Miss Jane Smyth
murmured the words "Wild Irish Girls" under her breath. Mrs. Ross pushed
it away from her as though it was beneath notice. Mrs. Naylor said:
"Very pretty; quite touching, isn't it? Heart-shaped. I always think
that such a sweet emblem, don't you, Miss Mackenzie?"
But Miss Mackenzie, with a sniff, took up the little talisman and turned
it from right to left.
"'Wild Irish Girls,'" she said aloud. "What can this mean?"
"I can throw some light on the subject, but not much," said Miss
Ravenscroft. "It is quite evident that a society calling itself by this
name exists, and that it has been instituted and formed altogether by
Kathleen O'Hara, who has induced a great number--I should say fully
half--of the foundationers to join her. They meet, I have discovered, at
night; their rendezvous being, up to the present, a certain quarry a
short distance out of town. What they do at their meetings I cannot
tell, but I believe they are very riotous, with singing and dancing and
sports of all sorts. Of course, as you know, Miss Mackenzie, such
proceedings are altogether prohibited in our school."
"But this takes place out of school," said Mrs. Naylor.
"Mrs. Naylor, I should be much obliged if you would allow Miss
Ravenscroft to continue," said Miss Mackenzie.
Miss Ravenscroft did continue.
"Putting aside that question," she said, "the effect on the girls is
most disastrous. They are completely out of my control, and I know for a
fact that they do not care to please any one except Kathleen O'Hara.
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