"I hope I shan't have toothache again," said Dora. "Do you think Miss Drummond would let me go out if I muffled my head in a big shawl?"

"No, I'm sure she won't, nor Lorna either, if she persists in that noisy coughing. If you can't smother it, Lorna, you and Dora will have to keep each other company in the classroom, and miss all the fun."

"Oh, that would be too bad! I'll manage somehow to get well enough, if I swallow every nostrum under the sun. Will you lend me your carbolic smoke ball? and I'll try it to-night."

In spite of many remedies suggested by sympathetic friends, Lorna was, however, obliged to forego the festivities. Miss Drummond was inexorable where health was concerned, and would not allow colds to be trifled with.

"Perhaps if I'd tried all the different recipes I might have cured it," said Lorna dolefully. "I've been recommended hot buttermilk and treacle, and honey with lemon, and black-currant tea, and elder syrup, and spirits of nitre, and ammoniated quinine, and to tie a wet handkerchief and a stocking round my throat, and sit with my feet in mustard and water!"

"I think the cures sound worse than the cold," said Dora, who was nursing a swollen face. "I've resigned myself to staying indoors. We shan't be the only ones, for there are at least eight others on the sick list. I don't much care; I'd rather sit near the fire and keep warm than skate with a raging toothache. No, I'm afraid I can't eat any chocolates, though it's kind of Miss Drummond to have sent us a box full."

"If you look out at the landing window, you can just catch a peep of what is going on," said Mabel. "We'll tell you all about it afterwards. And if you're wise you'll let Miss Bardsley take you to the dentist to-morrow, and have that tooth out."

At half-past seven those members of the school who could show a clean bill of health wrapped themselves up warmly, and sallied forth to the carnival. The garden was really a beautiful sight. The full moon shone down upon the snow, glinting on the frosty branches of the trees, and showing cold and pale in contrast to the line of flaming torches that encircled the rink. All Phœbe's Chinese lanterns had been put up, and a number of others, which belonged to the Fifth and Sixth Forms; so that the scene resembled Aladdin's palace, with its rows of red, blue, yellow, and green lamps. It seemed very romantic to skate amid such surroundings, and the girls felt as if they were stepping into a picture or a scene from a play, as they took their first strokes, over the ice. Two friends of Miss Drummond had brought a mandoline and a guitar, and played lively selections, sometimes giving a song with a chorus, in which all could join, when the whole school swung round to the tune of "Oh! dem golden slippers" or "The old folks at home". The oil stove from the cottage had been requisitioned, and stood in a snug corner, keeping warm a large can of beef-tea, from which steaming cupfuls could be ladled from time to time by anyone who wanted refreshment; and a tray full of hot turnovers, which one of the maids carried from the house, was highly appreciated.

As a wind-up to the festivities, everyone made an attempt to dance Sir Roger de Coverley—a very funny proceeding indeed on the ice, where strokes had to be substituted for chassés, and the ranks were apt to be abruptly broken by someone sitting down suddenly, with more swiftness than grace. Miss Reade and Miss Bardsley were heading the line, and passing under the upraised hands of Maude Farnham and Rose Turner, two of the prefects, when unluckily Rose tipped a little too far forward and lost her balance. Down she came with a crash, and in her fall she clutched wildly at Miss Bardsley, and not only brought both the teachers to their knees, but upset six couples who were following close behind and could not stop. There was quite a tangle of prostrate figures upon the ice, and much laughter as the girls picked themselves up, and tried to re-form the lines. Amidst the general scramble, nobody noticed for a moment that Miss Bardsley was really hurt; when she attempted to rise, however, her foot was so painful that she sank back with a groan.

"I'm afraid I must have sprained my ankle!" she exclaimed.

It was a case for "first aid", and the members of the ambulance class had very soon shown the advantage of their training by taking off the teacher's skates and boots, improvising a stretcher, and carrying her into the house, where Miss Drummond set to work at once with hot fomentations and bandages. Unfortunately, the mischief was greater than anyone supposed, for when the doctor from Chetbourne arrived next morning he declared that a bone was broken, and that the ankle must be put into splints.

Naturally, this was a very awkward occurrence just at the beginning of the term. Miss Bardsley would be disabled for some weeks, and in the meantime, who would take her Form? For a few days one of the prefects did duty, while Miss Drummond wrote post-haste to a scholastic agency, to secure a teacher as locum tenens.

It was difficult to find anyone who was disengaged and could come at so short a notice, and Miss Webb, the mistress who finally arrived, was hardly to the taste of the Fourth Form. She had been a private governess in a family, and was not accustomed to class teaching; and the girls discovered in the first half-hour that she had not the slightest notion of how to enforce discipline.

"She told me to stop talking, and when I didn't, she simply took no notice!" chuckled Dora Maxwell.

"And she said: 'Ursula, dear, please do not fidget with your pencil,' in such a mild, apologetic little voice!" laughed Ursula. "Miss Bardsley would have glared, and said: 'Ursula, take a forfeit!'"

"She doesn't know anything, really, about the lessons," said Aldred scornfully. "She kept looking at the book all the time, to follow what we were saying."

"And you remember that sum that came out so funnily? I'm sure the answer was wrong in the book, and I wanted her to work it on the blackboard, but she wouldn't," put in Dora.

"Because she couldn't!" sneered Aldred. "She's evidently no good at arithmetic. We know more ourselves than she does!"

"And when we were having physical geography, and I asked her why the moon really had phases, she said it depended on the tide!"

"Well, she had got rather flustered, and put it the wrong way," interposed Mabel. "Of course, she meant that the tide depended on the moon."

"Then why didn't she say so?"

"You muddle her by asking so many questions."

"Miss Bardsley never gets muddled; she always explains things so that one can understand exactly. As for Miss Webb, at the end of her physical geography, I feel as if I weren't sure whether the sun goes round the earth, or the earth round the sun."

"Well, it must be difficult for her, poor thing! to come here at a few hours' notice and have to take up another mistress's work," said Mabel. "I expect she's taught from quite different books, and doesn't know how far we are on in anything."

