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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, For the Sake of the School, by Angela Brazil
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: For the Sake of the School
+
+
+Author: Angela Brazil
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 3, 2007  [eBook #20730]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE SAKE OF THE SCHOOL***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Marc Hens, Suzanne Shell, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/c/)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustration.
+      See 20730-h.htm or 20730-h.zip:
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+      or
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+
+
+
+
+
+For the Sake of the School
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BLACKIE & SON LIMITED
+16/18 William IV Street, Charing Cross, LONDON, W.C.2
+17 Stanhope Street, GLASGOW
+
+BLACKIE & SON (INDIA) LIMITED
+103/5 Fort Street, BOMBAY
+
+BLACKIE & SON (CANADA) LIMITED
+TORONTO
+
+[Illustration: "I felt I must speak to you"
+
+_Page_ 234
+
+_Frontispiece_]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FOR THE SAKE OF THE SCHOOL
+
+by
+
+Angela Brazil
+
+Author of "The School on the Loch"
+"The School at the Turrets", &c.
+
+With Frontispiece
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Blackie & Son Limited
+London and Glasgow
+Printed in Great Britain by Blackie & Son, Ltd., Glasgow
+
+
+
+
+TO THE
+SCHOOLGIRL READERS
+WHO HAVE SENT ME
+SUCH NICE LETTERS
+
+
+Contents
+
+CHAP. Page
+
+    I. THE WOODLANDS 11
+
+   II. A FRIEND FROM THE BUSH 24
+
+  III. ROUND THE CAMP-FIRE 36
+
+   IV. A BLACKBERRY FORAY 51
+
+    V. ON SUFFERANCE 66
+
+   VI. QUITS 76
+
+  VII. THE CUCKOO'S PROGRESS 87
+
+ VIII. THE "STUNT" 104
+
+   IX. A JANUARY PICNIC 117
+
+    X. TRESPASSERS BEWARE! 130
+
+   XI. RONA RECEIVES NEWS 142
+
+  XII. SENTRY DUTY 156
+
+ XIII. UNDER CANVAS 170
+
+  XIV. SUSANNAH MAUDE 183
+
+   XV. A POINT OF HONOUR 194
+
+  XVI. AMATEUR CONJURING 208
+
+ XVII. A STORM-CLOUD 221
+
+XVIII. LIGHT 233
+
+  XIX. A SURPRISE 249
+
+
+
+
+FOR THE SAKE OF THE SCHOOL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The Woodlands
+
+
+"Are they never going to turn up?"
+
+"It's almost four now!"
+
+"They'll be left till the six-thirty!"
+
+"Oh, don't alarm yourself! The valley train always waits for the
+express."
+
+"It's coming in now!"
+
+"Oh, good, so it is!"
+
+"Late by twenty minutes exactly!"
+
+"Stand back there!" yelled a porter, setting down a box with a slam, and
+motioning the excited, fluttering group of girls to a position of
+greater safety than the extreme edge of the platform. "Llangarmon
+Junction! Change for Glanafon and Graigwen!"
+
+Snorting and puffing, as if in agitated apology for the tardiness of its
+arrival, the train came steaming into the station, the drag of its
+brakes adding yet another item of noise to the prevailing babel.
+Intending passengers clutched bags and baskets; fathers of families gave
+a last eye to the luggage; mothers grasped children firmly by the hand;
+a distracted youth, seeking vainly for his portmanteau, upset a stack of
+bicycles with a crash; while above all the din and turmoil rose the
+strident, rasping voice of a book-stall boy, crying his selection of
+papers with ear-splitting zeal.
+
+From the windows of the in-coming express waved seventeen agitated
+pocket-handkerchiefs, and the signal was answered by a counter-display
+of cambric from the twenty girls hustled back by an inspector in the
+direction of the weighing-machine.
+
+"There's Helen!"
+
+"And Ruth, surely!"
+
+"Oh! where's Marjorie?"
+
+"There! Can't you see her, with Doris?"
+
+"That's Mamie, waving to me!"
+
+"What's become of Kathleen?"
+
+One moment more, and the neat school hats of the new-comers had swelled
+the group of similar school hats already collected on the platform;
+ecstatic greetings were exchanged, urgent questions asked and hasty
+answers given, and items of choice information poured forth with the
+utmost volubility of which the English tongue is capable. Urged by brief
+directions from a mistress in charge, the chattering crew surged towards
+a siding, and made for a particular corridor carriage marked "Reserved".
+Here handbags, umbrellas, wraps, and lunch-baskets were hastily stowed
+away in the racks, and, Miss Moseley having assured herself that not a
+single lamb of her flock was left behind, the grinning porter slammed
+the doors, the green flag waved, and the local train, long overdue,
+started with a jerk for the Craigwen Valley.
+
+Past the grey old castle that looked seawards over the estuary, past the
+little white town of Llangarmon, with its ancient walls and fortified
+gates, past the quay where the fishing smacks were lying idly at anchor
+and a pleasure-steamer was unloading its human cargo, past the long
+stretch of sandy common, where the white tents of the Territorials
+evoked an outcry of interest, then up alongside the broad tidal river
+towards where the mountains, faint and misty, rose shouldering one
+another till they merged into the white nebulous region of the
+cloud-flecked sky. Those lucky ones who had secured window seats on the
+river side of the carriage were loud in their acclamations of
+satisfaction as familiar objects in the landscape came into sight.
+
+"There's Cwm Dinas. I wish they could float a big Union Jack on the
+summit."
+
+"It would be a landmark all right."
+
+"Oh, the flag's up at Plas Cafn!"
+
+"We'll have one at school this term?"
+
+"Oh, I say! Move a scrap," pleaded Ulyth Stanton plaintively. "We only
+get fields and woods on our side. I can't see anything at all for your
+heads. You might move. What selfish pigs you are! Well, I don't care;
+I'm going to talk."
+
+"You have been talking already. You've never stopped, in fact," remarked
+Beth Broadway, proffering a swiftly disappearing packet of pear drops
+with a generosity born of the knowledge that all sweets would be
+confiscated on arrival at The Woodlands.
+
+"I know I have, but that was merely by the way. It wasn't anything very
+particular, and I've got something I want to tell you--something
+fearfully important. Absolutely super! D'you know, she's actually coming
+to school. Isn't it great? She's to be my room-mate. I'm just wild to
+see her. I hope her ship won't be stopped by storms."
+
+"By the Muses, whom are you talking about?"
+
+"'She' means the cat," sniggered Gertrude Oliver.
+
+"Why! can't you guess? What stupids you are! It's Rona, of course--Rona
+Mitchell from New Zealand."
+
+"You're ragging!"
+
+"It's a fact. It is indeed!"
+
+The incredulity on the countenances of her companions having yielded to
+an expression of interest, Ulyth continued her information with
+increased zest, and a conscious though would-be nonchalant air of
+importance.
+
+"Her father wants her to go to school in England, so he decided to send
+her to The Woodlands, so that she might be with me!"
+
+"Do you mean that girl you were so very proud of corresponding with? I
+forget how the whole business began," broke in Stephanie Radford.
+
+"Don't you remember? It was through a magazine we take. The editor
+arranged for readers of the magazine in England to exchange letters with
+other readers overseas. He gave me Rona. We've been writing to each
+other every month for two years."
+
+"I had an Australian, but she wouldn't write regularly, so we dropped
+it," volunteered Beth Broadway. "I believe Gertrude had somebody too."
+
+"Yes, a girl in Canada. I never got farther than one short letter and a
+picture post card, though. I do so loathe writing," sighed Gertrude.
+"Ulyth's the only one who's kept the thing up."
+
+"And do you mean to say this New Zealander's actually coming to our
+school?" asked Stephanie.
+
+"That's the joysome gist of my remarks! I can't tell you how I'm pining
+and yearning to see her. She seems like a girl out of a story. To think
+of it! Rona Mitchell at school with us!"
+
+"Suppose you don't like her?"
+
+"Oh, I'm certain I shall! She's written me the jolliest, loveliest,
+funniest letters! I feel I know her already. We shall be the very best
+of friends. Her father has a huge farm of I can't tell you how many
+miles, and she has two horses of her own, and fords rivers when she's
+out riding."
+
+"When's she to arrive?"
+
+"Probably to-morrow. She's travelling by the _King George_, and coming
+up straight from London to school directly she lands. I hope she's got
+to England safely. She must have left home ever such a long time ago.
+How fearfully exciting for her to----"
+
+But here Ulyth's reflections were brought to an abrupt close, for the
+train was approaching Glanafon Ferry, and her comrades, busily
+collecting their various handbags, would lend no further ear to her
+remarks.
+
+The little wayside station, erstwhile the quietest and sleepiest on the
+line, was soon overflowing with girls and their belongings. Miss Moseley
+flitted up and down the platform, marshalling her charges like a
+faithful collie, the one porter did his slow best, and after a few
+agitated returns to the compartments for forgotten articles, everything
+was successfully collected, and the train went steaming away down the
+valley in the direction of Craigwen. It seemed to take the last link of
+civilization with it, and to leave only the pure, unsullied country
+behind. The girls crossed the line and walked through the white station
+gate with pleased anticipation writ large on their faces. It was the
+cult at The Woodlands to idolize nature and the picturesque, and they
+had reached a part of their journey which was a particular source of
+pride to the school.
+
+Any admirer of scenery would have been struck with the lovely and
+romantic view which burst upon the eye as the travellers left the
+platform at Glanafon and walked down the short, grassy road that led to
+the ferry. To the south stretched the wide pool of the river, blue as
+the heaven above where it caught the reflection of the September sky,
+but dark and mysterious where it mirrored the thick woods that shaded
+its banks. Near at hand towered the tall, heather-crowned crag of Cwm
+Dinas, while the rugged peaks of Penllwyd and Penglaslyn frowned in
+majesty of clouds beyond. The ferry itself was one of those delightful
+survivals of mediaevalism which linger here and there in a few fortunate
+corners of our isles. A large flat-bottomed boat was slung on chains
+which spanned the river, and could be worked slowly across the water by
+means of a small windlass. Though it was perfectly possible, and often
+even more convenient, to drive to the school direct from Llangarmon
+Junction, so great was the popular feeling in favour of arrival by the
+ferry that at the autumn and spring reunions the girls were allowed to
+avail themselves of the branch railway and approach The Woodlands by way
+of the river.
+
+They now hurried on to the boat as if anticipating a pleasure-jaunt. The
+capacities of the flat were designed to accommodate a flock of sheep or
+a farm wagon and horses, so there was room and to spare even for
+thirty-seven girls and their hand luggage. Evan Davis, the crusty old
+ferryman, greeted them with his usual inarticulate grunt, a kind of "Oh,
+here you are again, are you!" form of welcome which was more forceful
+than gracious. He linked the protecting chains carefully across the end
+of the boat, called out a remark in Welsh to his son, Griffith, and,
+seizing the handle, began to work the windlass. Very slowly and
+leisurely the flat swung out into the river. The tide was at the full
+and the wide expanse of water seemed like a lake. The clanking chains
+brought up bunches of seaweed and river grass which fell with an oozy
+thud upon the deck. The mountain air, blowing straight from Penllwyd,
+was tinged with ozone from the tide. The girls stood looking up the
+reach of water towards the hills, and tasting the salt on their lips
+with supreme gratification. It was not every school that assembled by
+such a romantic means of conveyance as an ancient flat-bottomed
+ferry-boat, and they rejoiced over their privileges.
+
+"I'm glad the tide's full; it makes the crossing so much wider,"
+murmured Helen Cooper, with an eye of admiration on the woods.
+
+"Don't suppose Evan shares your enthusiasm," laughed Marjorie Earnshaw.
+"He's paid the same, whatever the length of the journey."
+
+"Old Grumps gets half a crown for his job, so he needn't grumble," put
+in Doris Deane.
+
+"Oh, trust him! He'd look sour at a pound note."
+
+"What makes him so cross?"
+
+"Oh, he's old and lame, I suppose, and has a crotchety temper."
+
+"Here we are at last!"
+
+The boat was grating on the shore. Griffith was unfastening the movable
+end, and in another moment the girls were springing out gingerly, one by
+one, on to the decidedly muddy stepping-stones that formed a rough
+causeway to the bank. A cart was waiting to convey the handbags (all
+boxes had been sent as "advance luggage" two days before), so,
+disencumbered of their numerous possessions, the girls started to walk
+the steep uphill mile that led to The Woodlands.
+
+Miss Bowes and Miss Teddington, the partners who owned the school, had
+been exceptionally fortunate in their choice of a house. If, as runs the
+modern theory, beautiful surroundings in our early youth are of the
+utmost importance in training our perceptions and aiding the growth of
+our higher selves, then surely nowhere in the British Isles could a more
+suitable setting have been found for a home of education. The long
+terrace commanded a view of the whole of the Craigwen Valley, an expanse
+of about sixteen miles. The river, like a silver ribbon, wound through
+woods and marshland till it widened into a broad tidal estuary as it
+neared the sea. The mountains, which rose tier after tier from the level
+green meadows, had their lower slopes thickly clothed with pines and
+larches; but where they towered above the level of a thousand feet the
+forest growth gave way to gorse and bracken, and their jagged summits,
+bare of all vegetation save a few clumps of coarse grass, showed a
+splintered, weather-worn outline against the sky. Penllwyd, Penglaslyn,
+and Glyder Garmon, those lofty peaks like three strong Welsh giants,
+seemed to guard the entrance to the enchanted valley, and to keep it a
+place apart, a last fortress of nature, a sanctuary for birds and
+flowers, a paradise of green shade and leaping waters, and a
+breathing-space for body and soul.
+
+The house, named "The Woodlands" by Miss Bowes in place of its older but
+rather unpronounceable name of Llwyngwrydd (the green grove), took both
+its Welsh and English appellations from a beautiful glade, planted with
+oaks, which formed the southern boundary of the property. Through this
+park-like dell flowed a mountain stream, tumbling in little white
+cascades between the big boulders that formed its bed, and pouring in
+quite a waterfall over a ledge of rock into a wide pool. Its steady
+rippling murmur never stopped, and could be heard day and night through
+the ever-open windows, gentle and subdued in dry weather, but rising to
+a roar when rain in the hills brought the flood down in a turbulent
+torrent.
+
+Through lessons, play, or dreams this sound of many waters was ever
+present; it gave an atmosphere to the school which, if passed unnoticed
+through extreme familiarity, would have been instantly missed if it
+could have stopped. To the girls this stream was a kind of guardian
+deity, with the glade for its sacred grove. They loved every rock and
+stone and cataract, almost every patch of brown moss upon its boulders.
+Each morning of the summer term they bathed before breakfast in the pool
+where a big oak-tree shaded the cataract. It was so close to the house
+that they could run out in mackintoshes, and so retired that it
+resembled a private swimming-bath. Here they enjoyed themselves like
+water-nymphs, splashing in the shallows, plunging in the pool, swinging
+from the boughs of the oak-tree, and scrambling over the lichened
+boulders. It was a source of deep regret to the hardier spirits that
+they were not allowed to take their morning dip in the stream all the
+year round; but on that score mistresses were adamant, and with the
+close of September the naiads perforce withdrew from their favourite
+element till it was warmed again by the May sunshine.
+
+The house itself had originally been an ancient Welsh dwelling of the
+days of the Tudors, but had been largely added to in later times. The
+straight front, with its rows of windows, classic doorway, and
+stone-balustraded terrace, was certainly Georgian in type, and the
+tower, an architectural eyesore, was plainly Victorian. The taste of the
+early nineteenth century had not been faultless, and all the best part
+of the building, from an artistic point of view, lay at the back. This
+mainly consisted of kitchens and servants' quarters, but there still
+remained a large hall, which was the chief glory of the establishment.
+It was very lofty, for in common with other specimens of the period it
+had no upper story, the roof being timbered like that of a church. The
+walls were panelled with oak to a height of about eight feet, and above
+that were decorated with elaborate designs in plaster relief,
+representing lions, wild boars, stags, unicorns, and other heraldic
+devices from the coat-of-arms of the original owner of the estate. A
+narrow winding staircase led to a minstrels' gallery, from which was
+suspended a wooden shield emblazoned with the Welsh dragon and the
+national motto, "Cymru am byth" ("Wales for ever").
+
+If the hall was the main picturesque asset of the building, it must be
+admitted that the unromantic front portion was highly convenient, and
+had been most readily adaptable for a school. The large light rooms of
+the ground floor made excellent classrooms, and the upper story was so
+lavishly provided with windows that it had been possible, by means of
+wooden partitions, to turn the great bedrooms into rows of small
+dormitories, each capable of accommodating two girls.
+
+The bright airy house, the terrace with its glorious view of the valley,
+the large old-fashioned garden, and, above all, the stream and the glade
+made a very pleasant setting for the school life of the forty-eight
+pupils at The Woodlands. The two principals worked together in perfect
+harmony. Each had her own department. Miss Bowes, who was short, stout,
+grey-haired, and motherly, looked after the housekeeping, the hygiene,
+and the business side. She wrote letters to parents, kept the accounts,
+interviewed tradespeople, superintended the mending, and was the final
+referee in all matters pertaining to health and general conduct. "Dear
+Old Rainbow", as the girls nicknamed her, was frankly popular, for she
+was sympathetic and usually disposed to listen, in reason, to the
+various plaints which were brought to the sanctum of her private
+sitting-room. Her authority alone could excuse preparation, order
+breakfast in bed, remit practising, dispense jujubes, allow special
+festivities, and grant half-holidays. It was rumoured that she thought
+of retiring and leaving the school to her partner, and such a report
+always drew from parents the opinion that she would be greatly missed.
+
+Miss Teddington, younger by many years, took a more active part in the
+teaching, and superintended the games and outdoor sports. She was tall
+and athletic, a good mathematician, and interested in archaeology and
+nature study. She led the walks and rambles, taught the Sixth Form, and
+represented the more scholastic and modern element. Her enterprise
+initiated all fresh undertakings, and her enthusiasm carried them
+forward with success. "Hard-as-nails" the girls sometimes called her,
+for she coddled nobody and expected the utmost from each one's capacity.
+If she was rather uncompromising, however, she was just, and a strong
+vein of humour toned down much of the severity of her remarks. To be
+chided by a person whose eye is capable of twinkling takes part of the
+sting from the reprimand, and the general verdict of the school was to
+the effect that "Teddie was a keen old watch-dog, but her bark was worse
+than her bite."
+
+Of the other mistresses and girls we will say more anon. Having
+introduced my readers to The Woodlands, it is time for the story to
+begin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A Friend from the Bush
+
+
+Ulyth Stanton was a decided personality in the Lower Fifth. If not
+exactly pretty, she was a dainty little damsel, and knew how to make the
+best of herself. Her fair hair was glossy and waved in the most becoming
+fashion, her clothes were well cut, her gloves and shoes immaculate. She
+had an artistic temperament, and loved to be surrounded by pretty
+things. She was rather a favourite at The Woodlands, for she had few
+sharp angles and possessed a fair share of tact. If the girls laughed
+sometimes at what they called her "high-falutin' notions" they
+nevertheless respected her opinions and admired her more than they
+always chose to admit. It was an accepted fact that Ulyth stuck to her
+word and generally carried through anything that she once undertook. She
+alone of six members of her form who had begun to correspond with girls
+abroad, at the instigation of the magazine editor, had written
+regularly, and had cultivated the overseas friendship with enthusiasm.
+The element of romance about the affair had appealed to Ulyth. It was so
+strange to receive letters from someone you had never seen. To be sure,
+Rona had only given a somewhat bald account of her home and her doings,
+but even this outline was so different from English life that Ulyth's
+imagination filled the gaps, and pictured her unknown correspondent
+among scenes of unrivalled interest and excitement. Ulyth had once seen
+a most wonderful film entitled "Rose of the Wilderness", and though the
+scenes depicted were supposed to be in the region of the Wild West, she
+decided that they would equally well represent the backwoods of New
+Zealand, and that the beautiful, dashing, daring heroine, so aptly
+called "the Prairie Flower", was probably a speaking likeness of Rona
+Mitchell. When she learnt that owing to her letters Rona's father had
+determined to send his daughter to school at The Woodlands, her
+excitement was immense. She had at once petitioned Miss Bowes to have
+her as a room-mate, and was now awaiting her advent with the very
+keenest anticipation.
+
+There was a little uncertainty about the time of the new girl's arrival,
+for it depended upon the punctuality of the ocean liner, a doubtful
+matter if there were a storm; and the feeling that she might be expected
+any hour between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. made havoc of Ulyth's day. It was
+impossible to attend to lessons when she was listening for the sound of
+a taxi on the drive, and even the attractions of tennis could not decoy
+her out of sight of the front door.
+
+"I must be the very first to welcome her," she persisted. "Of course
+it's not the same to all the rest of you--I understand that. She's to be
+my special property, my Prairie Rose!"
+
+"All serene! If you care to waste your time lounging about the steps you
+can. We're not in such a frantic state to see your paragon," laughed the
+girls as they ran down the garden to the courts. After all, the waiting
+was in vain. Tea-time came without a sign of the new-comer. It was
+unlikely that she would turn up now until the evening train, and Ulyth
+resigned herself to the inevitable. But when the school was almost
+half-way through its bread and butter and gooseberry jam, a sudden
+commotion occurred in the hall. There was a noise such as nobody ever
+remembered to have heard at The Woodlands before.
+
+"Thank goodness gracious I've got meself here at last!" cried a loud
+nasal voice. "Where'll I stick these things? Oh yes, there's heaps more
+inside that automobile! Travelling's no joke, I can tell you; I'm tired
+to death. Any tea about? I could drink the sea. My gracious, I've had a
+time of it coming here!"
+
+At the first word Miss Bowes had glided from the room, and the voice
+died away as the door of her private study closed. Sounds suggestive of
+the carrying upstairs of luggage followed, and a hinnying laugh echoed
+once down the stairs. The girls looked at one another; there was a
+shadow in Ulyth's eyes. She did not share in the general smile that
+passed round the table, and she finished her tea in dead silence.
+
+"Going to sample your new property?" whispered Mary Acton as the girls
+pushed back their chairs.
+
+"What's the formula for swearing an undying friendship?" giggled Addie
+Knighton.
+
+"Was it Rose of Sharon you called her?" twinkled Christine Crosswood.
+"Or Lily of the Valley?"
+
+Ulyth did not reply. She walked upstairs very slowly. The nasal twang of
+that high-pitched voice in the hall had wiped the bloom off her
+anticipation. The small double dormitory in which she slept was No. 3,
+Room 5. The door was half-open, so she entered without knocking. Both
+beds, the chairs, and most of the floor was strewn with an assortment of
+miscellaneous articles. On the dressing-table was a tray with the
+remains of tea. Over a large cabin trunk bent a girl of fourteen. She
+straightened herself as she heard footsteps.
+
+Alas! alas! for Ulyth's illusions. The enchanting vision of the prairie
+flower faded, and Rona Mitchell stood before her in solid fact. Solid
+was the word for it--no fascinating cinema heroine this, but an
+ordinary, well-grown, decidedly plump damsel with brown elf locks, a
+ruddy sunburnt complexion, and a freckled nose.
+
+Where, oh, where, were the delicate features, the fairy-like figure, and
+the long rich clustering curls of Rose of the Wilderness? Ulyth stood
+for a moment gazing as one dazed; then, with an effort, she remembered
+her manners and introduced herself.
+
+"Proud to meet you at last," replied the new-comer heartily. "You and
+I've had a friendship switched on for us ready-made, so to speak. I
+liked your letters awfully. Glad they've put us in together."
+
+"Did--did you have a nice journey?" stammered Ulyth.
+
+It was a most conventional enquiry, but the only thing she could think
+of to say.
+
+"Beastly! It was rough or hot all the time, and we didn't get much fun
+on board. Wasn't it a sell? Too disappointing for words! Mrs. Perkins,
+the lady who had charge of me coming over, was just a Tartar. Nothing I
+did seemed to suit her somehow. I bet she was glad to see the last of
+me. Then I was sea-sick, and when we got into the hot zone--my, how bad
+I was! My face was just skinned with sunburn, and the salt air made it
+worse. I'd not go to sea again for pleasure, I can tell you. I say, I'll
+be glad to get my things fixed up here."
+
+"This is your bed and your side of the room," returned Ulyth hastily,
+collecting some of the articles which had been flung anywhere, and
+hanging them in Rona's wardrobe; "Miss Moseley makes us be very tidy.
+She'll be coming round this evening to inspect."
+
+Rona whistled.
+
+"Guess she'll drop on me pretty often then! No one's ever called
+neatness my strong point. Are those photos on the mantelpiece your home
+folks? I'm going to look at them. What a lot of things you've got:
+books, and albums, and goodness knows what! I'll enjoy turning them over
+when I've time."
+
+At half-past eight that night a few members of the Lower Fifth, putting
+away books in their classroom, stopped to compare notes.
+
+"Well, what do you think of your adorable one, Ulyth?" asked Stephanie
+Radford, a little spitefully. "You're welcome to her company so far as
+I'm concerned."
+
+"Rose of the Wilderness, indeed!" mocked Merle Denham.
+
+"Your prairie rose is nothing but a dandelion!" remarked Christine
+Crosswood.
+
+"I never heard anyone with such an awful laugh," said Lizzie Lonsdale.
+
+"Don't!" implored Ulyth tragically. "I've had the shock of my life.
+She's--oh, she's too terrible for words! Her voice makes me cringe. And
+she pawed all my things. She snatched up my photos, and turned over my
+books with sticky fingers; she even opened my drawers and peeped
+inside."
+
+"What cheek!"
+
+"Oh, she hasn't the slightest idea of how to behave herself! She asked
+me a whole string of the most impertinent questions: what I'd paid for
+my clothes, and how long they'd have to last me. She's unbearable. Yes,
+absolutely impossible. Ugh! and I've got to sleep in the same room with
+her to-night."
+
+"Poor martyr, it's hard luck," sympathized Lizzie. "Why did you write
+and ask the Rainbow to put you together? It was rather buying a pig in a
+poke, wasn't it?"
+
+"I never dreamt she'd be like this. It sounded so romantic, you see,
+living on a huge farm, and having two horses to ride. I shall go to Miss
+Bowes, first thing to-morrow morning, and ask to have her moved out of
+my room. I only wish there was time to do it this evening. Oh, why did I
+ever write to her and make her want to come to this school?"
+
+"Poor old Ulyth! You've certainly let yourself in for more than you
+bargained for," laughed the girls, half sorry for her and half amused.
+
+Next morning, after breakfast, the very instant that Miss Bowes was
+installed in her study, a "rap-tap-tap" sounded on her door.
+
+"Come in!" she called, and sighed as Ulyth entered, for she had a shrewd
+suspicion of what she was about to hear.
+
+"Please, Miss Bowes, I'm sorry to have to ask a favour, but may Rona be
+changed into another dormitory?"
+
+"Why, Ulyth, you wrote to me specially and asked if you might have her
+for a room-mate!"
+
+"Yes, I did; but I hadn't seen her then. I thought she'd be so
+different."
+
+"Isn't it a little too soon to judge? You haven't known her twenty-four
+hours yet."
+
+"I know as much of her as I ever want to. Oh, Miss Bowes, she's
+dreadful! I'll never like her. I can't have her in my room--I simply
+can't!"
+
+There was a shake, suggestive of tears, in Ulyth's voice. Her eyes
+looked heavy, as if she had not slept. Miss Bowes sighed again.
+
+"Rona mayn't be exactly what you imagined, but you must remember in
+what different circumstances she has been brought up. I think she has
+many good qualities, and that she'll soon improve. Now let us look at
+the matter from her point of view. You have been writing to her
+constantly for two years. She has come here specially to be near you.
+You are her only friend in a new and strange country where she is many
+thousand miles away from her own home. You gave her a cordial invitation
+to England, and now, because she does not happen to realize your quite
+unfounded expectations, you want to back out of all your obligations to
+her. I thought you were a girl, Ulyth, who kept her promises."
+
+Ulyth fingered the corner of the tablecloth nervously for a moment, then
+she burst out:
+
+"I can't, Miss Bowes, I simply can't. If you knew how she grates upon
+me! Oh, it's too much! I'd rather have a bear cub or a monkey for a
+room-mate! Please, please don't make us stop together! If you won't move
+her, move me! I'd sleep in an attic if I could have it to myself."
+
+"You must stay where you are until the end of the week. You owe that to
+Rona, at any rate. Afterwards I shall not force you, but leave it to
+your own good feeling. I want you to think over what I have been saying.
+You can come on Sunday morning and tell me your decision."
+
+"I know what the answer will be," murmured Ulyth, as she went from the
+room.
+
+She was very angry with Miss Bowes, with Rona, and with herself for her
+own folly.
+
+"It's ridiculous to expect me to take up this savage," she argued. "And
+too bad of Miss Bowes to make out that I'm breaking my word. Oh dear!
+what am I to write home to Mother? How can I tell her? I believe I'll
+just send her a picture post card, and only say Rona has come, and no
+more. Miss Bowes has no right to coerce me. I'll make my own friends.
+No, I've quite made up my mind she shan't cram Rona down my throat. To
+have that awful girl eternally in my bedroom--I should die!"
+
+After all her heroics it was a terrible come-down for poor Ulyth now the
+actual had taken the place of the sentimental. Her class-mates could not
+forbear teasing her a little. It was too bad of them; but then they had
+resented her entire pre-appropriation of the new-comer, and, moreover,
+had one or two old scores from last term to pay off. Ulyth began to
+detest the very name of "the Prairie Flower". She wondered how she could
+ever have been so silly.
+
+"I ought to have been warned," she thought, trying to throw the blame on
+to somebody else. "No one ever suggested she'd be like this. The editor
+of the magazine really shouldn't have persuaded us to write. It's all
+his fault in the beginning."
+
+Though the rest of the girls were scarcely impressed with Rona's
+personality, they were not utterly repelled.
+
+"She's rather pretty," ventured Lizzie Lonsdale. "Her eyes are the
+bluest I've ever seen."
+
+"And her teeth are so white and even," added Beth Broadway. "She looks
+jolly when she smiles."
+
+"Perhaps she'll smarten up soon," suggested Addie Knighton. "That blue
+dress suits her; it just matches her eyes."
+
+To Ulyth's fastidious taste Rona's clothes looked hopelessly ill-cut and
+colonial, especially as her room-mate put them on anyhow, and seemed to
+have no regard at all for appearances. A girl who did not mind whether
+she looked really trim, spruce and smart, must indeed have spent her
+life in the backwoods.
+
+"Didn't you even have a governess in New Zealand?" she ventured one day.
+She did not encourage Rona to talk, but for once her curiosity overcame
+her dislike of the high-pitched voice.
+
+"Couldn't get one to stop up-country, where we were. Mrs. Barker, our
+cowman's wife, looked after me ever since Mother died. She was the only
+woman about the place. One of our farm helps taught me lessons. He was a
+B.A. of Oxford, but down on his luck. Dad said I'd seem queer to English
+girls. I don't know that I care."
+
+Though Rona might not be possessed of the most delicate perceptions, she
+nevertheless had common sense enough to realize that Ulyth did not
+receive her with enthusiasm.
