blonde-headed girl came in, a light blanket coat enveloping her slender figure up to her chin, just as though she was prepared for some kind of pretty cold vigil.
“Mr. Lever?” she asked, closing the door.
“Why, yes. I—er—” He stopped and looked at her anxiously. “I am afraid I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you before. And I think I ought to tell you that this is a dangerous violation of the college rules.”
“Yes—I know. I’m Frances Hasleigh, a new pupil here. I want to ask you a question. I’m told that you are pretty good at astronomy.”
“Well, I know a little about it, certainly. But—but you can’t come here like this! If it were found out, I’d lose my position—”
Frances smiled with her colourless lips. “Since you are liable to be called up soon, would that matter anyway? Wouldn’t you rather help a much puzzled girl even if it means the risk of discharge?”
He looked at her fixedly as though trying to imagine what she meant—then, struck with a thought, he went over and locked the door.
“This is really terrible,” he said, returning to face her. “If you want to ask me a question do so in a whisper, and then go! Now, what is it?”
Frances seated herself with a certain air of possession. And looking at her there were few thoughts of science left in the mind of Robert Lever. He knew only two things—that he was in decided danger and that she was extremely pretty.
“Mr. Lever,” she said, “I want to know the position of Sirius.”
“Good Heavens!” he exclaimed blankly.
Frances raised her eyebrows. “Isn’t it a natural question for a student of astronomy to ask?”
“Oh, yes, I suppose it is—but at eleven-thirty at night when you should be in your dormitory.… I can show you a stellar map giving its exact position at this time of the year. Or I can draw you a design if you wish.” Lever turned to his desk and began to rummage. “Hmm—how annoying. I must have left my fountain-pen in the form room again.…”
“Don’t you think it better, Mr. Lever, if you showed me the star in the sky itself?” Frances murmured. “It’s a glorious night, and with everything blacked out it helps the study of the stars enormously.”
“Does it?” he asked weakly, glancing at the curtained window.
“I don’t think a window view would be much use,” Frances said. “The buildings will hide the view a lot. We’ll have to go into the quadrangle. After all, it won’t take a minute to solve my little problem.”
“But, hang it all, Miss—er—Hasleigh, why do you want to know such a thing anyway?”
“Just interest,” Frances shrugged. “And because I am a pupil in a seat of learning I expect you to help me. If you don’t.… Well, of course, I could hint to Miss Black that I had been here and—”
“I’ll show you with pleasure!” Lever interrupted hastily, and realized now why she was so wrapped up. She had obviously planned beforehand to reach her objective. So he got into his own coat, opened the door softly, and peered down the dimly lit corridor.
“Nobody saw you come here?” he whispered.
“Not so far as I know. I had to find my way with a torch, but I had a pretty good idea where your study was—”
“This way,” he said, and, taking her arm, he led her silently down the corridor and so finally out into the quadrangle. It was dark, starlit, surrounded by the blacked-out mass of the college buildings.
“Now, which is it?” Frances asked, looking skywards.
“There!” Lever pointed upwards and the girl angled her head closer to him, apparently to get in line with his hand. Finally, as she searched in vain, he caught her shoulder and moved her towards him gently.
“There! See? Right between those two stars—”
Then he broke off in horror at a sudden cough from the gloom. A torch gleamed into life and behind it was a dim figure. Lever was on the point of making a dash for it, but the girl caught his arm tightly.
“I hope, Mr. Lever, that you have a satisfactory explanation for this conduct?”
The voice was acid, and the figure behind the torch proved to be Miss Tanby, an overcoat thrown hastily about her shoulders. She flashed the beam into both faces steadily.
“I—er—I don’t know,” Lever gasped helplessly.
“I see. Then perhaps you will have time to clear your mind a little by the time we reach Miss Black’s study. Come with me, please—both of you, Fortunately Miss Black has not yet retired—”
The dazed science master and Frances Hasleigh were escorted across the quadrangle to the School House. It had all happened so swiftly that Lever just did not know what he was doing; but Frances, for her part, did not seem to be in the least worried. The most concerned over the business was clearly Miss Tanby. There was even triumphant glee in the way she knocked on the door of Maria’s study.
“Come in!” she bade imperiously, and the three entered to find her reclining in the armchair holding a volume entitled A.B.C. of Tracking. She laid it aside at the vision confronting her.
“Why, Miss Tanby, whatever is wrong?”
“I don’t want to think the worst, Miss Black, but unfortunately I have to,” the Housemistress replied. “Not twenty minutes ago Vera Randal came to my study and informed me that she had seen Hasleigh here leaving the dormitory, putting a bolster dummy in her bed. I felt it my duty to look into it immediately. I had hardly reached the quadrangle before I found Hasleigh here with Mr. Lever. And—and they were…well, embracing!”
“I deny that!” Lever retorted. “I was merely showing the young lady the exact position of Sirius.”
“So Vera Randal was awake, eh?” Frances murmured, reflecting. “I wasn’t quite sure—”
Maria rose, her face stern. “This infraction of the rules is bad enough in your case, Hasleigh—a newcomer to the school. But it is far worse in yours, Mr. Lever! You are fully conversant with the regulations. What is your explanation?”
“I have already given it, Miss Black,” he answered quietly. “This young lady came to my study about eleven-thirty with a request to be shown the exact position of the star Sirius. I suggested I could do it with a star-chart, or draw a design for her—but she insisted on us going into the quadrangle to look at the sky. So I showed it to her. Then Miss Tanby came up.”
“And what is this about an—hmm!—embrace?” Maria asked coldly.
“Just mistaken appearances, that’s all. I was trying to direct Miss Hasleigh’s eye to the right point in the sky.”
“Huh!” sniffed Tanby, then fell silent as Maria gave her a glance before turning to Frances.
“Well, Hasleigh, is this correct?”
“Not altogether,”