"It's not exactly that," said Phœbe. "I'm sure Miss Bardsley could set to work on someone else's Form, and manage their lessons in five minutes. The real trouble is that Miss Webb hasn't been used to teach in the way we learn things at Birkwood. She's old-fashioned, and expects you just to repeat what's in the book, and never minds whether you really understand it or not."

"That's fearfully out-of-date!" said Ursula. "She must have been educated a very long time ago. I wonder how old she is?"

"Quite fifty, I should think. Her hair is very grey," said Aldred. "She's older than Miss Drummond, I'm certain, and oh! what a vast difference there is between them! Miss Drummond is the cleverest person I know, and Miss Webb is a perfect noodle!"

"I don't see what's the use of troubling to learn her stupid lessons; they can't do us any good."

"Well, we must be able to reel off something, or she'd give us bad marks, and Miss Drummond would scold."

"Yes, that's the worst of it."

"Freda Martin made a far better teacher; I wish she could have gone on taking us!"

"So do I; but, you see, she has her own work. She is going in for the Matric. next summer."

"Well, I vote we give ourselves an easy time with Miss Webb. We'll learn just enough to satisfy her and no more; and if we feel inclined to talk in school we'll talk!"

CHAPTER XII

The New Teacher

Ursula Bramley, who prided herself on her wit, would delight in asking questions calculated to expose the mistress's ignorance, or to trip her up in some obscure branch of knowledge. She would come into school well primed with educational posers, and keenly enjoyed Miss Webb's discomfiture. She would meet all the unfortunate governess's attempts at evasion with firm determination, nailing her to the point until poor Miss Webb seemed more in the position of a candidate undergoing examination than a teacher conducting her own class.

"Baiting the cobweb," as Ursula called it, was the grand amusement of the Form, and it was very seldom that the victim emerged triumphant from the ordeal. Schoolgirls are thoughtless creatures, often very heartless, and it never struck the Form what pain they were inflicting upon a proud and sensitive lady, whose misfortunes obliged her to gain her living at an uncongenial occupation. To them she was simply a tiresome old bore, an object of mirth or contempt; and the agony that she endured in private did not enter into their calculations.

Mabel alone took no part in this unseemly state of disorder. Soon after the advent of Miss Webb she had developed a slight attack of influenza, and was laid up in the "hospital", a large room at the top of the house reserved for purposes of isolation. She was not seriously ill, but Miss Drummond was so afraid of infection being spread through the school that she kept Mabel away from the others for a longer period than was really necessary.

The latter certainly would not have countenanced any rudeness or discourtesy in class, but, her good influence being removed, Aldred was only too ready to follow the example of the others, and, as a cheap and ready means to win popularity, became one of the ring-leaders in the daily mutiny, vying with Ursula as to which could be the more clever at their teacher's expense. All kinds of petty annoyances were resorted to. If Miss Webb wished to write on the blackboard, the chalk would be missing, or the duster mislaid. The desk lids were banged, books dropped feet scraped noisily, or the door was slammed on purpose. The girls would wilfully misunderstand the plainest directions, make ridiculous mistakes in their essays or exercises, and altogether try how far they could put the patience and good temper of the long-suffering mistress to the test.

One morning Miss Webb, in a feeble effort towards reform, announced that she intended next day to give the Form a viva voce examination upon the work taken since her arrival, and that she would submit the results to Miss Drummond.

This was a blow, for the girls had learnt their lessons so badly lately that not one of them was prepared, and they knew that the low standard of their marks would mean trouble with the head mistress.

"It's absurd to give us an exam, when it's not even the middle of the term!" exclaimed Dora, in much indignation.

"And a viva voce, too! We always have written ones at Birkwood," said Agnes, "with properly typed questions."

"Suppose none of us pass? Miss Drummond will be absolutely savage!" said Phœbe uneasily.

"Yes; she was not at all pleased with our reports last week," agreed Lorna.

"She asked how it was I had so many mistakes in my German exercises, and why my problems were all wrong."

"And she looked at the writing in my book, and said it was a scribble," added Myfanwy.

"What are we going to take for the viva voce?" asked Aldred.

"Everything. It's to be from nine to eleven—a regular catechism in Roman history, and physical geography, and English literature, with grammar and parsing thrown in."

"Miss Webb said she would even ask us French verbs, and weights and measures," wailed Dora. "I know I shall fail! I'm no good at viva voces. I can remember the past preterite of s'en aller, or how many square yards there are in a square pole, when I'm writing an exercise, or doing a sum; but I never can think quickly enough when I'm asked point-blank. It all goes straight out of my head, and it's just coming back to me by the time the next girl is answering."

"Viva voces really are not fair," grumbled Myfanwy. "The nervous ones always do badly, however much they know."

"And when you don't know, it's still worse!" continued Lorna. "Miss Bardsley never gives them, at any rate, and that's quite sufficient reason why Miss Webb shouldn't."

"I call it quite impertinent for a temporary teacher to make such an innovation!" said Ursula loftily.

"Especially when Miss Bardsley is a B.A., and Miss Webb hasn't been to college."

"Yes. She has no business to alter any of our Form arrangements. We told her what we were accustomed to do, and she ought to stick to that, instead of introducing her own ways."

However much the girls might murmur in private, they could not openly rebel, or refuse to submit to the examination. It never struck any of them to take their books and set to work during recreation time, to try to make up arrears. They much preferred to grumble, and bewail their hard luck.

"I hope she'll begin with literature and physical geography," said Phœbe. "I can manage fairly well with those, because it's easy enough to give examples of a dactyl and hexameters, or to describe a volcano; but when it comes to Roman chronology, I shall be done for! I can't remember the dates in the least, or the right order of the battles, or the names of the generals."

"We must try to spin out the first part," suggested Aldred. "We'll answer as slowly as we possibly can, and then there won't be so much time left for the Roman history. We can't go on again after eleven, because of the singing class and science."

"That's a good idea! Will everyone please remember not to hurry? I wonder if I could manage to drawl like Lorna?" chuckled Phœbe. "She always takes twice as long as anyone else to bring out her remarks!"

