reverberated dully
throughout the house.

The opposite door opened and a light flooded the hall. From where the
girl stood in the dark drawing-room she could see Miss Stearne standing