"Oh, ho!" cried Jessie in her high, musical voice, "trying to crawl, were you? You can't deceive old Grandmamma Sharp-eyes. Honor bright, who sent the violets?"
"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I suspected Frances Andrews, but when I thanked her for them, she looked horribly embarrassed and said she hadn't sent them. I was afraid she would go down and get some after my break, but thank goodness, she had the good taste not to."
"You mean to say they were anonymous?" demanded Jessie.
"I mean to say that thing, but I suppose some of the seniors who preferred to remain unknown sent them."
"It's just possible," put in Mary, and the subject was dropped.
"Let's talk about the only thing worth talking about just now," broke in Judy. "The Flopping of Flora; or, Who Cut the Wires?"
"Why talk about it?" said Molly. "You could never reach any conclusion, and guessing doesn't help."
"Oh, just as a matter of interest," replied Judy. "For instance, if we were detectives and put on the case, how would we go about finding the criminal?"
"I should look for a silly mischief-maker," said Mary Stewart. "Some foolish girl who wanted to do a clever thing. Freshmen at boys' colleges are often like that."
"You don't think it was a freshman, do you, Miss Stewart?" cried Mabel Hinton, turning her round spectacles on Mary like a large, serious owl.
"Oh, no, indeed. I was only joking. I haven't the remotest notion who it is."
"If I were a detective on the case," said Mabel Hinton, "I should look for a junior who was jealous of the seniors. Some one who had a grudge, perhaps."
"If I were a detective," announced Margaret Wakefield, in her most judicial manner, "I should look for some one who had a grudge against Molly."
"Of course; I never thought of that. It did happen just as Molly was about to give the encore, didn't it?"
The girls had all stopped chattering in duets and trios to listen.
"Has any one in the world the heart to have a grudge against you, you sweet child?" exclaimed Mary Stewart, placing her rather large, strong hand over Molly's.
"I hope not," she said, smiling faintly. "I never meant to give offence to any one."
Pretty soon the company dispersed and Molly was left alone with her two best friends.