"I don't!" protested Lorna.

"Yes, you do. You needn't be so indignant; it's an accomplishment that we're all envying just at present, and longing to acquire!"

Preparation that evening, which ought to have been devoted to a steady recapitulation of forgotten dates and events, was conducted with the half-heartedness into which, under Miss Webb's slack rule, the attention of the class had unfortunately degenerated. The girls learnt with one eye on their books and the other on their neighbours; they made signs, talked on their fingers, and passed notes under the desks. Occasionally, when matters were really too bad to be ignored, Miss Webb would pluck up courage to venture a remonstrance, when there would be a brief interval of work; but within five minutes Aldred would be drawing caricatures on the fly-leaf of her grammar, Ursula uttering a vamped-up sneeze, and Dora signalling to Myfanwy behind Agnes's back. It was a farce of study, and at the end of two hours nobody had really made any headway or gained any fresh items of knowledge to use in the forthcoming ordeal.

Miss Webb gave a sigh of relief when the clock struck and her unpleasant task was over, and the girls popped their books untidily into their desks, and bolted from the room with a noise and hustling at the door such as they would not have dared to indulge in if Miss Bardsley had been there.

Next morning at nine o'clock the examination began. All took their seats, not at their own desks, but on a couple of forms placed in front of the blackboard, an arrangement insisted upon by Miss Webb, and carried out rather sulkily by the girls, who objected to be so directly under the teacher's eye. For once, Miss Webb really managed to enforce her authority. She separated Dora and Phœbe, the worst whisperers, peremptorily ordered Aldred not to loll, and told Ursula, who made an attempt at "baiting", to confine herself to answering questions, instead of asking them.

"Anyone who does not behave properly will take a forfeit, and this morning I shall subtract the forfeits from the general totals of the examination," she announced, looking quite stern and determined.

Rather impressed by this unexpected burst of spirit on her part, the girls sat up straight, and gave their minds to the subject in hand. It was certainly very necessary for them to concentrate their attention, for both facts and figures proved coy, and apt to refuse to come at the call of memory. Miss Webb was methodical: she held the register in her hand, and recorded every girl's answer immediately it was given, entering it as right or wrong. The roll that resulted was hardly one of honour. Nobody covered herself with credit, or made even a tolerable show of information. Often a question would pass round the whole Form, and the number of misses to each name began greatly to outbalance the marks. The girls looked solemn. It was one thing to neglect Miss Webb's lessons, but quite another affair to have their deficiencies thus relentlessly written down and submitted to Miss Drummond, who would be sure to institute a close enquiry into the reason for such a universal failure. Everything seemed to go wrong, even English literature, upon which Phœbe had counted. Instead of taking examples of metre, Miss Webb asked for the chronological lives of authors, and lists of their works; or for the plots and principal characters of Shakespeare's plays. Physical geography fared no better, for she demanded an exact definition of terms, and very precise explanations of various phenomena, and would take no half-replies. She had evidently prepared carefully for the examination, and (when she was not continually interrupted by irrelevant questions) had a far better grasp of her subjects than her pupils had supposed.

The time dragged on slowly. No morning had ever seemed so long, in the opinion of the girls. The weary rounds of literature and physical geography were succeeded by English grammar, with a discomfiting interval of French verbs. Aldred, surreptitiously consulting her watch, found it was just after half-past ten. Nearly half an hour, therefore, must elapse before lunch, and Miss Webb was already opening the Roman history primer. A look of horror passed along the Form. If their other subjects had been weak, this was decidedly weaker. Not one could remember a quarter of what she had learned. They had hoped that, as this subject was the last on the list, it would have been left so late that only a few pages could be covered; they certainly had not calculated on spending twenty-five minutes at it.

"I shall miss every turn!" thought Aldred. "It's dreadful! I've done so fearfully badly already. I believe I've only got about thirty per cent., and this will put me lower still. Miss Drummond never passes anyone on less than half marks. What can we do?"

She caught her breath, for an idea had suddenly flashed into her mind—an idea so daring, although so feasible, that its boldness almost frightened her. The small clock on the chimney-piece was not going, and Miss Webb generally kept time by the striking of the great clock that stood on the landing outside. If this clock could be put forward, the Form might be dismissed almost at once, instead of enduring the purgatory of any more horrible questions. Of course, there would be the danger of discovery, and consequently of getting into a serious scrape, but Aldred decided that something must be risked. A cold from which she was suffering gave her the necessary excuse.

"Please, Miss Webb, may I go for a clean pocket-handkerchief?" she asked.

Miss Bardsley would not have allowed any girl to leave the room during an examination, but her substitute was more lenient.

"You must be very quick, then, Aldred," she replied. "If you lose your turn I shall count it as a miss."

Aldred was up and out of the door in a minute. Once on the landing she glanced cautiously round, to make certain that nobody was in sight; then, boldly opening the glass front of the clock, she moved the hands till they pointed to three minutes to eleven. She returned to her place, ostentatiously displaying the clean handkerchief, just as the Form were wrestling with the Punic Wars, and by a lucky chance got the date of the battle of Cannæ, which was the only one she knew.

"What was the policy of Rome after this defeat?" asked Miss Webb.

Lorna could not remember, and the question passed on to Phœbe, who made a bad shot and answered wrong. Dora, Agnes and Myfanwy missed entirely, and Miss Webb was in the act of turning to Aldred, when the clock outside began to chime.

The teacher looked surprised, and glanced at her watch.

"I must surely be late!" she remarked. "I make it only twenty minutes to eleven."

"The landing clock is always right," volunteered Ursula, who, being doubtful herself as to the policy of Rome in that particular emergency, was as relieved as Aldred.

Miss Webb did not dispute the matter, but closed her book. Perhaps she also was not sorry to find it was lunch-time sooner than she had expected. The girls did not need telling to go; they rose in a body, and fled downstairs in hot haste.

"It isn't really eleven yet!" panted Aldred, when they had reached the comparative safety of the hall. "Oh, don't make such a noise! Miss Drummond will hear us, and come out and send us back. Let us rush outside, into the carving-shed!"

