"It was postmarked 'New York.' No, I did not keep the envelope." "New York? Why, I came straight from Montana!" cried Jane. "I haven't been in New York since last Christmas." "I could not possibly know that. A letter could be forwarded even from Montana to New York for mailing," reminded the matron with satirical significance. "Then you still believe that I wrote _this_?" Jane's voice was freighted with hurt pride. Something in the girl's scornful, fearless, gray eyes, looking her through and through, brought a faint flush to the matron's set face. The possibility that Jane's protest was honest had reluctantly forced itself upon her. She was not specially anxious to admit Jane's innocence, though she was now half convinced of it. "I hardly know what to believe," she said curtly. "Your denial of the authorship of this letter seems sincere. I should naturally prefer to believe that you did not write it." "I give you my word of honor as a Wellington girl that I did _not_," Jane answered impressively. "I cannot blame you for resenting it. It is most discourteous. I should be sorry to believe myself capable of such rudeness." "I will accept your statement," Mrs. Weatherbee stiffly conceded. "However, the fact remains that _someone_ wrote and mailed this letter to me. There is but one inference to be drawn from it." She paused and stared hard at Jane. Without replying, Jane again perused the fateful letter. As she finished a second reading of it, a bitter smile dawned upon her mobile lips. "Yes," she said heavily. "There is just one inference to be drawn from it--spite work. I had no idea that it would be carried to this length, though." "Then you suspect a particular person as having written it?" sharply inquired the matron. "I do," came the steady response. "I know of but one, perhaps two persons, who might have done so. I am fairly sure that it lies between the two." "It naturally follows then that the person or persons you suspect are students at Wellington," commented the matron. "This is a matter that would scarcely concern outsiders. More, we may go further and narrow the circle down to Madison Hall." Jane received this pointed surmise in absolute silence. "There is this much about it, Miss Allen," the older woman continued after a brief pause, "I will not have under my charge a girl who would stoop to such a contemptible act against a sister student. I must ask you to tell me frankly if your suspicions point to anyone under this roof." "I can't answer that question, Mrs. Weatherbee. I mean I don't wish to answer it. Even if I knew positively who had done this, I'd be silent about it. It's my way of looking at it and I can't change. I'd rather drop the whole matter. It's hard, of course, to give up my room here and go somewhere else. I love Madison Hall and----" Jane came to an abrupt stop. She was determined not to break down, yet she was very near to it.