"You may--for the present. I must consult with the other teachers. It may even be necessary to call a meeting of the Board of Governors. Your conduct requires stringent measures. But, my child"--and here Miss Ravenscroft changed her voice to one of gentleness and entreaty--"you will not be so silly, so wicked, so perverse. Kathleen, it is sometimes a hard thing to give up your own way, but I think an Irish girl can be noble. You will be very noble now if you cease to belong to the Irish Girls' Society." "'Wild Irish Girls' is the name," said Kathleen. "You must give it up. It was a mad and silly scheme. You must have nothing more to do with it." Kathleen slightly shook her head. Miss Ravenscroft uttered a deep sigh. "I am afraid I must go," said Kathleen. "I think you have spoken to me very kindly; I should like to have been able to oblige you." "And you won't?" Kathleen shook her head again. The next moment she had left the room. The school was nearly over; but whether it had been or not, Kathleen had not the slightest idea of returning to her class-room. She stood for a moment in one of the corridors to collect her thoughts; then going to the room where the hats and jackets hung on pegs, she took down her own, put them on, and left the school. She walked fast and reached Mrs. Tennant's house at a quarter to one. Both Mrs. Tennant and Miss O'Flynn were out. There was a message for Kathleen to say that Miss O'Flynn expected her to be ready to go to town with her immediately after dinner. Kathleen smiled to herself. "Dear Aunt Katie! She must get me out of this scrape. But as to thinking of giving up girls whom I meant to help, and will help, I wouldn't do it for twenty Miss Ravenscrofts." She stood at the door of the house; then a sudden idea struck her, and as she saw the girls; filing out of the school, she crossed the common and met Susy Hopkins, her satchel of books flung across her shoulder. "Ah, Susy, here I am. I want to speak to you." Susy ran up to her in excitement. It was already whispered in the school that their secret proceedings were becoming known. It had also been whispered from one to another that Kathleen had undergone a formidable interview with Miss Ravenscroft that very morning. "What is it, Kathleen?" said Susy. "Was she very, very cross?" "Who do you mean?" asked Kathleen, instantly on the defensive. "Miss Ravenscroft. You went to see her; every one knows it. What did she say?" "That is my affair. But, Susy, I want you to do something. We must not go to the quarry to-morrow evening. We want to have the meeting at your aunt's. I want to go to Mrs. Church's. You must run round this afternoon and make arrangements. There'll be about thirty or forty of us, and we must all be smuggled into the cottage." "Oh, dear!" said Susy. "But how are we to get there? It's four miles away."