+
+"I suppose you're disappointed in me?" she queried. "Dad said you would
+be, but I laughed at him. Pity if our ready-made friendship turned out a
+misfit! I think you're no end! Dad said I'd got to copy you; it'll take
+me all my time, I expect. Things are so different here from home."
+
+Was there a suspicion of a choke in the words?
+
+Ulyth had a sudden pang of compunction. Unwelcome as her companion was
+to her, she did not wish to be brutal.
+
+"You mustn't get home-sick," she said hastily. "You'll shake down here
+in time. Everyone finds things strange at school just at first. I did
+myself."
+
+"I guess you were never as much a fish out of water as me, though,"
+returned Rona, and went whistling down the passage.
+
+Ulyth tried to dismiss her from her thoughts. She did not intend to
+worry over Rona more than she could possibly help. Fortunately they were
+not together in class, for Rona's entrance-examination papers had not
+reached the standard of the Lower Fifth, and she had been placed in IV
+B.
+
+Ulyth was interested in her school-work. She stood well with her
+teachers, and was an acknowledged force in her form. She came from a
+very refined and cultured home, where intellectual interests were
+cultivated both by father and mother. Her temperament was naturally
+artistic; she was an omnivorous reader, and could devour anything in the
+shape of literature that came her way. The bookcase in her dormitory was
+filled with beautiful volumes, mostly Christmas and birthday gifts. She
+rejoiced in their soft leather bindings or fine illustrations with a
+true book-lover's enthusiasm. It was her pride to keep them in daintiest
+condition. Dog-ears or thumb-marks were in her opinion the depths of
+degradation. Ulyth had ambitions also, ambitions which she would not
+reveal to anybody. Some day she planned to write a book of her own. She
+had not yet fixed on a subject, but she had decided just what the cover
+was to be like, with her name on it in gilt letters. Perhaps she might
+even illustrate it herself, for her love of art almost equalled her love
+of literature; but that was still in the clouds, and must wait till she
+had chosen her plot. In the interim she wrote verses and short stories
+for the school magazine, and her essays for Miss Teddington were
+generally returned marked "highly creditable".
+
+This term Ulyth intended to study hard. It was a promotion to be in the
+Upper School; she was beginning several new subjects, and her interest
+in many things was aroused. It would be a delightful autumn as soon as
+she had got rid of this dreadful problem, at present the one serious
+obstacle to her comfort. But in the meantime it was only Friday, and
+till at least the following Monday she would be obliged to endure her
+uncongenial presence in her bedroom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Round the Camp-fire
+
+
+It was the first Saturday of the term. So far the girls had been kept
+busily occupied settling down to work in their fresh forms, and trying
+to grow accustomed to Miss Teddington's new time-tables. Now, however,
+they were free to relax and enjoy themselves in any way they chose. Some
+were playing tennis, some had gone for a walk with Miss Moseley, a few
+were squatting frog-like on boulders in the midst of the stream, and
+others strolled under the trees in the grove.
+
+"Thank goodness the weather's behaving itself!" said Mary Acton, who,
+with a few other members of the Lower Fifth, was sitting on the trunk of
+a fallen oak. "Do you remember last council? It simply poured. The
+thing's no fun if one can't have a real fire."
+
+"It'll burn first-rate to-night," returned Lizzie Lonsdale. "There's a
+little wind, and the wood'll be dry."
+
+"That reminds me I haven't found my faggot yet," said Beth Broadway
+easily.
+
+"Girl alive! Then you'd better go and look for one, or you'll be all in
+a scramble at the last!"
+
+"Bother! I'm too comfy to move."
+
+"Nice Wood-gatherer you'll look if you come empty-handed!"
+
+"I'd appropriate half your lot first, Lizzikins!"
+
+"Would you, indeed? I'd denounce you, and you'd lose your rank and be
+degraded to a candidate again."
+
+"Oh, you mean, stingy miser!"
+
+"Not at all. It's the wise and foolish virgins over again. I shan't have
+enough for myself and you. I've a lovely little stack--just enough for
+one--reposing--no, I'd better not tell you where. Don't look so hopeful.
+You're not to be trusted."
+
+"What are you talking about?" asked Rona Mitchell, who had wandered up
+to the group. "Why are some of you picking up sticks? I saw a girl over
+there with quite a bundle just now. You might tell me."
+
+So far Rona had not been well received in her own form, IV B. She was
+older than her class-mates, and they, instead of attempting to initiate
+her into the ways of the Woodlands girls on this holiday afternoon, had
+scuttled off and left her to fend for herself. She looked such an odd,
+wistful, lonely figure that Lizzie Lonsdale's kind heart smote her. She
+pushed the other girls farther along the tree-trunk till they made a
+grudging space for the new-comer.
+
+"I'm a good hand at camp-fires, if you want any help," continued Rona,
+seating herself with alacrity. "I've made 'em by the dozen at home, and
+cooked by them too. Just let me know where you want it, and I'll set to
+work."
+
+"You wouldn't be allowed," said Beth bluntly. "This fire is a very
+special thing. Only Wood-gatherers may bring the fuel. No one else is
+eligible."
+
+"Why on earth not?"
+
+"Oh, I can't bother to explain now! It would take too long. You'll find
+out to-night. Girls, I'm going in!"
+
+"Turn up here at dusk if you want to know, and bring a cup with you,"
+suggested Lizzie, with a half-ashamed effort at friendliness, as she
+followed her chums.
+
+"You bet I'll turn up! Rather!"
+
+That evening, just after sunset, little groups of girls began to collect
+round an open green space in the glade. They came quietly and with a
+certain sense of discipline. A stranger would have noticed that if any
+loud tone or undue hilarity made itself heard, it was instantly and
+firmly repressed by one or two who seemed in authority. That the meeting
+was more in the nature of a convention than a mere pleasure-gathering
+was evident both from the demeanour of the assemblage and from the
+various badges pinned on the girls' coats. No teacher was present, but
+there was an air of general expectancy, as if the coming of somebody
+were awaited. To the pupils at The Woodlands this night's ceremony was a
+very special occasion, for it was the autumn reunion of the Camp-fire
+League, an organization which, originally of American birth, had been
+introduced at the instigation of Miss Teddington, and had taken great
+root in the school. Any girl was eligible as a candidate, but before she
+could gain admission to even the initial rank she had to prove herself
+worthy of the honour of membership, and pass successfully through her
+novitiate.
+
+The organizer and leader of the branch which to-night was to celebrate
+its third anniversary was a certain Mrs. Arnold, a charming young
+American lady who lived in the neighbourhood. She had been an
+enthusiastic supporter of the League in Pennsylvania before her
+marriage, and was delighted to pass on its traditions to British
+schoolgirls. Her winsome personality made her a prime favourite at The
+Woodlands, where her influence was stronger even than she imagined. Miss
+Teddington, though it was she who had asked Mrs. Arnold to institute and
+take charge of the meetings, had the discretion to keep out of the
+League herself, realizing that the presence of teachers might be a
+restraint, and that the management was better left in the hands of a
+trustworthy outsider.
+
+To become an authorized Camp-fire member was an ambition with most of
+the girls, and spurred many on to greater efforts than they would
+otherwise have attempted. All looked forward to the meetings, and there
+could be no greater punishment for certain offences than a temporary
+withdrawal of League privileges.
+
+This September, after the long summer holiday, the reunion seemed of
+even more than ordinary importance.
+
+The sun had set, the last gleam of the afterglow had faded, and the
+glade had grown full of dim shadows by the time everybody was present in
+the grove. The gentle rustle of the leafy boughs overhead, and the
+persistent tumbling rush of the stream, seemed like a faint orchestral
+accompaniment of Nature for the ceremonial.
+
+"Is it a Quakers' Meeting or a Freemasons' Lodge? You're all very mum,"
+asked Rona, whom curiosity had led out with the others.
+
+"Sh-sh! We're waiting for our 'Guardian of the Fire'," returned Ulyth,
+trying to suppress the loudness of the high-pitched voice. "Mrs.
+Arnold's generally very punctual. Oh, there! I believe I hear her
+ringing her bicycle bell now. I'm going down the field to meet her."
+
+Ulyth regarded Mrs. Arnold with that intense adoration which a girl of
+fifteen often bestows on a woman older than herself. She ran now through
+the wood, hoping she might be in time to catch her idol on the drive and
+have just a few precious moments with her before she was joined by the
+others. There were many things she wanted to pour into her friend's
+ready ears, but she knew it would be impossible to monopolize her as
+soon as the rest of the girls knew of her arrival. She fled as on wings,
+therefore, and had the supreme satisfaction of being the first in the
+field. Mrs. Arnold, young, very fair, graceful, and golden-haired,
+looked a picture in her blue cycling costume as she leaned her machine
+against a tree and greeted her enthusiastic admirer.
+
+"Oh, you darling! I've such heaps to tell you!" began Ulyth, clasping
+her tightly by the arm. "Rona Mitchell has come, and she's the most
+awful creature! I never was so disappointed in my life. Don't you
+sympathize with me, when I expected her to be so ripping? She's absolute
+backwoods!"
+
+"Yes, I've heard all about her. Poor child! She must have had a strange
+training. It's time indeed she began to learn something."
+
+"She's not learned anything in New Zealand. Oh, her voice will just
+grate on you! And her manners! She's hopeless! Everything she does and
+says is wrong. And to think she's been foisted on to me, of all people!"
+
+"Poor child!" repeated Mrs. Arnold. ("Which of us does she mean?"
+thought Ulyth.) "She's evidently raw material. Every diamond needs
+polishing. What an opportunity for a Torch-bearer!"
+
+Ulyth dropped her friend's arm suddenly. It was not at all the answer
+she had expected. Moreover, at least a dozen girls had come running up
+and were claiming their chief's attention. In a species of triumphant
+procession Mrs. Arnold was escorted into the glade and installed on her
+throne of state, a seat made of logs and decorated with ferns. Everyone
+clustered round to welcome her, and for the moment she was the centre of
+an enthusiastic crowd. Ulyth followed more slowly. She was feeling
+disturbed and put out. What did Mrs. Arnold mean? Surely not----? A
+sudden thought had flashed into her mind but she thrust it away
+indignantly. Oh no, that was quite impossible! It was outrageous of
+anybody to make the suggestion. And yet--and yet--the uneasy voice that
+had been haunting her for the last four days began to speak with even
+more vehemence. With a sigh of relief she heard the signal given for
+"Attention", and cast the matter away from her for the moment. Every eye
+was fixed on their leader. The ceremony was about to begin.
+
+Mrs. Arnold rose, and in her clear, sweet voice proclaimed:
+
+"The Guardian of the Fire calls on the Wood-gatherers to bring their
+fuel."
+
+At once a dozen girls came forward, each dragging a tolerably large
+bundle of brushwood. They deposited these in a circle, saluted, and
+retired.
+
+"Fire-makers, do your work!" commanded the leader.
+
+Eight girls responded, Ulyth among the number, and seizing the
+brushwood, they built it deftly into a pile. All stood round, waiting in
+silence while their chief struck a match and applied a light to some
+dried leaves and bracken that had been placed beneath. The flame rose up
+like a scarlet ribbon, and in a few moments the dry fuel was ablaze and
+crackling. The gleam lighting up the glade displayed a picturesque
+scene. The boles of the trees might have been the pillars in some
+ancient temple, with the branches for roof. Close by the cascade of the
+stream leapt white against a background of dim darkness. The harvest
+moon, full and golden, was rising behind the crest of Cwm Dinas. An owl
+flew hooting from the wood higher up the glen. Mrs. Arnold stood waiting
+until the bonfire was well alight, then she turned to the expectant
+girls.
+
+"I've no need to tell most of you why we have met here to-night; but for
+the benefit of a few who are new-comers to The Woodlands I should like
+briefly to explain the objects of the Camp-fire League. The purpose of
+the organization is to show that the common things of daily life are the
+chief means of beauty, romance, and adventure, to cultivate the outdoor
+habit, and to help girls to serve the community--the larger home--as
+well as the individual home. In these ultra-modern times we must
+especially devote ourselves to the service of the country, and try by
+every means in our power to make our League of some national use. First
+let us repeat together the rules of the Camp-fire League:
+
+    "'1. Seek beauty.
+      2. Give service.
+      3. Pursue knowledge.
+      4. Be trustworthy.
+      5. Hold on to health.
+      6. Glorify work.
+      7. Be happy.'
+
+"Seeking beauty includes more than looking for superficial adornment.
+Beauty is in all life, in Nature, in people, in the love of one's heart,
+in virtue and a radiant disposition. The value of service depends
+largely upon the attitude of mind of the one rendering it. Joy in the
+performance of some needed service in behalf of parent, teacher,
+friend, or country constitutes a part of the very essence of goodness,
+and multiplies the good already abiding in the heart. This is the third
+anniversary of the founding of a branch of the League at The Woodlands.
+So far the work has been very encouraging, and I am glad to say that
+to-night we have candidates eligible for all three ranks. It shall now
+be the business of the meeting formally to admit them. Candidates for
+Wood-gatherers, present yourselves!"
+
+Six of the younger girls came forward and saluted.
+
+"Can you repeat, and will you promise to obey, the seven rules of the
+Camp-fire law?"
+
+Each responded audibly in the affirmative.
+
+"Then you are admitted to the initial rank of Wood-gatherers, you are
+awarded the white badge of service, and may sign your names as accepted
+members of the League."
+
+The six retired to make way for a higher grade, and eight other girls
+stepped into the firelight.
+
+"Candidates for Fire-makers, you have passed three months with good
+characters as Wood-gatherers, and you have proved your ability to render
+first aid, keep accounts, tie knots, and prepare and serve a simple
+meal; you have each committed to memory some good poem, and have
+acquainted yourself with the career of some able, public-spirited woman.
+Having thus shown your wish to serve the community, repeat the
+Fire-maker's desire."
+
+And all together the eight girls chanted:
+
+    "As fuel is brought to the fire
+     So I purpose to bring
+     My strength,
+     My ambition,
+     My heart's desire,
+     My joy,
+     And my sorrow
+     To the fire
+     Of human kind.
+     For I will tend
+     As my fathers have tended
+     And my fathers' fathers
+     Since time began,
+     The fire that is called
+     The love of man for man,
+     The love of man for God."
+
+Mrs. Arnold said a few kind words to each as she pinned on their red
+badges. Only novices who had stood the various tests with credit were
+raised to the honour of the second rank. Those who had failed must
+perforce continue as Wood-gatherers for another period of three months.
+
+There remained one further and higher rank, only attainable after six
+months' ardent and trustworthy service as Fire-makers. To-night three
+girls were to be admitted to its privileges, and Helen Cooper, Doris
+Deane, and Ulyth Stanton presented themselves. With grave faces they
+repeated the Torch-bearer's desire:
+
+     "That light which has been given to me I desire to pass undimmed to
+     others."
+
+Ulyth kissed Mrs. Arnold's pretty hand as the long-coveted yellow badge
+was fastened on to her dress, side by side with the Union Jack. She was
+so glad to be a Torch-bearer at last. She had become a candidate when
+the League was first founded three years ago, and all that time she had
+been slowly working towards the desired end of the third rank. One or
+two slips had hindered her progress, but last term she had made a very
+special effort, and it was sweet to meet with her reward. Torch-bearers
+were mostly to be found among the Sixth and Upper Fifth; she was the
+only girl in V B who had won so high a place. She touched the yellow
+ribbon tenderly. It meant so much to her.
+
+Now that the serious business of the meeting was over, the fun was about
+to begin. The big camp-kettle was produced and filled at the stream, and
+then set to boil upon the embers. Cups and spoons made their appearance.
+Cocoa and biscuits were to be the order of the evening, followed by as
+many songs, dances, and games as time permitted. Squatting on the grass,
+the girls made a circle round their council-fire. Marjorie Earnshaw, one
+of the Sixth, had brought her guitar, and struck the strings every now
+and then as an earnest of the music she intended to bring from it later
+on. Everybody was in a jolly mood, and inclined to laugh at any pun,
+however feeble. Mrs. Arnold, always bright and animated, surpassed
+herself, and waxed so amusing that the circle grew almost hysterical.
+The Wood-gatherers, whose office it was to mix the cocoa, supplied cup
+after cup, and refilled the kettle so often that they ventured to air
+the time-honoured joke that the stream would run dry, for which ancient
+chestnut they were pelted with pebbles.
+
+When at last nobody could even pretend to be thirsty any longer, the
+cups were rinsed in the pool and stacked under a tree, and the concert
+commenced. Part-songs and catches sounded delightful in the open air,
+and solos, sung to the accompaniment of Marjorie's guitar, were equally
+effective. The girls roared the choruses to popular national ditties,
+and special favourites were repeated again and again. Several
+step-dances were executed, and had a weird effect in the unsteady light
+of the waning fire. Mrs. Arnold, who was a splendid elocutionist, gave a
+recitation on an incident in the American War, and was enthusiastically
+encored. The moon had risen high in the sky, and was peeping through the
+tree-tops as if curious to see who had invaded so sylvan a spot as the
+glade. The silver beams caught the ripples of the stream and made the
+shadows seem all the darker.
+
+It was a glorious beginning for the new term, as everybody agreed, and
+an earnest of the fun that was in store later on.
+
+"We shan't be able to camp out next meeting, but we'll have high jinks
+in the hall," purred Beth Broadway.
+
+"Yes; Mrs. Arnold says she has a lovely programme for the winter, and
+we're to have candles instead of fuel," agreed Lizzie Lonsdale, who had
+been raised that evening to the rank of Fire-maker.
+
+"Trust Mrs. Arnold to find something new for us to do!" murmured Ulyth,
+looking fondly in the direction of her ideal.
+
+"My gracious, I call this meeting no end!" piped a cheerful voice in her
+ear; and Rona, smiling with all-too-obtrusive friendliness, plumped down
+by her side. "You've good times here, and no mistake! I think I'll be a
+candidate myself next, if that's the game to play. You're a
+high-and-mighty one, aren't you? Let's have a look at your badge!"
+
+"If you dare to touch it!" flared Ulyth, putting up her hand to guard
+her cherished token.
+
+"Why, I wouldn't do it any harm, I promise you; I wouldn't finger it! It
+means something, doesn't it? I didn't quite catch what it was. You might
+tell me. How'm I ever to get to know if you won't?"
+
+Rona's clear blue eyes, unconsciously wistful, looked straight into
+Ulyth's. The latter sprang to her feet without a word. The force of her
+own motto seemed suddenly to be revealed to her. She rushed away into
+the shadow of the trees to think it over for herself.
+
+     "That light which has been given to me I desire to pass undimmed to
+     others."
+
+Those were the words she had repeated so earnestly less than an hour
+ago. And she was already about to make them a mockery! Yes, that was
+what Mrs. Arnold had meant. She had known it all the time, but she would
+not acknowledge it even to her innermost heart. Was this what was
+required from a Torch-bearer--to pass on her own refinement and culture
+to a girl whose crudities offended every particle of her fastidious
+taste? Ulyth sat down on a stone and wept hot, bitter, rebellious tears.
+She understood only too well why she had been so miserable for the last
+three days. She had disliked Miss Bowes for hinting that she was not
+keeping her word, and had told herself that she was a much-tried and
+ill-used person.
+
+"I must do it, I must, or fail at the very beginning!" she sobbed. "I
+know what Mother would say. It's got to be; if for nothing else, for the
+sake of the school. A Torch-bearer mustn't shirk and break her pledge.
+Oh, how I shall loathe it, hate it! Ulyth Stanton, do you realize what
+you're undertaking? Your whole term's going to be spoilt."
+
+The big bell in the tower was clanging its summons to return, with
+short, impatient strokes. Everybody joined hands in a circle round the
+ashes of the camp-fire, to sing in a low chant the good-night song of
+the League and "God Save the Queen". Mr. Arnold, who had come to fetch
+his wife, was sounding his hooter as a signal on the drive. The
+evening's fun was over. Regretfully the girls collected cups, spoons,
+and kettle, and made their way back to the house.
+
+On Sunday morning Ulyth, with a very red face, marched into the study,
+and announced:
+
+"Miss Bowes, I've been having a tussle. One-half of me said: 'Don't
+have Rona in your room at any price!' and the other half said: 'Let her
+stop!' I've decided to keep her."
+
+"I knew you would, when you'd thought it over," beamed Miss Bowes.
+
+"Are all New Zealanders the same?" asked Ulyth. "I've not met one
+before."
+
+"Certainly not. Most of them are quite as cultured and up-to-date as
+ourselves. There are splendid schools in New Zealand, and excellent
+opportunities for study of every kind. Poor Rona, unfortunately, has had
+to live on a farm far away from civilization, and her education and
+welfare in every respect seem to have been utterly neglected. Don't take
+her as a type of New Zealand! But she'll soon improve if we're all
+prepared to help her. I'm glad you're ready to be her real friend."
+
+"I'll try my best!" sighed Ulyth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A Blackberry Foray
+
+
+Having made up her mind to accept the responsibility which fate, through
+the agency of the magazine editor, had thrust upon her, Ulyth,
+metaphorically speaking, set her teeth, and began to take Rona seriously
+in hand. Being ten months older than her protegee, in a higher form,
+and, moreover, armed with full authority from Miss Bowes, she assumed
+command of the bedroom, and tried to regulate the chaos that reigned on
+her comrade's side of it. Rona submitted with an air of amused good
+nature to have her clothes arranged in order in her drawers, her shoes
+put away in the cupboard, and her toilet articles allotted places on her
+washstand and dressing-table. She even consented to give some thought to
+her personal appearance, and borrowed Ulyth's new manicure set.
+
+"You're mighty particular," she objected. "What does it all matter? Miss
+Bowes gave me such a talking-to, and said I'd got to do exactly what you
+told me; and before I came, Dad rubbed it into me to copy you for all I
+was worth, so I suppose I'll have to try. I guess you'll find it a job
+to civilize me though." And her eyes twinkled.
+
+Ulyth thought, with a mental sigh, that she probably would find it "a
+job".
+
+"No one bothered about it at home," Rona continued cheerfully. "Dad did
+say sometimes I was growing up a savage, but Mrs. Barker never cared.
+She let me do what I liked, so long as I didn't trouble her. She was no
+lady! We couldn't get a lady to stay at our out-of-the-way block. Dad
+used to be a swell in England once, but that was before I was born."
+
+Ulyth began to understand, and her disgust changed to a profound pity. A
+motherless girl who had run wild in the backwoods, her father probably
+out all day, her only female guide a woman of the backwoods, whose
+manners were presumably of the roughest--this had been Rona's training.
+No wonder she lacked polish!
+
+"When I compare her home with my home and my lovely mother," thought
+Ulyth, "yes--there's certainly a vast amount to be passed on."
+
+The other girls, who had never expected her to keep Rona in her bedroom,
+were inclined to poke fun at the proceeding.
+
+"Your bear cub will need training before you teach her to dance," said
+Stephanie Radford tauntingly.
+
+"She has no parlour tricks at present," sniggered Addie Knighton.
+
+"Are you posing as Valentine and Orson?" laughed Gertie Oliver. Gertrude
+had been Ulyth's room-mate last term, and felt aggrieved to be
+superseded.
+
+"I call her the cuckoo," said Mary Acton. "Do you remember the young one
+we found last spring, sprawling all over the nest, and opening its huge,
+gaping beak?"
+
+In spite of her ignorance and angularities there was a certain charm
+about the new-comer. When the sunburn caused by her sea-voyage had
+yielded to a course of treatment, it left her with a complexion which
+put even that of Stephanie Radford, the acknowledged school beauty, in
+the shade. The coral tinge in Rona's cheeks was, as Doris Deane
+enviously remarked, "almost too good to look natural", and her blue eyes
+with the big pupils and the little dark rims round the iris shone like
+twinkling stars when she laughed. That ninnying laugh, to be sure, was
+still somewhat offensive, but she was trying to moderate it, and only
+when she forgot did it break out to scandalize the refined atmosphere of
+The Woodlands; the small white even teeth which it displayed, and two
+conspicuous dimples, almost atoned for it. The brown hair was brushed
+and waved and its consequent state of new glossiness was a very distinct
+improvement on the former elf locks. In the sunshine it took tones of
+warm burnt sienna, like the hair of the Madonna in certain of Titian's
+great pictures. Lessons, alack! were uphill work. Rona was naturally
+bright, but some subjects she had never touched before, and in others
+she was hopelessly backward. The general feeling in the school was that
+"The Cuckoo", as they nicknamed her, was an experiment, and no one could
+guess exactly what she would grow into.
+
+"She's like one of those queer beasties we dug up under the yew-tree
+last autumn," suggested Merle Denham. "Those wriggling transparent
+things, I mean. Don't you remember? We kept them in a box, and didn't
+know whether they'd turn out moths, or butterflies, or earwigs, or
+woodlice!"
+
+"They turned into cockchafer beetles, as a matter of fact," said Ulyth
+drily.
+
+"Well, they were horrid enough in all conscience. I don't like Nature
+study when it means hoarding up creepy-crawlies."
+
+"You're not obliged to take it."
+
+"I don't this year. I've got Harmony down on my time-table instead."
+
+"You'll miss the rambles with Teddie."
+
+"I don't care. I'll play basket-ball instead."
+
+"How about the blackberry foray?"
+
+"Oh, I'm not going to be left out of that! It's not specially Nature
+study. I've put my name down with Miss Moseley's party."
+
+The inmates of The Woodlands were fond of jam. It was supplied to them
+liberally, and they consumed large quantities of it at tea-time. To help
+to meet this demand, blackberrying expeditions were organized during the
+last weeks of September, and the whole school turned out in relays to
+pick fruit. A dozen girls and a mistress generally composed a party,
+which was not confined to any particular form, but might include any
+whose arrangements for practising or special lessons allowed them to go.
+Dates and particulars of the various rambles planned, with the names of
+the mistresses who were to be leaders, were pinned up on the
+notice-board, and the girls might put their names to them as they liked,
+so long as each list did not exceed twelve.
+
+On Saturday afternoon Miss Moseley headed a foray in the direction of
+Porth Powys Falls, and Merle, Ulyth, Rona, Addie, and Stephanie were
+members of her flock.
+
+"I'm glad I managed to get into this party," announced Merle, "because I
+always like Porth Powys better than Pontvoelas or Aberceiriog. It's a
+jollier walk, and the blackberries are bigger and better. I was the very
+last on the list, so I'd luck. Alice had to go under Teddie's wing. I'd
+rather have Mosie than Teddie!"
+
+"So would I," agreed Ulyth. "I scribbled my name the very first of all.
+Just got a chance to do it as I was going to my music-lesson, before
+everyone else made a rush for the board. Porth Powys will be looking no
+end to-day."
+
+Swinging their baskets, the girls began to climb a narrow path which ran
+alongside the stream up the glen. Some of them were tempted to linger,
+and began to gather what blackberries could be found; but Miss Moseley
+had different plans.
+
+"Come along! It's ridiculous to waste our labour here," she exclaimed.
+"All these bushes have been well picked over already. We'll walk
+straight on till we come to the lane near the ruined cottage, then we
+shall get a harvest and fill our baskets in a third of the time. Quick
+march!"
+
+There was sense in her remarks, so Merle abandoned several half-ripe
+specimens for which she had been reaching and joined the file that was
+winding, Indian fashion, up the path through the wood. Over a high,
+ladder-like stile they climbed, then dropped down into the gorge to
+where a small wooden bridge spanned the stream. They loved to stand here
+looking at the brown rushing water that swirled below. The thick trees
+made a green parlour, and the continual moisture had carpeted the woods
+with beautiful verdant moss which grew in close sheets over the rocks.
+Up again, by an even steeper and craggier track, they climbed the
+farther bank of the gorge, and came out at last on to the broad
+hill-side that overlooked the Craigwen Valley.
+
+Here was scope for a leader; the track was so overgrown as to be almost
+indistinguishable, and ran across boggy land, where it was only too easy
+to plunge over one's boot-tops in oozy peat. Miss Moseley found the way
+like a pioneer; she had often been there before and remembered just what
+places were treacherous and just where it was possible to use a swinging
+bough for a help. By following in her footsteps the party got safely
+over without serious wettings, and sat down to take breath for a few
+minutes on some smooth, glacier-ground rocks that topped the ridge they
+had been scaling. They were now at some height above the valley, and the
+prospect was magnificent. For at least ten miles they could trace the
+windings of the river, and taller and more distant mountain peaks had
+come into view.
+
+"Some people say that Craigwen Valley's very like the Rhine,"
+volunteered Ulyth. "It hasn't any castles, of course, except at
+Llangarmon, but the scenery's just as lovely."
+
+"Nice to think it's British then," rejoiced Merle. "Wales can hold its
+own in the way of mountains and lakes. People have no need to go abroad
+for them. What's New Zealand like, Rona?"
+
+"We've ripping rivers there," replied the Cuckoo, "bigger than this by
+lots, and with tree-ferns up in the bush. This isn't bad, though, as far
+as it goes. What's that place over across on the opposite hill?"
+
+"Where the light's shining? Oh, that's Llanfairgwyn! There's a village
+and a church. We've only been once. It's rather a long way, because you
+have to cross the ferry at Glanafon before you can get to the other side
+of the river."
+
+"And what's that big white house in the trees, with the flag?"
+
+"That's Plas Cafn. It's _the_ place in the neighbourhood, you know,"
+said Stephanie, fondly fingering her necklace.
+
+"I don't know. How should I?"
+
+"Well, you know it now, at any rate."
+
+"Does it belong to toffs?"
+
+"It belongs to Lord and Lady Glyncraig. They live there for part of the
+year."
+
+"Oh!" said Rona. She put her chin on her hand and surveyed the distant
+mansion for several moments in silence. "I reckon they're stuck up,"
+she remarked at last.
+
+"I believe they're considered nice. I've never spoken to them," replied
+Ulyth.
+
+"I have," put in Stephanie complacently. "I went to tea once at Plas
+Cafn. It was when Father was Member for Rotherford. Lord Glyncraig knew
+him in Parliament, of course, and he happened to meet Father and me just
+when we were walking past the gate at Plas Cafn, and asked us in to
+tea."
+
+Merle, Addie, and Ulyth smiled. This visit, paid four years ago, was the
+standing triumph of Stephanie's life. She never forgot, nor allowed any
+of her schoolfellows to forget, that she had been entertained by the
+great people of the neighbourhood.
+
+"He wasn't Lord Glyncraig then; he was only Sir John Mitchell, Baronet.
+He's been raised to a peerage since," said Merle, willing to qualify
+some of the glory of Stephanie's reminiscences.
+
+"We don't grow peers in Waitoto, or baronets either, for the matter of
+that," observed Rona. "I don't guess they're wanted out with us. We'd
+have no place in the bush for a Lord Glyncraig."
+
+"You'd better claim acquaintance with him, as your name's Mitchell too.
+How proud he'd be of the honour!" teased Addie.
+
+Coral flooded the whole of the Cuckoo's face. She had begun to
+understand the difference between her rough upbringing and the refined
+homes of the other girls, and she resented the sneers that were often
+made at her expense.
+
+"Our butcher at home is Joseph Mitchell," hinnied Merle.
+
+"Mitchell's a common enough name," said Ulyth. "I know two families in
+Scotland and some people at Plymouth all called Mitchell. They're none
+of them related to each other, and probably not to Merle's butcher or to
+Lord Glyncraig."
