midnight
The days passed in a truly melancholy fashion , and , perhaps , for the first time the girls fully appreciated the old privileges of freedom and trust which were now forfeited . There was a feeble little attempt at a joke and a laugh in the school at Dora 's expense . The most frivolous of the girls whispered of her as she passed as `` the muddy stream ; '' but no one took up the fun with avidity -- the shadow of somebody 's sin had fallen too heavily upon all the bright young lives . The eight girls who had gone out on their midnight picnic were much startled one day by an unpleasant discovery . Betty had never come for her basket . Susan Drummond , who had a good deal of curiosity , and always poked her nose into unexpected corners , had been walking with a Miss Allison in that part of the grounds where the laurel-bush stood . She had caught a peep of the white handle of the basket , and had instantly turned her companion 's attention to something else .