"We knew it wasn't!" exclaimed Dora. "We all had our watches. How clever of you to put on the clock! I guessed in a second what you'd done."

"I wonder how soon Miss Webb will find out the mistake?" said Myfanwy. "The bell hasn't rung yet; she didn't think of that!"

"Well, I never was so glad to finish any exam in my life," avowed Phœbe. "Wasn't it detestable?"

"As bad as the Inquisition. It was a regular torture chamber. My unfortunate brains have been on the rack for two hours."

"Not quite two hours!" chuckled Aldred.

"No, thanks to you! but for an hour and forty minutes, at any rate."

"We must all have failed hopelessly; not a single one of us can possibly have scraped through."

"Yes; but it would have been worse still if we had gone on missing for other twenty minutes."

"Rather! Miss Drummond will be quite cross enough as it is, when she looks at the register."

The girls judged it discreet not to go indoors too soon for lunch, waiting until the pantry was likely to be full, lest their early appearance might excite comment.

Singing was from ten minutes past eleven to twelve, and after that came science, with Miss Drummond, until one, both classes being held in the lecture-hall, so that there was no further lesson with Miss Webb that morning. A hockey match was played in the afternoon, which caused such excitement that the affair of the clock was forgotten for the time being; but it returned only too forcibly to the girls' minds, as they walked in to evening preparation. Would Miss Webb have found out the trick played upon her? And what steps would she take? They could not suppose that she would submit tamely, and ignore the whole circumstance. The most poor-spirited governess expects to keep her pupils in their classroom during school hours, even though she may not be able to exercise control over them while they are there. Would she show herself to be angry? or, worse still, would she report the matter to Miss Drummond? If so, trouble was in store for them.

Miss Webb, to their surprise, did neither. Her line of conduct was totally unexpected. She announced, quite calmly and briefly:

"I find that a mistake was made this morning in the time, and that you lost twenty minutes of your examination. By noting your marks during the ten minutes we spent on Roman history, I have been able to calculate the general average that you would have received during the entire half-hour, and, as a result, I have added one right answer and eight misses to each of your names on the register, and ten extra misses to Aldred Laurence, in lieu of forfeits."

The girls groaned inwardly, but they knew they were checkmated. If they dared to remonstrate, Miss Webb would probably expose the entire episode to Miss Drummond, so they wisely said nothing.

They certainly well deserved all they had received, particularly Aldred, who for once had been a little too clever. Her additional bad marks placed her at the bottom of the list, a position she had never occupied since she entered the school. She was very irate in consequence.

"I detest Miss Webb!" she declared. "It was a disgustingly mean way of her to take revenge on us. How could she tell I had altered the clock?"

"Any idiot could have guessed that!" returned Dora. "It was perfectly simple to put two and two together; we all knew."

"Well, I think it was nasty of her, all the same, and I mean to pay her out."

"If you can."

"Oh, I'll manage it somehow!"

"Better not boast too soon."

"All right! Just wait and see!"

It was perfectly unreasonable of Aldred to feel aggrieved because Miss Webb had asserted her authority; but she chose to consider that she had been unfairly treated, and that she was justified in nursing her wrath. She cast about for some means of turning the tables and annoying the mistress, but it was rather difficult to hit upon anything safe; she had no wish to get herself into serious trouble, and knew that any open defiance would be reported at head-quarters.

"It must be something she can't fix specially upon me," reflected Aldred; "something that any of us might have done. The whole class dislikes her, so I shall really be acting champion for the rest; only, I think I won't tell them anything about it beforehand; it shall come as a surprise."

After serious cogitation, she decided to chalk Miss Webb's chair, so that her black dress should show a white impression of the cane seat and back.

"She won't know," thought the girl, "and of course we shall none of us tell her, and she'll be going about the school looking such a guy! She'll wonder why everybody is smiling."

By nine o'clock next morning Aldred had her unpleasant surprise already prepared. She had managed to slip into the classroom before breakfast, and to chalk the chair thoroughly; and she now sat in her place, laughing in anticipation. Miss Webb was punctual. She entered in her usual rather flurried, undignified manner, and was about to close the door after her, when she suddenly opened it wide again to admit—Miss Drummond and Mabel! This was a totally unlooked-for event. Aldred had not known that Mabel was returning to class that day, as it had been reported that she was to remain in hospital for the rest of the week; and she certainly did not expect the head mistress. Mabel walked quietly to her own desk, and Miss Drummond (alas for Aldred!) sank straight down on the chair that Miss Webb at once politely offered her.

"I have come this morning, girls, to say a few words to you," began the Principal. "I have examined your marks for the last three weeks, and also the list of the viva voce examination that you had yesterday. I wish to tell you that I am extremely dissatisfied. I have never seen such a low average from the Fourth Form, and I am sure that you are none of you doing your best. I cannot possibly allow such a state of affairs to continue; it is a disgrace to the school! I am greatly disappointed, as I had hoped for better things from you. It has been a very hard task for Miss Webb, who kindly came to help us in an emergency, to take up another teacher's work at so short a notice, and I believed that you would have realized her difficulties, and have made an effort to help her in every way in your power. Instead of this, you appear to have taken advantage of Miss Bardsley's absence to neglect your work. As I cannot trust you to do your preparation adequately and thoroughly in your own classroom, I am going to make a new arrangement, and you will bring your books each evening into the lecture-hall, and sit with the Sixth Form, when I can myself see that you are not wasting your time. I have also asked Miss Webb to bring me the register at the end of each morning. I shall check your marks, and any girl who, as I consider, has fallen below her usual standard, will stay indoors during the afternoon, to learn the lessons in which she has failed."

