CHAPTER V

TRIAL BY JURY

Kitty would have died rather than show fear when questioned before the whole school. But as she made her way back to her house after the inquiry her heart sank. She realized already that, unless something very unexpected happened, she would be enveloped in a cloud from which it might be impossible to escape. Suspicion rested upon her and Duane alone, and she knew that if it came to choosing between them, the unenviable choice of the girls would most certainly fall upon her. She had actually gone to the laboratory; no one could say that of Duane. One could only say she might have gone. Besides, the girls would not think lightly of doubting the word of one of the head prefects, whom they had known for years, while she, Kitty, was still little more than a stranger from a remote land.

"I declare, I believe Duane knows more of this affair than anyone else does, only she's got the knack of keeping cool and never turning a hair," thought Kitty to herself.

Instead of going straight to her study to do her prep she made for the gym, feeling she would like a few minutes' exercise before settling down to work. Just as she reached the quad she ran into the very girl who was occupying her thoughts.

"Hallo!" she exclaimed, "going to the gym?"

"Yes," replied Duane in her slow drawl.

"Right-oh! we may as well go across together, if you've no objection."

"Just as you like," replied Duane, though a kind of frigidity came over her face, and her grey eyes gazed coldly past, rather than at, the girl to whom she was speaking.

Kitty said nothing for a minute, though her sharp eyes noticed everything. "I do believe, in a way, she's afraid," she said to herself with a curious kind of exaltation. "Afraid of what I might say to her."

Then as she fell into step beside Duane she remarked quietly, "I wonder if it's dawned on you yet that we're both of us in a beastly awkward position?"

"Oh, you mean about that wretched key business?" returned Duane, looking bored.

"You know perfectly well I do," said Kitty, rather sharply. "So why pretend otherwise? You know it's between you and me. You didn't lend that key to anyone else, did you?"

"I thought I answered that question at the inquiry."

"Well, don't get your wool off. What I mean is, you didn't tell a lie to shield anyone?"

"No, I certainly did not," replied Duane, still very coldly. "I am not in the habit of telling lies to shield others from the consequences of their own acts. If people wish to do such things they must first make sure they have the courage to face it out afterwards."

Kitty thought to herself that Duane seemed to have nerve enough to face anything, despite, or perhaps because of, her lethargic temperament. But aloud she said, "Only, you see, I know I never touched the wretched balance. I never went near it. And if I didn't, who did?"

By this time they had reached the door of the gym. As she put her last query Kitty turned and faced Duane, looking her straight in the eyes. The head prefect's expression did not change; save for a slight curling of her lip, not a muscle in her face moved.

"What's the good of asking me? I was never clever at guessing riddles," and with that she pushed the gym door open and walked in without taking any further notice of Kitty.

"Failed dismally in the first round between us, Kitty, my child," muttered Kitty to herself. "I didn't get much out of her, did I? And yet, it only makes me more certain that she knows something about it, in spite of her denials. An absolutely innocent girl would have been decent over it and met me half-way. She was hardly polite to me, and our head prefect has such beautiful manners as a rule. Well, she evidently intends to let me pay the piper."

Changing her mind suddenly, she turned away from the gym without entering and went back to the seclusion of her own study. The rest of the evening passed very quietly in Carslake's, everyone being busy with prep, and there was little public discussion of the Richoter affair. Even in Dormitory A after bed bell had gone, Hilary summarily put a stop to a tentative attempt on the part of the juniors to raise the subject.

The next day, the Richoter candidates heard the pleasing intelligence that the Rev. R. Carstairs, who was keenly interested in the science prize and who always had a hand in its organization, had invited them all to spend the day at his house, punting on the river and picnicking on its banks, with his lovely garden and strawberry beds placed at their disposal. Naturally the nine girls in question, having received permission to go, did not hesitate in accepting this generous invitation.

With the absence of these senior girls, two of whom were head prefects and several others prefects, the houses felt themselves suddenly free from a good deal of the control exercised over them out of lesson hours. Sheerston's and Carslake's were without a head, and even Vanda West, at that disturbing time, felt the loss of Eileen's steady support. Consequently, the girls were a little out of hand that day, and Vanda and Phyllis Knight, of Green's, were powerless to check the conviction that ran like wildfire round the school, that Kitty Despard was known by the seniors to be the girl who had meddled with the balances. One rumour even said that she had been seen coming out of the First Form room on her way to the lab with a piece of plasticine in her hand.