+
+"Nor to me," said Rona. "I'm a democrat, and I glory in it. Stephanie's
+welcome to her grand friends if she likes them."
+
+"I do like them," sighed Stephanie plaintively. "I love aristocratic
+people and nice houses and things. Why shouldn't I? You needn't grin,
+Addie Knighton; you'd know them yourself if you could. When I come out
+I'd like to be presented at Court, and go to a ball where the people are
+all dukes and duchesses and earls and countesses. It would be worth
+while dancing with a duke, especially if he wore the Order of the
+Garter!"
+
+"Until that glorious day comes you'll have to dance with poor little me
+for a partner," giggled Merle.
+
+"Aren't you all rested? We shall get no blackberries if we don't hurry
+on," called Miss Moseley from the other end of the rock.
+
+Everybody scrambled up immediately and set out again over the
+bracken-covered hill-side. Another half-mile and they had reached the
+bourne of their expedition. The narrow track through the gorse and fern
+widened suddenly into a lane, a lane with very high, unmortared walls,
+over which grew a variety of bramble with a particularly luscious
+fruit. Every connoisseur of blackberries knows what a difference there
+is between the little hard seedy ones that commonly flourish in the
+hedges and the big juicy ones with the larger leaves. Nature had been
+prodigal here, and a bounteous harvest hung within easy reach.
+
+"They are as big as mulberries--and oh, such heaps and heaps!" exclaimed
+Addie ecstatically. "No, Merle, you wretch, this is my branch! Don't
+poach, you wretch! Go farther on, can't you!"
+
+"I wish we could send the jam to the hospital when it's made," sighed
+Merle.
+
+The party spread itself out; some of the girls climbed to the top of the
+wall, so that they could reach what grew on the sunnier side, and a few
+skirted round over a gate into a field, where a ruined cottage was also
+covered with brambles. They worked down the lane by slow degrees,
+picking hard as they went. At the end a sudden rushing roar struck upon
+the ear, and without even waiting for a signal from Miss Moseley the
+girls with one accord hopped over a fence, and ran up a slight incline.
+The voice of the waterfall was calling, and the impulse to obey was
+irresistible. At the top of the slope they stopped, for they had reached
+a natural platform that overlooked the gorge. The scene rivalled one of
+the beauty-spots of Switzerland. The Porth Powys stream, flowing between
+precipitous rocks, fell two hundred feet in a series of four splendid
+cascades. The rugged crags on either side were thickly covered with a
+forest of fir and larch, and here and there a taller stone-pine reared
+its darker head above the silvery green. Dashing, roaring, leaping,
+shouting, the water poured down in a never-ceasing volume: the white
+spray rose up in clouds, wetting the girls' faces; the sound was like an
+endless chorus of hallelujahs.
+
+"Porth Powys is in fine form to-day. There must have been rain up in the
+mountains last night," remarked Ulyth. "What do you think of it, Rona?"
+
+"It's a champion! I'm going to climb down there and get at the edge."
+
+"No, you won't!" said Miss Moseley sharply. "Nobody is to go a single
+step nearer. You must all come back into the lane now, and get on with
+blackberry-picking. Your baskets are only half full yet."
+
+Very reluctantly the girls followed. The fall exercised a fascination
+over them, and they could have stayed half an hour watching its white
+swirl. They did not wish, however, to earn the reputation of slackers.
+Two other parties had gone out blackberrying that afternoon, and there
+would be keen competition as to which would bring back the most pounds.
+They set to work again, therefore, with enthusiasm, counting stained
+fingers and scratches as glorious wounds earned in the good cause. Rona
+picked with zeal, but she had a preoccupied look on her face.
+
+"Say, I liked that waterfall," she remarked to Ulyth. "One can't see
+anything of it down in this old lane. I'm going to get a better view."
+
+"You mustn't go off on your own," commanded Ulyth. "Miss Moseley will
+report you if you do!"
+
+"Don't excite yourself. I only said I was going to get a better view.
+It's quite easy."
+
+Rona put her basket in a safe place, and with the aid of a hazel bush
+climbed to the top of the wall. Apparently the prospect did not satisfy
+her.
+
+"I'm going a stave higher still. Keep your hair on!" she shouted down to
+Ulyth, and began swarming up the bole of a huge old oak-tree that
+abutted on the wall. She was strong and active as a boy, and had soon
+scrambled to where the branches forked. A mass of twisted ivy hung here,
+and raising herself with its aid, she stood on an outstretched bough.
+
+"It's ripping! I can see a little bit of the fall; I'll see it better if
+I get over on to that other branch."
+
+"Take care!" called Miss Moseley from below.
+
+Rona started. She had not known the mistress was so near. The movement
+upset her decidedly unstable balance; she clutched hard at the ivy, but
+it gave way in her fingers; there was a sudden crash and a smothered
+shriek.
+
+White as a ghost, Miss Moseley climbed the wall, expecting to find the
+prostrate form of her pupil on the other side. To her surprise she saw
+nothing of the sort. Near at hand, however, came a stifled groan.
+
+"Rona, where are you?" shrieked the distracted governess.
+
+"Here," spluttered the voice of the Cuckoo; "inside the tree. The
+beastly old thing's rotten, and I've tumbled to the very bottom of the
+trunk!"
+
+"Are you hurt?"
+
+"No, nothing to speak of."
+
+"Here's a pretty go!" murmured the girls, who all came running at the
+sound of shouts. "How's she going to get out again?"
+
+"Can't you climb up?" urged Miss Moseley.
+
+"No, I can't stir an inch; I'm wedged in somehow."
+
+What was to be done? The affair waxed serious. Miss Moseley, with a
+really heroic effort, and much help from the girls, managed to scale the
+tree and look down into the hollow trunk. She could just see Rona's
+scared face peeping up at her many feet below.
+
+"Can you put up your hand and let me pull you?"
+
+"No; I tell you I'm wedged as tight as a sardine."
+
+"We shall have to send for help then. May and Kathleen, run as quickly
+as you can down the lane. There's a farm at the bottom of the hill. Tell
+them what's the matter."
+
+"I hope to goodness they'll understand English!" murmured Merle.
+
+"Will I have to stop here always?" demanded a tragic voice within the
+tree. "Shall you be able to feed me, or will I have to starve? How long
+does it take to die of hunger?"
+
+"You won't die just yet," returned Miss Moseley, laughing a little in
+spite of herself. "We'll get you out in course of time."
+
+"I guess I'd better make my will, though. Has anybody got a pencil and
+paper, and will they please write it down and send it home? I want to
+leave my saddle to Pamela Higson, and Jake is to have the bridle and
+whip--I always liked him better than Billy, though I pretended I didn't.
+Jane Peters may have my writing-desk--much she writes, though!--and
+Amabel Holt my old doll. That's all I've left in New Zealand. Ulyth can
+take what I've got at school--'twon't be any great shakes to her, I
+expect. You didn't tell me how long it takes to die!"
+
+"Cheer up! There's not the slightest danger," Miss Moseley continued to
+assure her.
+
+"It's all very well to say 'cheer up' when you're standing safe on the
+top," said the gloomy voice of the imprisoned dryad. "It feels a
+different matter when you're boxed up tight with tree all round you.
+It's jolly uncomfortable. Where are the girls?"
+
+"Here's one," replied Ulyth, climbing the tree to relieve poor Miss
+Moseley, who gladly retired in her favour. "I'm going to stay and talk
+to you till somebody comes to get you out. Oh, here are May and Kathleen
+at last! What a fearful time they've been!"
+
+The two messengers came panting back with many excuses for their delay.
+It was a long way down the lane to the farm, and when they arrived there
+they had considerable difficulty in explaining their errand. No one
+could understand English except a little boy, who was only half-able to
+translate their remarks into Welsh. They had at length made the farmer
+realize what had happened, and he had promised to come at once. In the
+course of a few minutes they were followed by David Jones and his son,
+Idwal, bearing a rope, an axe, and a saw, and looking rather dismayed at
+the task in store for them. It proved indeed a matter of considerable
+difficulty to rescue Rona without hurting her; a portion of the
+tree-trunk was obliged to be sawn away before she could obtain
+sufficient room to help to free herself, and it was only after an hour's
+hard work that she stood at last in safety on the ground.
+
+"How do you feel?" asked Miss Moseley anxiously, fearing broken bones or
+a sprain from the final effort of extraction.
+
+"Well, I guess it's taken the bounce out of me. I'm as stiff as a
+rheumatic cat! Oh, I'll get back to school somehow, don't alarm
+yourself! I'm absolutely starving for tea. Good-bye, you wood-demon; you
+nearly finished me!" and Rona shook her fist at the offending oak-tree
+as a parting salute.
+
+"She called it demon to rhyme with lemon!" gurgled Addie, almost sobbing
+with mirth as she followed, holding Merle's arm. "The Cuckoo will cause
+me to break a blood-vessel some day. It hurts me most dreadfully to
+laugh. I've got a stitch in my side. Oh dear! I wonder whatever she'll
+go and do next?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+On Sufferance
+
+
+    "Scratch, scratch, scratch,
+     Scratch went the old black hen!
+     Every fowl that scrapes in the barn
+     Can scratch as well as your pen!"
+
+So sang Rona, bounding noisily one afternoon into No. 3, Room 5, and
+popping her hands from behind over Ulyth's eyes as the latter sat
+writing at a table near the window.
+
+"What are you always scratching away for? Can't you finish your work at
+prep.? Why don't you come downstairs and play basket-ball? You're mighty
+studious all of a sudden. What have you got here?"
+
+Ulyth flushed crimson with annoyance, and turned her sheets of foolscap
+hastily over to hide them from her room-mate's prying eyes.
+
+"You're not to touch my papers, Rona! I've told you that before."
+
+"Well, I wasn't touching them. Looking's not touching, anyway. What are
+you doing? It's queer taste to sit scribbling here half your spare
+time."
+
+"What I was doing is my own concern, and no business of yours."
+
+"Now you're riled," said the Cuckoo, sitting down easily on her bed. "I
+didn't mean any harm. I always seem sticking my foot into it somehow."
+
+Ulyth sighed. Nobody in the school realized how much she had to put up
+with from her irrepressible room-mate, whose hearty voice, extraordinary
+expressions, and broad notions of fun grated upon her sensitive nature.
+Rona did not appreciate in the least the heroic sacrifice that Ulyth was
+making. It had never occurred to her that she might be placed in another
+dormitory, and that she only remained on sufferance in No. 3. She
+admired Ulyth immensely, and was quite prepared to take her as a model,
+but at present the copy was very far indeed from the original. The
+mistresses had instituted a vigorous crusade against Rona's loud voice
+and unconventional English, and she was really making an effort to
+improve; but the habits of years are not effaced in a few weeks, and she
+still scandalized the authorities considerably. Ulyth could tolerate her
+when she kept to her own side of the bedroom, but to have meddlesome
+fingers interfering with her private possessions was the last straw to
+her burden of endurance.
+
+"Do you understand?" she repeated emphatically. "You're not to touch my
+papers at all!"
+
+"All serene! I won't lay a finger on them--honest--sure!" returned the
+Cuckoo, chanting her words to the air of "Swanee River", and drumming an
+accompaniment on the bedpost. "What d'you think Stephanie called me just
+now? She said I was an unlicked cub."
+
+"Oh, surely she didn't! Are you certain?"
+
+"Heard her myself. She said it to my face and tittered. You bet I'll pay
+her out somehow. Miss Stephanie Radford needs taking down a peg. Oh,
+don't alarm yourself, I'll do it neatly! There'll be no clumsy bungling
+about it. Well, if you won't go down and play basket-ball I shall. It's
+more fun than sitting up here."
+
+As the door banged behind Rona, Ulyth heaved an ecstatic "Thank
+goodness!" She sat for a few moments trying to regain her composure
+before she recommenced the writing at which she had been interrupted.
+The manuscript on which she was engaged was very precious. She had set
+herself no less a task than to write a book. The subject had come to her
+suddenly one morning as she lay awake in bed, and she regarded it as an
+inspiration. She would make a story about The Woodlands, and bring in
+all the girls she knew. It was no use struggling with a historical plot
+or a romance of the war--she had tried these, and stuck fast in the
+first chapters; it was better to employ the material close at hand, and
+weave her tale from the every-day incidents which happened in the
+school. So she had begun, and though she floundered a little at the
+difficulty of transferring her impressions to paper, she was making
+distinct progress.
+
+"I'd never dare to have it published, of course," she ruminated. "Still,
+it's a beginning, and I shall like to read it over to myself. I think
+there are some rather neat bits in it, especially that shot at Addie
+and Stephie. How wild they'd be if they knew! But there's no fear of
+that. I'll take good care nobody finds out."
+
+When to make time to go on with her literary composition was the
+difficulty. It was hard to snatch even an occasional half-hour during
+the day. Where there is a will, however, there is generally also a way,
+and Ulyth hit upon the plan of getting up very early in the morning and
+writing while Rona was still asleep. The Cuckoo never stirred until the
+seven o'clock bell rang, when she would awake noisily, with many yawns
+and stretchings of arms, so Ulyth flattered herself that her secret was
+absolutely safe.
+
+Where to hide the precious papers was another problem. She did not dare
+to put them in any of her drawers, her desk would not lock, and her
+little jewel-box was too small to contain them.
+
+The fireplace in the bedroom had an old-fashioned chimney-piece that was
+fitted with a loose wooden mantel-board, from which hung a border of
+needlework. It was quite easy to lift up this board and slip the papers
+between it and the chimney-piece; the border completely screened the
+hiding-place, and, except at a spring-cleaning, the arrangement was not
+likely to be disturbed. Ulyth congratulated herself greatly upon her
+ingenuity. It was interesting to have a secret which nobody even
+guessed. She often looked at the chimney-piece, and chuckled as she
+thought of what lay concealed there.
+
+The days were rapidly closing in now, and the time between tea and
+preparation, which only a few weeks ago was devoted to a last game of
+tennis or a run by the stream, was perforce spent by the schoolroom
+fire. It was only a short interval, not long enough to make any
+elaborate occupation worth while, so the girls sat knitting in the
+twilight and chatting until the bell rang for evening work.
+
+One afternoon, when tea was finished, Ulyth, instead of joining the
+others as usual, walked upstairs to put away some specimens in the
+Museum. She passed V B classroom as she did so, and heard smothered
+peals of mirth issuing from behind the half-closed door.
+
+"What are they doing?" she thought. "I believe I'll go and see." But
+catching Rona's laugh above the rest, she changed her mind, walked on,
+and bestowed her fossils carefully in a spare corner of one of the
+cases. Meanwhile, the group assembled round the fire in V B were
+enjoying themselves. The room was growing dusk, but, seated on the
+hearthrug, Addie Knighton could see quite sufficiently to read aloud
+extracts from a document she was perusing, extracts to which the others
+listened with thrilling interest, interspersed with comments.
+
+"'The girls of the Oaklands'," so she read, "'were a rather peculiar and
+miscellaneous set, especially those in the Lower Fifth. Scarcely any of
+them could be called pretty--'" ("Oh! oh!" howled the attentive circle.)
+"'One of them, Valerie Chadford, imagined herself so, and gave herself
+fearful airs in consequence; she was very set up at knowing smart
+people, and often bragged about it.'" ("I'll never forgive her, never!"
+screamed Stephanie.) "'The twins, Pearl and Doris, were fat, stodgy
+girls, who wore five-and-a-halfs in shoes and had twenty-seven-inch
+waists.'" ("Oh! Won't Merle and Alice be just frantic when they hear?")
+"'But even they were more interesting than Nellie Clacton, who usually
+sat with her mouth open, as if she was trying to catch flies.'" ("Does
+she mean me?" gasped Mary Acton indignantly.) "'Florence Tulliver was
+inclined to be snarly, and often said mean things about other people
+behind their backs.'" ("I'll say something now!" declared Gertrude
+Oliver.) "'And Annie Ryton was----'" but here Addie broke off abruptly
+and exploded.
+
+"Go on! Go on!" commanded the girls.
+
+"It's too lovely!" spluttered Addie. "O--ho--ho! So that's what she
+thinks of me, is it?"
+
+"Read it, can't you?"
+
+"Here, give the paper to me!"
+
+"No, no! I'll go on--but--I didn't know my eyes were like faded
+gooseberries, and my hair like dried seaweed!"
+
+"Has she described herself!" asked Stephanie.
+
+"I haven't come to it yet. Oh yes! here we are, farther on: 'Our
+heroine, Morvyth Langton, was an unusually----'"
+
+But here Addie stopped abruptly, for a blazing little fury stood in the
+doorway.
+
+"Addie Knighton, how dare you? How dare you? Give me that paper this
+instant!"
+
+"No, no! It's much too interesting. Let go! Don't be silly! How can you?
+Oh, what a shame!" as Ulyth in her anger tore the manuscript across and
+flung it into the fire.
+
+"Whew! Now you've gone and done it!" whistled Rona.
+
+Ulyth was holding down the last flaming fragment with the poker. When it
+had expired she turned to the guilty circle. "Who took my papers from my
+bedroom?"
+
+Her voice was sharp, and her eyes fixed full on Rona.
+
+"I didn't touch them. I never laid so much as a finger on them,"
+protested the Cuckoo.
+
+"But you told someone where they were?"
+
+Rona winked in reply. Yes, alas! winked consciously and deliberately.
+(It was well for her that Miss Moseley was not in the room.)
+
+"I knew you'd got something there," she admitted. "Were you such an
+innocent as to think I never saw you scribbling away hard in the early
+mornings? Why, I was foxing! I used to watch you while I was snoring,
+and nearly died with laughing because you never found me out."
+
+If eyes could slay, Ulyth's would have finished Rona at that moment. But
+Addie Knighton, whose suspension of mirth had been merely a species of
+temporary paralysis, now relapsed into a choking series of guffaws, in
+which the others joined boisterously.
+
+"I can't--get--over--seaweed--and faded gooseberries!" crowed Addie
+hysterically.
+
+"I don't catch flies with my open mouth!" shouted Mary Acton, suspending
+her knitting in her indignation.
+
+"Will somebody please measure the twins' waists?" bleated Christine.
+
+"I didn't say it was meant for any of you. If the cap fits, put it on.
+Listeners hear no good of themselves, and no more do people who read
+what isn't intended for them. It serves you all right, so there!" and
+Ulyth flounced out of the room.
+
+She ran straight up to her bedroom, and burst into tears. It was such a
+tragi-comedy ending to her literary ambition. She would rather the girls
+had been more indignant than that they had laughed so much.
+
+"I'll never write another line again," she resolved; and then she
+thought of the binding she had always intended to have on her first
+published book, and wept harder.
+
+"Ulyth," said the Cuckoo, stealing in rather shamefacedly, "I'm really
+frightfully sorry if you're riled. I didn't know you cared all that much
+about those old papers. I told Addie, as a joke, and she went and poked
+them out. I think they were fine. It was a shame to burn them. Can't you
+write them over again?"
+
+"Never!" Ulyth replied, wiping her eyes. "Rona, you don't realize what
+damage you've done. There! oh yes, I'll forgive you, but if you want to
+keep friends with me, don't go and do anything of the sort again, that's
+all!"
+
+Ulyth felt a little shy of meeting her class-mates after their discovery
+of the very unflattering description she had written of them, but the
+girls were good-natured and did not bear malice. They treated the whole
+affair as an intense joke, and even took to calling one another by the
+assumed names of the story. They composed extra portions, including a
+lurid description of Ulyth herself, illustrated by rapid sketches on the
+black-board. The disappointed authoress took it with what calm she could
+muster. She knew they meant to tease, and the fewer sparks they could
+raise from her the sooner they would desist and let the matter drop. It
+would probably serve as a target for Addie's wit till the end of the
+term, unless the excitement of the newly formed ambulance class chased
+it from her memory. The Woodlanders were trying to do their duty by
+their country, and all the girls were enthusiastically practising
+bandaging.
+
+"I wish we'd some real patients to bind up," sighed Merle one day, as V
+B took its turn under Nurse Griffith's instructions.
+
+"I'd be sorry for them if they were left to your tender mercies,"
+retorted Mavis, who had been posing as patient. "My arm's sore yet with
+your vigorous measures."
+
+"What nonsense! I was as gentle as a lamb."
+
+"A curious variety of lamb then, with a wolf inside."
+
+"I believe The Woodlands would make a gorgeous hospital," suggested
+Addie hopefully. "When we're through our course we might have some real
+patients down and nurse them."
+
+"Don't you think it! The Rainbow won't carry ambulance lessons as far as
+that!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Quits
+
+
+Ulyth, brushing her hair before the looking-glass one morning, hummed
+cheerily.
+
+"You seem in spirits," commented Rona, from the washstand. "It's more
+than I am. Miss Lodge was a pig yesterday. She said my dictation was a
+disgrace to the school, and I'd got to stop in during the interval this
+morning and write out all the wrong words a dozen times each. It's too
+sickening! I'd no luck yesterday. Phyllis Chantrey had my book to
+correct, and her writing and mine are such opposite poles, we daren't
+try it on."
+
+"Try what on?" asked Ulyth, pausing with the brush in her hand.
+
+"Why, the exchange dodge, you know."
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Don't you take dictation in V B? Well, in our form we get it twice a
+week, and Miss Lodge makes us correct each other's books. We make it up
+to try and exchange with a girl whose writing's pretty like one's own;
+then, you see, we can alter things neatly, and allow full marks. It
+generally works, but it didn't yesterday."
+
+Ulyth's face was a study.
+
+"You mean to tell me you correct each other's mistakes!"
+
+"Why not?" said Rona, not the least abashed. "Miss Lodge never finds
+out."
+
+Ulyth collapsed into a chair. What was she to do with such a girl?
+
+"Don't you know it's the most atrocious cheating?"
+
+"Is it? Why, the whole form does it," returned the Cuckoo unconcernedly.
+
+"Then they're abominable little wretches, and don't deserve to be
+candidates for the Camp-fire League. I'm thoroughly ashamed of them.
+Have they no sense of honour?"
+
+The Cuckoo was looking perplexed.
+
+"Ulyth Stanton, you're always rounding something new on me," she sighed.
+"I can't keep up with you. I keep my hair tidy now, and don't leave my
+things lying round the room, and I try to give a sort of twitter instead
+of laughing, and I've dropped ever so many words you object to, and
+practise walking down the passage with a book on my head. What more do
+you want?"
+
+"A great deal," said Ulyth gravely. "Didn't you learn honour at home?"
+
+"Catch Mrs. Barker!"
+
+"But surely your father----?"
+
+"I saw so little of Dad. He was out all day, and sometimes off for weeks
+together at our other block. When he was at home he didn't care to be
+bothered overmuch."
+
+An amazed pity was taking the place of Ulyth's indignation. This was,
+indeed, fallow ground. Mrs. Arnold's comment flashed across her mind:
+
+"What an opportunity for a Torch-bearer!"
+
+"I don't want to be turned into a prig," urged the Cuckoo.
+
+"You needn't. There's a certain amount of slang and fun that's
+allowable, but _noblesse oblige_ must always come first. You don't
+understand French yet? Well, never mind. All that matters is that you
+simply must realize, Rona--do listen, please--that all of us here,
+including you, mustn't--couldn't--cheat at lessons. For your own sake,
+and for the sake of the school, you must stop it."
+
+"You think a lot of the school!"
+
+"And quite right too! The school stands to us for what the State does to
+grown-up people. We've got to do our best to keep the tone up. Cheating
+brings it down with a run. It's as bad as tearing up treaties."
+
+"Go ahead. Rub it in," returned the Cuckoo, beginning to whistle a
+trifle defiantly.
+
+She thought the matter over, nevertheless, and returned to the subject
+that night when they were going to bed.
+
+"Ulyth, I told the girls exactly what you said about them. My gracious,
+you should have seen their faces! Boiled lobsters weren't in it. That
+hit about the Camp-fire Guild seemed specially to floor them. I don't
+fancy, somehow, there'll be any more correcting done in dictation.
+You've touched them up no end."
+
+"I'm extremely glad if what I said has brought them to their senses,"
+declared Ulyth.
+
+Rona got on tolerably well among her comrades, but there was one
+exception. With Stephanie she was generally in a state of guerrilla
+warfare. The latter declared that the vulgar addition to the school was
+an outrage on the feelings of those who had been better brought up.
+Stephanie had ambitions towards society with a big S, and worshipped
+titles. She would have liked the daughter of a duke for a schoolfellow,
+but so far no member of the aristocracy had condescended to come and be
+educated at The Woodlands. Stephanie felt injured that Miss Bowes and
+Miss Teddington should have accepted such a girl as Rona, and lost no
+opportunity of showing that she thought the New Zealander very far below
+the accepted standard. The Cuckoo's undoubted good looks were perhaps
+another point in her disfavour. The school beauty did not easily yield
+place to a rival, and though she professed to consider Rona's complexion
+too high-coloured, she had a sneaking consciousness that it was superior
+to her own.
+
+During the summer holidays Stephanie had taken part in a pageant that
+was held in aid of a charity near her home. As Queen of the Roses she
+had occupied a rather important position, and her portrait, in her
+beautiful fancy costume, had appeared in several of the leading ladies'
+newspapers. Stephanie's features were good, and the photograph had been
+a very happy one--"glorified out of all knowledge" said some of the
+girls; so the photographer had exhibited it in his window, and
+altogether more notice had been taken of it than was perhaps salutary
+for the original. Stephanie had brought a copy back to school, and it
+now adorned her bedroom mantelpiece. She was never tired of descanting
+upon the pageant, and telling about all the aristocratic people who had
+come to see it. According to her account the very flower of the
+neighbourhood had been present, and had taken special notice of her. A
+girl who had so lately consorted with the county could not be expected
+to tolerate a tyro from the backwoods. Stephanie was too well brought up
+to allow herself to be often openly rude; her taunts were generally
+ingeniously veiled, but they were none the less aggravating for that.
+The Cuckoo might be callow in some respects, but in others she was very
+much up-to-date. Though she would look obtuse, and pretend not to
+understand, as a matter of fact not a gibe was lost upon her, and she
+kept an exact account of the score.
+
+One morning, early in December, Miss Teddington, who was distributing
+the contents of the postbag, handed Stephanie a small parcel. It was
+only a few days after the latter's birthday, and, supposing it to be a
+belated present, the mistress did not ask the usual questions by which
+she regulated her pupils' correspondence. The letters were always given
+out immediately after breakfast, and the girls took them upstairs to
+read in their dormitories during the quarter of an hour in which they
+made their beds and tidied their rooms. This morning, just as Ulyth was
+shaking her pillow, Rona came in, chuckling to herself. The Cuckoo's
+eyes twinkled like stars.
+
+"D'you want some sport?" she asked. "If you do, come with me, and have
+the time of your life!"
+
+Ulyth put down the pillow, and hesitated. Fifteen minutes was not too
+long an allowance for all she was expected to do in her room. But Rona's
+manner was inviting. She wanted to see what the fun was. The temptress
+held the door open, and beckoned beguilingly.
+
+"All serene!" yielded Ulyth.
+
+Rona seized her by the arm and dragged her delightedly down the passage.
+
+"Now you're chummy," she murmured. "Whatever you do, though, don't make
+a noise and give the show away!"
+
+Still in the dark as to the Cuckoo's intentions, Ulyth allowed herself
+to be led to Dormitory 2, No. 4, at the opposite side of the house. We
+have mentioned before that the bedrooms at The Woodlands were very
+spacious--so large, indeed, that each was partitioned into four cubicles
+divided by lath-and-plaster walls. A passage inside the dormitory gave
+access to the cubicles, which were in fact separate little bedrooms,
+except that the partition walls, for purposes of ventilation, did not
+reach the ceiling. At present the fourth cubicle in Dormitory 2 was
+unoccupied, but its furniture was rather curiously arranged. One of the
+beds had been pulled close against the partition, and a chest of
+drawers, with the drawers removed, had been placed upon it.
+
+"I fixed it up last night, and it was a job," whispered the Cuckoo.
+"Good thing I'm strong. Now we've got to climb on that, and you'll see
+what you'll see!"
+
+Ulyth had an uneasy consciousness that she ought not to be mixed up in
+such a business; but, after all, the girls often scrambled up and peeped
+into one another's cubicles for a joke, so her action would not be
+without precedent. She was a very human person, and liked fun as well as
+anybody. With extreme caution she and Rona mounted the chest of drawers,
+trying not to make the slightest noise. Their eyes were just on a level
+with the top of the partition, and they had a good view of the next
+cubicle. The occupants, Stephanie and her room-mate, Beth Broadway, were
+far too absorbed to think of looking up towards the ceiling. Their
+attention was concentrated on the parcel which had arrived by the post.
+It contained a small bottle, carefully packed in shavings, and also a
+typewritten letter, the purport of which seemed to electrify Stephanie.
+
+"It's the most extraordinary thing I've ever heard!" she was saying.
+"Beth, just listen to this."
+
+And she read aloud:
+
+            "66 HOLBORN VIADUCT,
+                 LONDON.
+
+"DEAR MADAM,
+
+"Having seen your portrait, as a noted beauty, published in _The
+Princess_, _The Ladies' Court Journal_, and other leading pictorials,
+we venture to submit to you a sample of our famous Eau de Venus, an
+invaluable adjunct to the toilet of any lady possessing a delicate
+complexion. It is a perfectly harmless, fragrantly scented fluid, which,
+if applied daily after breakfast, produces a rose-leaf bloom which is
+absolutely incomparable. As it is a new preparation, we are anxious to
+submit it to a few ladies of influence in the fashionable world, feeling
+sure that, once used, they will recommend it.
+
+"We shall esteem it a great favour if you will graciously try the
+enclosed sample. We do not ask for testimonials, but any expression of
+appreciation from one who figured so admirably as Queen of the Roses at
+the Barrfield Pageant would be to us a source of immense gratification.
+
+"May we recommend that the preparation be applied immediately after
+breakfast, as its ingredients are more potent to the delicate pores of
+the skin if used at that period of the morning.
+
+"With apologies for troubling you, and hoping you will condescend to
+give our Eau de Venus at least a trial,
+
+    "We remain,
+
+      "Faithfully yours,
+
+        "RENAN, MARIETTE, ET CIE,
+           Parfumeurs."
+
+"How very peculiar!" gasped Beth, much impressed.
+
+"It must be because they saw my photo in the papers," said Stephanie.
+She was trying to speak casually, and not to appear too flattered, but
+her eyes shone. "I believe that pageant made rather a sensation, and of
+course, well, I was the principal figure in it. I suppose I shall have
+to try this Eau de Venus."
+
+"It's in a funny little bottle," commented Beth.
+
+"Samples generally are. They never send you very much of a thing. They
+want you to buy a big bottle afterwards."
+
+Stephanie carefully removed the cork. The preparation seemed to be of a
+pink, milky description.
+
+"It smells of violets," she said, offering the bottle for Beth to sniff.
+
+"I should certainly try it, if I were you," recommended the latter.
+
+"It says it's quite harmless," continued Stephanie, referring to the
+letter, "and should be used immediately after breakfast. Well, there's
+no time like the present!"
