Directly the four o'clock bell rang and the class was released, Meg, leaving the other girls leisurely putting away their tubes of paints and cleaning their palettes, scrambled her possessions together anyhow, and bolted from the room before she could be questioned. Going boldly to the boarders' cupboard in the hall, she purloined Gipsy's hat, and, without waiting even to tell her story to Hetty and Dilys, departed from the premises with all possible speed. She had come to school that day on her bicycle, and fetching it hastily from the shed where all the machines were stored, she rode away in the direction of Greyfield. There was something slightly wrong with one of her pedals, and her father had told her that morning that she had better have it mended at once, so she intended to take the cycle to the depot where it had been bought, and let it be thoroughly overhauled before she returned home. The assistant at the shop promised to have the repairs finished in about half an hour, and Meg therefore strolled into the town, to wait with what patience she could muster. She walked up Corporation Street and round by the Town Hall, peeped into the Parish Church and the Free Library, then finding herself close to the railway station, decided to go and buy a copy of _Home Chat_ or _Tit Bits_ at the bookstall. "Want a ticket, Miss?" asked a porter, as she passed the booking-office near the entrance. "No, thank you; I'm only going to get a paper," replied Meg, walking briskly on. She noticed that the man looked at her keenly, and said something to another official. Immediately afterwards an inspector came on to the platform, and eyed her with more than ordinary curiosity. She could hear the telephone bell ringing hard, but it never struck her that these occurrences had anything to do with herself. She walked to the bookstall, and after spending some minutes looking at the various magazines spread forth, bought a copy of _Tit Bits_, and strolled back down the platform reading it as she went, and smiling over the jokes. At the automatic sweet-machine she paused, put a penny in the slot, and had just withdrawn her box of chocolates when, turning round, she found herself face to face with a policeman. "Very sorry, Miss," said the man civilly, "but I'm afraid you've got to go along with me." Meg was so surprised that she nearly dropped both _Tit Bits_ and the chocolates. "To go along with you!" she gasped. "Indeed I shan't do anything of the sort." "Better not make a scene, Miss," advised the policeman, with an indulgent smile. "I'm sorry, but it's my duty to take you in charge." "But what for? I've done nothing!" protested Meg in huge indignation. "That's a little matter between your schoolmistress and yourself. It's none of my business. My instructions are to take you straight to the police station." "But I tell you I won't be taken!"