about the room. Winifred Ayres dropped to the door sill and spread herself across it while Dozia moved her chair to the jam in order to plank her shoulders over the keyhole. "Air tight," announced Jane, "and every girl here is pledged, Judy. You may proceed with absolute safety." "The responsibility is yours, Jane, for we had an awful time for a brief interval under the doughty Dol's roof. Things flew--" "Hair brushes and sponges?" prompted Janet, eager for sensation. "Can't say as to the missiles," replied Judith, showing signs of relaxing into indifference, "but the way that black head yelled, and Sarah sobbed, and Shirley--I guess she shouted. I know her noise was next loudest to Sour Sandy's and that was some racket!" "But what was it all about?" demanded Janet. "About the precious box--jewelry or something valuable. When I saw the big boy take it from Tiny Tim and heard Tim yell, I knew there was mischief brewing if nothing worse, but I never expected to see Shirley Duncan jump into it. She aided and abetted the thief, for she caught that box on a fly and would have escaped if little Judy Stearns had not been right there Judy-on-the-spot." "But why did old Sour Sandy lay hands on you?" asked Jane, somewhat bewildered by the maze into which Judith was leading her audience. "Oh, there was such a perfectly wild time of it," replied Judith, "and of course Dol and Shirley had it all their own way--two to one, you know." "But didn't--little Sarah try to help you?" pressed Jane. "Little Sarah was having a fit out in the kitchen, and the black maid wanted to pour water over her, said she was in hysterics, only the word she used was somewhat impaired." "What a perfectly rip-roaring time you must have had," commented Dozia, eyeing the fudge. "And I suppose you were taken in by Sour Sandy because you seemed easiest to convey to the Town Hall. Just like the old detective stories, arrest someone, anyone, and depend upon the evidence to do the rest." "Yes, I was handiest, nearest the door and dry eyed. Besides, I kept kicking around on a jog trot all over the place because I could not make any other sort of noise. Honestly, girls, it was too funny for words!" and Judith doubled up in the pillows like a human jack-