If Miss Drummond looked grave, the Form looked utterly crestfallen and ashamed. The girls sat perfectly still, gazing at their desks, for nobody dared to meet the Principal's eyes. As for Aldred, she was filled with blank dismay. It was bad enough to be scolded for ill-prepared work, but what was going to happen when Miss Drummond got up from her chair? That she hardly dared to guess, and she would have given everything she possessed if she could have recalled her silly act. She was kept for some time in suspense, as the head mistress called for their exercise-books, and insisted upon examining them all minutely, and asking various searching and awkward questions as to the reason for so many mistakes and misspelt words, and such bad writing. The Fourth Form had never endured such an unpleasant quarter of an hour, and Aldred, between her present discomfiture and her apprehension of what was to come, felt as if she were passing out of the frying-pan into the fire.

The dreadful moment arrived at last. Miss Drummond handed the exercise-books back to the monitress, and rose up. Aldred's trick had answered only too well: the pattern of the cane seat was imprinted most plainly upon the head mistress's handsome dress. As she turned for an instant to consult the time-table, everybody noticed it, and a universal gasp of horror passed round the room. Miss Webb blushed hotly, and hesitated as if in doubt what to do; then, apparently plucking up her courage, she nervously informed the unconscious Principal of the state of affairs. Miss Drummond looked keenly first at the chair and then at the girls.

"Who is responsible for this?" she asked, in a constrained voice.

There was no reply.

"I will give whoever has done it one more chance to confess."

Still Aldred held her peace.

"Very well! I am exceedingly sorry for the girl who is wilfully concealing this; her own conscience will tell her how mean and despicable is her conduct. I consider this an act of such silly childishness and utter folly that in itself it is hardly worthy of my notice; the worst fault by far is the moral cowardice of the girl who has not the courage to own up, and offer an apology. It adds, I am sorry to say, to the bad opinion of the class that I have already been obliged to form. No, thank you, Miss Webb, there is no need to fetch a clothes-brush; I will ask one of the servants to attend to my dress, and to bring a wet cloth to wipe the chair before you use it yourself."

Aldred managed to avoid the other girls both at lunch-time and at afternoon recreation, making Mabel's return an excuse for devoting herself exclusively to her friend. She was most anxious not to be questioned on the subject of the chair. She was afraid she might be suspected of having played the trick, and did not see how she was to shield herself without a point-blank denial. Greatly to her relief, a bad cold from which she was suffering was pronounced influenza by Miss Drummond, who promptly packed her off to the hospital. She was not very ill, so it was a luxury to be an invalid for a few days, to miss classes, preparation, and practising, and to sit by the fire with an interesting book, and be fed up with beef-tea and jelly.

Mabel, who had completely recovered, was the only visitor allowed, a matter for which Aldred was devoutly thankful.

"It's perfectly horrid in school just at present," said Mabel, who ran up every afternoon to bring her news. "We have to do prep, with the Sixth Form, and Miss Drummond sits there herself, as well as Miss Forster, and keeps looking at us, to make sure that we're working. We hardly dare to lift our eyes from our books even for a second, and the room is so still that if anyone drops a pencil it makes quite a sensation. Before we go, each girl has to tell what marks she has gained or lost during the day. It's a regular confession! I can tell you, we have to be fearfully careful, and not make any more mistakes than we can help. It won't last long, though, because I hear Miss Bardsley is quite able to walk now with a stick, and she's to come back to class in a week from to-day."

"How blissful!" sighed Aldred. "Will Miss Webb be going, then?"

"Yes, on Saturday. I'm very sorry for her. Of course, she's not interesting, but she really did her best, poor thing, and I think the girls have behaved abominably. I wonder who chalked her chair?"

"Haven't they found out?"

Aldred's voice was very quiet, and she did not look at Mabel as she spoke.

"No. Everybody denies it flatly. I believe it lies between Phœbe and Dora. Ursula actually had the cheek to suggest that you must have done it! I was so angry with her!"

"You always stand up for me."

"I should think so!—I know you so well, dear. But Ursula is always jealous of you, and is inclined to be rather spiteful. I was obliged to take a very high hand with her. I said I should refuse to speak to anyone who connected your name again with the affair, and whoever spoke a word against you in future would quarrel also with me. That soon put them down. They're rather anxious to keep friends with me just now, because my aunt is staying at Chetbourne, and has sent me a box for Wednesday's matinée of Julius Cæsar. She asked Miss Drummond to allow me to go with one of the teachers and any friends I liked. I only wish you were well enough! I invited Miss Webb promptly. She and Miss Forster are to take us."

"Oh, I'm so glad Miss Webb is going!"

"Yes, I think she's pleased; but I'm sure the girls don't deserve a treat, and I believe I'll ask the prefects instead of them. It would really serve the Form right to be left out. The way they treated poor Miss Webb was most unchivalrous."

"Unchivalrous? Is that the right word?" queried Aldred, rather puzzled. "I thought chivalry was only for men, and that it meant fighting in tournaments, with your lady's favour fastened to your helmet, like they did in the Middle Ages."

"That was part of it, but Mother says real chivalry is for everybody, for girls as well as boys, and we can practise it nowadays, because it simply means refusing to profit by anyone else's weakness. The knights in olden times were bound by their vows of knighthood to defend all who couldn't protect themselves, and—oh, dear! I can't explain myself properly, but don't you see that, when poor Miss Webb was so stupid and helpless, we were bound to behave well and learn our lessons, simply because she wasn't strong enough to make us on her own account, and it was so cowardly to take advantage of her? That would have been chivalry."

"I think I understand," said Aldred, staring hard at the fire.

"Yes, I knew you would, though the others don't in the least, I'm afraid. I'm glad to say they're a little ashamed of themselves, though, and they're quite nice to Miss Webb now. By the by, we've started a subscription in the Form, to make her a present before she goes. You'd like to give something, wouldn't you?"

"Very much indeed. Please put my name down for ten shillings."

"A whole half-sovereign! How generous you are! Most of us have only given half-crowns. We shall have twenty-five shillings now, and that ought to buy something really nice. Miss Drummond has promised to get it for us in Chetbourne. We don't know whether to choose a russia leather writing-case or a silver-topped, cut-glass scent bottle. I think you ought to have the casting vote, as you're giving so much more than anyone else."

"No; you settle it with the rest of the Form. I don't mind which, but it must be what the others like best."