+
+If there was a curious agitation on the other side of the partition,
+neither girl noticed it. Stephanie poured some of the liquid into her
+hand and rubbed it over her face. Then she turned to the looking-glass.
+
+"It seems very pink and queer! It's all in red streaks!"
+
+"Perhaps you've put on too much. Wipe some of it off," advised Beth.
+
+Vigorous measures with a sponge followed, and Stephanie anxiously
+surveyed the result.
+
+"It won't come off!" she faltered. "Oh, what have I done to myself? I'm
+all red smears!"
+
+Her dismay was too much for one at least on the other side of the
+partition. Rona broke into a loud, cackling laugh. One swift glance
+upwards and Stephanie realized that she was the victim of a practical
+joke. It took her exactly three seconds to reach the next cubicle.
+
+"So it's you, is it?" she exploded. "Well, Ulyth Stanton, I am
+astonished! Evil communications corrupt good manners, and yours smack of
+the backwoods."
+
+"Don't throw it on Ulyth; she knew nothing about it," retorted the
+chuckling Cuckoo belligerently. "It's my business, and I don't mind
+telling you so!"
+
+"I might have known, you--you utter cad! You don't deserve to be in a
+school among ladies!"
+
+"Go on. Pitch it as strong as you like. The cub's quits with you now for
+all your airs and your nastiness."
+
+"Oh, don't!" protested Ulyth, interfering in much distress. "Rona, do
+stop! I'd no idea you meant to play such a dreadful trick on Stephie."
+
+"You must have known something of it, or you wouldn't have come to look
+on. I expect you were at the bottom of it," sneered Stephanie; "so don't
+try to sneak out of it, Ulyth Stanton. Your precious joke has marked me
+for life."
+
+"No, no! It's only cochineal and milk. I got it from the cook," put in
+the Cuckoo.
+
+"It's stained her face all over, though," said Beth Broadway
+reproachfully.
+
+"I shall go straight to Miss Bowes," whimpered Stephanie.
+
+"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Ulyth. "Try some methylated
+spirit first. I'll give you some from my room."
+
+The remedy proved efficacious. The stains yielded to gentle rubbing, and
+the four girls flew in a wild hurry to make their beds, three much
+relieved and one naughtily exultant.
+
+"I've paid out Stephie," panted Rona, tucking in her blankets anyhow. "I
+felt proud of that letter. Made it up with the help of advertisements in
+the _Illustrated Journal_. Then I typed it in the study while Teddie was
+out. You didn't know I could type? Learnt how on the voyage, from a girl
+who'd a typewriter on board with her. I laid on the butter pretty thick.
+I knew Steph would swallow it to any amount. Oh, didn't she just look
+flattered? It was prime! The under-housemaid posted the parcel for me."
+
+"Stephie'll never forgive you!"
+
+"Much I care!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+The Cuckoo's Progress
+
+
+"Your bear cub still needs taming, Ulyth," said Gertrude Oliver. "She
+spilt her coffee this morning--such a mess on the tablecloth! I wish I
+didn't sit next to her. I felt like Alice at the March Hare's
+tea-party."
+
+"It was half Maud's fault; she jerked her elbow," pleaded Ulyth in
+extenuation.
+
+"Oh, you can't whitewash her, so don't try! I won't say she isn't better
+than when she arrived, but there's room for improvement."
+
+"She's much slimmer. I suppose it must have been the voyage that had
+made her grow so fat in September."
+
+"I wish, at any rate, you could get her out of using those dreadful
+backwoods expressions. It's high time she dropped them. She's been here
+nearly a full term."
+
+Ulyth thought so too, and the next time she found a suitable opportunity
+she tackled Rona on the subject.
+
+"You're too nice to speak in such a queer way. You've no idea how it
+spoils you," she urged. "You could be another girl if you'd only take a
+little trouble."
+
+"What's the use? Who minds what I'm like?" returned the Cuckoo a trifle
+defiantly.
+
+"I do," said Ulyth emphatically.
+
+"Not really?"
+
+"Indeed I do. I care very much. You came over here to be my friend, and
+there are many things I want in a friend."
+
+"I didn't know you cared," replied Rona in a softened voice. "No one
+ever did before--except Dad, when he said I was a savage."
+
+"Don't you want to show him what you can grow into?" asked Ulyth
+eagerly. "Think how surprised and pleased he'll be when he sees you
+again!"
+
+"There's something in that."
+
+"There's a great deal in it. I know I often make myself do things I
+don't want because of Mother; she's such a darling, and----" She stopped
+short, realizing too late the mistake she was making.
+
+"I can't remember Mother," answered Rona, turning away with a suggestive
+cough. "It's all very well for you."
+
+Ulyth could have bitten her tongue out. She said no more, for she knew
+her room-mate well enough by this time to have learnt that sympathy must
+be offered with the utmost discretion. The poor Cuckoo was only too well
+aware of the deficiencies in her home and upbringing, but the least hint
+of them from others immediately put her on the defensive. In her own way
+she was very proud, and though there was a vast difference between
+Stephanie's stinging remarks and Ulyth's well-meant kindness, anything
+that savoured of compassion wounded her dignity.
+
+The conversation brought urgently to Ulyth a question which had been
+disturbing her, and which she had persistently tried to banish from her
+thoughts. Where was Rona going to spend Christmas? So far as anyone knew
+she had not a friend or relation in the British Isles. Miss Bowes and
+Miss Teddington always went away for the holidays, and The Woodlands was
+left in the charge of servants. Rona could not stay at the school,
+surely? Had Miss Bowes made any arrangement for her? Ulyth vacillated
+for at least five minutes, then took out her writing-case and began a
+letter home.
+
+"BEST-BELOVED MOTHERKINS,
+
+"I am such a nasty, horrid, selfish thing! In every one of your letters
+you have hinted and hinted and hinted that we should ask Rona for
+Christmas. You wouldn't say it outright until you were sure I wanted it.
+That was just the rub. I didn't want it. I'm afraid even now I don't
+quite. I've had her all the term, and I thought it would be so blissful
+to be without her for four whole weeks, and have you and Father and
+Oswald and Dorothy and Peter just to myself. But oh, Motherkins, she's
+such a lonely waif of a girl! I'm so dreadfully sorry for her. She seems
+always out of everything. I'm sure she's never had a decent Christmas in
+her life. I believe she's fond of her father, though I don't think he
+took very much notice of her--she let out once that he was so
+disappointed she wasn't a boy. But Mrs. Barker, the housekeeper, must
+have been a most terrible person. Rona had no chance at all.
+
+"Motherkins, she's never seen a real English home, and I'd like to show
+her ours. Yes, I would, although in a way she'll spoil everything. May
+she sleep in the spare room, and let me have my own to myself? I could
+stand it then.
+
+"Dearest darling, I really mean it; so will you write straight off to
+Miss Bowes before I have time to turn thoroughly horrid again?
+
+    "Your very loving daughter,
+
+          "ULYTH."
+
+Having sent off the letter, and thus burnt her boats, Ulyth accepted the
+situation with what equanimity she could muster. Mrs. Stanton's
+invitation arrived by return of post, and was accepted with great relief
+by Miss Bowes, who had been wondering how to dispose of her pupil during
+the holidays. The Cuckoo received the news with such pathetic glee that
+Ulyth's heart smote her for not feeling more joyful herself.
+
+"Are you sure you want me?" asked Rona wistfully.
+
+"Of course we do, or we wouldn't ask you," replied Ulyth, hoping her fib
+might be forgiven.
+
+"I'll try and not disgrace you," volunteered the Cuckoo.
+
+A few days before the end of the term Rona received a letter from New
+Zealand. She rushed to Ulyth, waving it triumphantly.
+
+"Dad's sent me this," she announced, showing a very handsome cheque. "I
+wrote to him three days after I got here, and told him my clothes looked
+rubbishy beside the other girls', and he tells me to rig myself out
+afresh. I suppose he forgot about it till now. How'm I going to get the
+things? There isn't time to ask Miss Bowes to send for them before the
+holidays. Can I buy them at the place where you live?"
+
+"Very well indeed, and Mother will help you to choose. I know she'll get
+you lovely clothes; she has such exquisite taste! She'll just enjoy it."
+
+"And shan't I just? I'll give away every rag I brought with me from New
+Zealand. They'll come in for that rummage sale Teddie was telling us
+about."
+
+The last lesson was finished, the last exercise written, even the last
+breakfast had been disposed of. The boxes, packed with great excitement
+the day before, were already dispatched, and four railway omnibuses were
+waiting to take the girls to Llangarmon Junction Station. Much to their
+regret, Miss Bowes would not allow them to go by Glanafon--the
+picturesque route by the ferry was reserved for summer weather. In
+winter, if the day happened to be stormy and the tide full, there was
+often great difficulty in crossing, the landing-place was muddy and
+slippery, and even if the train was not missed altogether (as sometimes
+happened) the small voyage was quite in the nature of an adventure.
+
+Miss Bowes' wisdom was thoroughly justified on this particular morning,
+for there was a strong west wind, and the rain was pouring in torrents.
+
+"It would have been lovely fun in the flat. There must be big waves on
+the river," declared Merle Denham, half aggrieved at missing such an
+interesting opportunity.
+
+"Why, but look at the rain! You couldn't hold up an umbrella for half a
+second. It would be blown inside out directly. You'd be as drenched as a
+drowned rat before you reached the train," preached her more prudent
+sister.
+
+"And suppose you were blown off the stepping-stones into the river!"
+added Beth Broadway. "It would be a nice way of beginning the holidays!
+No. On a morning like this I'd rather have the omnibus. We shall at
+least start dry."
+
+"I'm so glad you're taking Rona home with you," whispered Lizzie
+Lonsdale to Ulyth. "I should have asked her myself if you hadn't. It
+would have been a wretched Christmas for her to be left at school. I
+never saw anyone so pleased!"
+
+The Cuckoo was indeed looking radiant at the golden prospect in store
+for her. Much to her surprise, everybody had been particularly nice to
+her that morning. Several girls had given her their addresses and asked
+her to write to them, Miss Bowes had been kindness itself, and even Miss
+Teddington, whose conduct was generally of a Spartan order, when bidding
+her good-bye in the study, had actually bestowed an abrupt peck of a
+kiss, a mark of favour never before known in the annals of the school.
+To be sure, she had followed it with a warning against relapsing into
+loud laughter in other people's houses; but then she was Miss
+Teddington!
+
+Ulyth lived in Staffordshire, and the journey from North Wales was
+tedious; but what schoolgirl minds a long journey? To Rona all was new
+and delightful, and to Ulyth every telegraph-post meant that she was so
+much nearer home. The travellers had a royal reception, and kind,
+tactful Mrs. Stanton managed at once to put her young guest at ease, and
+make her feel that she was a welcome addition to the family circle.
+Oswald, Ulyth's elder brother, had come from Harrow only an hour before,
+and Dorothy and Peter, the two younger children, were prancing about in
+utmost enthusiasm at the exciting arrivals.
+
+"Father hasn't come in yet?" asked Ulyth, when she had finished hugging
+her mother. "Well, it will be all the bigger treat when he does. Oh,
+Oswald, I didn't think you could grow so much in a term! Dorothy,
+darling, don't quite choke me! Peterkin, come and shake hands with Rona.
+Toby, do stop barking for half a moment! Where's Tabbyskins? And,
+please, show me the new parrot. Oh, isn't it lovely to be at home
+again!"
+
+Almost the whole of the next day was spent by Mrs. Stanton, Ulyth, and
+their delighted visitor in a tour round various outfitting
+establishments--an exhilarating time for Rona, who was making her first
+acquaintance with the glories of English shops. Their purchases were
+highly satisfactory, and as Ulyth helped her friend to dress for dinner
+on Christmas Day she reviewed the result with the utmost complacency.
+
+"Didn't I tell you Mother has good taste? Rona, you're lovely! This
+pale-blue dress suits you to a T. And the bronze slippers are so dainty;
+and your hair is so pretty. You can't think how it has improved lately."
+
+"Do I look like other girls?" asked Rona, fingering the enamelled locket
+that had been given her that morning by Mr. and Mrs. Stanton.
+
+"Rather! A great deal nicer than most. I'm proud of you. I wish they
+could all see you at The Woodlands."
+
+"I'm glad if I shan't disgrace you. What a good thing Dad's cheque came
+just in time!"
+
+In her new plumage the Cuckoo appeared turned into a tropical
+humming-bird. Ulyth had thought her good-looking before, but she had not
+realized that her room-mate was a beauty. She stared almost fascinated
+at the vision of blue eyes, coral cheeks, white neck, and ruddy-brown
+hair. Was this indeed the same girl who had arrived at school last
+September? It was like a transformation scene in the pantomime. Clothes
+undoubtedly exercise a great effect on some people, and Rona seemed to
+put away her backwoods manners with her up-country dresses. There was a
+dignity about her now and a desire to please which she had never shown
+at The Woodlands. She held herself straight, walked gracefully instead
+of shambling, and was careful to allow no uncouth expressions to escape
+her. Her behaviour was very quiet, as if she were watching others, or
+taking mental stock of how to comport herself. If occasionally she made
+some slight mistake she flushed crimson, but she never repeated it. She
+was learning the whole time, and the least gentle hint from Mrs. Stanton
+was sufficient for her. Miss Teddington need not have been afraid that
+the loud laugh would offend the ears of her friends; it never rang out
+once, and the high-pitched voice was subdued to wonderfully softened
+tones. For her hostess Rona evinced a species of worship. She would
+follow her about the house, content simply to be near her, and her face
+would light up at the slightest word addressed to her.
+
+"The poor child just wanted a good mothering," said Mrs. Stanton to
+Ulyth. "It is marvellous how fast she is improving. You'll make
+something of your little wild bird after all. She's worth the trouble."
+
+"I'd no idea she could grow into this," replied Ulyth. "Oh, Motherkins,
+you should have seen her at first! She was a very rough diamond."
+
+"Aren't you glad to have a hand in the polishing? It will be such a
+triumph."
+
+Two members of the household, at any rate, saw no fault in the visitor.
+Dorothy and Peter haunted her like small persistent ghosts, begging for
+stories about New Zealand. The accounts of her life in the bush were
+like a romance to them, and so fired their enthusiasm that in the
+intervals of playing soldiers they tried to emulate her adventures, and
+were found with a clothes-line in the garden making a wild attempt to
+lasso the much-enduring Toby.
+
+"Rona's very good-natured with them," said Ulyth. "She doesn't mind how
+they pull her about, and Peter's most exhausting sometimes. I shouldn't
+like to carry him round the house on my back. Dorothy's perfectly
+insatiable for stories; it's always 'Tell us another!' How funny Oswald
+is at present. He's grown so outrageously polite all of a sudden. I
+suppose it's because he's in the Sixth now. He was very different last
+holidays. He's getting quite a 'lady's man'."
+
+"The young folks are growing up very fast," commented Mr. Stanton in
+private. "It seems only yesterday that Oswald and Ulyth were babies. In
+another year or two we shall begin to think of twenty-first-birthday
+dances."
+
+"Oh, don't talk of anything so dreadful!" said Mrs. Stanton in
+consternation. "They're my babies still. The party on Thursday is to be
+quite a children's affair."
+
+Though "Motherkins" might regard the coming festivity as entirely of a
+juvenile character, the young people took it seriously. They practised
+dancing on the polished linoleum of the nursery every evening. Rona had
+had her first lessons at The Woodlands, and was making heroic efforts to
+remember what she had learnt.
+
+"You'll get on all right," Ulyth encouraged her. "That last was ever so
+much better; you're dropping into it quite nicely. You dance lightly,
+at any rate. Now try again with Oswald while I play. Ossie, I'm proud of
+you! Last Christmas you were a perfect duffer at it. Don't you remember
+how you sat out at the Warings'? You've improved immensely. Now go on!"
+and Ulyth began to play, with her eyes alternately on the piano and on
+the partners.
+
+"I suppose a fellow has to get used to 'the light fantastic' sometime,"
+remarked Oswald, as, after a successful five minutes' practice, he and
+Rona sat down to rest.
+
+"Perhaps you'll have to dance with princesses at foreign Courts when
+you're a successful ambassador," laughed Ulyth.
+
+"Is that what Oswald's going to be?" asked Rona.
+
+"I'd have tried the Army or the Navy, but my wretched eyes cut me off
+from both; so it's no use, worse luck!" said Oswald. "I should like to
+get into the Diplomatic Service immensely though, if I could."
+
+"Why can't you? I should think you could do anything you really wanted."
+
+"Thanks for the compliment. But it's not so easy as it sounds. I wish I
+had a friend at Court."
+
+"We don't know anybody in the Government," sighed Ulyth. "Not a
+solitary, single person. I've never even seen a member of Parliament,
+except, of course, Lord Glyncraig sometimes at church; but then I've
+never spoken to him. Stephanie had tea with him once. She doesn't let us
+forget that."
+
+"I wish you'd had tea with him, and happened to mention particularly the
+extreme fascinations and abilities of your elder brother," laughed
+Oswald.
+
+"Could Lord Glyncraig be of any use to you?" asked Rona. She had grown
+suddenly thoughtful.
+
+"He could give me a nomination for the Diplomatic Service, and that
+would be just the leg-up I want. But it's no use joking; I'm not likely
+to get an introduction to him. I expect I shall have to go into business
+after all."
+
+"I think when I was ten I must have been the most objectionable little
+imp on the face of creation," said Rona slowly. "I am ashamed of myself
+now."
+
+"Why this access of penitence for bygone crimes?"
+
+"Oh, nothing!" replied the Cuckoo, flushing. "I was only just thinking
+of something. Shall we try that new step again? I'm rested now."
+
+"Yours to command, madam!" returned Oswald, with a mock bow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Rona's visit to the Stantons was a delightful series of new impressions.
+She made her first acquaintance with the pantomime, and was alternately
+amused and thrilled as the story of "The Forty Thieves" unfolded itself
+upon the stage. Not even Peter watched with more round-eyed enthusiasm,
+and Mr. Stanton declared it was worth taking her for the mere pleasure
+of seeing her face when Ali Baba disappeared down a trap-door. As
+everything in England was fresh to her, she was a most easy guest to
+entertain, and she enjoyed every separate experience--from a visit to
+the public library with Mr. Stanton to toffee-making in the nursery with
+Peter and Dorothy.
+
+Although it was a quiet Christmas in some respects, friends were
+hospitable, and included her in the various little invitations which
+were sent to Ulyth and Oswald; so her pretty dresses had a chance of
+being aired. The great event to the young folk was the party which was
+to be given at the Stantons' own house, and which was to be a kind of
+finish to the holidays. The girls revelled in every detail of
+preparation. They watched the carpet being taken up in the drawing-room,
+the large articles of furniture removed, and the door taken off its
+hinges. They sprinkled ball-room chalk on the boards of the floor, and
+slid indefatigably until the polish satisfied Ulyth's critical taste.
+They decorated the walls with flags and evergreens. They even offered
+their services in the kitchen, but met with so cool a reception from the
+busy cook that they did not venture to repeat the experiment, and
+consoled themselves with helping to write the supper menus instead.
+
+"I think I've seen to everything," said Mrs. Stanton distractedly. "The
+flowers, and the fairy lamps, and the programmes, and those extra boxes
+of crackers, and the chocolates, and the ring for the trifle. You've
+seen about the music, Gerald?"
+
+"Violin and piano," replied Mr. Stanton. "I'm feeling a thorough-going
+martyr. Giving even a simple children's hop means sitting in rooms
+without doors and living on turkey drumsticks for a fortnight
+afterwards!"
+
+"Oh, we'll get the house straight again sooner than that! And you
+needn't eat grilled turkey unless you like."
+
+"I don't appreciate parties."
+
+"We must amuse the young folks, and it isn't a grand affair. If the
+children meet together they may as well dance as play games."
+
+"Daddikins, how nasty you are!" exclaimed Ulyth, pursuing him to
+administer chastisement in the shape of smacking kisses. "You know
+you're looking forward to it quite as much as we are."
+
+"That I deny _in toto_," groaned her father as he escaped to his
+snuggery, only to find it arranged as a dressing-room.
+
+Ulyth wore white for the great occasion, with her best Venetian beads;
+and Rona had a palest sea-green gauzy voile, with fine stockings and
+satin shoes to match. Dorothy was a bewitching little vision in pink,
+and Peter a cherub in black velvet. Oswald, having reached the stage of
+real gentleman's evening-dress, required the whole family to assist him
+in the due arrangement of his tie, over which he was more than usually
+particular. Ulyth even suspected him of having tried to shave, though he
+denied the accusation fiercely.
+
+It is always a solemn occasion waiting in the drawing-room listening for
+the first peal of the bell announcing visitors. Mrs. Stanton was giving
+a last touch to the flowers, Ulyth sat wielding her new fan (a Christmas
+present), Oswald was buttoning his gloves. Dorothy, too excited to
+stand still for a moment, flitted about like a pink fairy.
+
+"I'm to stop up half an hour later than Peter, Rona; do you hear that?"
+she chattered. "Oh, I do hope the Prestons will arrive first of anybody!
+I want to dance with Willie. Father let me have a cracker just now, and
+it's got a whistle inside it. I wish I had a pocket. Where shall I put
+it to keep it safe? Oh, I know--inside that vase!"
+
+As she spoke, Dorothy jumped lightly on to the seat of the cosy corner
+that abutted on the fireplace, and reached upwards to drop her whistle
+inside the ornament. In her excitement she slipped, tried to save
+herself, lost her footing, and fell sideways over the curb on to the
+hearth. Her thin, flimsy dress was within half an inch of the fire, but
+at that instant Rona, who was standing by, clutched her and pulled her
+forwards. It all happened in three seconds. She was safe before her
+father had time to run across the room. The family stared aghast.
+
+"Whew! That was a near shave!" gasped Oswald.
+
+Dorothy, too much surprised and frightened to cry, was clinging to her
+mother. Mr. Stanton, acting on the spur of the moment, rushed to the
+telephone to try if any ironmonger's shop in the town was still open,
+and could immediately send up a wire-gauze fire-protector. The
+fireplaces in all the other rooms were well guarded, but in the
+drawing-room the hearth was so wide, and the curb so high, that the
+precaution had not been considered necessary.
+
+"It only shows how absolutely vital it is to leave no chance of an
+accident," said Mr. Stanton, returning from the telephone. "Matthews are
+sending a boy up at once with a guard. If it hadn't been for Rona's
+promptitude---- Oh, there's the bell! Oswald, fetch your mother a glass
+of water."
+
+Poor Mrs. Stanton looked very pale, but had recovered her composure
+sufficiently to receive her young guests by the time they were ushered
+into the drawing-room. Dorothy, child-like, forgot her fright in the
+pleasure of welcoming her friends the Prestons, and everything went on
+as if the accident had not occurred. Mr. Stanton, indeed, kept a close
+watch all the evening, to see that guards were not pushed aside from the
+fires, and Mrs. Stanton's eyes watched with more than usual solicitude a
+certain little pink figure as it went dancing round the room. The
+visitors knew nothing of the accident that had been avoided, and there
+was no check on the mirth of the party. The guests were of all ages,
+from Peter's kindergarten comrades to girls who were nearly grown-up,
+but it was really all the jollier for the mixture. Tall and short danced
+together with a happy disregard of inches, and even a thorough enjoyment
+of the disparity. Rona spent a royal evening. Her host and hostess had
+been kindness itself before, but to-night it seemed as if they conspired
+together to give her the best of everything. She had her pick of
+partners, the place of honour at supper, and--by most egregious
+cheating--the ring somehow tumbled on to her plate out of the trifle.
+
+"I'm getting spoilt," she said to Oswald.
+
+"The mater's ready to kiss your boots," he returned. "I never saw
+anything so quick as the way you snatched old Dolly."
+
+All good things come to an end some time, even holidays, and one morning
+towards the end of January witnessed a taxi at the door, and various
+bags and packages, labelled Llangarmon Junction, stowed inside.
+
+"I don't know how to thank you. I haven't any words," gulped Rona, as
+she hugged "Motherkins" good-bye.
+
+"Do your best at school, and remember certain little things we talked
+about," whispered Mrs. Stanton, kissing her. "We shall expect to see you
+here again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The "Stunt"
+
+
+The general verdict on Rona, when she arrived back at The Woodlands, was
+that she was wonderfully improved.
+
+"It isn't only her dresses," said Gertrude Oliver, "though she looks a
+different girl in her new clothes; her whole style's altered. She used
+to be so fearfully loud. She's really toned down in the most amazing
+fashion. I couldn't have believed it possible."
+
+"I'm afraid it's only a veneer," declared Stephanie, with a slighting
+little laugh. "You'll find plenty of raw backwoods underneath, ready to
+crop up when she's off her guard. You should have heard her this
+morning."
+
+"And she broke an ink-bottle," added Beth Broadway.
+
+"Well, she's not perfect yet, of course, but I stick to it that she's
+improved."
+
+"Oh, I dare say! But Ulyth's welcome to keep her cub. She'll always be
+more or less of a trial. What else can you expect? 'What's bred in the
+bone will come out!'"
+
+"Yes, I'm a great believer in heredity," urged Beth, taking up the
+cudgels for her chum. "If you have ancestors it gives you a decided
+pull."
+
+"Everybody has ancestors, you goose," corrected Gertrude.
+
+"Well, of course I mean aristocratic ones. The others don't count. It
+must make a difference whether your grandfather was a gentleman or a
+farm-boy. Rona says herself she's a democrat. I'm sure she looked the
+part when she arrived."
+
+"I don't know that she exactly looks it now, though," said Gertrude,
+championing Rona for once.
+
+Everyone at the school realized that the Cuckoo was trying to behave
+herself. The struggles towards perfection were sometimes almost
+pathetic, though the girls mostly viewed them from the humorous side.
+She would sit up suddenly, bolt upright, at the tea table, if Miss
+Bowes' eye suggested that she was lolling; she apologized for accidents
+at which she had laughed before, and she corrected herself if a
+backwoods expression escaped her.
+
+"Am I really any shakes smarter--I mean, more toned up--than I was?" she
+asked Ulyth anxiously.
+
+"You're far better than you were last term. Do go on trying, that's
+all!"
+
+"Will they take me as a candidate in the Camp-fire League?"
+
+"I expect so, but we shall have to ask Mrs. Arnold about that."
+
+Since the great reunion by the stream in September there had been no
+meetings of the Camp-fire League. Mrs. Arnold had been ill, and then
+had gone away to recruit her health, and no one was able to take her
+place as "Guardian of the Fire". She was recovered now, and at home
+again, and had promised to help to make up for lost time by
+superintending a gathering at the beginning of the new term. It was to
+be held in the big hall of the school, though the girls begged hard to
+have it out-of-doors, pleading that on a fine evening they could keep
+perfectly warm, and it would only resemble a Fifth of November affair.
+
+"That may be all very well for you, but I'm not going to risk Mrs.
+Arnold's catching cold," returned Miss Bowes; which argument put a final
+stop to the idea.
+
+"We'll have ripping fun in the hall, if we can't be outside," beamed
+Addie. "I always enjoy a stunt."
+
+"What's a stunt?" asked Rona.
+
+"A stunt? Why, it's just a stunt!"
+
+"It's an American word," explained Lizzie. "It means just having any fun
+that comes. An impromptu kind of thing, you know. We sing, or recite, or
+act, or dance, on the spur of the moment--anything to keep the ball
+rolling, and anybody may be called upon at any moment to stand up and
+perform."
+
+"Without knowing beforehand?" queried Rona, looking horror-stricken.
+
+"Yes, that's the fun of it. We have a bag with all our names written on
+slips of paper, and we draw them out one by one to fill up the
+programme. Nobody knows who's to come next. You may be the very first,
+or you may sit quaking all the evening, and never be called at all."
+
+"I hope to goodness--I mean, I hope very much--I shan't be drawn."
+
+"You never know; so you'd better have something in your mind's eye."
+
+Punctually at six o'clock on the appointed night the whole school filed
+into the hall, each girl carrying a candle in a candlestick. Saluting
+their leader, they ranged themselves round the room for the opening
+ceremony. At an indoor meeting this was of necessity different from the
+kindling of the camp-fire, but it had a certain impressiveness of its
+own. First the lamps were extinguished, and the room was placed in
+entire darkness. Then Mrs. Arnold struck a match and lighted her candle,
+which she held towards the Torch-bearer of highest rank, who lighted
+hers from it, and performed the same service for her next neighbour. In
+this way, one after another, the candles were lighted all round the
+room, every girl saying, as she offered the flame to her comrade: "I
+pass on my light!" After the "shining" song was sung, all the
+candlesticks were arranged on the large central table, taking the place
+the camp-fire would have occupied out-of-doors.
+
+The business of the meeting came first, the roll-call was read, and the
+recorders gave their reports of the last gathering. Several members were
+awarded honours for knowing the stars, being able to observe certain
+things in geology and field botany, or for ability in outdoor sports or
+indoor occupations, such as carpentry, stencilling, or sewing. The
+ambulance work and the knitting done last term were specially noted and
+commended. A few new candidates applied for enrolment, and their
+qualifications were carefully considered by the Guardian of the Fire.
+Rona, after undergoing the League Catechism from Catherine Sullivan, the
+head girl and chief Torch-bearer, had submitted her name as candidate,
+and now waited with much anxiety to hear whether she would be accepted.
+After several others had been admitted, Mrs. Arnold at last called:
+
+"Corona Margarita Mitchell."
+
+Quite startled at the unaccustomed sound of her full Christian name,
+Rona saluted and stepped forward.
+
+"You have passed only three out of the seven tests required," said Mrs.
+Arnold. "I'm afraid you will have to try again, Rona, and see if you can
+be more successful before the next meeting. No candidate can be accepted
+except on very good grounds. That is the law of the League."
+
+Much crestfallen, the Cuckoo fell back into her place, and Mrs. Arnold
+was just about to read the next name when Ulyth interrupted:
+
+"Please, Guardian, if a candidate has shown unusual presence of mind,
+may that not stand in place of some of the other tests?"
+
+"It depends on the circumstances. How does that apply in this case?"
+
+"Rona has saved a life," declared Ulyth, then explained briefly how
+Dorothy had fallen on to the hearth and had been caught back from the
+fire in the very nick of time.
+
+"In her thin dress she would probably have been burnt to death but for
+Rona's quickness," added Ulyth, with a tremble in her voice.
+
+"I had not heard of this," replied Mrs. Arnold. "Rona is very greatly to
+be congratulated on her presence of mind. Yes, I may safely say that it
+can cancel the tests in which she has failed, and that we may enrol her
+to-night as a candidate. Corona Margarita Mitchell, if for three months
+you preserve a good character in the school, and learn to recite the
+seven rules of the Camp-fire Law, you may then present yourself as
+eligible for the initial rank of Wood-gatherer in the League. There is
+your Candidate's Badge."
+
+Immensely gratified, Rona received her little bow of blue ribbon. She
+had hardly dared to hope for success, as Catherine had been rather
+withering over her Catechism, and had warned her that she would probably
+be disqualified. It was pleasant to meet with encouragement, and
+especially to be commended before the whole school. She had never dreamt
+of such luck, and she looked her grateful thanks at Ulyth across the
+room.
