"_Miss Allen!_" The older woman's expression was one of intense severity. "Such insolence on your part is not only unbecoming but entirely uncalled for. You appear to have forgotten that you gave up your room of your own accord. I reserved it for you until I received your letter of last week." "Of my _own accord_!" gasped Jane, unable to believe she had heard aright. "My letter of last week! I don't understand." "I am at a loss to understand _you_," acidly retorted the matron. "I know of only one possible explanation for your call upon me this afternoon. I should prefer not to make it. It would hardly reflect to your credit." "I must ask you to explain," insisted Jane haughtily. "We have evidently been talking at cross purposes. You say that I gave up my room of my own accord. You mention a letter I wrote you. I have _not_ given up my room. I have _never_ written you a letter. You owe me an explanation. No matter how unpleasant it may be, I am not afraid to listen to it." "Very well," was the icy response. "Since you insist I will say plainly that it appears, even after writing me a most discourteous letter, you must have decided, for reasons of your own, to ignore this fact and return to Madison Hall. Not reckoning that your room would naturally be assigned to another girl so soon, you were bold enough to come here and attempt to carry your point with a high hand. I am quite sure you now understand me." "I do not," came the vehement denial. "I repeat that I never wrote you a letter. If you received one signed by me, it was certainly not I who wrote it. I am not surprised at your unfair opinion of me. You have never liked me. Naturally you could not understand me. I will ask you to let me see the letter." Mrs. Weatherbee's reply was not made in words. Reaching into a pigeon-hole of her desk she took from it a folded letter minus its envelope and handed it to Jane. Her head in a whirl, Jane unfolded it and read: "MRS. ELLEN WEATHERBEE, "Madison Hall, "Wellington Campus. "Dear Madam: "Although I regret leaving Madison Hall, it would be highly disagreeable to me to spend my sophomore year in it with you as matron. Your treatment of me last year was such that I should not like to court a second repetition of it. Therefore I am writing to inform you that I shall not return to the Hall. "Yours truly, "JANE ALLEN." CHAPTER V THE UNKNOWN MISCHIEF MAKER "This is too dreadful!" Springing to her feet, Jane dashed the offending letter to the floor, her cheeks scarlet with outraged innocence. "That was precisely my opinion when I read it," Mrs. Weatherbee sarcastically agreed. "But I never wrote it," stormed Jane. "That's not my signature. Besides the letter is typed. I would never have sent you a typed letter. Have you the envelope? What postmark was stamped upon it?"