"Well, I'll tell the girls what you say. I must go now, because Miss Drummond said I mustn't stay more than half an hour."

"Here are my keys," said Aldred. "If you'll unlock the workbox on my dressing-table, you'll find the half-sovereign in the lid. I can't go downstairs myself to fetch it."

"All right. I shall put your name first on the list."

"Oh, please don't! I'd rather have it last of all, if you don't mind."

The half-sovereign was conscience money, Aldred reflected sadly, as she returned to the fireside after bidding her friend good-bye. There was neither real pleasure nor merit in her gift, only a wish to make expiation for a fault that she dared not openly confess. She was like the Norman barons of old who gave large sums to the Church, to try to atone for the sins they still went on committing. She had no intention of explaining or setting the matter of the chair right, and her most earnest hope was that Mabel had succeeded in turning away the suspicions of the other girls from her, or, at least, in closing their mouths.

"They won't like to mention it any more, from fear of offending Mabel," she thought. "There's not one of them who would risk a quarrel. I expect I'm safe enough, and needn't worry about it: but oh, dear! Mabel thinks I'm so generous, and everything that's noble and splendid and good; I wonder what she would say, if she knew me as I really am!"

CHAPTER XIII

Aldred pays a Visit

The spring term was often called "Indoor Science Term", because on Wednesday evenings Miss Drummond gave lectures that were intended as a preparation for the botanical and zoological rambles held during the summer. In May, June, and July the girls would be taken to search for wild flowers upon the downs, and for marine specimens of all kinds on the beach; and it was Miss Drummond's object to enable them to understand beforehand what they were likely to find. Sometimes she had a magic lantern and sometimes a microscope, and always she had something interesting to tell and to show, whether it was the marvels of plant life or the wonders of the seashore; and she could make her nature stories sound as thrilling as human ones.

There were attendances also at concerts and University Extension lectures at Chetbourne, to which the school went in relays; Miss Drummond liked to keep her girls in touch with the outside world, and did not wish them to remain continually shut up in the Grange, as if it were a nunnery. At mealtimes, though she banned politics, she generally discussed the news of the day and any great events that were happening, so that nobody could plead ignorance of current topics. At the Debating Society all kinds of questions were aired and argued, the opposing papers being entrusted to members of the Fifth and Sixth Forms, though the Lower School was allowed to express its opinion. The meetings were conducted in a strictly business-like and orderly manner worthy of a college society, having been organized by Miss Forster and Miss Bardsley, who were both well versed in Girton traditions. Aldred enjoyed them immensely, and, finding several opportunities of putting in a few words, did not hesitate to avail herself of her chances. She was not shy, and had perhaps inherited a propensity for discussion from her barrister father, so she was able to do herself ample justice, and to reflect credit upon the Fourth Form.

"You simply squashed Freda on the subject of Socialism," said Mabel, after one particularly successful little speech. "Her thesis went all to pieces when you nailed her to the point, and she couldn't prove anything. I wish I had such clear brains! You see the weak spots in people's arguments immediately, and then you can bowl them over like ninepins."

Mabel herself had no gift of eloquence, so she appreciated Aldred's powers all the more, and was immensely proud of her success.

"I can't imagine how I lived before you came to school," she sometimes remarked. "I was a wheel without an axle. Now everything I do centres round you, and the best of it is that Mother likes you too!"

To both of the girls the great event of the term had been the night spent by Mabel's mother at the Grange. Lady Muriel Farrington not only had a warm friendship for Miss Drummond, but held both her personality and her methods of teaching in admiration and respect, and for this reason had entrusted her with her daughter. When up in town, she sometimes paid flying visits to Birkwood, as she knew that Miss Drummond would allow her to do so without disturbing the general routine of the school. She had been exceedingly anxious to come on this occasion, partly because Mabel had had influenza, and she wanted to assure herself that she was quite strong again; and partly because she wished to meet Aldred, and ascertain what kind of girl had gained such an intense, dominating influence over her daughter. She was extremely particular as to the friendships Mabel should form, considering her choice of companions one of the most important features in her upbringing; and she had been most careful to allow no intimacy with anyone whom she had not herself seen and approved.

Mabel's letters had been so entirely filled with accounts of Aldred, to the exclusion of all other topics, that her mother felt it was high time to investigate this new and absorbing interest, and either give her sanction or take some steps to put an immediate stop to it. She had come to the Grange prepared to be very critical, and even censorious; but once introduced to Aldred, she had immediately fallen under the spell of her striking appearance and winning manners. No one knew better than Lady Muriel, however, that a picturesque exterior is not always an index to the mind; so she had a long talk with Miss Drummond about Aldred's character, and received such a favourable report that her fears were quite set at rest.

"I find your friend utterly charming," she said in private to Mabel, who was waiting in some anxiety to hear the verdict. "She is a most fascinating girl, evidently very clever and intelligent, yet so sweet, sympathetic, and winsome. I hear good accounts of her from Miss Drummond, who says she is entirely truthful, honourable, and straightforward (that was a question I particularly asked), and that she has a splendid reputation in the school. I am going to invite her to stay with us during the Easter holidays, and I hope very much that her father will allow her to come."

Mabel's rapture knew no bounds. She felt that she now had an official seal on her friendship, and she was longing to take Aldred home with her, and show her all the places that she had so often described.

"You'll see the house, and the park, and the lake, and our Alpine garden, and the tanks where we grow water-lilies, and our village club and library, and all Mother's pet schemes and hobbies," she announced gleefully. "We'll have a perfectly delightful time! Grassingford always looks particularly pretty in spring, when the trees are just coming out, and we'll get Father to take us about in the motor, so that you can see the country. Do you ride?"

"A little," said Aldred. Her achievements in that line were limited to a donkey at the seaside, but she was not going to confess her lack of experience.

"Then we'll have some glorious scampers on Belle and Beauty. Belle really belongs to Geoffrey—that's my stepbrother, who is married, and lives a mile away—but he lends her to me sometimes, and I am sure he will this Easter if I ask him. I must take you to see Geoffrey and Rosamond, and my wee niece Margot. She's only five months old, and I haven't seen her since she was in long clothes. Then there are my cousins at the Rectory; I know they'll simply fall in love with you. Oh, I'm absolutely longing to introduce you to everybody and everything!"

