"What a swindle!" she thought. "I've hardly seen anything at all. It wasn't worth the trouble of coming. I wonder if the other girls have had better luck?"
She noticed two school hats in the distance, though she could not recognize the faces under them. She was half inclined to struggle through the groups of people towards them, when she remembered to look at the church clock.
"Nearly twenty-five past!" she ejaculated. "I must fly!"
It was not an easy matter to extricate herself from the crowd. Dorothy knew it was useless to attempt to go out by the main entrance, so she made a push for the side gate; then taking a short cut by a small street, she scurried back to school. She was just changing her boots in the dressing-room when Addie Parker, Bertha Warren, and three other girls came hurrying in.
"Oh, Dorothy! Did you get off?" cried Addie. "You are lucky! We were all caught!"
"Yes, caught dead--every one of us!" echoed Bertha.
"Oh, it was horrible!" exclaimed Joyce Hickson. "I never expected she'd be there."
"What do you mean? Who caught you?" asked Dorothy.
"Close to the lich-gate. She came up quite suddenly, just when the bride had gone in. Phyllis saw her first, and passed on a 'Cave', but it was impossible to get away, there were so many people round."
"She must have noticed our school hats in the distance," added Annie Gray.
"Pulled out her notebook and took all our names. Oh, I'm just shaking in my shoes! I didn't know whether I dared come back to school, or whether I hadn't better trek straight off home."
"You'd have got into a worse pickle still if you'd done that."
"It will be a raging Tempest, certainly."
"Oh, goody! There's the bell, and I haven't changed my boots!"
"Did you see anything, though?" asked Dorothy, as they hurried upstairs.
"Yes, I had a lovely view. The bridesmaids were sweet; their bouquets were all of lilies of the valley: and as for Miss Russell--it makes me want to be married myself! It was almost worth while being caught to see it--but oh, dear! what will happen to us, I wonder? I'd give everything I possess to have this afternoon over."
Full of uneasy forebodings, the delinquents took their places at their desks. Dorothy looked round for Hope and Blanche. They slipped in at the last moment, rather red and out of breath, and seemingly anxious to avoid the enquiring eyes of the others.