+
+She was the last but one on the list of applicants, and when Jessie
+Howard (alas, poor Jessie!) had been rejected the ceremonial part of the
+meeting was over. The girls smiled, for now the "stunt" was to begin.
+Catherine produced the bag, shook it well, and handed it to Mrs. Arnold,
+who drew out a slip of paper.
+
+"Marjorie Earnshaw!" she announced.
+
+"Glad it's one of the Sixth to open the ball," murmured some of the
+younger girls as Marjorie stepped to the circle reserved for performers
+in front of the table.
+
+The owner of the one guitar in the school was always much in request at
+Camp-fire gatherings, so it seemed a fortunate chance that her name
+should be drawn first. She had brought her instrument, so as to be
+prepared in case the lot fell on her, and giving the E string a last
+hurried tuning she sat down and began a popular American ditty. It was a
+favourite among the girls, for it had a lively, rollicking chorus, which
+they sang with great gusto. Fifty voices roaring out: "Don't forget your
+Dinah!" seemed to break the ice and set the fun going.
+
+Marjorie's E string snapped suddenly, but she played as best she could
+on the others, though she confessed afterwards that she felt like a
+horse that has lost its shoe. Except for this accident she would have
+responded to the enthusiastic calls of "Encore!"; as it was, she retired
+into the background to fix a new string. It lent a decided element of
+excitement to the programme that nobody knew what the next item was to
+be. The lot, as it happened, fell on one of the younger girls, who was
+overwhelmed with shyness and could only with great urging be persuaded
+to recite a short piece of poetry. By the law of the Stunt everybody was
+obliged to perform if called upon, so Aveline fired off her sixteen
+lines of Longfellow with breathless speed, and fled back joyfully to the
+ranks of the Juniors. Two piano solos and a step-dance followed, then
+the turn came to Doris Deane, a member of the Upper Fifth. Doris's
+speciality was acting, so she promptly begged for two assistants, and
+chose from IV B a couple of junior members who had practised with her
+before. Taking Nellie and Trissie for "Asia" and "Australia", she gave
+the scene from _Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch_ where that delightful
+but haphazard heroine gets herself and the children ready to go to the
+opera. The zeal with which she ironed their dresses, her alternate
+scoldings and cajolings, her wild hunt for the tickets, which all the
+while were stuck in her belt, the grandeur of her deportment when the
+family was at last prepared for the outing, all were most amusingly
+represented. Doris was really a born actress, and so completely carried
+her audience with her that the lack of costumes and scenery was not felt
+in the force of the reality that she managed to throw into her part.
+Covered with glory, she gave place to her successor, who, while
+bewailing the hardness of her luck in having to follow so smart a
+performance, recited a humorous ballad which won peals of applause. Mrs.
+Arnold again dipped her hand into the bag and unfolded a twist of paper.
+
+"Corona M. Mitchell," she read.
+
+"Not me, surely! I can't do anything," objected Rona hastily.
+
+"You'll have to," laughed the girls. "No one's let off."
+
+"I can't, I tell you. I've no parlour tricks."
+
+"Give us a story, Rona," suggested Ulyth. "One of those New Zealand
+adventures you used to tell to Peter and Dorothy. They loved them."
+
+"Yes, yes! A camp-fire story. That would be spiffing!" clamoured the
+girls. "Sit on the floor, near the fire, and we'll all squat near you.
+We haven't had a story for ages and ages!"
+
+"Tell it just as you did at home," urged Ulyth.
+
+"I'll try my best," sighed Rona, taking a small stool near the fire, so
+as to be slightly above the audience clustered round the hearthrug.
+
+"It happened about a year ago," she began; "that's summer-time in New
+Zealand, you know, because the seasons are just opposite. It was Pamela
+Higson's birthday, and I'd been asked to go over for the day. I saddled
+Brownie, my best pony, and started at seven, because it's a twelve-mile
+ride to the Higsons' farm, and I wanted to be early so as to have time
+for plenty of fun. Brownie was fresh, and he wasn't tired when I got
+there, so we decided to give him an hour's rest and then ride up into
+the bush and have a picnic. Pamela showed me her birthday presents while
+we waited. She'd had a box sent her by the mail, and she was very
+delighted about it.
+
+"Well, at perhaps eleven o'clock I set off with Pamela and the rest of
+the Higson children. There was Jake, just my own age, and Billy, a
+little younger, and Connie and Minnie, the two smallest. Oh yes, we each
+had our own horse or pony: Everybody rides out there. We slung baskets
+and tin cans over our saddles and then started up by the dry bed of the
+river towards the head of the gully. It was very hot (January's like
+July here), but we all had big hats and we didn't care. It was such fun
+to be together. When your nearest neighbours are twelve miles off you
+don't see them often enough to get tired of them. Billy was always
+making jokes, and Jake was jolly too in a quiet kind of way. Sometimes
+we could all ride abreast, and sometimes we had to go in single file,
+and our horses seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. Brownie loved
+company, so it was a treat for him as well as for me. The place we were
+going to was a piece of high land that lay at the top of the valley
+above the Higsons' block. There were generally plenty of berries up
+there, and we thought they'd just be ripe. It took us a fairly long time
+to do the climb, because there was no proper road, only a rough track.
+It was lovely, though, when we got up; we had a splendid view down the
+gully, and the air was so much cooler and fresher than it had been at
+the farm. We tethered our horses and gathered scrub to make a fire and
+boil our kettle. In New Zealand no one thinks of having a meal without
+drinking tea with it. We'd the jolliest picnic. The Higsons were famous
+for their cakes, and they'd brought plenty with them. I can tell you we
+didn't leave very many in the baskets.
+
+"'Best put out our camp-fire,' Jake said when we'd finished; so we all
+set to work and stamped it out carefully. Everything was so dry with the
+heat that a spark might easily have set fire to the bush. Then we took
+our cans and went off to find berries. There were heaps of them; so we
+just picked and picked and picked for ever so long. Suddenly, when we
+were talking, we heard a noise and looked round. There was a stampede
+among the horses, and two of them, Billy's and Connie's, had broken
+loose and were careering down the gully. We ran as quick as lightning to
+the others for fear they might also free themselves and follow. I caught
+Brownie by the bridle and soothed him as well as I could; but he was
+very excited and trembling, and kept sniffing. Then I saw what had
+frightened him, for a puff of wind brought a puff of smoke with it, and
+ahead of us I saw a dark column whirl up towards the sky. Even the
+youngest child who's lived in the bush knows what that means. When all
+the grass and everything is so dry, the least thing will start a fire.
+Sometimes campers-out are careless, and the wind blows sparks; sometimes
+even a piece of an old bottle left lying about will act as a
+burning-glass. We didn't inquire the reason; all we knew was that we
+must tear back to the farm as rapidly as we could. Bush fires spread
+fearfully fast, and this one would probably sweep straight down the
+gorge.
+
+"With two animals gone, luck was against us. Billy took Minnie's pony,
+Connie mounted behind Jake, and I made Minnie come with me on Brownie,
+because he was so strong, and better able to bear the double burden than
+Pamela's horse. It was well for us we were good riders, for we pelted
+down that gully fit to break our necks. Brownie was a sure-footed little
+beast, but the way he went slithering over rocks would have scared me
+if I hadn't been more afraid of the fire behind. We knew it would be
+touch and go whether we could save the farm or not. If the men were all
+far away there would be very little chance, though we meant to do our
+level best.
+
+"Well, as I was saying, we just stampeded down the gully, and our horses
+kept their feet somehow. I guess we arrived at the house like a tornado.
+We yelled out our news, and coo-eed to some of the men we could see
+working in the distance. They came running at once, and Mrs. Higson sent
+up the rocket that was used on the farm as a danger-signal. Fortunately
+the rest of the men had only gone a short way. They were back almost
+directly, and everybody set to work to make a wide ring of bare land
+round the farm. They cut down trees, and threw up earth, and burnt a
+great patch of grass, and we children helped too for all we were worth.
+We were only just in time. We could see the great cloud of smoke coming
+down the valley, and as it grew nearer we heard the roaring or the fire.
+It seemed to bear down on us suddenly in a great burning sheet. For a
+moment or two the air was so hot that we could scarcely breathe, then
+the flame struck our ring of bare land, and parted in two and passed on
+either side of us, leaving the farm as an island. We watched it go
+crackling farther down the valley, till at last it spent itself in a
+rocky creek where it had nothing to feed on. All the place it had passed
+over was burnt to cinders, a horrible black mass. Only the house and
+the buildings and a few fields round them were untouched. It was an
+awful birthday for poor Pamela."
+
+"Was your own farm hurt?" asked the girls breathlessly, as Rona paused
+in her story.
+
+"Not at all. You see it was in quite a different valley, and the fire
+hadn't been near. Jake rode home with me, to make sure I was safe. Dad
+hadn't even seen the smoke."
+
+"Suppose you hadn't noticed the fire when you were up in the hills?"
+
+"Then we should have been burnt to cinders, farm and all."
+
+"I think Rona's most thrilling adventure will have to end our Stunt,"
+said Mrs. Arnold. "It's nearly eight o'clock. Time to wind up and get
+ready for supper. Attention, please! Each girl take her candle. Where's
+our pianist? Torch-bearer Catherine, will you start the Good-night
+Song?"
+
+"I'm a candidate now, thanks to you!" exulted Rona to Ulyth; "perhaps by
+Easter I may be a Wood-gatherer!"
+
+"It's something to work for, isn't it?" said Mrs. Arnold, who happened
+to overhear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A January Picnic
+
+
+Winter in the Craigwen Valley, instead of proving a dreary season of
+frost or fog, was apt to be as variable as April. Sheltered by the tall
+mountains, the climate was mild, and though snow would lie on the peaks
+of Penllwyd and Cwm Dinas it rarely rested on the lower levels. Very
+early in January the garden at The Woodlands could boast brave clumps of
+snowdrops and polyanthus, a venturous wallflower or two, and quite a
+show of yellow jessamine over the south porch. The glade by the stream
+never seemed to feel the touch of winter. Many of the oak-trees kept
+their brown leaves till the new ones came to replace them, honeysuckle
+trails and brambles continually put out verdant shoots, the lastrea
+ferns that grew near the brink of the water showed tall green fronds
+untouched by frost, and the moss was never more vivid. The glen, indeed,
+had a special beauty in winter-time, for the bare boughs of the alders
+took exquisite tender shades of purples and greys, warming into amber in
+the sunshine, and defying the cunningest brush which artist could wield
+to do them justice. By the middle of January the tightly rolled lambs'
+tails on the hazels were unfolding themselves and beginning to scatter
+pollen, and a few stray specimens of last summer's flowers, a belated
+campion or hawkweed, would struggle out from the rough grass under a
+protecting gorse-bush. The days varied: rain, the penalty for living
+near mountains, often swept down the valley, bringing glorious
+cloud-effects, and sending the stream swirling over its boulders with a
+boom of myriad voices. Sometimes the sudden swelling of its tributaries
+made the Craigwen River overtop its banks, flooding the low-lying
+meadows till, augmented by the high tide, its waters filled the valley
+from end to end like a lake. This occasional flooding of the marsh was
+good for the fields, and ensured a rich hay-crop next summer, so the
+school felt it could enjoy the picturesque aspect without needing to
+deplore loss to the farmers.
+
+On the 21st of January Miss Teddington had a birthday. She would have
+suppressed the fact altogether if possible, or treated it in quite a
+surreptitious and off-hand fashion, but with her autograph plainly
+written in forty-nine separate birthday-books the Fates were against
+her. She was obliged to receive the united congratulations of the
+school, to accept, with feigned surprise, the present which was offered
+her, and to say a few appropriate words of appreciation and thanks. She
+did not do it well, for her manner was always abrupt, and even verged on
+the ungracious, the greatest contrast to the bland and tactful
+utterances of Miss Bowes.
+
+This year the annual ceremony was gone through as usual: Catherine, as
+head girl, proffered the good wishes and the volume of Carlyle; Lucy
+Morris, on behalf of the Nature Study Union, handed a bouquet of
+polyanthus, rosemary, periwinkle, pansies, and pink daisies culled from
+the garden, the earliness of which Miss Teddington remarked upon, as
+though she had not watched their progress for the last week.
+
+"I'm very much obliged to you all," she said jerkily, looking
+nevertheless as if she were longing to bolt for the door.
+
+But she was not yet to make her escape. There was another time-honoured
+ceremony to be observed. All eyes were turned to Miss Bowes, who rose as
+usual to the occasion.
+
+"I think, girls," she said pleasantly, "that, considering it is Miss
+Teddington's birthday, we ought to take some special notice of the
+occasion. Suppose we ask her to grant a holiday, so that we may make an
+expedition in her honour. Who votes for this?"
+
+Forty-nine hands were instantly raised, and forty-nine voices cried "I
+do!" Miss Teddington, who utterly disapproved of odd holidays during
+term-time, submitted with what grace she could muster, and gave a rather
+chilly assent, which was immediately drowned in a storm of clapping. The
+girls, who always suspected the Principals of an annual argument on the
+subject, felt they had scored for this year at any rate, and were
+certainly one holiday to the good.
+
+There was no question at all as to where they should walk. Every 21st
+January, weather permitting, they turned their steps in the same
+direction. On certain portions of the marsh, near the river, grew fields
+of wild snowdrops, and to go snowdropping before February set in was as
+much an institution as turning their money when they first heard the
+cuckoo, or wishing at the sight of the earliest white butterfly. As a
+matter of fact, though the delicate fiction of asking for the holiday
+was preserved, it was such a _sine qua non_ that the cook was prepared
+for it. She had baked jam tartlets and made potted meat the day before,
+and was already cutting sandwiches and packing them in greaseproof
+paper. Every girl at The Woodlands possessed a basket, just as she owned
+a penknife or a French dictionary. It was equally indispensable. She
+would carry out her lunch in it, and bring it back filled with flowers,
+berries, or nature specimens, as the case might be. Each was labelled
+with the owner's name, and hung in a big cupboard under the stairs. Some
+of the girls also used walking-sticks with crooked handles, which were
+found convenient weapons for hooking down brambles or branches of
+catkins.
+
+Shortly after ten o'clock the school started, every Woodlander bearing
+her basket, containing sandwiches, two tartlets, an orange, and a small
+enamelled drinking-mug. There were to be no camp-fires to-day, so cold
+water from the stream would have to suffice, and would make tea all the
+more welcome when they returned home. It was quite a fine morning, with
+sudden gleams of sunshine that burst from the clouds and spread in
+long, slanting, golden rays over the valley; just the kind of sky the
+early masters of landscape painting loved to put in their pictures, with
+a background of neutral tint and a bright, scraped-out light in the
+foreground. The little solitary farms stood out white here and there
+against the green of the fields, the pine-trees on the hill-sides showed
+darkly in contrast to the bare larches. Cwm Dinas was inky purple
+to-day, but Penllwyd was capped with snow. Miss Bowes, who was not a
+good walker, had not ventured to join the expedition, but Miss
+Teddington strode along at the head of the party, chatting to some of
+the Sixth Form.
+
+"I'm sure she's wishing she were giving a Latin lesson instead," said
+Lizzie Lonsdale. "She looks rather grim."
+
+"Perhaps she's remembering she's a year older to-day," returned Beth
+Broadway.
+
+"How old is she, do you think?" giggled Addie Knighton.
+
+"That, my child, is a secret that will never be divulged. I dare say
+you'd like to know?"
+
+"I should, immensely."
+
+"Then you won't be gratified, unless you go to Somerset House and hunt
+her name up in the register of births. Even then you'd find it
+difficult, for you don't know her Christian name, only her initial."
+
+"Yes; she never will write more than 'M. Teddington' in anybody's
+birthday-book. M might stand for Mary or Martha or Margaret or
+Millicent or anything. Doesn't even Miss Bowes know?"
+
+"If she does she won't tell. It's a state-secret."
+
+"Well, never mind; we call her Teddie, and that will do."
+
+Many were the ingenious devices which the girls had adopted for trying
+to find out both Miss Teddington's Christian name and her age. They
+spoke of historic events that had happened before their parents had been
+born, fondly hoping she might betray some memory of them and commit
+herself. But she was not to be caught; she treated all events, however
+recent or old, from a purely impersonal standpoint, and left them still
+in the dark as to whether she was an infant in arms at the time or an
+adult able to enjoy the newspapers. On the subject of names she was
+indifferent, and would express no opinion on the relative merits of
+Mary, Martha, Margaret, Millicent, Marion, Muriel, Mona, or Maud.
+
+"It's either plain Mary, or something so fearfully fancy she won't own
+up to it," decided the girls.
+
+In whatever decade Miss Teddington's birthday placed her, this year she
+was certainly in the prime of life and energy as concerned the school.
+Her keen eyes noticed everything, and woe betide the slacker who thought
+to escape her, and dared bring an unprepared lesson to class. Her
+sarcasms on such occasions made her victims writhe, though they were apt
+to be witty enough to amuse the rest of the form. Though, like John
+Gilpin's wife, she was on pleasure bent to-day, she never for a moment
+forgot she was in charge, and kept turning to see that everybody was
+following, and nobody straggling far off in the rear.
+
+It was a three-mile walk from The Woodlands to the snowdrop
+meadows--first along the high road, with an occasional short cut across
+a field or through a spinney, then down a deep, narrow lane past a farm,
+where the sight of a new-born lamb (the first of the season) caused
+great excitement. Some of the girls, who loved old superstitions,
+pretended to divine their luck by whether it was standing facing them or
+otherwise when they first caught a glimpse of it; but, the general
+verdict deciding that it was exactly sideways, they found it impossible
+to give any accurate predictions for the future.
+
+"You'd better keep to something vague that can be construed two ways,
+like the Delphic Oracle or _Old Moore's Almanac_," laughed Ulyth.
+
+Once past the farm the walk began to grow specially interesting. The
+deep lane, only intended for use in summer, when carts brought loads of
+hay from the marsh, was turned by winter rains into the bed of a stream.
+The girls picked their way at first along the bank, then by jumping from
+stone to stone, but finally the water grew so deep it was impossible to
+proceed farther without wading. They had been in the same emergency
+before, so it did not daunt their enthusiasm. One and all they scaled
+the high, wide, loosely built wall to their left. Here they could walk
+as on a terrace, with the flooded lane on one side and on the other the
+rushing Porth Powys stream, making its hurrying way to join the Craigwen
+River. It was not at all an easy progress, for the wall was overgrown
+with hazel bushes and a tangle of brambles, and its unmortared surface
+had deep holes, into which the unwary might put a foot. For several
+hundred yards they struggled on, decidedly to the detriment of their
+clothing, and rather encumbered by their baskets; then at last they
+reached the particular corner they were seeking, and scrambled down into
+the meadow.
+
+This field was such a favourite with the girls that they had come to
+regard it almost as their own property. Miss Teddington had found it out
+many years ago, and its discovery was always considered a point in her
+roll of merit. It was an expanse of grassy land, bounded on one side by
+the Porth Powys stream and on the other by a deep dyke, and leading down
+over a rushy tract to the reed-grown banks of the river. The view over
+the many miles of marshland, with the blue mountains rising up behind
+and the silvery gleam of the river, was superb. The brown, quivering,
+feathery reeds made a glorious foreground for the amber and vivid green
+of the banks farther on; and the gorgeous sky effects of rolling clouds,
+glinting sun, and patches of bluest heaven were like the beginning of
+one of St. John's visions.
+
+Near at hand, dotted all over the field, bloomed the wild snowdrops in
+utmost profusion, with a looser habit of growth, a longer stalk, and a
+wider flower than the garden variety. Lovely pure-white blossoms, with
+their tiny green markings, they stood like fairy bells among the grass,
+so dainty and perfect, it seemed almost a sacrilege to disturb them. The
+girls, however, were not troubled with any such scruples, and set to
+work to pick in hot haste.
+
+"I'm going down by the stream," said Ulyth; "one gets far the best there
+if one hunts about, and I brought my stick."
+
+Rona, Addie and Lizzie joined her, and with considerable difficulty
+scrambled down to the water's edge. For those who preferred quality to
+quantity, and who did not mind getting torn by briers, this was
+undoubtedly the place to come. In pockets of fine river-sand, their
+roots stretching into the stream, grew the very biggest and finest of
+the snowdrops. Most of them peeped through a very tangle of brambles;
+but who minded scratched arms and torn sleeves to secure such treasures?
+
+"Look at these. The stalks must be nine inches long, and the flower's
+nearly as big as a Lent lily," exulted Ulyth. "I shall send them to
+Mother, with some hazel catkins and some lovely moss."
+
+"Everybody will be sending away boxes to-night," said Addie. "The
+postman will have a load."
+
+"What's that?" cried Lizzie, for a sudden rush and scuffle sounded on
+the other side of the stream, a rat leaped wildly from the bank, and a
+shaved poodle half jumped, half fell after it into the water.
+
+The rat was gone in an eighth of a second, but the dog found himself in
+difficulties. It was a case of "look before you leap", and a fat,
+wheezy, French poodle is not at home in a quick-rushing stream.
+
+"Oh, the poor little beast's drowning!" exclaimed Ulyth in horror.
+
+Rona, with extreme promptitude, had flown to the rescue. Close by where
+they stood the trunk of a half-fallen alder stretched out over the
+water. It was green and slippery, and anything but an inviting bridge,
+but she crawled along it somehow, and, clinging with one hand, contrived
+to reach the dog's collar with the other and hold him up. What she would
+have done next it is impossible to say, for he was too heavy to lift in
+her already precarious position; but at that moment a gentleman,
+evidently in quest of his pet, parted the hazel boughs and took in the
+situation at a glance.
+
+"Hold hard a moment," he called, and, scrambling down the bank, managed
+to make a long arm and hook his stick into the poodle's collar and drag
+the almost strangled creature to shore.
+
+Until Rona had cautiously wriggled round on the bough, and crept back
+safely, the spectators watched in considerable anxiety. They need not
+have been alarmed, however, for after her many New Zealand experiences
+she thought this a very poor affair.
+
+The owner of the dog shouted his thanks from the opposite bank of the
+stream and disappeared behind the high hedge. The whole episode had not
+taken five minutes.
+
+"Do you know who that was? It was Lord Glyncraig," said Addie in rather
+awestruck tones.
+
+"Was it? Well, I'm sure I don't care," returned Rona a trifle defiantly.
+"I'd have saved John Jones's dog quite as readily."
+
+"What a pity he didn't ask your name! He might have invited you to tea
+at Plas Cafn, then you'd have scored over Stephie no end."
+
+"I'm sure I don't want to go to tea at Plas Cafn, thank you," snapped
+Rona, rather out of temper.
+
+"But think of the fun of it," persisted Addie. "I only wish they'd ask
+me."
+
+"They won't ask any of us, so what's the use of talking?" said Lizzie.
+"Let's go back to the others; it must be time for lunch."
+
+They found the rest of the girls seated on the wall, as being the driest
+spot available, and already attacking their packets of sandwiches. Some
+had even reached the jam-tartlet stage.
+
+"It's a good thing we've each got our own private basket, or there
+wouldn't be much left for you," shouted Mary Acton. "Where have you been
+all this while?"
+
+"Consorting with members of the Peerage," said Addie airily. "Oh yes, my
+dear girl! We've had quite what you might call a confidential talk down
+by the stream with Lord Glyncraig."
+
+"Not really?" asked Stephanie, pricking up her ears.
+
+"Really and truly! He's not your special property any longer. Rona has
+quite supplanted you."
+
+"I don't believe it. You're ragging." Stephanie was rather pink and
+indignant.
+
+"Ask the others, if you want to know."
+
+No one was particularly sorry to take a rest after all the scrambling.
+The lunch tasted good out-of-doors, and the last tartlet had soon
+disappeared. Rona, perched on a tree-stump, began her orange, and tossed
+long yellow strands of peel on to the bank below her.
+
+"Oh, stop that, before Teddie catches you!" urged Ulyth; but she was too
+late, for Miss Teddington had already spied the offending pieces.
+
+"Who threw those?" she demanded. "Then, Rona Mitchell, you ought to be
+ashamed of yourself. Go and pick them up at once, and put them inside
+your basket. What do you think the field will look like if more than
+fifty people strew it with orange-peel and sandwich-paper! We don't come
+here to spoil the beautiful spots we have been enjoying. I should be
+utterly disgraced if the school behaved like a party of cheap-trippers.
+Woodlanders ought to respect all natural scenery. I thought you would
+have learnt that by this time, but it appears you haven't. Don't forget
+it again."
+
+Much crushed, Rona collected the peel, and, wrapping it carefully in her
+piece of sandwich-paper, put it in the very bottom of her basket, under
+a layer of catkins. The girls had brought bobbins of thread with them,
+and were making their snowdrops into little bunches, with ivy leaves and
+lambs'-tails from the hazel. A few lucky explorers had even found some
+palm opening on the sallows. Several had nature notes to contribute.
+Nellie Barlow and Gladys Broughton had seen a real weasel, and plumed
+themselves accordingly, till Evie Isherwood capped their story by
+producing the remains of a last year's chaffinch's nest she had found in
+a tree.
+
+"If I said I'd seen a snake, should I be believed?" whispered Rona.
+
+"Certainly not. Everyone knows that snakes hibernate; so don't try it
+on," returned Ulyth, laughing.
+
+"Half-past two. We must be going back at once, girls, or there won't be
+time to send off your snowdrops," said Miss Teddington. "Pack your
+baskets and come along."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Trespassers Beware!
+
+
+The girls left the snowdrop field with reluctance, though they realized
+the necessity for hurry. Nearly everyone wished to dispatch her spoils
+home, and unless the boxes were sent very early to the post-office the
+chances were that there would not be time for the postmaster to stamp
+them officially, and that they might languish somewhere in the
+background of the village shop until next day, and consequently arrive
+at their destination in an utterly withered condition.
+
+The school scrambled back along the top of the wall, therefore, with
+what haste the brambles and hazel-bushes allowed them, splashed
+recklessly among the pools of the flooded lane, and regained the high
+road with quite record speed. Ulyth, walking with Lizzie Lonsdale, had
+left Rona in the rear. Rona, owing to her intimacy with Ulyth, tried to
+tag on to V B, often receiving snubs from some of its members. Her own
+form-mates were all considerably younger than herself. At first they had
+teased her shamelessly, but since the Christmas holidays, recognizing
+that she was gaining a more established position in the school, they
+had begun to treat her more mercifully. Some of them were really rather
+jolly children, and though twelve seems young to fourteen, the poor
+Cuckoo was still a lonely enough bird to welcome any crumbs of
+friendship thrown in her way.
+
+At the present moment Winnie Fowler and Hattie Goodwin were clinging to
+her arms, one on either side. Their motives, I fear, were a trifle
+mixed. They found Rona amusing and liked her company, but also they were
+tired and found if they dragged a little she would pull them along
+without remonstrance.
+
+"My shoes are ever so wet," boasted Winnie. "I plumped down deep in the
+lane, and the water went right through the laces at the top. It
+squelches as I walk. I feel like a soldier in the trenches."
+
+"I've torn my coat in three places," said Hattie, not to be outdone. "It
+will be a nice little piece of work for Mrs. Johnson to mend it."
+
+"Glad they don't make us mend our own coats here," grunted Winnie.
+
+"Miss Bowes would be ashamed to see me in it if I did," Hattie chuckled,
+"but I've knitted a whole sock since Christmas, and turned the heel too.
+Cuckoo, aren't you tired?"
+
+"Not a scrap," replied Rona, who was stumping along sturdily in spite of
+her encumbrances.
+
+"Well, I am. I wish it wasn't three miles back."
+
+"It's not more than two as the crow flies."
+
+"But we're not crows, and we can't fly, and there are no aeroplanes to
+give us a lift. We've got to tramp, tramp, tramp along the hard high
+road. I begin to sympathize with Tommies on the march."
+
+"Why need we stick to the high road?" said Rona, pausing suddenly. "If
+we struck across country we'd save a mile or more. Look, The Woodlands
+is over there, and if we made a beeline for it we'd cut off all that
+enormous round by Cefn Mawr. Who's game to try?"
+
+"Oh, I am, if we can dodge Teddie!"
+
+"Likewise this child," added Winnie.
+
+"Oh, we'll dodge Teddie right enough! It will be good scouting
+practice," chuckled Rona. "Sit down on that stone and tie your shoelace,
+and we'll wait for you while the others go on; then we'll bolt through
+that gate and over the wall into the next field."
+
+The idea that it was scouting practice lent a vestige of sanction to the
+proceeding. Winnie took the hint, and adjusted her shoelaces with
+elaborate care and deliberation.
+
+"Don't be all day over that," said Miss Teddington, who passed by but
+did not wait.
+
+The moment she was round the corner of the road, and the high hedge
+screened her from view, the three deserters were through the gate and
+running across the field. They scaled a wall without much difficulty,
+and found themselves on a wide gorse-grown pasture. Though they could
+not now see the chimneys of The Woodlands in the distance, there were
+other landmarks quite sufficient to guide them. They plodded on
+cheerfully.
+
+"It would be prime to have our snowdrops all packed up before the
+others got back," ventured Hattie. "They'd be so surprised. They'd
+wonder how we'd stolen a march on them."
+
+"If Teddie asks where we were, we can truly say 'at the front'," Winnie
+giggled.
+
+"You'd better not pick up any nature specimens, though, or she'll want
+to know 'the exact locality' where you found them."
+
+"Um--yes! That might be awkward. This toadstool shall stay on its native
+heath, in case it tells tales."
+
+It was rather a fascinating walk, all amongst the gorse-bushes. None of
+the three had been there before, and instinctively the younger ones left
+Rona to lead the way. Her bump of locality had been well developed in
+New Zealand, so she strode on with confidence. But the ground shelved
+down suddenly, revealing a natural feature upon which they had not
+counted, a fairly wide brook, running between sandy banks. Here indeed
+was an obstacle. Winnie and Hattie stared at it with blank faces and
+groaned.
+
+"We'd forgotten the wretched Llanelwyn stream. What atrocious luck!
+Don't believe there's the ghost of a bridge anywhere. Shall we have to
+go back?"
+
+"I'm not going back," declared Rona sturdily. "There must be some way of
+getting over it some where. Come along and we'll prospect."
+
+"Oh, for the wings of a dove!" sighed Hattie. "Even those of the
+raggedest sparrow would be welcome."
+
+"Better wish yourself a fish, for you may have to try swimming," grunted
+Winnie.
+
+"I can't swim--not a stroke! You'll suggest I shall jump it next, I
+suppose. Look here, we shall have to go back. There's nothing else for
+it. Rona! Corona Mitchell! Corona Margarita! Cuckoo! Where've you gone
+to?"
+
+"Coo--ee!" came in reply from the distance, and presently Rona appeared
+beckoning vigorously.
+
+"We're--going--back," shouted Hattie.
+
+"No, no! Come along here."
+
+Anxious to see if she had found any solution of the problem, the others
+pelted down a slope and joined her.
+
+"Here's our bridge," said Rona proudly, as soon as they rounded the
+corner.
+
+"That thing!" exclaimed Winnie, looking aghast at the decidedly slim
+pole, that was fixed across the stream as a cattle bar.
+
+"I'm not a tight-rope dancer, thank you!" sneered Hattie rather
+indignantly.
