Connie and Laura overtook her in the hall on the way to the dormitory and Laura looked actually anxious. “What was the matter with you this afternoon?” she asked. “Why, you answered ‘no’ three times when it should have been ‘yes,’ and it sounded so silly I’d have had to laugh if I hadn’t been scared to death!” “What is it, Billie?” added Connie, putting an arm about her friend. “You look dreadfully white. Aren’t you feeling well?” Then, pulling them into a secluded corner of the dormitory, Billie told them what she had heard, and as Vi came in just as she had finished, she had to tell it all over again, just for her benefit. Of course the girls were all angry, and Laura wanted to go and have it out with Amanda at once, but Billie, who had had all the afternoon to think out the best thing to do, commanded her to say nothing about it to any one. “Listen,” she said, tensely. “Somebody’s apt to come in at any minute, and then I can’t say it. This is what we will do to-night. “We’ll pull our nighties on over our clothes, get into bed and pretend to go to sleep. Then we’ll wait till Amanda starts whatever she’s going to do, and we’ll follow her and see what she’s up to.” “And then,” said Laura, driven to more forceful slang by the necessity for emphasis, “we’ll just about _settle_ her!” True to their plans, they retired to the dormitory that night before Amanda or the “Shadow” or Rose Belser arrived there, and they hurriedly slipped their nightgowns over their clothes and got into bed. “Poor Connie’s wailing her heart out,” chuckled Laura, “because she’s in another dorm and can’t be in at the death. I say, Vi, push the collar of your dress down. It shows outside your nightie.” “Sh-h,” warned Billie. “I hear somebody coming——” The somebody proved to be no other than Amanda and Eliza, and when they entered they found Billie and Laura and Vi sleeping peacefully with a cherubic expression of utter innocence on their faces. It seemed to the girls that they had never lived through an hour so long as that between nine o’clock and ten that night. And it was with more than relief that they heard a slight stir at last and saw a shadowy figure slip out of bed and make noiselessly for the door. And while they held their breath for fear their breathing might betray them, they saw a second shadow flit after the first one. “The Shadow,” in fact! They waited till the conspirators had had time to get well down the hall, then they too slipped quietly out of bed, pulled their nightgowns off, and started in pursuit. “Sh,” whispered Billie. “Take your time. We want to let them do it before we catch them at it.” When they reached Miss Race’s door they were surprised to see a light in the room. Was it possible Amanda had been brazen enough to turn on the light herself?