Cold looks were cast at Kitty by the Upper Fifth in class that afternoon, and several cutting remarks addressed by girls to their near neighbours in her hearing made her cheeks burn. When, on the playing-field, it was her turn to bat, some of the juniors looking on hissed her as she walked towards the pitch. This was more than Kitty could bear. Throwing down her bat she turned and faced them, flushed and trembling with anger and indignation.

"What right have you to accuse me? I know I went into the laboratory, but that isn't proof that I did it. You may think what you please. I don't care. I can only say that I did not touch the balances, and if you won't believe me I can't help it," and Kitty, feeling nearly as desperate as her words, strode off the pitch and left the field, her head still defiantly erect. But once out of sight of the girls some of her defiant courage forsook her. She threw herself down in a solitary corner of the grounds, hidden from the players by the swimming-bath.

"I wish I'd never come to this hateful place. The girls here are perfectly horrid. As if dad and the boys at home would ever dream of doubting my word! Oh dear! how on earth shall I stick it here if they go on suspecting me! But I vow I won't. I'd rather go back home--or to another school."

When the Carslake seniors came out from tea, a fresh notice on the board caught Hilary's attention. It ran as follows:

"Seniors are invited to attend a Matter of Special Interest and Import to All, in the debating-room at 6.30 sharp.

"(Signed) Paddy, Sheerston's."

"One of Paddy's brilliant inspirations, I suppose," commented Bertha with a slight sneer. "Are you going, Hilary?"

"Of course," said Hilary with a laugh. "We had better turn up. 'Twouldn't do for Carslake's not to be represented. Margaret will come too, I expect, and France, if she's not too immersed in her latest Academy picture."

Paddy had intended that her little affair should be patronized by the head prefects if possible, and had written out personal invitations for their benefit. The Richoter candidates had just returned from their outing, laughing and talking light-heartedly, the shadow of yesterday's events forgotten for the time being, when a junior came up and presented Duane and Salome with a note each.

"Only one of Paddy's bright schemes," chuckled Salome. "I shall have to turn up to keep everyone out of mischief, I suppose. Coming, Duane?"

"I don't know. Six-thirty! There isn't much time, is there?" replied Duane doubtfully.

"Half an hour. Plenty of time to wash and change. We're let off prep, you know. Come along. Paddy and her confrères are rather good when they get on the entertaining stunt."

"All right. I shall probably be a bit late though, as I have to see Miss Carslake. However, I'll put in an appearance."

"By the by," one of the other seniors interjected, "I suppose nothing fresh has turned up about that beastly balance affair?"

Salome grimaced, then shook her head. "I asked Phyllis as I passed her just now by the gates and she shouted back, 'No.' I guess it will remain a mystery for ever. I wish to goodness I'd pulled off the gravel without Prinny or anyone seeing me."

Goodly numbers of seniors made their appearance punctually at six-thirty and took their seats. When the room was full, Paddy, clad in a tattered gown and a battered old mortar-board, vigorously rang the lesson bell for silence.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she began. "I see upon the smiling faces around me the predominant expression of curiosity. I do not wish to keep you on tenterhooks, my dear fellow-labourers, so I will get on with the business right away. It has come to my ears recently that a grievous crime against the justice of this country has been perpetrated. One of the members of this community has been cast into prison without a trial. Now, my dear friends, you may not have read for the Bar, like myself; you may not even have perused that delightful little text-book entitled 'Raleigh's Elementary Politics,' but at least you have all studied, with keen enjoyment, King John and Magna Carta in history lessons----"

Cheers and groans from the audience were followed by a strange and dubious silence as the meaning underlying Paddy's high-flown speech dawned upon them. The girls cast uneasy glances at each other, not liking the turn affairs had taken. Surely enough fuss had already been made over that Richoter affair, and anyway, there couldn't be much doubt but that Kitty Despard had done it. Paddy was carrying it a bit too far this time, they said to themselves. There might be trouble if Miss St. Leger got to know.

Someone voiced the opinion of the assembly by calling out, "What price the inquiry in the Hall last night? Don't you count that?"

There was silence.

Paddy gravely produced a huge pair of horn-rimmed spectacles and perched them on her nose, then gazed freezingly in the direction of the voice.

"The honourable gentleman over there is surely suffering from delirium tremens. If the honourable gentleman will wait until he hears the charge----"

There was a laugh from some of the girls. Salome, who had half risen from her seat, dropped back into it. The girls began to realize it was evidently only one of Paddy's jokes; there would be nothing serious and unpleasant happening, after all.