+
+"It'll be quite easy," Rona urged.
+
+"Oh, I dare say! You won't find me trying to walk across it, I can tell
+you."
+
+"I didn't ask you to walk. I'm going to sit on it cross-legged, like a
+tailor, and shuffle myself over. It's broad enough for that. I'll go
+first."
+
+"Oh, I daren't! I'd drop in!" wailed the younger ones in chorus.
+
+"Now don't funk. What two sillies you are! It won't be as hard as you
+think. Just watch me do it."
+
+Fortunately the pole had two great advantages: it was firmly fixed in
+the bank on either side, so that it did not sway about, and, being the
+trunk of a fir-tree with the bark still left on, its surface offered
+some grip. Rona's progress was slow but steady. She worked herself over
+by a few inches at a time. When she reached the water's edge on the far
+side she dropped on to a patch of silver sand and hurrahed.
+
+"Buck up, and come along," she yelled lustily.
+
+This was scouting with a vengeance, and more than the others had
+bargained for; but the stronger will prevailed, and though they shook in
+their shoes they were persuaded to make the experiment.
+
+"I'm all dithering," panted Hattie, as Winnie pushed her forward to try
+first.
+
+It was not as bad as she had expected. She was able to cling tightly
+with hands and knees, and though she had one awful moment in the middle,
+when she thought she was overbalancing, she reached Rona's outstretched
+hand in due course.
+
+"You squealed like a pig," said the Cuckoo.
+
+"I thought I was done for. Wouldn't you like to feel how my heart's
+beating?"
+
+"No, I shouldn't. Don't be affected. Come along, Win. We can't wait all
+day. I'll fish you out if you tumble in, I promise you. It isn't deep
+enough to drown you."
+
+With many protestations, Winnie, really very much scared, followed the
+others' lead, and got along quite successfully till within a foot of the
+brink; then the sudden mooing of a cow on the bank startled her, and so
+upset her equilibrium that she splashed into the water, wetting one leg
+thoroughly.
+
+"Ugh! My shoes were squelchy enough before," she lamented. "You can't
+think how horrid it is."
+
+"Never mind, you've got across."
+
+"But you might sympathize."
+
+"Haven't time. We shall have to hurry up if we mean to be back before
+the others."
+
+"Did you think the cow was Teddie calling you?" laughed Hattie, who,
+having got her own trial over, could afford to jest at other people's
+misfortunes.
+
+"You'd have jumped yourself. Oh dear, I spilt most of my snowdrops,
+though I did tie the basket round my neck!"
+
+"Never mind; you can't fish them out of the stream now. I'll give you
+some of mine. Here, take these," said Rona. "I've nobody to send them
+to," she added, half to herself, as she climbed the bank.
+
+"Oh, thanks awfully! I always send Mother a big bunch. She looks forward
+to them. I've brought a cardboard box from home on purpose to pack them
+in, because the cook runs quite out of starch-boxes. Some of the girls
+last year had to wrap theirs just in brown paper. If you don't want
+yours, can you spare me a few more?"
+
+"I'll keep just these to put in my bedroom, and you may have the rest if
+you like," replied Rona, stalking ahead.
+
+Every now and then the sense of her loneliness smote her. She would
+probably be the only girl in the school who was not sending flowers
+away to-night. How different it would be if she had anybody in England
+who took an interest in her and cared to receive her snowdrops!
+
+"It's no use crying for the moon," she decided, blinking hard lest she
+should betray symptoms of weakness before her juniors. "When a thing
+can't be helped it can't, and there's an end of it."
+
+"Cuckoo! Corona Margarita! Do wait for us! You walk like the wind."
+
+"Or as if a bull were chasing you," panted Hattie, overtaking her and
+claiming a supporting arm. "Do you see where we've got ourselves to? The
+only way out of this is to go straight through the Glynmaen Wood."
+
+"Well, and why shouldn't we go through the Glynmaen Wood? Is it any
+different to any other wood?"
+
+"No, only they're horribly particular about trespassing. They stick up
+all kinds of notices warning people off."
+
+"What rubbish! Why, in New Zealand we go where we like."
+
+"Oh, I dare say, in New Zealand!"
+
+"Look, there's a notice up there," said Winnie, pointing over the hedge
+to a tree whereon was nailed a weather-stained board bearing the
+inhospitable legend: "Trespassers Beware".
+
+Rona stared at it quite belligerently.
+
+"I should like to pull it down," she observed. "What right has anybody
+to try to keep places all to themselves?"
+
+"I suppose it belongs to Lord Glyncraig."
+
+"All the more shame to him then. I shall take a particular pleasure in
+going, just because he sticks up 'Don't'."
+
+"Suppose we're caught?"
+
+"My blessed babes, you don't suppose I've come all this short cut and
+scrambled over a pole to be turned back by a trespass notice! Do you
+want to cross the stream again and trail home by the road?"
+
+"Rather not!"
+
+"Then I'll give you a boost to get over the fence there."
+
+The property was well protected. It took Rona's best efforts to help her
+companions to scale the high oak boards. When they had all dropped
+safely to the other side they set off through the trees in the direction
+they judged would bring them out nearest to The Woodlands.
+
+Three girls in thick shoes do not pass absolutely silently through a
+wood, especially if they indulge in giggles. Winnie and Hattie,
+moreover, could never be together without chattering incessantly. For
+the moment they had forgotten every principle of scouting. In that
+quiet, secluded spot their shrill voices rang out with extreme
+clearness. A rabbit or two scuttled away, and a pheasant flew off with a
+whirr. Presently another and heavier pair of boots might be heard
+tramping towards them, the bushes parted, and a dour-looking face, with
+lantern jaws and a stubbly chin, regarded them grimly. The gamekeeper
+glowered a moment, then growled out:
+
+"What are you three a-doing here?"
+
+"That's our own business," retorted Rona briskly.
+
+"Indeed? Well, it happens to be my business too. You're trespassing, and
+you know it."
+
+"We're doing no harm."
+
+"Aren't you? I suppose it's nothing to scare every pheasant in the wood.
+Oh dear no!"
+
+"What nonsense! It was only one," exclaimed Rona, standing up against
+the bullying tone. "You're making the most unnecessary fuss. What right
+have you to stop us?"
+
+"More right than you've got to be here. I won't have anybody in these
+woods, schoolgirls or no schoolgirls, so just you get back the way you
+came, or----"
+
+"That will do, Jordan," said a voice behind him.
+
+The keeper started, turned, and touched his cap obsequiously.
+
+"Beg pardon, my lord, but the trespassing that goes on here gets past
+bearing, and wants putting a stop to."
+
+"Very well, I'll settle it myself," and Lord Glyncraig--for it was
+he--readjusted his glasses and stared reprovingly at the three
+delinquents.
+
+"Ah! girls from The Woodlands--evidently out of bounds. I shall have to
+report you to your headmistress, I'm afraid. Your names, please."
+
+"Winnie Fowler," "Hattie Goodwin," murmured two subdued voices.
+
+Rona did not answer at all. She kept her head down and her eyes fixed on
+the ground.
+
+"It's--it's surely not the same girl who did me such a service this
+morning on the marsh? Then I must repeat my thanks. Now, look here,
+you've been up to some mischief, all three of you. Get back to school as
+quick as you can, and I'll say nothing about it! There! Off you go!"
+
+Without another word the sinners pelted along through the wood, never
+pausing till they reached the railing and climbed over on to the high
+road. Here, on free ground, they felt at liberty to express their
+indignation.
+
+"He's a nasty, horrid old thing to turn us out!" panted Hattie.
+
+"How he looked at you, Rona!" said Winnie. "He stared and stared and
+stared!"
+
+"Wondering where he'd seen me before, I suppose. I expect the green
+stains on my coat reminded him. I got them hauling up his precious dog."
+
+"It wasn't with him in the wood."
+
+"Oh, it's sitting by the fire drinking linseed tea! It looked a pampered
+brute."
+
+"We shall have to scoot to keep clear of Teddie."
+
+"All right. Scooterons-nous. Thank goodness, there's the hedge of The
+Woodlands! We'll slip in through the little side gate."
+
+The three certainly merited discovery for their misdeeds, but on this
+occasion they evaded justice; for, as luck would have it, they reached
+the house just a moment or two before the rest of the school, and Miss
+Teddington, who was in a hurry to pack her boxes of snowdrops, concluded
+that they must have been in front with Ulyth and Lizzie, and did not
+stop to remember that she had left them tying Winnie's shoelace by the
+roadside. It was seldom that such a palpable lapse escaped her keen eye
+and even keener comprehension; so they might thank their fortunate stars
+for their escape. Hattie and Winnie made great capital out of the
+adventure, and recounted all the details, much exaggerated, to a
+thrilled audience in IV B.
+
+Rona did not mention the matter to Ulyth. Perhaps, knowing her
+room-mate's standards, in her heart of hearts she was rather ashamed of
+it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Rona receives News
+
+
+Ulyth and Lizzie Lonsdale were sitting cosily in the latter's bedroom.
+It was Shrove Tuesday, and, with perhaps some idea of imitating the
+Continental habit of keeping carnival, Miss Bowes for that one day
+relaxed her rule prohibiting sweets, and allowed the school a special
+indulgence. Needless to say, they availed themselves of it to the
+fullest extent. Some had boxes of chocolate sent them from home; others
+visited the village shop and purchased delicacies from the big bottles
+displayed in the windows; while a favoured few managed to borrow pans
+from the kitchen and perform some cookery with the aid of friends.
+Lizzie had been concocting peppermint creams, and she now leant back
+luxuriously in a basket-chair and handed the box to Ulyth. The two girls
+were friends, and often met for a chat. Ulyth sometimes wished they
+could be room-mates. Though Rona was immensely improved, she was still
+not an entirely congenial companion. Her lack of education and early
+training made it difficult for her to understand half the things Ulyth
+wanted to talk about, and it was troublesome always to have to explain.
+In an equal friendship there must be give and take, and to poor Rona
+Ulyth was constantly giving her very best, and receiving nothing in
+return. Lizzie, on the contrary, was inspiring. She played and painted
+well, was fond of reading, and was ready to help to organize any forward
+movement in the school. She and Ulyth pottered together over
+photography, mounted specimens for the museum, tried new stitches in
+embroidery, and worked at the same patterns in chip carving. The two
+girls were at about the same level of attainment in most things, for if
+Ulyth had greater originality, Lizzie was the more steady and plodding.
+It was Ulyth's failing to take things up very hotly at first, and then
+grow tired of them. She was apt to have half a dozen unfinished pieces
+of fancywork on hand, and her locker in the carpentry-room held several
+ambitious attempts that had never reached fruition.
+
+Lizzie, as she munched her peppermint creams, turned over the pages of a
+volume of Dryden's poems, and made an occasional note. Each form kept a
+"Calendar of Quotations" hung up in its classroom, the daily extracts
+for which were supplied by the girls in rotation. It was Lizzie's turn
+to provide the gems for the following week, and she was hunting for
+something suitable.
+
+"I wish Miss Bowes had given me Shakespeare," she said. "I could have
+got heaps of bits out of my birthday-book, just suitable for the month,
+too. I don't know why she should have pitched on Dryden. No one's going
+to be particularly cheered next week with my quotations. I've got:
+
+"'MONDAY
+
+    "'When I consider life, 't is all a cheat;
+      Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit,
+      Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay;
+      To-morrow's falser than the former day.'
+
+"'TUESDAY
+
+    "'All human things are subject to decay,
+      And when Fate summons, monarchs must obey.'"
+
+"That's dismal, in all conscience!" put in Ulyth.
+
+"'WEDNESDAY
+
+    "'Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
+      And thin partitions do their bounds divide.'
+
+"That sounds quite as dismal, does it not? I wonder why Scott calls
+Dryden 'glorious John'? I think he's rather a dismal poet. Listen to
+this:
+
+    "'In dreams they fearful precipices tread,
+      Or, shipwrecked, labour to some distant shore,
+      Or in dark churches walk amongst the dead:
+      They wake with horror, and dare sleep no more.'
+
+Shall I put it down for Thursday?"
+
+"For goodness' sake don't! You'll give us all the creeps," laughed
+Ulyth.
+
+"Well, it won't be a champion week."
+
+"I'll tell you what you might do. Draw some illustrations round the
+mottoes. That would make them more interesting."
+
+"Oh, I dare say! I haven't time to bother."
+
+"Nonsense, you have! I'll do some of them for you. You needn't be
+original. It doesn't take long to copy things."
+
+"Will you do four, then, if I do three?"
+
+"All serene. I'll begin this evening if you'll give me the cards."
+
+Ulyth dashed off quite a pretty little pen-and-ink sketch in ten minutes
+after tea, and put the cards by in her drawer, intending to finish them
+during "handicraft hour" the next day; but she completely forgot all
+about them, and never remembered their existence till Saturday, when she
+came across them by accident, and was much dismayed at her discovery.
+
+"I'll have to do them somehow, or Lizzie'll never forgive me," she
+ruminated. "I must knock them off just as fast as I can. I could copy
+those little figures from the _American Gems_; they're in outline, and
+will be very easy. Oh, bother! It's cataloguing day, and one's not
+supposed to use the library. What atrocious luck!"
+
+Twice during the term the books of the school library were called in for
+purposes of review by the librarian, and on those days nobody was
+allowed to borrow any of the volumes. It was most unfortunate for Ulyth
+that this special Saturday should be the one devoted by the monitresses
+to the purpose. She had failed Lizzie so often before in their joint
+projects that she did not wish to encounter fresh reproaches. Somehow
+three illustrations had to be provided, and that within the space of
+about half an hour. Ulyth was fairly clever at drawing, but she was not
+capable of producing the pictures out of her head. She must obtain a
+copy, and that quickly.
+
+"Helen Cooper's librarian this month," she thought. "I wonder if she's
+finished checking the catalogue yet? I saw her walking down the stream
+five minutes ago with Mabel Hoyle. Why shouldn't I have the _American
+Gems_ for half an hour? It wouldn't do any harm. It really is the merest
+red tape that we mayn't use the books. I shall just take French leave
+and borrow it."
+
+Ulyth went at once to the library. Helen had evidently been at work
+there, for the list lay open, with a sheet of paper near, recording the
+condition of some of the copies. A glue-pot and some rolls of
+transparent gummed edging showed that Helen had been busy mending
+battered covers and torn pages. She probably meant to finish them after
+tea. The book of American gems was in its usual place on the shelf. The
+temptation was irresistible. Ulyth did not notice, as she was taking it
+down, that someone with a smooth head of sleek fair hair was peeping
+round the corner of the door, and that a pair of not too friendly blue
+eyes were watching the deed. If flying footsteps whisked along the
+corridor and out into the garden, she was blissfully unconscious of the
+fact. She took the volume to her own form-room and settled herself at
+her desk with her drawing materials, cardboard, pencil, india-rubber,
+fine pen, and a bottle of Indian ink. The little figures were exactly
+what she wanted, quite simple in outline, but most effective, and not at
+all difficult. They would certainly improve Lizzie's calendar for the
+week, and relieve the sombre character of the Dryden quotations. She
+worked away very rapidly, sketching them lightly in pencil, intending to
+finish them in ink afterwards. She grew quite interested, especially
+when she reached the pen part. That little face with its laughing mouth
+and aureole of hair was really very pretty; she had copied it without
+having to use the india-rubber once.
+
+"Ulyth Stanton, what are you doing with that book?" said a voice from
+behind her desk.
+
+Beside her stood Helen Cooper and Stephanie Radford, the former hugely
+indignant, the latter with a non-committal expression. Ulyth started so
+violently that the bottle of Indian ink overturned and spread itself out
+in three streams.
+
+"Oh Jemima!" shrieked Ulyth in consternation.
+
+"Now you've done it!" exclaimed Helen angrily. "Ink all over the page.
+What a disgraceful mess! For goodness' sake stop; you're making it
+worse. Give it to me."
+
+Ulyth, who was frantically mopping up the black streams with her pocket
+handkerchief, surrendered the book to the outraged librarian. Nemesis
+had indeed descended upon her guilty head.
+
+"You knew perfectly well that you weren't allowed to take it to-day,"
+scolded Helen. "You sneaked into the library and got it while I was
+out."
+
+"Someone else has been sneaking too," thought Ulyth, with a glance at
+Stephanie's face. "I fancy I know who turned informer." Then aloud she
+said: "I'm fearfully sorry. I'll buy a new copy of the book."
+
+"I don't believe you can; it's one Mrs. Arnold gave to the school, and
+is published in America. I'll try sponging it with salts of lemon, but
+I'm afraid nothing will take out the stain. I thought better of you,
+Ulyth Stanton. One doesn't expect such things from V B. You'll borrow no
+more books till the end of the month. Do you understand?"
+
+Ulyth responded with what meekness she could muster. She admitted that
+the monitress had reason for wrath, and that she had really no excuse
+worthy of urging in extenuation of her crime. It was hard to be debarred
+the use of the library for more than a fortnight, but, Helen, she knew,
+would enforce that discipline rigidly. The unfortunate motto-cards had
+come in for the bulk of the ink, and were completely spoilt. Ulyth
+carried the ruins to Lizzie's bedroom and pleaded _peccavi_.
+
+"Well, I suppose it can't be helped. I've done my three cards with
+pictures of flowers, and the rest of the calendar will have to be
+plain," said Lizzie. "You were rather an idiot, Ulyth."
+
+"I know. I'd have asked Helen for the book if she'd been anywhere near,
+and I meant to tell her afterwards that I'd taken it."
+
+"Didn't you explain that to her?"
+
+"No. It didn't come well when she'd just caught me."
+
+"You let her think the worst of you."
+
+"It couldn't be helped. I'm sure Stephanie hunted her up and told her."
+
+"Stephanie doesn't like you."
+
+"No, because I champion Rona, and Stephanie can't bear her."
+
+"There's nothing so much wrong with the poor old Cuckoo now; she's
+wonderfully inoffensive."
+
+"Yes, but she's not aristocratic. Stephie rubs that in to her
+continually. She calls her 'a daughter of the people'."
+
+"Stephanie Radford can be uncommonly snobbish sometimes."
+
+Stephanie from the very first had resented Rona's presence at The
+Woodlands, and since the practical joke which the latter had played upon
+her she had disliked her heartily. She lost no opportunity of showing
+her contempt, and of trying to make Rona seem of small account. She
+revived an ancient tradition of the school which made it a breach of
+etiquette for girls to go into other form-rooms than their own, thus
+banishing Rona from V B, where she had often been brought in by Ulyth or
+good-natured Addie to share the fun that went on. If obliged to take
+Rona's hand in figure-dancing, she would only give the extreme tips of
+her fingers, and if forced on any occasion to sit next to her, she would
+draw away her skirts as if she feared contamination.
+
+"The Woodlands isn't what it used to be," she would assure a select
+circle of listeners. "When my eldest sister was here there were the
+Courtenays and the Derringtons and the Vernons and quite a number of
+girls of really good family. Miss Bowes would never have dreamt then of
+taking a girl she knew nothing about; she was so particular whom she
+received."
+
+"The poor old Cuckoo has her points," volunteered Addie. "I'm afraid
+most of us aren't 'county'!"
+
+"All schools are more mixed than they used to be," admitted Stephanie
+candidly; "but I'd draw the line at specimens straight from the
+backwoods."
+
+Few of the girls really liked Stephanie, nevertheless her opinions
+carried weight. A school-mate who dresses well, talks continually of
+highborn friends, and "gives herself airs" can nearly always command a
+certain following among the more unthinking of her comrades, and such
+girls as Beth Broadway, Alice and Merle Denham, and Mary Acton were
+easily impressed by Stephanie's attitude of superiority, and ready to
+follow her lead on a question of caste. It gave them a kind of reflected
+credit to belong to Stephanie's circle, and they liked to pride
+themselves upon their exclusiveness.
+
+Though Rona was many thousand miles away from her home, she evidently
+did not forget her New Zealand friends, and looked out anxiously for the
+thin foreign letters which arrived from time to time. She never showed
+them to anybody, and spoke little of old associations, but a word would
+slip out here and there to reveal that she cared more than she would
+give her schoolfellows to suppose. One afternoon, shortly before the New
+Zealand mail was expected, Rona was working in her portion of the
+garden, when Mary Acton brought her a message.
+
+"Some visitors to see you. They're waiting in the practising-room,"
+announced Mary.
+
+"Visitors to see me!" exclaimed Rona, throwing down her rake. "Whoever
+can they be?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know," replied Mary stolidly. "They asked for Miss
+Mitchell, so I suppose that's you. There isn't anyone else in the school
+named Mitchell."
+
+"It must be me!"
+
+Rona's eyes were wide with excitement. Visitors for herself! It was such
+an utter surprise. For one moment a wild idea flashed across her mind.
+Her face suddenly hardened.
+
+"What are they like? Do you know them?" she gasped.
+
+"Not from Adam, or rather Eve. They're just two very ordinary-looking
+females."
+
+Much agitated, Rona flew into the house to wash her hands, slip off her
+gardening-apron, and change her shoes. When this very hasty toilet was
+completed, she walked to the practising-room and entered nervously. Two
+ladies were sitting near the piano, with their backs to the window. They
+were not fashionably dressed, but perhaps they were cold, for both wore
+their large coat collars turned up. Their felt hats had wide floppy
+brims. One carried a guide to North Wales, and the other held an open
+motor-map in her hand, as if she had been studying the route.
+
+"Miss Mitchell? How d'you do?" said the taller of the two as Rona
+entered. "I dare say you'll be surprised to see us, and you won't know
+who we are. I'm Mrs. Grant, and this is my cousin, Miss Smith. We live
+in New Zealand, and know some of your friends there. We're visiting
+England at present, and as we found ourselves motoring through North
+Wales, we thought we would call and see you."
+
+"It's very good of you," faltered Rona. "Which friends of mine do you
+know?"
+
+"The Higsons. They sent you all kinds of messages."
+
+"Oh! How are they? Do tell me about them!"
+
+Rona's cheeks were flushed and her lips quivering.
+
+"Pamela has grown, of course. Connie and Minnie have had measles. Billy
+had a fall from his horse and sprained his ankle badly, but he's all
+right again now."
+
+"And Jake?"
+
+"Spends most of his time with the Johnson girls."
+
+"Who are they? I never heard of them."
+
+"They came after you left."
+
+"To which farm?"
+
+"Oh, not very far away, I believe!"
+
+"I wonder Pamela didn't tell me all that in her letter. Which farm can
+it possibly be? Surely not Heathlands?"
+
+"I believe that was the name."
+
+"Then have the Marstons gone?"
+
+"Yes, to the North Island."
+
+"Oh! I'm very sorry. Why didn't they write to me? Did you hear any other
+news, please?"
+
+"Pamela told me something about your home."
+
+A shadow crossed Rona's face.
+
+"Is it--is it Mrs. Barker?" she asked nervously.
+
+"Yes, it's about her."
+
+"What has she been doing?"
+
+"Getting married again."
+
+"Oh! Oh! Who would have her?"
+
+"Your father."
+
+"No!" shrieked Rona, her eyes ablaze. "It can't be! That dreadful,
+drinking woman! Oh, I can't--I won't believe it!"
+
+"She's your stepmother now, whether you like it or not."
+
+"Daddy! Daddy! It can't be! How could you? You knew she drank!"
+
+"He's drinking himself--like a fish."
+
+"No! My daddy?"
+
+Rona, a moment ago furious, had turned white as a ghost. She put out a
+trembling hand and clutched the piano blindly; then, with a pitiful,
+broken cry, she fell, half-fainting, half-sobbing, on to the floor. At
+that moment Ulyth, with her music-case, entered the room.
+
+"What's the matter? Rona! Rona, dear! Are you ill? Who are
+these--people?"
+
+She might well ask, for the behaviour of the two strangers was most
+unprecedented. They were leaning on each other's shoulders and roaring
+with laughter. One of them suddenly threw up her hat, and turned down
+her collar, revealing the familiar features of Stephanie Radford.
+
+"Done you brown!" she exploded. "Paid you back in your own coin for your
+precious Eau de Venus sell! I'm even with you now, Rona Mitchell! Come
+along, Beth." And the pair disappeared, guffawing.
+
+Rona picked herself up shakily, and subsided on to a chair, with her
+face in her hands.
+
+"It's not true then?" she quavered.
+
+"What isn't true?"
+
+"They told me Dad had married Mrs. Barker, and that he was--drinking!"
+
+"Stephanie told you that?"
+
+"Yes. Oh, I'm queer still!"
+
+"Rona, darling, of course it's nothing but a black, wicked lie. Don't
+cry so. There isn't a word of truth about it. They were only ragging
+you. Oh, don't take it so hard! I'll settle with Stephanie for this."
+
+Half an hour afterwards a very grim, determined Ulyth, supported by
+Lizzie Lonsdale, sought out the masqueraders and spoke her mind.
+
+"She ragged me, so why shouldn't I turn the tables on her? It's nothing
+to make such a hullabaloo about!" yapped Stephanie.
+
+"But it is. The trick she played on you was only fun after all. Yours
+was the cruellest thing you could think of to hurt and wound her. You
+may pride yourself on your family, Stephanie Radford, but I'm sure the
+very commonest person would have had nicer feelings than to do this. I
+can never think the same of you and Beth again."
+
+"Oh, of course you take up the cudgels for your precious Cuckoo!"
+snapped Stephanie. "Don't make such an absurd fuss. I shall do what I
+like, without you setting yourself up to lecture me. So there! If you
+don't like it, you may lump it."
+
+"Not a very aristocratic form of expression for a scion of the Radfords
+of Stoke Radford!" commented Lizzie, as she and Ulyth stalked away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Sentry Duty
+
+
+The spring term wore slowly on. March winds came and went, taking the
+sweet violets with them, but leaving golden Lent lilies and a wealth of
+primroses as a legacy to April. The larch forest above Porth Powys was a
+tangle of green tassels, the hedgerows were starry with blackthorn, and
+the _Pyrus japonica_ over the dining-room windows was a mass of rosy
+blossom. Spring was always a delightful season at The Woodlands; with
+the longer days came rambles and greater freedom. Popular opinion ran
+high in extolling country life, and any girl who ventured to prefer town
+pleasures found herself entirely in the minority.
+
+Rona had several invitations for the Easter holidays, one from Mrs.
+Stanton among the number; but Miss Bowes, thinking it better for Ulyth
+to have a rest from her room-mate's presence, decided in favour of
+Winnie Fowler. Ulyth could not help feeling a sense of relief that the
+matter was thus settled. Rona was very little trouble to her
+now--indeed, she rather liked her company; but she would be glad to have
+her mother to herself for the few short weeks.
+
+"I wouldn't for the world have tried to stop her coming, Motherkins,"
+she wrote home; "but Miss Bowes said most emphatically that she must go
+to the Fowlers. I'm sure they'll give her a good time, and--well, I
+admit it will be a rest to me. Just at present I don't want to share
+you. Now you know the whole of your horrid daughter! Lizzie asked me if
+I would spend part of the holidays with her, but I managed to make an
+excuse. I felt I couldn't spare a single precious day away from you. I
+have so much to talk about and tell you. Am I greedy? But what's the use
+of having one's own lovely mother if she isn't just one's ownest
+sometimes? I tell you things I wouldn't tell anyone else on earth. I
+don't think all the girls feel quite the same; but then their mothers
+can't possibly be like mine! She's the one in a thousand! I'm sitting up
+late in my bedroom to write this, and I shall have to report myself to
+Miss Lodge to-morrow; but I felt I must write."
+
+After the Easter holidays everybody returned to The Woodlands prepared
+to make the most of the coming term. With the longer evenings more time
+was allowed out-of-doors, and the glade by the stream became a kind of
+summer parlour. Those girls who had some slight skill in carpentry
+constructed rustic benches and tables from the boughs blown down by last
+autumn's storms, and those who preferred nature untouched by art had
+their favourite seats in snug corners among the bushes or on the stones
+by the water-side. With the first burst of warm weather bathing was
+allowed, and every morning detachments of figures in mackintoshes and
+tennis-shoes might be seen wending their way towards the large pool to
+indulge in the exhilarating delight of a dip in clear, flowing water,
+followed by a brisk run round the glade. These pre-breakfast expeditions
+were immensely appreciated; the girls willingly got up earlier for the
+purpose, and anyone who manifested a disposition to remain in bed was
+denounced as a "slacker".
+
+One day, towards the end of May, when some of the members of V B were
+sitting with their fancywork on the short grass under an oak-tree, Addie
+Knighton came from the house and joined them. There was beaming
+satisfaction in Addie's twinkling grey eyes; she rubbed her hands
+ostentatiously, and chuckled audibly.
+
+"What's to do, Addie, old girl? You're looking very smug," said Lizzie.
+
+"Aha! Wouldn't you like to know? What'll you give me if I tell you now?"
+
+"Never buy pigs in pokes. It mayn't be important at all," volunteered
+Merle.
+
+"Oh, indeed! Isn't it? Just wait till you hear."
+
+"It's nothing but one of your sells," yawned Gertrude Oliver, moving so
+as to rest her back more comfortably against Ulyth.
+
+"Mrs. Arnold doesn't generally spring sells upon us."
+
+Ulyth jumped up so suddenly that Gertrude collapsed with a squeal of
+protest.
+
+"Mrs. Arnold here and I never knew! Where is she?"
+
+"Don't excite yourself. She's gone by now. She only stayed ten minutes,
+to see Miss Bowes, but it was ten minutes to some purpose. Do you know
+what she's actually proposed?"
+
+Addie's listeners were as eager now as they had been languid before.
+
+"Go ahead, can't you?" urged Lizzie.
+
+"Well, the whole school's to go camping for three days."
+
+This indeed was news!
+
+"Stunning!"
+
+"Spiffing!"
+
+"Ripping!"
+
+"Scrumptious!" burst in a chorus from the elated four.
+
+"Details, please," added Ulyth. "When and where, and how, and why?"
+
+"Is it a Camp-fire business?" asked Lizzie.
+
+"Of course it is or Mrs. Arnold wouldn't be getting it up. It's happened
+this way. The Llangarmon and Elwyn Bay detachments of Boy Scouts are to
+camp at Llyn Gwynedd for ten days early in June. Mr. Arnold has the
+arranging of it all. And Mrs. Arnold suggested that the tents might just
+as easily be hired a few days sooner, and we could use them before the
+boys came. It's such a splendid opportunity. It would be too expensive
+to have everything sent down on purpose just for us, but when they're
+there we can hire the camp for very little extra. It's the carriage and
+erecting that cost so much. Miss Bowes, I believe, hummed and ha-ed a
+little, but Teddie just tumbled to the idea and persuaded the Rainbow
+to clinch it."
+
+"Good old Teddie! I believe it's the tragedy of her life that she can't
+live altogether in the open air. She adores Red Cross Work."
+
+"The teachers are all to come to camp; they're as excited as you please
+about it. It was Miss Lodge who told me that Mrs. Arnold was here, and I
+rushed down the drive and caught her just for a second."
