"I hope to do so, of course."

The banker knew perfectly well who Mary Louise was and suspected she
needed money.

"This is no pawnbroker's shop," he asserted. "I'll give you a hundred
dollars, outright, for this pearl brooch--as a purchase, understand--but
the rest of the junk I don't want."

A little man who had entered the hardware store to purchase a tin dipper
was getting so close to the "bank" that Mary Louise feared being
overheard; so she did not argue with Mr. Watson. Deciding that a hundred
dollars ought to take her to Dorfield, she promptly accepted the offer,
signed a bill of sale and received her money. Then she walked two miles
to the railway station and discovered that a ticket to Dorfield could be
bought for ninety-two dollars. That would give her eight dollars leeway,
which seemed quite sufficient. Elated at the prospect of freedom she
returned to the school to make her preparation for departure and arrived
just in time to join the other girls at dinner.




CHAPTER VII

THE ESCAPE


As she packed her trunk behind the locked door of her room--an
unnecessary precaution, since the girls generally avoided her society--