"As you have already guessed," went on Paddy briskly, "we propose holding a proper trial by jury this evening. The first step is to arrange the court. I will read out the names of the officers already appointed and they will kindly take their places at once. Having, as you will doubtless acknowledge, the keenest discernment and the readiest wit of you all, I have great pleasure in accepting the part of the Judge myself. Our learned friend, Mr. Frederick Lightfoot, K.C., and Mr. William Pimple will be counsel for the defence and the Crown respectively."

Amid general laughter Paddy's two chums, Flo Lessingham and Kathleen Morris, came forward and took their places, having been previously coached in the parts they had to play. Paddy had two objects in view in organizing this meeting. One was the sheer desire for fun; in Paddy's estimation, all things were legitimate objects for fun. Secondly, she sincerely wished to help Kitty by turning into ridicule much that was at present taken very seriously by the girls. She believed it would relieve the tension all round and make things a good deal easier for the Australian girl, whom she had always liked and whom she was loath to believe dishonourable.

Significant looks were again exchanged when Kathleen Morris brought an action against "a well-known desperado, known among his intimates as Kangaroo": glances, however, which ended in laughter as the charge was read out. The criminal was accused of entering Mrs. Mellish's shop and stealing two ounces of bull's eyes and a bar of Fry's chocolate. By this time some dim notion of Paddy's underlying purpose began to creep into Kitty's mind, for she knew that Paddy was one of the few who had championed her cause. At any rate, she would show them that she, Kitty Despard, was not afraid of facing any trial by jury, in farce or otherwise. Paddy would rely on her to do so. So it was with head erect and a smile on her lips that she walked up to the "dock," and faced the girls with a free, fearless mien.

It was just at this moment that Duane entered, subsided quietly into a seat by the door and glanced round the room in idle curiosity. A puzzled look crept into her face. What on earth were they all up to? Then, as she listened and gazed toward the "dock" with increasing attention, the puzzled look slowly changed to one of realization and at the same time another expression crept into her eyes--quite a different expression. It almost looked like horror.

The girls had been insensibly impressed by Kitty's fearless bearing. As she stood there she certainly looked the last kind of girl to be accused of anything dishonourable or despicable. Salome drew her straight brows together and her face became very thoughtful.

"Van," she murmured under her breath to the head prefect of Prince's, "I believe that girl's telling the truth when she says she didn't touch my balances. Don't you?"

"But Salome, if _she_ didn't, it must have been----"

"Hush," said Salome with a quick gesture.

"No, I can't believe that either. Bother it all!"

"Prisoner at the Bar," Paddy was saying with awful solemnity. "Are you or are you not guilty of this terrible and most depraved crime?"

"Not guilty," replied Kitty, clearly and unhesitatingly.

"We will now call the first witness," resumed Paddy, who had her witnesses ready in the adjoining room and was confident of the effect of their absurd appearance upon the audience. "Constable----" She broke off abruptly.

There was a quick gasp from the audience; everyone became rigid. One of the listening girls had sprung to her feet, and now strode impetuously into the centre of the room. It was Duane, her face strangely pale, her habitual lazy, unemotional expression gone, giving place to a curious look of uncertainty, doubt, fear, even horror. One of the girls possessed with a vivid imagination afterwards described it with relish as a "sort of haunted look."

She had jumped to her feet as if impelled by some force outside her own volition; she spoke now, impulsively, stammeringly, the words breaking from her as if she hardly knew what she was saying, twisting her fingers together and looking from side to side.

"What are you doing? What rubbish is all this? I--it can't go on, Paddy. Kitty didn't do it, I tell you. I--you see, I know she didn't do it. I--I'm not quite such a cad as to--I can't tell you exactly." She broke off abruptly. Her glance crossed Kitty's. The Australian met hers steadfastly, unwaveringly. The prefect's pale face flushed crimson, and again words broke from her stammeringly.

[Illustration: "'What rubbish is all this?' Duane asked."]

"I--I'm sorry. I have done you an injustice." Again she broke off, checking herself as if she suddenly realized what she was saying, drew in her breath with a quick gasp and caught at the back of her chair to steady herself.

There was a dead silence for the space of ten seconds. The faces of the girls were a study. Duane had certainly betrayed herself this time. Her conscience must have been pricking her badly, or the shock of hearing Kitty arraigned, as she thought, for committing a crime of which she was innocent would not have made her give herself away so completely. But having been absent all day, she was probably unaware of the outbreak of feeling against Kitty, and was not prepared for the shock.

She was silent now, and had pulled herself together, regaining something of her usual composure, though her agitation was still betrayed by the nervous way she was biting her underlip.

But her guilt had been written unmistakably on her face during that half-minute or so during which she had lost control.