+
+This indeed was an event in the annals of the school. Never since the
+Camp-fire League was started had its members found any opportunity of
+sampling life under canvas. They had practised a little camp cookery
+down by the stream, but their experiments had not gone much farther than
+frying eggs and bacon or roasting potatoes in hot ashes, and they were
+yearning to try their hands at gipsies' stews and gallipot soups. With
+Mrs. Arnold for leader they expected a three days' elysium. Even Miss
+Teddington, they knew, would rise to the occasion and play trumps. Llyn
+Gwynedd was a small lonely lake about six miles away, in the heart of
+the mountains beyond Penllwyd and Glyder Garmon. It was reached from The
+Woodlands by a track across the moors, but it communicated by high road
+with Capelcefn station, so that tents, camp-furniture, and provisions
+could be sent up by a motor-lorry. The ground was hired from a local
+farmer, who undertook to supply milk, butter, and eggs to the best of
+his ability, and to bring meat and fresh vegetables from Capelcefn as
+required. To cater for a whole school up in the wilds is a task from
+which many Principals would shrink, and Miss Bowes might be forgiven if
+she had at first demurred at the suggestion. But, with Mr. Arnold's
+practical experience to help her, she gave her orders and embarked (not
+without a few tremors) upon the proceeding.
+
+"If the mountain air makes you so hungry you eat up two days' provisions
+in one, it means you'll have to fast on the third day," she assured the
+girls. "I'm sending up what I hope will be sufficient. It's like
+victualling a regiment. Of course we shan't go at all if it's wet."
+
+Mr. Arnold, who very kindly volunteered to see that the camp was
+properly set up and in thorough working order before the school took
+possession, superintended the erection of the tents and reported that
+all was in apple-pie condition and only waiting for its battalion. On
+2nd June, therefore, a very jolly procession started off from The
+Woodlands. In navy skirts and sports coats, tricolor ties, straw hats,
+and decorated with numerous badges and small flags, the girls felt like
+a regiment of female Territorials. Each carried her kit on her back in a
+home-made knapsack containing her few personal necessities, and knife,
+spoon, fork, and enamelled tin mug. A band of tin whistles and mouth
+organs led the way, playing a valiant attempt at "Caller Herrin'". The
+teachers also were prepared for business. Miss Teddington, who had done
+climbs in Switzerland, came in orthodox costume with nailed boots and a
+jaunty Tyrolean hat with a piece of edelweiss stuck in the front. Miss
+Lodge wore a full-length leather coat and felt hat in which she looked
+ready to defy a waterspout or a tornado. Miss Moseley, who owned to an
+ever-present terror of bulls, grasped an iron-spiked walking-stick, and
+Miss Davis had a First Aid wallet slung across her back. In the girls'
+opinion Miss Bowes shirked abominably. Instead of venturing on the
+six-mile walk she had caught the morning train to Capelcefn, and was
+going to hire a car at the Royal Hotel and drive up to the lake with the
+provisions. Mrs. Arnold, who, with her husband, had taken rooms at the
+farm for a few days, was already on the spot, and would be ready to
+receive the travellers when they arrived.
+
+On the whole it was a glorious morning, though a few ill-omened clouds
+lingered like a night-cap round Penllwyd. Larks were singing, cuckoos
+calling, bluebells made the woods seem a reflection of the sky, and the
+gorse was ablaze on the common. The walk was collar-work at first, up,
+up, up, climbing a steep track between loose-built, fern-covered walls,
+taking a short cut over the slope that formed the spur of Cwm Dinas, and
+scaling the rocky little precipice of Maenceirion. Some who had started
+at a great rate and with much enthusiasm began to slacken speed, and to
+realize the wisdom of Miss Teddington's advice and try the slow-going,
+steady pace she had learned from Swiss guides.
+
+"You can't keep it up if you begin with such a spurt," she assured them.
+"Alpine climbing has to be like the tortoise--slow and sure."
+
+Once on the plateau beyond Cwm Dinas progress was easier. It was still
+uphill, but the slope was gentler. They were on the open moors now,
+following a path, little more than a sheep track, that led under the
+crag of Glyder Garmon. Except for an occasional tiny whitewashed farm
+they were far from human habitations, and the only signs of life were
+the small agile Welsh sheep, the half-wild ponies that grazed on these
+uplands during the summer months, and a pair of carrion crows that
+wheeled away, croaking hoarsely at the sight of intruders. On and on
+over what seemed an interminable reach of coarse grass and
+whinberry-bushes, jumping tiny brooks, and skirting round sometimes to
+avoid bogs, for much of the ground was spongy, and though its surface of
+sphagnum moss looked inviting, it was treacherous in the extreme. At
+last they had rounded the corner of Glyder Garmon, and there, far away
+to the right, like a sheet of silver, Llyn Gwynedd lay gleaming in the
+distance.
+
+The sight of their destination, even though it was two miles away,
+cheered up those weaker spirits that were beginning to lag, especially
+as something white on the south side, when examined through Miss
+Teddington's field-glasses, proved to be the tents. Three-quarters of an
+hour's brisk walking brought them to the lake, and in ten minutes more
+they were announcing their approach to the camp in a succession of wild
+hoorays.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Arnold were waiting to do the honours, and, parading in
+their very best style, the League marched in and took possession.
+
+By the time they had been two hours at Llyn Gwynedd all the girls felt
+like old, well-seasoned campers. Mrs. Arnold was no novice, and at once
+assumed her post as leader and captain in command. Miss Bowes, Miss
+Teddington, and the other teachers were assigned tents of honour, and
+every member of the League was placed on definite duty. Some were cooks,
+some water-carriers, some scullions, and some sentries, according to
+their qualifications and the rank they held in the League.
+
+The field hired for the camping-ground had been carefully chosen. It was
+on the far side of the lake, away from the road, sheltered on the north
+and east by mountain ridges, and with a shelving beach of fine silvery
+sand where the waves lapped in gentle little ripples. A narrow brook,
+leaping from the heights above, passed through the centre and gave a
+quite uncontaminated water supply. All around rose peaks which had not
+been visible at The Woodlands, the rough, splintered crest of Craig
+Mawr, the smoother summit of Pencastell, and the almost inaccessible
+precipice of Carnedd Powys. It was glorious to sit by the lake and feel
+that they were not obliged to return to school before dark, but could
+stay and watch the sun set behind Pencastell and the gloaming creep
+quietly on. Of course everybody wanted to explore the immediate
+vicinity, and little bands, each in charge of a Torch-bearer, were
+allowed to skirt round the lake within sight of the camp. Each girl had
+her League whistle, and knew the signals which meant "Meal-time",
+"Danger", and "Return instantly to camp". These had been rehearsed in
+the glade at The Woodlands, and formed part of the examination of every
+candidate.
+
+Ulyth, as a Torch-bearer, was able to head a party, and started off in
+quest of bog myrtle along the bank, returning with great armfuls of the
+delicious-smelling aromatic shrub to cast into the fire during the
+evening "stunt".
+
+The gathering of the League that night was a memorable occasion. The
+ceremonies were observed with strictest formality, and as visitors were
+present a special welcome song was sung in their honour. The scene was
+immensely picturesque and romantic: the red sun setting between Craig
+Mawr and Pencastell threw a last glow on the lake, the blazing fire
+lighted up the camp and the rows of eager faces, and behind all was the
+background of the eternal hills.
+
+Rona, having successfully passed through her probation, was admitted as
+a Wood-gatherer and awarded the white badge of service. Several younger
+girls also received initiation into membership. With the League
+ceremonial, songs, stories, and cocoa-making, the evening passed very
+swiftly away. At nine o'clock everybody was expected to turn in. A night
+under canvas was a new experience. The stretcher-beds and the clean
+blankets looked inviting. Strict military discipline was observed in the
+camp, and sentries were told off on duty. In as perfect order as a
+regiment the girls went to their tents. Ulyth was sharing quarters with
+Addie, Lizzie, and Gertrude. She tucked herself up in her blankets, as
+she had been taught at camp drill, and then lay quietly for a long,
+long time, watching the patch of sky through the tent door.
+
+She seemed only to have been asleep for about an hour, when the patrol
+touched her on the shoulder. Instantly she sprang up, broad awake.
+
+"Relieve sentry at west guard," was the order, and the patrol passed on.
+
+It was too dark to see her watch, but Ulyth knew it must be nearly one
+o'clock. She hastily donned the warm garments ordered to be worn by
+sentries, and hurried away to relieve Helen Cooper. Her post was at the
+west end of the camp, where the field merged into a rushy swamp before
+it rose into the hill that led towards the farm.
+
+"The password is 'Louvain'," said Helen, retiring, not at all sorry to
+seek the comfort of her bed. "One leg of the camp-stool is most rickety,
+so I warn you not to lean too hard on it. Good night."
+
+Left alone, Ulyth sat down with extreme caution on the deficient
+camp-stool and surveyed the situation. There were clouds across a waning
+moon, and it was fairly dark. She could see the outlines of the tents in
+black masses behind her; in front the field lay dim and shadowy, with a
+mist creeping from the water. Up above, to her right, against an indigo
+sky, the Great Bear was standing almost on its head, with its tail in
+the air. One of the tests of a Torch-bearer was a knowledge of the
+stars, and Ulyth had learnt how to tell the time by the position of this
+particular constellation. She made a rapid calculation now, reckoning
+from the day of the month, and was glad to find it came out correctly.
+Cassiopeia's white arms were hidden by the mountains, but the Milky Way
+shimmered in the east, and overhead Arcturus blazed as he had done in
+the days when the patriarch Job recorded his brilliance. To the extreme
+north a patch of light lay behind Penllwyd, where the sun, at this
+season hardly dipping far out of sight, worked his course round to the
+east again. How quiet it was! The silence was almost oppressive. The
+gentle lap of the tiny waves on the lake was not equal to the rush of
+the stream at The Woodlands. Not even a night-bird called. The camp was
+absolutely still and slumbering.
+
+Ulyth rose and paced about for a while. It was too cold to sit still
+long. She must only use the camp-stool when she needed a rest.
+
+"Sentries ought to be allowed chocolates," she murmured, "or hot
+peppermints, just to keep up their spirits. Ugh! How weird and eerie it
+all is! There isn't a sound anywhere. It's not an enlivening performance
+to keep watch, I must say."
+
+She stopped, suddenly on the alert. What was that noise in the darkness
+to her left? She distinctly heard a rustle among the gorse-bushes, and
+thought something moved in the deep shadow.
+
+"Halt! Who goes there?" she challenged.
+
+There was no reply, but the rustle sounded again, this time nearer to
+the camp. She listened with every sense strained to the uttermost.
+Something or someone was slinking in from the field and creeping
+cautiously towards the tents; of that she was nearly certain. Wild ideas
+of thieving tramps flooded her brain. A louder sound confirmed her
+suspicions. She could hear it quite distinctly in the direction of the
+kitchen. Her duty was plain. She blew her whistle promptly; it was
+answered by those of the three other sentries, from the north, east, and
+south quarters, and immediately torches began to flash, and voices to
+ask the cause of alarm. The guard was roused, and began an instant tour
+of inspection.
+
+"Something crept past me, straight towards the centre of the camp,"
+Ulyth reported.
+
+The lights flashed away in the direction of the kitchen. The girls were
+on their mettle, and meant business. Whoever the intruder was, he should
+be run to earth and made to give an account of himself. They felt
+perfectly capable of taking him prisoner and binding his hands behind
+him with a rope. Indeed, they thought they should hugely enjoy doing so,
+particularly if he turned out to be a burglar. Numbers give courage, and
+a very martial spirit was in the air.
+
+"If he's hiding in one of the tents we'll drag him out by the legs!"
+proclaimed Marjorie Earnshaw fiercely.
+
+Everybody was sure it must be a "he". The news spread through the camp
+like lightning, and it was even rumoured that he wore a coat and
+top-boots. Miss Teddington herself had emerged, and was waving a lantern
+as a searchlight.
+
+"This way," blustered Marjorie, heading for the kitchen quarter. "The
+sneaking cur! We'll have him!"
+
+"Why aren't we allowed bayonets?" lamented Ruth White.
+
+"Oh, I hear a noise! There's something there really," urged Kathleen
+Simpson, with a most unsoldierly squeal. "Oh, I say! Here he comes!"
+
+There was a sudden scratch and scramble, and from out the larder rushed
+a dark object on four legs, with a white something in its mouth. Helen
+made a valiant dash at it, but it dodged her, and flew like the wind
+away between the tents and off somewhere over the fields in the
+direction of the farm. The guard with one accord burst out laughing.
+
+"A thieving Welsh sheep-dog raiding the larder!" exclaimed Catherine.
+
+"It's stolen a whole leg of mutton, the brute!" wailed Doris, who
+belonged to the Commissariat Department. "I didn't think it could have
+reached that. It must have jumped high. It doesn't deserve its prize."
+
+"No wonder it wouldn't answer when I challenged it," observed Ulyth.
+
+"Well, I'm glad it's no worse than a dog," said Miss Teddington. "We
+must take steps to-morrow to make the larder safer, or we shall be
+troubled again."
+
+"We'll place a guard over it," replied Catherine promptly. "Jessie
+Morrison, you are on sentry duty at once to watch the larder. Maggie
+Orton will relieve you at three."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Under Canvas
+
+
+After the scare in the small hours, everyone settled down again to
+slumber. Nevertheless the girls woke with the birds. Many of them had
+registered a solemn vow the night before that they would watch the sun
+rise, and each was pledged to arouse the others at all costs; so at the
+first hint of dawn heads began to pop out of tents, and the camp was
+astir. Addie Knighton, still half-dazed with sleep, was led firmly by
+Gertrude Oliver to the edge of the lake and forced to wash her face.
+
+"You'll thank me when you're really awake," purred Gertie, ignoring her
+victim's protests. "It's only what I promised you faithfully last night.
+You told me to duck you in, if nothing else would do it."
+
+"Oh, I'm awake now! I am truly. You needn't be afraid I'll go back to
+bed," bleated Addie, afraid her friend might proceed to extremities.
+"Hadn't you better haul up Alice next?"
+
+"I left Chrissie doing that. She's going round the tents with a wet
+sponge. Look! Isn't that worth getting up to see?"
+
+The grey of the sky had flushed into carnation pink, and up from behind
+the wall of the mountains rose the great ball of the sun, red at first
+through a veil of mist, but shining out golden as he cleared the
+cloud-bank. Everything was waking up. A peewit called by the water's
+edge, a cock crew from the farm-yard, and a dog barked lustily.
+
+"Our thief of the night complaining of an attack of indigestion, I
+hope," said Ulyth, joining Addie and Gertie at the lake-side. "How much
+can a dog eat without feeling ill?"
+
+"We had a collie that consumed three rabbits once," laughed Addie. "We
+didn't ask it how it felt afterwards. It got a good thrashing, I
+remember."
+
+"We'll keep a stick handy to-night, in case of any more raids. Who's on
+breakfast duty? I'm getting wildly hungry. I hope the bacon hasn't
+disappeared with the mutton."
+
+Although the three days' sojourn under canvas was in a sense a holiday,
+it was conducted in a very business-like spirit and with rigid
+discipline. All the daily duties were performed zealously by bands of
+servers, who polished tins, peeled potatoes, washed plates, or cleaned
+shoes, as the case might be. The League was putting to a practical proof
+the seven rules of the Camp-fire Law. Beauty was all around them, and
+knowledge to be had for the asking. They proved themselves trustworthy
+by their service, and glorified work in the doing of the camp tasks.
+Health was drawn with every breath of mountain air, and, judging from
+their faces, the seventh rule, "Be happy", seemed almost superfluous.
+Everyone looked radiant, even Mary Acton, who was a champion grumbler,
+and generally ready to complain of crumpled rose-leaves. After breakfast
+and service duty came drill, a more than usually formal affair, for Mr.
+Arnold himself reviewed them. He had great experience with the Boy
+Scouts, so the girls were anxious to do the utmost credit to their
+beloved Guardian of the Fire. The Ambulance Corps gave a demonstration
+of First Aid; another detachment took down and re-erected a tent; the
+juniors showed their abilities in knot-tying, and the seniors in
+signalling. Their inspector declared himself perfectly satisfied, and
+commended certain members for special proficiency.
+
+"I shall tell the boys' battalions how well you can do," he declared.
+"It will put them on their mettle. They won't want to be beaten by a
+ladies' school."
+
+When the display was over, all dispersed for a ramble round the lake
+while the dinner stewed; only the cooks on duty remained, carefully
+watching their pots. Ulyth, Rona, Lizzie, and Gertrude wandered past the
+farm and up the hill-side to the head of a crag, whence they had a
+glorious view down over the sheet of water below.
+
+"Llyn Gwynedd looks so cheerful and innocent now, one wouldn't believe
+it could ever be treacherous and do dreadful things," remarked Gertrude.
+
+"What things?" asked Ulyth.
+
+"Why, I believe someone was drowned just down there a great many years
+ago. I heard Catherine saying so last night, so I suppose it's true."
+
+"It's perfectly true, and I can tell you who it was," answered Lizzie.
+"It was the eldest son of Lord Glyncraig. He was fishing here, and the
+boat got upset. It was the most dreadful tragedy. He was such a fine,
+promising young fellow, and had only been married quite a short time. He
+was the heir, too, which made it worse."
+
+"But there are other sons, aren't there?" asked Ulyth.
+
+"Yes, but he was the flower of the family. The rest are no good. The
+second son, the present heir, is a helpless invalid, the third is in a
+sanatorium for consumption, and the fourth was the proverbial prodigal,
+and disappeared. If Lord Glyncraig knows where he is, nobody else does."
+
+"Hadn't the one who was drowned any children?"
+
+"Only a girl. The second and third aren't married."
+
+"Then will the estate have to go to the prodigal in the end?"
+
+"I suppose so, if he's alive, and turns up to claim it."
+
+"Peers have their troubles as much as commoners," commented Ulyth. "I've
+never heard this before. I'm sorry for Lord Glyncraig. Plas Cafn is too
+good to go to a prodigal."
+
+"Yet prodigals sometimes turn out better than elder brothers, if we
+accept the parable," remarked Rona, throwing stones into the water as
+viciously as if she were aiming at an enemy.
+
+"Don't!" said Ulyth. "You'll disturb the trout, and Mrs. Arnold wants to
+fish this afternoon. Rona, do stop! Let's go down to the edge again, and
+try and find some bog bean. You'll get a proficiency badge if you can
+show twenty specimens of wild flowers and name them. Yes, I won mine
+last year, and so did Lizzie."
+
+"I'd rather win a proficiency badge for shooting," grunted Rona. "Why
+can't Teddie let us get up a ladies' rifle corps?"
+
+"Only wish she would, just! It would be prime," agreed the others.
+
+Dinner was ready by twelve o'clock--not at all too early for a company
+that had breakfasted at seven. Despite the purloining of the leg of
+mutton there was enough to go round, and everybody decided that the
+cooks deserved proficiency badges. The servers also did their work
+promptly, and removed plates and dishes with the maximum of speed and
+the minimum of clatter. By half-past one everything was washed up and
+polished, and the kitchen department in apple-pie order.
+
+"I'm afraid we may have rain," said Miss Teddington, looking anxiously
+at the sky, which was now completely overcast with clouds.
+
+"One often gets a shower among the mountains when the valley escapes,"
+commented Mrs. Arnold. "I don't think it will be much this afternoon, if
+there's rain at all. The patrols know what to do if it begins. This grey
+sky will be good for fishing."
+
+Mrs. Arnold was an enthusiastic angler, and had brought her
+fishing-tackle with her to camp. She intended that afternoon to hire a
+boat from the farm and see if she could beguile some of the wily trout
+from the lake.
+
+"I'll take four girls with me," she announced: "two to row, one to
+steer, and one to help with the landing-net."
+
+Needless to say, she could have had dozens of volunteers, but her choice
+fell on Kathleen Simpson, Ruth White, Gladys Broughton, and Evie
+Isherwood, who, highly elated, went off to unmoor the boat. Then, Ruth
+and Kathleen rowing, and Gladys steering, they made gently down the lake
+towards the west end, where the stream flowed out.
+
+Pretty Mrs. Arnold looked particularly charming in a blue-and-white
+boating-costume, with a little blue fisherman's cap perched on her fair
+hair. It was the fashion for the girls to adore her, and she certainly
+had four whole-hearted admirers with her that afternoon, ready to be at
+her beck and call, and to perform any service she wished. They followed
+her instructions to the letter, and watched her line and reel with tense
+eagerness.
+
+"I hope we may catch some salmon trout," said Mrs. Arnold; "they're much
+more delicate than the ordinary ones. If we've luck we may get enough at
+any rate to give Miss Bowes and Miss Teddington a dish for supper. Row
+gently along there, I saw a fish jump; if it's hungry it may fancy my
+fly. Good biz! there's a bite. I'll have to play him gently; he feels a
+strong fellow. Are you ready, Evie, with the landing-net?"
+
+It was frightfully exciting as Mrs. Arnold wound her reel, and the prey
+came within reach. Was he really hooked, or would he break away at the
+last moment and disappoint them?
+
+"We've got him! We've got him! Quick, Evie! Oh, I say! Isn't he
+splendid?"
+
+A silvery-grey, gleaming, glittering object was leaping in the
+landing-net at the bottom of the boat.
+
+"Oh, what luck!" yelled Evie.
+
+"He must be a patriarch!" cried the rowers.
+
+"I can't see him. Oh, do let me look!" squealed Gladys, forgetting
+everything in her eagerness. "Ruth, you're in the way. I must look."
+
+And up she sprang, trying to push past Ruth and Kathleen.
+
+"Sit still!" shouted Mrs. Arnold frantically, but the mischief was done.
+
+It all happened in two seconds. No one quite knew how, though Ruth
+declared afterwards that in trying to scramble past her Gladys stepped
+on the gunwale. Over toppled the boat, and almost before its occupants
+knew their danger they were struggling in the water. The girls could
+swim a little--a very little. Kathleen, gasping and spluttering,
+struggled valiantly towards the bank; Evie, with a certain instinct of
+self-preservation, turned on her back, and managed to keep herself
+afloat somehow. Ruth and Gladys clutched the upturned boat and, clung
+there screaming. Mrs. Arnold was in even more desperate straits. She
+could not swim, and she had fallen too wide of the boat to be able to
+grasp it. The few patrols left in charge of the camp stood for a moment
+paralysed, then tore along the side of the lake towards the scene of the
+accident. But someone else was quicker. Rona, hunting for botany
+specimens, had been watching the fishing from the bank close by. There
+was a rush, a splash, a swift little figure wildly ploughing a path
+through the lake, beating the water with short, impatient strokes.
+
+"I won't clutch you," cried Mrs. Arnold, pluckily keeping her presence
+of mind. "I believe I can manage to float."
+
+She lay still as Rona put a hand under her shoulder and towed her
+towards the shore, so still that she neither stirred nor spoke when
+Doris and Catherine, who had reached the spot, helped to drag her from
+the water.
+
+"Oh, she's drowned!" shrieked Doris.
+
+"No, no! Lay her down flat. She's opening her eyes."
+
+Marion Harper and Madge Johnson, both tolerable swimmers, were plunging
+to help Evie; Kathleen was already struggling ashore. "Wait till we can
+come for you!" shouted Rona to Ruth and Gladys; "don't let go the boat."
+
+Evie was pulled ashore first, not much the worse. Rona had trouble with
+Gladys, who had waxed hysterical, but with Marion's help she landed her
+safely and went back for Ruth. By this time the danger-signal, blown
+lustily from several League whistles, brought all who were anywhere
+within reach rushing to the rendezvous. Mrs. Arnold, with wet golden
+hair clinging round her white face, leaned against Catherine's shoulder,
+while Doris rubbed her hands.
+
+"I'm glad my husband's gone to Capel Garmon to-day. Please let me tell
+him myself," were her first words. "It was good little Rona who saved
+me," she added, smiling faintly at Miss Bowes, who was down on her knees
+beside her on the grass.
+
+"I wish I'd done it. I wish I'd done it. Oh, how I envy you, Rona!"
+cried Ulyth, regarding her friend with wide shining eyes of admiration.
+
+Miss Teddington, pale but very self-controlled, had taken command of the
+situation. Eight people were thoroughly wet through and bedraggled, and
+must be hurried to camp and dried, and given hot drinks as speedily as
+possible. The rescuers needed cosseting as much as the rescued. Madge
+and Marion were shivering and trembling, and Rona, now the excitement of
+her sudden dash was over, looked more shaky than she would allow.
+
+"We must tuck them up in blankets," said Miss Teddington. "First Aid
+Corps on duty, please! The difficulty is going to be how to get their
+clothes properly dried in a place like this."
+
+Mrs. Arnold, with Miss Bowes to look after her, went to the farm to seek
+fresh garments. As for the girls, there was nothing for it but to go to
+bed for an hour or two, while a band of servers lighted a good fire,
+wrung the water from the drenched articles of clothing, and held them
+to the blaze. Blankets were commandeered freely from other beds, and
+piled round the seven heroines, who, propped up with pillows, each had a
+kind of reception as she sipped her hot cocoa.
+
+"We all of us forgot about the boat," said Rona suddenly. "It's drifting
+upside down, and the oars are anywhere."
+
+"Never mind. David Lewis will get it somehow, I suppose. It will drift
+towards the bank, and he'll wade for it."
+
+"Where did you learn to swim like that, Rona?"
+
+"In the lake at home. We had one nearly as big as this close to our
+farm."
+
+"The Cuckoo's turned up trumps," murmured Alice Denham. "I didn't know
+she was capable of it."
+
+"Then it only shows how extremely stupid and unobservant you are,"
+snapped Ulyth.
+
+The servers declared afterwards that drying clothes round a bonfire was
+the most exciting duty they had ever performed. Gusts of wind blew the
+flames in sudden puffs, necessitating quick snatching away of garments
+in the danger zone. Shoes were the most difficult of all, and needed
+copious greasing to prevent their growing stiff.
+
+"I wonder if the Ancient Britons went through this performance?" said
+Winnie Fowler. "Did they have to hold their skin garments round
+camp-fires? Thank goodness, we've got these things dry at last! We're
+only in the nick of time. Here comes the rain."
+
+It was a melancholy truth. The Welsh mountains have a perverse habit of
+attracting clouds, even in June; the sky, which had been overcast since
+midday, was now inky dark, and great drops began to fall. It was a
+calamity, but one for which everybody was fully prepared. The patrols
+rushed round the camp loosening ropes, lest the swelling hemp should
+draw the pegs from the ground, and took a last tour of inspection to see
+that no bed was in contact with the canvas.
+
+"If you even touch the inside of the tent with your hand you'll bring
+the water through," urged Catherine in solemn warning; "so, for your own
+sakes, you'd best be careful. You don't want to spend the night in a
+puddle."
+
+It was a new experience to sit inside tents while the storm howled
+outside. Rain up at Llyn Gwynedd was no mere summer shower, but a
+driving deluge. Servers in waterproofs scuttled round with cans of hot
+tea and baskets of bread and butter, and the girls had a picnic meal
+sitting on their beds. One tent blew over altogether, and its distressed
+occupants, crawling from under the flapping ruin, were received as
+refugees by their immediate neighbours. Fortunately the storm, though
+severe, was short. By seven o'clock it had expended its fury, and passed
+away down the valley towards Craigwen, leaving blue sky and the promise
+of a sunset behind. Glad to emerge from their cramped quarters, the
+girls came out and compared experiences. There was plenty to be done.
+The fallen tent had to be erected, and various cans and utensils which
+had been left outside must be collected and wiped before they had time
+to rust.
+
+"This is the prose of camp-life," said Catherine, picking the
+gravy-strainer out of a puddle and rinsing it in the lake. "I hope we
+shall get the poetry to-morrow again."
+
+"Oh, it's lovely fun when it rains!" twittered some of the younger ones.
+
+Mr. Arnold came down from the farm to inquire rather anxiously how the
+camp was faring after the storm, and particularly to have news of the
+girls who had been in the lake. He had left Mrs. Arnold in bed, still
+rather upset with the shock of the accident.
+
+"I feel responsible for bringing you all here," he said to Miss
+Teddington. "I shan't be easy in my mind now till the whole crew's safe
+back at The Woodlands."
+
+"We've taken no harm," Miss Teddington assured him. "The girls kept dry,
+and they're as jolly as possible; indeed, I think most of them
+thoroughly enjoyed the rain."
+
+Llyn Gwynedd, after showing what it could do in the way of storms,
+provided fine weather for the next day. The ground soon dried, and
+camp-life continued in full swing. Mrs. Arnold, herself again after a
+night's rest, took the morning drill, and led a ramble up the slope of
+Glyder Garmon in the afternoon. She was the heart and soul of the
+"stunt" that evening.
+
+The girls, at any rate, were sorry to say good-bye to the lake on
+Friday morning, whatever their elders might feel on the subject.
+
+"I hope the Boy Scouts will have as ripping a time as we've had," was
+the general verdict when, having left the camp in perfect order, the
+procession set out to tramp down to Aberglyn.
+
+"Barring total immersions in the lake, please," said Mr. Arnold, as he
+returned the parting salute.
+
+"But that was an opportunity," urged Ulyth. "I wish it had come my way.
+Rona, Madge, and Marion will all get special bravery medals at next
+quarterly meeting. I've no luck!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Susannah Maude
+
+
+The girls at The Woodlands, while they contributed to various charities,
+had one special and particular object of interest. For several years
+they had supported a little girl at an orphanage. She was called their
+orphan, and twice a year they received accounts of her progress. They
+sent her a Christmas present annually, and her neat little letter of
+thanks was handed round for everybody to read. Poor Susannah Maude was
+the daughter of very disreputable parents; she had been rescued from a
+travelling caravan at the age of ten, and the authorities at the
+Alexandra Home had done their best to obliterate her past life from her
+memory. When she reached school-leaving age the question of her future
+career loomed on the horizon. After considerable correspondence with the
+matron, Miss Bowes had at length decided to have the girl at The
+Woodlands, and try the experiment of training her as a kitchen-maid. So
+in February Susannah Maude had arrived, small and undersized, with a
+sharp little face and beady, black eyes, and a habit of sniffing as if
+she had a perpetual cold.
+
+"Not a bit like the blue-eyed, flaxen-haired orphan of fiction," decided
+the girls, rather disappointed at the sight of their protegee.
+
+Perhaps the cook was disappointed too. At any rate, many complaints of
+smashed dishes, imperfect wiping, and inadequate sweeping of corners
+reached Miss Bowes, who urged patience, harangued the culprit, and shook
+her head, half laughing and half sighing, over the domestic
+catastrophes. Though strictly confined to the kitchen regions, the
+orphan took the deepest interest in the young ladies of the school. Her
+keen eyes would peer out of windows, and her head bob round doors in
+continual efforts to gain some idea of their mode of life. A chance word
+from one of them wreathed her in smiles. She was a funny, odd little
+object with her short squat figure and round bullet head, and thin
+little legs appearing underneath her official white apron. Her official
+name was Susan, but every girl in the school called her Susannah Maude.
+At the instigation of Miss Bowes her patrons took the furthering of her
+education in hand, and each in turn bestowed half an hour a day in
+hearing her read history, geography, or some other suitable subject. A
+little bewildered among so many fresh teachers, the small maid
+nevertheless made what efforts she could, and read loud and lustily,
+even if she did not altogether digest the matter she was supposed to be
+studying.
