"
"Did you buy anything at the auction, Miss Oliphant?"
"Yes, a sealskin jacket."
"Do you mind telling me what you paid for it?"
"Ten guineas."
"Was that, in your opinion, a fair price for the jacket?"
"The jacket was worth a great deal more. The price I paid for it was
much below its value."
Miss Eccleston made some further notes in her book. Then she looked
up.
"Have you anything more to say, Miss Oliphant?"
"I could say more. I could make you think even worse of me than you
now think, but as any further disclosures of mine would bring another
girl into trouble I would rather not speak."
"You are certainly not forced to speak. I am obliged to you for the
candor with which you have treated me."
Miss Eccleston then turned to Miss Heath and said a few words to her
in a low voice. Her words were not heard by the anxiously listening
girls, but they seemed to displease Miss Heath, who shook her head;
but Miss Eccleston held very firmly to her own opinion. After a pause
of a few minutes, Miss Heath came forward and addressed the young
girls who were assembled before her.
"The leading spirit of this college," she said, "is almost perfect
immunity from the bondage of rules. The principals of these halls have
fully trusted the students who reside in them and relied on their
honor, their rectitude, their sense of sound principle.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182