Aldred's father readily gave his consent to the proposed visit, so April fifteenth saw the two girls starting off together for the holidays. Miss Bardsley took them up to town, and placed them safely in the train at King's Cross; and they would have no further change until they reached Helmsworth, the junction for Grassingford.

They were in a very exultant and hilarious frame of mind, literally bubbling over with excitement. They managed to restrain themselves while they were under Miss Bardsley's eye, but directly the train started, and she had waved a final farewell from the platform, they allowed their wild spirits to have free play, and laughed to their hearts' content, waltzed between the seats, gave three cheers for the breaking-up, and chattered like a pair of magpies. Fortunately, they had the compartment to themselves, or they could not have indulged in such enjoyable frivolities except at the risk of being taken for lunatics.

"I managed to buy a box of chocolates and a bag of pears," announced Aldred, triumphantly producing a parcel. "Miss Bardsley said there wasn't time, but I got the newspaper boy to run to the refreshment room while she bought our tickets."

"She's given us about ten thousand last directions! Can you remember any of them?" said Mabel.

"Never a one!" laughed Aldred. "The engine was snorting so loudly, I couldn't hear a single word."

"And I could only catch a word here and there. I have a general impression that we aren't to hang out of the window, or speak to strangers, and that we must call the guard if anyone disagreeable gets into the carriage."

"Well, we had all that before, from Miss Drummond!"

"And not to lose our tickets!"

"As if we should! I always keep mine in this inner pocket; it was made in my coat on purpose. I'm much more likely to lose my temper with so many instructions—we might be babies, five years old! I wonder Miss Bardsley did not tie a luggage label to each of us, marked, 'Perishable Goods, at Owner's Risk'!"

"Yes, or 'Live Stock; Immediate," suggested Mabel. "Then we could have gone in the guard's van, and she would have been perfectly easy about us."

"There's only one outrageous thing that always tempts me," declared Aldred. "I do so want to pull down the cord, and stop the train!"

"A five pounds penalty if you indulge yourself, my dear."

"If I had five pounds I would, just for the sheer fun of it. All the people would rush out of the carriages, to see what was the matter. It would make such a sensation! By the by, how can the guard know who has pulled the cord? Suppose we simply looked innocent and astonished when he came to our compartment, he couldn't tell it was either of us; I don't think he could possibly know."

"As a rule, people only signal to stop in some great emergency, and then they would be anxious to call for help."

Aldred reached up, and put her hand tentatively on the cord.

"Shall I?"

There was real intention both in her eyes and in her voice.

"No, no! Aldred, stop! How can you think of doing such a dreadful thing!"

"I was only in fun, you dear goose!" said Aldred, with a rather forced laugh.

Mabel heaved a sigh of relief.

"Of course you were; what a silly I was to imagine you could be in earnest! You gave me quite a shock, all the same. I never saw anyone pretend so cleverly as you."

"Suppose I had pulled it? What would you have said to the guard when he arrived?"

"Why, naturally I should have told him at once."

"Would you, truly? Are you sure?"

"What else could I have done?" Mabel looked rather puzzled, and distressed.

"You wouldn't really—and have me fined five pounds?"

Mabel's face suddenly cleared.

"Oh, I understand what you mean!" she cried triumphantly. "No, I shouldn't have the chance, because you would already have told him yourself! You naughty girl, how you love to tease me! I'm extremely stupid at seeing jokes."

"Well, I haven't five pounds to waste, at any rate," replied Aldred, leaning back in her corner. "If I were a millionaire, I might be tempted. What's the time? I feel very much inclined to investigate that basket of lunch."

It was a six hours' run by express to Grassingford, and before they arrived at Helmsworth Junction the girls grew thoroughly tired of the journey. They made the lunch spin out as long as possible, ate pears and chocolates, looked at the illustrated papers, and varied the monotony by taking little walks up and down the corridor.

"I get so stiff if I sit still all the time," declared Aldred, in reply to Mabel's objection that Miss Bardsley would have preferred them to remain in their seats. "Besides, the better view is on this side of the carriage, and we can't see it properly from our compartment."

Mr. Farrington met them at Helmsworth Junction, where they changed from the express to a local train; and at Grassingford a motor was waiting to take them to the Hall.

Aldred thought she had never seen such a beautiful house, when a turn of the drive gave her a first glimpse of Mabel's home. It was built of grey stone, with towers and turrets, like a castle. The main entrance was under a carved archway that led into a courtyard, around which lay some of the principal rooms. A splendid wistaria covered one wall, and an equally fine magnolia another, while the greater part of the courtyard was devoted to an Italian garden, gay flower-beds in quaint shapes radiating from a fountain that stood in the middle.

Within, the house was as handsome as without. Mabel's father and mother had travelled much in foreign countries, and had picked up many treasures during their wanderings. There were lovely statues of Carrara marble, priceless Venetian glass, exquisite inlaid Italian cabinets, and carved oak cupboards from Germany; Chinese ivories and Indian lacquer work, Moorish lamps, rich Oriental draperies, Persian rugs, and Turkey carpets—to say nothing of pictures by old masters and modern artists, and a multitude of curios—embossed daggers, antique coins, Etruscan ornaments, old Nankin porcelain, Delft and Majolica, Roman vases, Greek urns, Sicilian jars and statuettes, and a medley of other articles, either ancient or modern, gathered from almost every corner of the world.

"It's like a museum!" said Aldred, when Mabel showed her some of the more interesting among the contents of the many cabinets.

"Yes. Dad and Mother have a perfect mania for bringing things home from abroad. They like to have specimens from every country they have been to, and each year the collection seems to grow bigger."

"Have they ever taken you abroad?"

"Not yet. Mother says I shall enjoy it so much more if I wait until I know enough really to appreciate it properly. I'm to go when I leave school, and spend a whole winter travelling in France and Italy and Greece; but Father says that before I start he will give me an examination in the old Italian masters and in Greek architecture, and if I don't pass he'll leave me behind."

