Ralph Henry Barbour

“ Because it might spoil everything.”
“You may depend upon us,” replied Roy gravely.
“We ought to have a password,” Harry continued. “So when we meet each other we can communicate.”
“‘R-r-r-revenge!’” muttered Chub with a ferocious scowl. Harry clapped her hands.
“That’s it! That’s the password! ‘Revenge!’ Don’t forget it.”
“Trust us,” said Roy. “We think of nothing else. ‘Revenge!’”
“‘Revenge!’” echoed Harry.
“‘Revenge!’” growled Chub.
Then they looked at each other and laughed enjoyably. And suddenly Harry gave an exclamation of triumph.
“I remember!” she cried. “It was Estrella!” ”

“ To enter the dining-room outside of meal-hours was strictly against the rules, but Harry was a law unto herself, and Roy ventured after her. Then she closed the door, turned the key in the lock and raised the black veil.
“Now,” she said, “we are safe for the moment.”
“Yes, that’s all very well, but supposing Dick takes it into his silly head to disappear while we are in here talking?”
“Then we must find him.”
“But we said we were going to watch for him and follow him. What’s the good of letting him get away? I left him in School Hall and he will be out in a few minutes.” ”

“ And after that meal, when they called at the Cottage, they found that Harry had not returned from Silver Cove but had remained to take dinner with one of her girl friends in the village. In the dining-room Roy and Chub had treated Dick with contemptuous indifference and afterward had observed him pass out of the building and across to the library with supreme unconcern. He smiled tauntingly as he passed them in the corridor, but both Roy and Chub looked impassively by him.
“Who’s your friend?” asked Chub audibly.
“Never met him,” responded Roy loftily. “Some low person.” ”