"We don't give our private affairs to the public," Sue said, laughing to take the edge off the rather bald statement. "Do you, in your club?" "Well--there isn't much to tell." "There is, in ours. We have a serious purpose--sometimes." "Who's in it?" Ruth counted on her fingers. "Annabel, Sue, Wee, Angela and Patty--myself, of course, and you, if you'll come." "Why, it would be another We Are Sevens," Blue Bonnet said. "That's the name of our club. Isn't that odd?" "Sleep over it, Blue Bonnet, and let us know to-morrow. It'll keep," Wee Watts suggested. "All right, suppose I do. I'll try to let you know to-morrow if I can. I'd really like to write to the girls--" A knock at the door interrupted the sentence. "Is Miss Ashe here?" Martha inquired. "If she is, Miss North would like to see her in the office." "Mercy, how popular some people are!" Ruth remarked. "What is it, Blue Bonnet? More trouble?" "Not this time," Blue Bonnet said, her head up, her eyes shining. "My conscience is clear anyway." Miss North, as usual, was busy. She motioned Blue Bonnet to a chair and went on with her work. When she had finished, she unlocked a drawer in her desk and taking out a book, handed it to Blue Bonnet. "Is this your property, Miss Ashe?" she inquired. Blue Bonnet took the book, opened it, looked it over from cover to cover and handed it back. "No," she said, "it isn't mine. It's French. I couldn't translate it." "You are quite sure that it is not your book, or one that you borrowed?" Blue Bonnet glanced at the book again. "Perfectly sure, Miss North. I never saw it before." "That is very strange, Miss Ashe. The book was found in your drawer while you were at home for the week-end. Miss Martin found it covered with some underwear." The puzzled expression on Blue Bonnet's face would have cleared her in any court of justice; but Miss North had dealt with consummate actresses in her time. She was on her guard. Blue Bonnet took the book again in her hands and turned over a few leaves, her face still surprised and bewildered. "In _my_ drawer! Who do you suppose could have put it there?" She looked Miss North clearly in the eyes. "That is what I am trying to find out. It is the kind of book that is expressly forbidden in the school, Miss Ashe. This is a very serious matter." Blue Bonnet laid the book on the desk instantly, giving it a little push as if contaminated by the touch. "And you think, Miss North, that _I_ would have a book like that in my drawer?" "I should not like to think it, Miss Ashe, but--" Blue Bonnet did not let her finish the sentence. "Doesn't my word count for anything? I am in the habit of telling the truth." Miss North hesitated. She believed the girl innocent, but she had had so many experiences--boarding-school was a hotbed for them, she sometimes thought. Her position was a trying one.