The girls she met scattered from her path right and left. She looked so tall and moved so impetuously that she absolutely frightened them.
"Come in," said Mrs. Florence, in answer to her sharp, quivering knock.
Katy entered.
Rose was not there, and Mrs. Florence and Mrs. Nipson sat together, side by side, in close consultation.
"Mrs. Florence," said Katy, too much excited to feel in the least afraid, "will you please tell me why our things are being changed to No. 1?"
Mrs. Florence flushed with anger.
She looked Katy all over for a minute before she answered, then she said, in a sever voice,
"It is done by my orders, and for good and sufficient reasons.
What those reasons are, you know as well as I."
"No, I don't!" replied Katy, as angry as Mrs. Florence.
"I haven't the least idea what they are, and I insist on knowing!"
"I cannot answer questions put in such an improper manner," said Mrs. Florence, with a wave of the hand which meant that Katy was to go.
But Katy did not stir.
"I am sorry if my manner was improper," she said, trying to speak quietly, "but I think I have a right to ask what this means.
If we are accused of doing wrong, it is only fair to tell us what it is."
Mrs. Florence only waved her hand again; but Mrs. Nipson, who had been twisting uneasily in her chair, said,
"Excuse me, Mrs. Florence, but perhaps it would better—would satisfy Miss Carr better—if you were to be explicit."
"It does not seem to me that Miss Carr can be in need of any explanation," replied Mrs. Florence.
"When a young lady writes underhand notes to young gentlemen, and throws them from her window, and they are discovered, she must naturally expect that persons of correct ideas will be shocked and disgusted.
Your note to Mr. Abernathy Searles, Miss Carr, was found by his mother while mending his pocket, and was handed by her to me.
After this statement you will hardly be surprised that I do not consider it best to permit you to room longer on that side of the house.
I did not suppose I had a girl in my school capable of such conduct."
For a moment Katy was too much stunned to speak.
She took hold of a chair to steady herself, and her color changed so quickly from red to pale and back again to red, that Mrs. Florence and Mrs. Nipson, who sat watching her, might be pardoned for thinking that she looked guilty.
As soon as she recovered her voice, she stammered out,
"But I didn't!
I never did!
I haven't written any note! I wouldn't for the world!
Oh, Mrs. Florence, please believe me!"
"I prefer to believe the evidence of my eyes," replied Mrs. Florence, as she drew a paper from her pocket.
"Here is the note!
I suppose you will hardly deny your own signature."
Katy seized the note.
It was written in a round, unformed hand, and ran thus:—
"Dear Berry,—I saw you last night on the green.
I think you are splendid.
All the nuns think so.
I look at you very often out of my window.
If I let down a string, would you tie a cake to it, like that kind which you threw to Mary Andrews last term?
Tie two cakes, please; one for me and one for my room-mate.
The string will be at the end of the Row.
"Miss Carr."
In spite of her agitation, Katy could hardly keep back a smile as she read this absurd production.
Mrs. Florence saw the smile, and her tone was more severe than ever, as she said,—
"Give that back to me, if you please, It will be my justification with your father if he objects to your change of room."
"But, Mrs. Florence," cried Katy, "I never wrote that note.
It isn't my handwriting; it isn't my— Oh, surely you can't think so!
It's too ridiculous."
"Go to your room at once," said Mrs. Florence, "and be thankful that your punishment is such a mild one.
If your home were not so distant, I should write to ask your father to remove you from the school; instead of which, I merely put you on the other side of the entry, out of reach of farther correspondence of this sort."