Paddy made a desperate and heroic effort to get back to the state of "as you were." Needless to say, it failed dismally. Nobody took any notice of her, everyone being too occupied in staring open-mouthed at Duane and Kitty.

The next minute Salome had pushed her way forward. She was one of the first to grasp all that Duane's few, incoherent, impulsive words must mean; certainly she was the first to act. She went up to Duane and took her by the arm.

"Look here, Duane, what on earth do you mean by this bomb-shell? If you can prove that Kitty is innocent, for goodness' sake hurry up and do so."

Duane looked at Salome. "Well, Salome," she said in a low voice and with a nervous little laugh. "To tell you the truth I hardly realize what I did say just now. I--I lost my head a bit, I think."

"I think you did," Salome agreed grimly. "Anyway, you've properly upset your own apple-cart, as far as the girls here are concerned."

"You mean----"

Salome was no shirker. "I mean everybody here is practically convinced now that you and not Kitty Despard were responsible for faking the balances. Personally, I'm beginning to think Kitty is innocent."

"Yes--yes, she is," said Duane hurriedly, and still in the same low tone. "I--I don't want her to suffer for something she never did."

"The question is," rejoined Salome curtly, "are you going to own up to all you know? You've said enough to convince everybody that you do know something more. We're all waiting to hear."

The indecision and doubt returned in full to the girl's face. "Oh no, not that," she said quickly. "I only wanted to stop the accusation against Kitty, you understand."

Salome's lip curled. "Be a sport, Duane. Don't keep anything back. You'll only do yourself harm. Honestly, it's your best policy."

Duane seemed to shrink a little. "No, I tell you I can't do that, Salome. Look here. I'm going to cut it."

"Wait a minute."

Salome turned round to face the seniors, from whom an impatient buzz had broken out. She held up her hand for silence and the noise subsided, as everybody looked eagerly at her.

"Girls, I think the first thing to be settled is this. Are you all so positive now that Kitty is guilty, or are you willing to give her the benefit of the doubt?"

"I guess we're giving it now," called out Paddy, and it was plain to see that the others were of the same opinion. Salome smiled across at Kitty, who stood rather dazed and white-faced. "It's all right, Kitty. You can sleep to-night with your mind at rest again, I think."

The girls swarmed round Kitty, generous in their apologies and proffers of friendship. Kitty laughed a little shakily. "It's all right. But I'm glad you believe me now. On my honour, I've told nothing but the truth."

Salome spoke a few hurried words to Vanda, then turned again and addressed the assembly. "Duane says she hasn't any more to say just now, girls. We'd be awfully obliged if you'd slip back to your own houses and leave it to us to settle this affair. I'll let you know what--what we decide, as soon as possible."

A few more persuasions and the girls, used to obeying their head prefects, began to file out of the room, though casting many disappointed and curious glances at the four who remained behind. They thought it rather a shame that Duane should not be cross-questioned and made to speak out in their presence. Still, being a head prefect did make a considerable difference--made the affair all the more serious, too.

Salome took the lead, as usual.

"Well, it isn't any good staying here and doing nothing. What have you got to say about it, Duane?"

"I'm not going to say anything more to-night, Salome. I must think it over. You must give me to-night to do that."

"I suppose you realize, Cato," said Vanda gravely, "exactly what your startling interruption this evening means to you? Probably by to-morrow morning the whole school will have made up its mind that it was you who were the culprit."

Duane looked at the floor.

"Yes; I do now. I didn't realize it at the time."

"No. I don't suppose you meant to give yourself away like that. There are two courses open to you. Either you must prove your innocence or else own up to your guilt--if you are guilty."

"Prove my innocence? And how can I do that, pray?"

"You should know best."

"But I don't."

"Anyway, it's plain enough that you know more about it than anyone else. You admitted Kitty didn't do it--and you had the key. Look here, Duane, _did_ you lend it to another girl whom you don't like to give away? It's the only alternative solution I can think of."

"No," said Duane impatiently, "or I should have said so at the inquiry." Then with a successful return to her old airy flippancy, she added, "Well, good night, everybody. I really can't be held responsible for all the crazy conclusions the kids in this school jump to."

The three prefects looked at each other as the door closed upon Duane.

"And that's that," said Phyllis Knight. "Mark my words, Cato's getting her nerve back again rapidly. She'll have it all back by the morning and will choose to brazen it out. We shall only get airy nothings for our pains in future, if I know Cato. Well, I'm glad I don't belong to Carslake's. Good night, Salome, old girl. Don't lie awake worrying. Good night, Van."