<sod>Christmas holidays "weeks past," when they are next heard from the six Alphas are planning the junior production of [[Hamlet]].<ref name="BG3-200">Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', p. 200</ref> Lenora is the director, Lois is cast as [[Ophelia]], Beverly is "in charge of the scenery" with Anne her assistant, and Rosalie has "charge of the costumes."<ref name="BG3-200" /> Fulfilling a pledge made in ''Sophomore'' to pursue an acting career,<ref>Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Sophomore'', p. 186. "It was March. Soon her sophomore term would be over. Half of her college life was through and done with. Last term she had become interested in theatricals and had decided to devote herself to them this term. But had she? She had not had the chance. What with the mystery of the old Horler Mansion and the pressing need to study her history, all her time had been taken up. How did she expect to be an actress after college if she didn't get any experience now in amateurs? Firmly she resolved to enter dramatics next term. This time she would keep her resolution."</ref> Shirley is to play the leading role. May Norris, "no friend of any of the Alphas" after Shirley was wrongfully accused of stealing examination questions the previous year, has "her heart set on playing the lead" but must settle for understudy.<ref name="BG3-202">Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', p. 202</ref> When Josephine Carter breaks her arm falling down a flight of stairs to the storeroom, claiming afterwards that "[s]omebody pushed me," Lenora suspects May.<ref>Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', p. 206</ref> Shirley had originally been asked to fetch an item from the room, leading to the suggestion that May "waited until she thought Shirley was on her way to the storeroom. May slipped into the basement after her. In the darkness she could not see that the girl she pushed wasn't Shirley, but Josephine." If Shirley "twister [her] ankle, or broke [her] arm, as Josephine did, [she] couldn't play Hamlet, and that would give May her big chance.<ref>Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', pp. 208-09</ref> A protesting Beverly is tapped to replace Josephine as [[Gertrude_(Hamlet)|Queen]], and "nothing ever [comes] to light about the 'accident.'"<ref>Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', p. 213</ref> In the following weeks May acts friendly towards Shirley, a shift from her previous "violent dislike" of "all the Alpha girls."<ref name="BG3-202" /><eod>
<sod>Christmas holidays "weeks past," when they are next heard from the six Alphas are planning the junior production of [[Hamlet]].<ref name="BG3-200">Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', p. 200</ref> Lenora is the director, Lois is cast as [[Ophelia]], Beverly is "in charge of the scenery" with Anne her assistant, and Rosalie has "charge of the costumes."<ref name="BG3-200" /> Fulfilling a pledge made in ''Sophomore'' to pursue an acting career,<ref>Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Sophomore'', p. 186. "It was March. Soon her sophomore term would be over. Half of her college life was through and done with. Last term she had become interested in theatricals and had decided to devote herself to them this term. But had she? She had not had the chance. What with the mystery of the old Horler Mansion and the pressing need to study her history, all her time had been taken up. How did she expect to be an actress after college if she didn't get any experience now in amateurs? Firmly she resolved to enter dramatics next term. This time she would keep her resolution."</ref> Shirley is to play the leading role. May Norris, "no friend of any of the Alphas" after Shirley was wrongfully accused of stealing examination questions the previous year, has "her heart set on playing the lead" but must settle for understudy.<ref name="BG3-202">Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', p. 202</ref> When Josephine Carter breaks her arm falling down a flight of stairs to the storeroom, claiming afterwards that "[s]omebody pushed me," Lenora suspects May.<ref>Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', p. 206</ref> Shirley had originally been asked to fetch an item from the room, leading to the suggestion that May "waited until she thought Shirley was on her way to the storeroom. May slipped into the basement after her. In the darkness she could not see that the girl she pushed wasn't Shirley, but Josephine." If Shirley "twister [her] ankle, or broke [her] arm, as Josephine did, [she] couldn't play Hamlet, and that would give May her big chance.<ref>Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', pp. 208-09</ref> A protesting Beverly is tapped to replace Josephine as [[Gertrude_(Hamlet)|Queen]], and "nothing ever [comes] to light about the 'accident.'"<ref>Blank, ''Beverly Gray, Junior'', p. 213</ref> In the following weeks May acts friendly towards Shirley, a shift from her previous "violent dislike" of "all the Alpha girls."<ref name="BG3-202" /> Her perfidy is revealed on the day of the play, when she convinces Shirley to investigate "[m]ysterious lights and figures that have been seen in the old Horler Mansion again."<eod>