Mr Farrington was a connoisseur in all matters of art and archæology; he took keen pleasure in adding continually to his already large collection, and considered the finding of a genuine Van Eyck in a second-hand dealer's shop at Rheims the greatest triumph of his life. His special hobby, however, did not absorb the whole of his time. He had represented his county in Parliament, and though he had lost his seat at the last election, he found much to occupy him in local affairs. He was a magistrate, a Poor Law Guardian, and Chairman of most of the charitable institutions in the neighbourhood, taking an active interest in the Hospital, the Blind Asylum, and the Orphanage. In all his philanthropic work, Lady Muriel was his right hand. She was slightly socialistic in her tendencies, and had preferred to marry plain Mr. Farrington, a commoner and a widower, though she could have made a brilliant match in her own circle. She was thoroughly happy, however, in the sphere that she had chosen, and, troubling little about society, gave herself to a career of usefulness. She personally superintended the Workhouse Orphanage, knowing every child there by name; and spent one afternoon weekly at the Blind Asylum, reading or singing to the inmates, and inspecting their knitting and straw plaiting. She had instituted a library and reading-room at Grassingford village, and was collecting funds to add a men's club and a lecture-hall; while the building of a mission church in an out-of-the-way corner of the parish was mainly owed to her energy and enterprise. A secretary was obliged to deal with her large correspondence, for she was practically interested in the temperance cause, in Women's Guilds of Help, the Fresh Air Fund, and the Boy Scout movements, all of which involved much trouble and considerable business ability, if they were to be a success.

In spite of her many duties, Lady Muriel always made time in the holidays to devote herself specially to her daughter. Mabel adored her mother, and was absolutely happy if she might accompany her on some errand of mercy, or take part in any of her various schemes. She liked to be asked to address envelopes, to write lists of names, or to discuss the programme for a village concert or the prizes to be offered at a flower show; and was already beginning to grow quite clever at organizing small local affairs. This Easter, Aldred was included in the conclaves, and made her first acquaintance with public and parish work. She had seen nothing of the kind at her own home, and it was a revelation to her to find how interesting it was to help other people. She and Mabel between them marked all the articles for Lady Muriel's stall at a bazaar, and were allowed to take special charge of the sweet department, selling dainty boxes of home-made bon-bons, and enjoying themselves immensely over it. They also arranged the sports for a party given to the Orphanage at the Hall, and worked very hard, distributing cups of tea and plates of cake; starting races and games of "Aunt Sally"; and generally amusing the children, and trying to give them a happy time.

"Aldred is simply splendid at this kind of thing!" said Mabel enthusiastically to her mother. "She keeps everybody going, and sees that all the little ones are playing too; they're so apt just to stand about and stare, you know. She thought of the loveliest games for them, and told them long fairy tales afterwards. They were absolutely delighted."

"I'm so glad to find she is a kindred spirit, and sympathizes with our work," replied Lady Muriel. "You have been most fortunate in your choice of a friend."

Though Aldred was thus initiated into the busy round of life at Grassingford Hall, the Farringtons did not neglect to entertain their guest, and provided plenty of amusement for her. She was taken in the motor to see all the sights of the neighbourhood—the beautiful mediaeval castle at Bonbridge, which still possessed moat, drawbridge, and portcullis in excellent preservation; the quaint old town of Bingdale, with its encircling walls and turreted gates; the valley of Malden, where the woods were in their spring glory, and the primroses were an absolute dream of delight; the ruined abbey at Dinvaux, which could boast of early Saxon carvings; and, last but not least, the view from the summit of Charlton Hill, whence five counties might be seen at once.

Though Mabel was Lady Muriel's only child, she had stepbrothers and stepsisters, who were married, and lived within reasonable distance. Several enjoyable visits were paid to their homes, for Mabel was very proud indeed of her various little nephews and nieces, and anxious to show them all to Aldred.

"I can't expect you to admire them as I do," she declared, "but they really are dears! I never know which is my favourite—Vera, with the thick, yellow curls; or Betty, with her big brown eyes. Miles is the cleverest, but Barbara says such funny things, and the baby is the most fascinating little rogue. They all came to spend Christmas Day with us, and it was so delightful!"

The cousins from the Rectory were frequently at the Hall, and were always ready to make up a set of tennis, or contribute to a musical evening. There were two girls, who had turned up their hair, and three boys, who, to Aldred's great astonishment, went to the same school as Keith, the eldest being actually in both his Form and dormitory. Aldred was quite excited at the discovery, and only wished her brother could have been there, to share the pleasure in her new acquaintances.

This holiday at Grassingford was the first visit that Aldred had paid alone, and she found it delightful to be free from Aunt Bertha's chaperonage, and a guest on her own account. It marked an epoch in her life to be thus transplanted into somebody else's home, and to see other people's ways. One thing that particularly struck her was that, in spite of their wealth and position, the Farringtons were extremely natural and unaffected. Mabel seemed quite accustomed to wait upon herself, and very ready to perform little services for others; and the family life was so simple, it might have served as a model for any cottage in the village. Aldred began to understand why Lady Muriel had selected Miss Drummond's school for Mabel, and to see in many of the arrangements at Birkwood the strong influence emanating from Grassingford.

She was very quick at picking up new ideas, and learnt many things at the Hall that she had not known before, whether points of social etiquette or fresh channels of thought.

"We shall make you into quite an antiquarian yet," said Mr. Farrington, who enjoyed explaining his curios to an interested listener. "You're already beginning to note the difference between Etruscan and Roman ornamentation, and to recognize a Greek coin when you see it. Tell your father to take you abroad when Miss Drummond has finished with you. It's the best coping-stone to put on any girl's education, and enlarges her mind in a wonderful way. In my opinion, six months on the Continent, studying the museums and art galleries, is worth three years at college. If he hasn't time to take you himself, he'd better let you go with us, and be a companion for Mabel."

"Oh, that would be too absolutely glorious!" exclaimed Aldred, with sparkling eyes.