+
+"I believe she reads the words without taking in a scrap of the sense,"
+laughed Ulyth, when her turn as instructress was over. "She was gazing
+at my dress, or my watch, or my handkerchief whenever she could spare an
+eye from her book. She thinks them of far more importance than Henry
+VIII."
+
+"So she does," agreed Lizzie. "I tried to get her interested yesterday
+in the number of his wives--I thought the Bluebeard aspect of it might
+move her--but she only said: 'What does it matter when they're all
+dead?' I felt so blank that I couldn't say any more."
+
+Nobody quite remembered whose idea it was that their orphan should be
+invited to the Camp-fire meetings. Somebody in a soft-hearted moment
+suggested it, and Mrs. Arnold replied: "Oh yes, poor little soul! Bring
+her, by all means." So Susannah Maude had come, and once there she
+apparently regarded herself as a member of the League, and turned up on
+every available occasion. How much she understood of the proceedings or
+of the scope of the society nobody could fathom. She sat, during the
+meetings, bolt upright, with folded arms, as if she were in school, her
+bright, beady eyes fixed unblinkingly upon Mrs. Arnold, whom she seemed
+to regard as a species of priestess in charge of occult mysteries.
+
+"Would I be struck dumb if I told what goes on here?" she asked Ulyth
+one day; and, although she was assured that no such act of vengeance on
+the part of Providence would overtake her, she nevertheless preserved a
+secrecy worthy of a Freemason, and would drop no hint in the kitchen as
+to the nature of the ceremonies she witnessed.
+
+One or two points evidently made a great impression upon her. During the
+spring months Nature lore was very much to the fore, and the members
+qualified for candidateship to the various grades by exhibiting their
+knowledge of the ways and habits of birds. Notes of observations were
+read aloud at the meetings, particulars recorded of nests that had been
+built in the school grounds, with data as to the number of days in which
+eggs were hatched and the young ones fledged. It was an unwritten law at
+The Woodlands never to disturb the birds. The girls were not allowed to
+take any eggs from the nests, and were taught not to frighten a sitting
+bird or to interfere with the fledge-lings. After several years of such
+consideration The Woodlands had become a kind of bird sanctuary, where
+the little songsters appeared to know they were free from molestation.
+That the fruit in the garden suffered rather a heavy toll was true; but,
+as Miss Bowes remarked: "One can't have everything. We must remember how
+many insects they clear away, and not grudge them a few currants and
+gooseberries. They pay us by their lovely songs in the spring."
+
+Ulyth was a great devotee of Nature study, and had the supreme
+satisfaction of being the first to discover that a pair of long-tailed
+tits were building in a gorse-bush down the paddock. She was immensely
+excited, for they were rather rare birds in that district, and generally
+nested much higher up on the hills. This was indeed the only instance on
+record of their having selected The Woodlands for their domestic
+operations. As she had made the discovery, it was her particular
+privilege to take the observations, and every day she would go very
+quietly and cautiously and seat herself near the spot to note the doings
+of the shy little architects. It was a subject of intense interest to
+watch the globular nest grow, and then to ascertain, when the parents
+were out of the way, that eggs had actually been laid in it. Ulyth was
+so afraid of disturbing the tits that she conducted her daily
+observations alone, fearing lest even Lizzie's presence might frighten
+them. "When there are two of us we can't help talking, and an unusual
+sound scares them worse than anything," she decided.
+
+One morning she started for her daily expedition to the paddock. The
+little hen had been sitting long enough to make Ulyth think the eggs
+must surely be hatched, and that probably the parents were both already
+busy catering for their progeny. She crept noiselessly round the corner
+to the hollow where the bushes were situated. Then she gave a gasp and a
+cry of horror. On the ground, quite close to the nest, knelt Susannah
+Maude, busily occupied in smearing some sticky white substance over the
+lower boughs and shoots of the gorse-bushes. She looked round with a
+beaming face as Ulyth approached. Her beady eyes twinkled with
+self-congratulation.
+
+"Susannah! What are you doing, you young imp of mischief?" exclaimed
+Ulyth in an agony.
+
+"Catching your birds for you, Miss," responded the orphan, a thrill of
+pride in her voice. "It's bird-lime, this is, and it'll soon stick 'em,
+you'll see. I knows all about it, for my father was a bird-catcher, and
+I often went with him when I was a kid. I'd a job to get the lime, I can
+tell you, but Bobby Jones brought me some from Llangarmon."
+
+She looked at Ulyth with a smile, as if waiting for the praise that she
+deemed due to her efforts. Utterly aghast, Ulyth stammered:
+
+"But, Susannah Maude, we--we don't want the birds caught."
+
+The orphan appeared puzzled. A shade crossed her sharp little face.
+
+"Not want to catch 'em? What's the use of 'em, then? Dad caught 'em and
+sold 'em."
+
+Ulyth had to keep a strong curb over her temper. After all, how could
+this ignorant child know what she had never been taught? Miss Bowes
+might well preach patience and forbearance.
+
+"It's very cruel to snare the birds with lime at any time, especially
+now, when they have young ones who would starve without them," she
+explained with what calm she could muster. "Promise me that you will
+never try to do such a thing again, and never interfere with any of the
+nests. Mrs. Arnold will be most grieved to hear of this."
+
+The orphan's black eyes filled with tears.
+
+"Will she mind? I thought she'd like 'em to keep in a cage as pets. I'd
+do anything in the world to please her."
+
+"Then leave the birds alone, if you want to please her. Run now to the
+house and fetch me a basin full of hot water and a cloth. I must wipe
+all this horrible stuff off the bushes. Bring a knife, too, for I shall
+have to cut away some of the branches and burn them. I hope the tits
+won't desert."
+
+Ulyth was late for school that morning, but the offence was condoned by
+Miss Teddington when she heard the reason.
+
+"I hope you washed every scrap of the lime off?" she asked anxiously.
+
+"I didn't leave it while there was enough to catch even a bumble-bee.
+The birds are back. They came directly I'd gone a dozen yards away."
+
+"That shows the young ones are hatched. I hope Susan won't direct her
+energies into any other natural-history experiments."
+
+"We shall be sorry we brought her to the Camp-fire if she does. She
+means well, but the worst of her is that you never can calculate in the
+least what she may do next. She's a problem."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+During the summer term the Camp-fire Guild had many informal meetings by
+the stream. The girls were often allowed to take tea there, a permission
+which they highly appreciated. Mrs. Arnold had lent them a small
+camp-oven, in which they could bake cakes, and many culinary efforts
+resulted from the acquisition. On Saturday afternoon Gertrude Oliver and
+Addie Knighton were on the cooking-list as special scouts, and, having
+mixed some currant-buns, placed them carefully in the oven. They were in
+charge of the camp-fire and responsible for the preparation of the tea,
+to which that day all the mistresses were to be specially invited. The
+rest of the school were in the playing-field practising flag-signalling
+under the joint superintendence of Mrs. Arnold and Miss Teddington.
+
+"It's a nuisance we can't leave the cakes," sighed Addie. "I did so want
+to see them send that message about the aeroplane."
+
+"They're baking all right," said Gertrude. "We can't make them any
+quicker by looking at them. Couldn't we just run to the top of the
+gravel-pit and watch for a few minutes? There's Susannah Maude; she'd
+keep an eye on them. Hello! Susan!"
+
+The orphan, in virtue of being a hanger-on of the Camp-fire, was
+wandering about by the stream in the wake of the proceedings. She came
+running up eagerly at Gertrude's call.
+
+"I'll mind 'em for you, Miss. I've watched Cook dozens of times. I'll
+look after the kettle too. You leave it to me."
+
+"I hope it won't be a case of King Alfred and the cakes."
+
+Susan grinned comprehension.
+
+"Standard V Historical Reader. Not me!" she chuckled. "I always thought
+the woman was a silly to trust a man to turn the cakes."
+
+"Well, mind you show up better. You might as well put the milk-can in
+the stream to keep cool. We don't want it curdled, and I'm certain
+there's thunder about."
+
+Addie and Gertie were sure they were not absent long. They just stood
+and watched a few messages being sent, then ran back promptly to their
+duties.
+
+Susannah Maude was in the very act of trying to lift the big camp-kettle
+from its trivet.
+
+"Hold hard there!" screamed Addie, running to the rescue. "You can't
+move that alone. Susan! Stop!" It was too late, however. The small
+busybody had managed to stir the kettle, but, her youthful arms being
+quite unequal to sustaining its weight, she let it drop, retreating with
+a wild Indian yell of alarm. The stream of boiling water fortunately
+escaped her, but nearly put out the fire. When the steam and dust had
+subsided, the rueful scouts picked up the empty kettle gingerly, as it
+was hot.
+
+"We shall have to build up the fire again," lamented Gertrude. "Oh,
+Addie, the cakes!"
+
+She might well exclaim. In a row among the ashes were the soaked,
+dust-covered remains of the precious currant-buns.
+
+"I took 'em out of the oven because they were done," explained Susan
+hastily, justifying herself. "I thought you shouldn't blame me for
+letting 'em burn, anyhow; and I put 'em down there on some dock-leaves
+to keep hot. I couldn't tell the kettle would fall on 'em."
+
+"They're done for," sighed Addie. "There isn't one fit to eat. Help us
+to fill the kettle again as soon as you can, and fetch some more sticks
+and gorse, you black-eyed Susan!"
+
+"Where's the milk-can?" asked Gertrude uneasily.
+
+"I put it in the stream as you told me," replied the orphan rather
+sulkily, indicating with a nod the location.
+
+Decidedly anxious as to its safety, the girls ran to the water-side.
+They always put the can in a particular little sheltered corner fenced
+in by a few stones. Susannah had helped them to place it there many
+times, and had even named the spot "the dairy". They looked in vain. The
+milk was certainly not there now.
+
+"What in the name of thunder have you done with the can, you wretched
+imp?" shouted Addie, thoroughly angry.
+
+"You said it ought to keep very cool, so I threw it into the deep pool.
+'Tain't my fault," retorted Susannah, who had a temper as well as her
+benefactresses.
+
+"I've half a mind to throw you after it!" raged Gertie, her fingers
+twitching to shake the luckless orphan.
+
+Perhaps Susannah's experienced eye gauged the extent of her wrath, and
+decided that for once she had gone too far. She did not wait to proffer
+any more explanations, but turned and fled back towards the house,
+resuming her neglected pan-scouring in the scullery with a zeal that
+astonished the cook.
+
+Addie and Gertie replenished the camp-fire and refilled the kettle; but
+the cakes were hopeless, and the milk was beyond recall. Doris Deane,
+the champion swimmer of the school, dived for the can next morning and
+brought it up empty; the lid was never recovered, probably having been
+washed into a hole.
+
+The Guild sat down that afternoon rather disconsolately to milkless tea.
+Addie had begged a small jugful from the kitchen, enough for their
+guests, the mistresses, but it was impossible to replace the big
+two-gallon can at a moment's notice.
+
+"I begin to wish the school had never supported an orphan at the
+'Alexandra Home for Destitute Children'," sighed Gertie, eating plain
+bread and butter, and thinking regretfully of her spoilt cakes. "I vote
+next term we ask to give up collecting for it, and keep a monkey at the
+Zoo instead. We could send it nuts and biscuits at Christmas."
+
+"And currant-buns?" giggled Beth Broadway.
+
+"You are about the most unfeeling wretch I ever came across!" snapped
+Gertrude.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A Point of Honour
+
+
+"Lizzie," announced Ulyth, sitting down on a stump in the glade, and
+speaking slowly and emphatically, "The Woodlands isn't what it used to
+be."
+
+"So Stephanie was saying the other day," agreed Lizzie, taking a seat on
+the stump by the side of her friend. "She thinks it's a different place
+altogether."
+
+"It is; though not exactly from Stephie's point of view. I don't care
+the least scrap that there are no Vernons or Courtenays or Derringtons
+here now. Stephie can lament them if she likes. I never knew them, so I
+can't regret them. There's one thing I can't help noticing, though--the
+tone has been going down."
+
+"Do you think it has?" replied Lizzie thoughtfully. "Merle and Alice and
+Mary are rather silly, certainly, but there's not much harm in them."
+
+"I don't mean our form; it's the juniors. I've noticed it continually
+lately."
+
+"Now you come to speak of it, so have I. I don't quite know what it is,
+but there's a something."
+
+"There's a very decided something. It's come on quite lately, but it's
+there. They're not behaving nicely at all. They've slacked all round,
+and do nothing but snigger among themselves over jokes they won't tell."
+
+"They're welcome to their own jokes as far as I'm concerned, the young
+idiots!"
+
+"Yes, if it's only just fun; but I'm afraid it's something more than
+that--something they're ashamed of and really want to hide. I've seen
+such shuffling and queer business going on when any of the monitresses
+came in sight."
+
+"Have you said anything to Catherine or Helen?"
+
+"No, and I don't want to. It's very unfortunate, but they've really got
+no tact. Catherine's so high-handed, and Helen's nearly as bad. They
+snap the girls up for the least trifle. The result is the juniors have
+got it into their tiresome young heads that monitresses are a species of
+teacher. They weren't intended to be that at all. A monitress is just
+one of ourselves, only with authority that we all allow. She ought to be
+jolly with everybody."
+
+"Um! You can hardly call Catherine jolly with the kids."
+
+"That's just it. They resent it; they've gone their own way lately, and
+it's been decidedly downhill. I'm persuaded they're playing some deep
+and surreptitious game at present. I wish I knew what it was."
+
+"Can't Rona tell you?"
+
+"I wouldn't pump Rona for the world. It's most frightfully difficult for
+her, a junior, to be room-mate with a senior. Her form always suspect
+her of giving them away to the Upper School. Rona's had a hard enough
+struggle to get any footing at all at The Woodlands, and I don't want to
+make it any harder for her. If she once gets the reputation of
+'tell-tale' she's done for. Since Stephanie made that fuss about juniors
+coming into senior rooms I mayn't ask her into V B; so if she's
+ostracized by her own form too she'll be neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor
+good red herring. No; however I find out it mustn't be through Rona."
+
+"Yes, I quite see your point. Now you speak of it, I believe those
+juniors are up to something. There's a prodigious amount of whispering
+and sniggering among them. 'What's the joke?' I said to Tootie Phillips
+yesterday, and she flared out in the most truculent manner: 'That's our
+own business, thank you!'"
+
+"Tootie has been making herself most objectionable lately. She wants
+sitting upon."
+
+"Catherine will do that, never fear."
+
+"No doubt, but it doesn't bring us any nearer finding out what those
+juniors are after."
+
+"They vanish mysteriously after tea sometimes. I vote we watch them, and
+next time it happens we'll stalk them."
+
+"Right-O! But not a word to anybody else, or it might get about and put
+them on their guard."
+
+"Trust me! I wouldn't even flicker an eyelid."
+
+Now that Ulyth and Lizzie had compared notes on the subject of the
+juniors, they became more convinced than ever of the fact that something
+surreptitious was going on. Nods, hints, words which apparently bore a
+hidden meaning, nudges, and signs were the order of the day. All
+friendly advances on the part of seniors were repelled, the younger
+girls keeping strictly to themselves. This was the more marked as there
+had never been any very great division at The Woodlands between Upper
+and Lower School, the whole of the little community sharing in most of
+the general interests.
+
+After tea there was a short interval before evening preparation began,
+and during the summer term this was spent, if possible, out-of-doors by
+everybody. One afternoon, only a few days after the conversation just
+recorded, the girls had filed as usual from the dining-hall, and were
+racing off for tennis, basket-ball, or a run by the stream. As Ulyth,
+down on her knees in the darkest part of the hall cupboard, groped for
+her mislaid tennis-shoes, two members of IV B came in for a moment to
+fetch balls. They were in a hurry and they evidently did not perceive
+her presence.
+
+"Did you get the tip?" Irene Scott asked Ethel Jephson under her breath.
+"By the lower pool immediately."
+
+"All serene! Tootie told me herself."
+
+"Pass it on then; though I think most know."
+
+As they ran down the passage, Ulyth, relinquishing her hunt for the
+missing shoes, rose to her feet.
+
+"There's one here who didn't know," she chuckled. "This is a most
+important piece of information. Immediately, by the lower pool, is it?
+Well, I must go and find Lizzie. What are those precious juniors up to,
+I wonder?"
+
+Lizzie was taking her racket for a game of tennis, but she readily gave
+up her place to Merle Denham at a hint from Ulyth.
+
+"I told you they vanished after tea," she said, as the two girls
+sauntered into the glen. "We'll track them this time. Don't on any
+account look as if you were going anywhere. Sit down here and give them
+a few minutes' grace, in case stragglers come up. They probably won't
+begin punctually. I'll time it by my watch."
+
+When five minutes had elapsed there was not a solitary junior to be seen
+in the glade, and Ulyth and Lizzie, deeming themselves safe, set out in
+the direction of the lower pool.
+
+This was a part of the stream at the very verge of the grounds belonging
+to The Woodlands; indeed, the greater portion of it lay in the land of a
+neighbouring farmer, and to reach its pebbly bank meant a scramble round
+some palings and under a projecting piece of rock.
+
+Ulyth and Lizzie were too wary to follow the juniors by this path, but
+scaled the palings at another point, and under cover of a thick copse of
+gorse-bushes approached the pool from the side that lay in the farmer's
+field. By most careful scouting they found a spot on the bank where they
+could see and hear without being seen.
+
+Below them, seated on the rocks by the edge of the water, were
+practically almost the whole of the Lower School. They cuddled close,
+with their arms round each other, and to judge from their repressed
+giggles they appeared to be enjoying themselves. Tootie Phillips, a
+long-legged, excitable girl of thirteen, mounted upon a boulder, was
+addressing them with much fervour. Ulyth and Lizzie missed the beginning
+of her remarks, but when they came within earshot they realized that she
+was in the midst of a vigorous harangue against the seniors.
+
+"Are we to be trodden down just because we're a little younger than they
+are?" urged Tootie. "Why should they lord it over us, I should like to
+know? They were juniors themselves only a year or two ago. I tell you
+the worm will turn."
+
+"It's turned pretty considerably," guffawed Cissie Newall.
+
+"It knows which side its bread's buttered," cackled Irene Scott.
+
+"Buttered! You mean sugared, don't you?"
+
+At this sally the whole party broke into a shout of laughter.
+
+"Good for you, Ciss!"
+
+"Sugared! Ra--ther!"
+
+"Shut up, you sillies! Someone will hear us," commanded Tootie. "I was
+saying before, we're not going to be sat upon, either by teachers or
+monitresses or seniors. We'll take our own way."
+
+"A sugary way," chirped Ethel Jephson.
+
+The girls hinnied again. There was evidently something underlying the
+joke.
+
+"When perfectly ridiculous rules are made, that never ought to have been
+made," continued Tootie, "then we've a right to take the law into our
+own hands and do as we please."
+
+"Our pocket money's our own," grumbled a discontented spirit from the
+back.
+
+"Of course it is, and we ought to be able to do what we like with it."
+
+"And so are our brooches, if we want to----"
+
+"Sh--sh!"
+
+"Shut up, stupid!"
+
+"Well, we all know."
+
+"No need to blare it out, if we do."
+
+"I wasn't blaring."
+
+"Violet Robertson, remember your oath," commanded Tootie. "If you let a
+word of--we know what--leak out, you're sent to Coventry for the rest of
+the term. Yes. Not a single one of us will speak one single word to you.
+Not even your own room-mates. So there!"
+
+"Well, you needn't make such a precious fuss. I'm sure I wasn't letting
+out secrets," retorted Violet sulkily. "But I think there ought to be
+some rate of value. My brooch was a far better one than Mollie's."
+
+"Right you are, my hearty, and I'm going to speak about it. We mustn't
+let ourselves be done, even by--you know who!"
+
+"And she's sharp."
+
+"She's getting too sharp. We must stop it, even if we have to break off
+for a whole week."
+
+"No, no!"
+
+"Oh, not that anyhow!"
+
+"Well, look here, if you're such sillies, you deserve----"
+
+But at this most interesting point the loud clanging of the
+preparation-bell put a stop to any further argument. With one accord the
+girls jumped up, and fled back as fast as they could run in the
+direction of the school. Ulyth and Lizzie, at the risk of being late for
+evening call-over, gave the conspirators time to get well away before
+they ventured to follow.
+
+"What's the meaning of all this?" queried Lizzie, as they scouted
+cautiously through the glade.
+
+"I can't imagine. They're evidently doing something they oughtn't to,
+the young wretches! But they're keeping it very dark."
+
+"We shall have to watch them."
+
+"We must indeed," sighed Ulyth. "Lizzie, I loathe eavesdropping and
+anything that savours of underhand work, but what are we to do?
+Something is going wrong among the juniors, and for the sake of the
+school we've got to put it right if we possibly can. It's no use asking
+them their sweet secret, for they wouldn't tell us; and I'm afraid
+setting the monitresses on the track would only make things worse. If we
+can find out what they're doing, then we shall know our ground. I'm a
+Torch-bearer and you're a Fire-maker, and we must appeal to them to keep
+their Camp-fire vows. But we can't do that till we've some idea of which
+rule they're breaking. How can we say to them: 'I strongly suspect
+you're not being trustworthy'? We've got to prove our words."
+
+"Prove them we will. We'll dodge about till we catch them in the act,"
+agreed Lizzie.
+
+To both the girls it was uncongenial though necessary work. As seniors
+and League officers they felt they owed a duty to the school, but that
+it would be far wiser to appeal privately to the juniors' sense of
+honour, and win them back to straight paths of their own free will, than
+to carry the matter to head-quarters. For the present, patience and tact
+must be their watchwords.
+
+Several days went by, and nothing particular occurred. Either the
+younger girls were on their guard or they had suspended their
+activities. On Friday evening, however, as Ulyth was coming along the
+passage from practising, she accidentally cannonaded into half a dozen
+members of IV B who were standing near the boot cupboard. She evidently
+surprised them, for one and all they hastily popped their hands into
+their pockets. It was promptly done, but not so quickly as to prevent
+Ulyth from seeing that they were eating something.
+
+"It's all right," gasped Bertha Halliwell, with apparent unconcern, in
+reply to Ulyth's apologies. "You nearly upset me, but I'm not
+fractured."
+
+"I wish you'd take care, though," grumbled Etta Jessop, surreptitiously
+wiping a decidedly sticky mouth; "no one likes being tumbled over."
+
+Ulyth passed on thoughtfully. What had they all been munching, and where
+did they get it from? Private supplies of cakes and sweets were utterly
+forbidden at The Woodlands. Their prohibition was one of the strictest
+rules of the school, to break which would be to incur a very severe
+penalty from Miss Teddington. Was this the explanation of Tootie's
+rather enigmatical remarks down by the stream?
+
+"If that's their precious secret, and they're just being greedy, I'm too
+disgusted with them for words!" commented Lizzie, when informed of the
+discovery.
+
+Saturday and Monday passed with quite exemplary behaviour on the part of
+the juniors. The keenest vigilance could discover nothing. But on
+Tuesday Lizzie came across another clue. She had been monitress for the
+afternoon in the drawing-class, and after the girls had left she stayed
+behind to put away various articles that had been used and to tidy the
+room.
+
+As she worked along the desks where IV B had been sitting, collecting
+stray pencils and pieces of india-rubber, she noticed a book lying on
+the floor and picked it up. It was a French grammar, with "Etta Jessop"
+written on the fly-leaf and had evidently been accidentally dropped. She
+turned over the pages idly. In the middle was a scrap of paper torn from
+an exercise-book, and on this was scribbled: "Where will she be
+to-night?" while in a different hand, underneath, as if in answer to the
+question, were the words: "Side gate at 8. Pass, 'John Barleycorn'."
+
+This was most important. It was the first, indeed the only definite,
+information they had to go upon. Lizzie replaced the slip of paper and
+laid the book on the floor just where she had found it. Etta would no
+doubt soon discover her loss, and come back to fetch it. In the meantime
+this very valuable piece of news must be communicated to Ulyth.
+
+The chums talked the matter over earnestly.
+
+"Something's happening at the side gate at eight o'clock, and they've
+got a password; that's clear," said Lizzie.
+
+"Then I think it's our plain duty to go and investigate," returned
+Ulyth. "If the worst comes to the worst we could report ourselves, and
+tell Teddie why we went. She'd understand."
+
+"I hope it won't need that," fluttered Lizzie nervously.
+
+The girls were not allowed out of the house after preparation, so any
+excursions into the garden were distinctly against the rules.
+
+Feeling very culpable at thus breaking the law of the school, Ulyth and
+Lizzie crept quietly from the cloak-room door soon after eight had
+struck. It was not yet dark, but the sun had sunk behind the hills, and
+the garden was in deep shadow. They passed the tennis-courts and the
+rose parterre, and ran down the steps into the herbarium. Just at the
+outskirts of the shrubbery a small figure was skulking among the bushes.
+At the sound of footsteps it gave a low, peculiar whistle, then advanced
+slightly from the shadow and stood at attention, as if in mute challenge
+of the new-comers. Irene Scott, for it was she, was evidently on sentry
+duty. No one with a knowledge of camp-life could mistake her attitude.
+
+"We'll bluff it off," whispered Ulyth, and, taking Lizzie's arm, she
+marched quietly past, murmuring: "John Barleycorn".
+
+The effect of the password was electrical. Irene looked immensely
+astonished. She had certainly not expected such knowledge on the part
+of seniors.
+
+"Are you in it too? Oh, goody!" she gasped; then very softly she called:
+"All's well!" and, turning, dived back among the bushes.
+
+Lizzie and Ulyth pushed on towards the side gate. It was open, and
+inside, under the shelter of a big laurel, stood a woman with a basket.
+She was a gipsy-looking person, with long ear-rings, and she wore a
+red-and-yellow handkerchief tied round her neck. As the girls approached
+she uncovered her basket with a knowing smile.
+
+"I've brought plenty to-night, Missies," she said ingratiatingly.
+"Cheesecakes and vanilla sandwiches and coco-nut drops and cream wafers.
+What'll you please to have?"
+
+"Are you selling them?" asked Ulyth in much amazement.
+
+The woman glanced at her keenly.
+
+"I've not seen you two before," she remarked. "Yes, dearie, I'm selling
+them. They're wholesome cakes, and won't do you any harm. Try these
+cream wafers."
+
+"No, thanks! We don't want anything," stammered Lizzie.
+
+"If you've spent all your money," persisted the hawker, "I'm always open
+to take a trinket instead. There's a young lady been here just now, and
+gave me this in place of a sixpence," showing a small brooch pinned into
+her bodice. "Of course such things aren't worth much to me, but I'd do
+it to oblige you."
+
+At the sight of the little brooch Ulyth flushed hotly.
+
+"We're not allowed to buy cakes and tarts," she replied. "I'm sure Miss
+Bowes doesn't know that you come here to sell things. It's not your
+fault, of course, but please don't come again. It's breaking the rules
+of the school."
+
+The woman covered up her basket in an instant.
+
+"All right, Missie, all right," she said suavely. "I don't want to press
+things on you. That's not my way. You won't catch me at this gate again,
+I promise you. Good night!" and, slipping out into the lane, she was
+gone directly.
+
+Ulyth shut the door and bolted it.
+
+"She mayn't come to this particular spot again," said Lizzie, "but
+she'll find some other meeting-place, the cunning old thing. I could see
+it in her eye. So this is their grand secret! What a remarkably
+honourable and creditable one!"
+
+"It's worse than I thought," groaned Ulyth. "They must have been going
+on with this business for some time, Lizzie. Do you know, that brooch
+was Rona's. I recognized it at once. It's one she brought from New
+Zealand, with a Maori device on it."
+
+"I thought better of Rona."
+
+"So did I. She's improved so much I didn't think she'd slip back in this
+way."
+
+"I believe Tootie Phillips is the ring-leader."
+
+"There's no doubt of it. From all we've seen, the juniors have got a
+systematic traffic with this woman, and post scouts to keep watch while
+she's about. You heard Irene call: 'All's well!'"
+
+"They'll be feasting in their bedroom to-night."
+
+"Rona won't dare, surely. Lizzie, I shouldn't have thought much of it if
+they'd done it once just for a lark. We're all human, and juniors will
+be juniors. But when it gets systematic, and they begin to sell their
+brooches, that's a different matter."
+
+"What are you going to do? Tackle the kids and tell them we've found
+out, and they've got to stop it?"
+
+"Will they really stop it just at our bidding? Or will it only put them
+on their guard and make them carry the thing on with more caution?"
+
+"Then give a hint to the monitresses?"
+
+"I wonder if we ought. I wish Catherine and Helen were different."
+
+"Well, what do you suggest?"
+
+"There's only one other way. Mrs. Arnold is coming to The Woodlands on
+Friday afternoon. Suppose we wait, catch her alone, and tell her all
+about it. She's our 'Guardian of the Fire', and we ought to be able to
+ask her things when we're in difficulties. She doesn't belong to the
+school, so it isn't like telling a teacher or a monitress. We know we
+can trust her absolutely."
+
+"Right-O! But it seems a long time to have to wait."
+
+"It can't be helped," said Ulyth, as they hurried back through the
+garden.
+
+She had decided, as she thought, for the best, though, as the result
+proved, she had chosen a most unfortunate course.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+Amateur Conjuring
+
+
+Ulyth went to her bedroom that evening in much agitation of mind. She
+was torn by conflicting impulses. At one moment she longed to tax Rona
+frankly with a breach of school rules, air the whole subject, and state
+her most emphatic opinion upon it. If Rona alone had been concerned in
+the matter she would have done so without hesitation, but the knowledge
+of the number of girls who were involved made her pause.
+
+"I might do more harm than good," she reflected. "After the way Tootie
+has been inciting them to take sides against the seniors, they'd be up
+in arms at the least hint. It will be worse if they know they're
+discovered, and yet go on in an even more underhand fashion."
+
+Ulyth's abstraction was so marked that her room-mate could not fail to
+notice it.
+
+"What's the matter with you to-night?" she asked. "I've never seen you
+so glum before. Have you been getting into a row with Teddie?"
+
+"I'm all right. One can't always be talking, I suppose," returned Ulyth
+rather huffily. "Some people go on like a perpetual gramophone."
+
+"Meaning Corona Margarita Mitchell, I suppose? As you like, O Queen!
+I'll shut up if my babble offends the royal ears. There! Don't look so
+tragic. I don't want to make myself a nuisance. But all the same it's
+depressing to see you looking like a mixture of Hamlet and Ophelia and
+Iphigenia and--and--Don Quixote. Was he tragic too? I forget."
+
+"Hardly," said Ulyth, smiling in spite of herself.
+
+"Well, I get mixed up among history and literature, can't always
+remember which is real and which is make-up. It's a fact. I put down
+Portia as history in my exercise yesterday, and said the story of the
+Spanish Armada was told by Chaucer. Now you're laughing, and you look
+more like Ulyth Stanton. Sit down on this bed. There! Open your mouth
+and shut your eyes, and see what the king will send you!"
+
+Rona was fumbling in her drawer as she spoke. She turned round, seized
+her friend boisterously and forced her on to the bed, then, holding a
+hand over her eyes, crammed a chocolate almond into her mouth.
+
+"Rona! What are you doing?" protested Ulyth, shaking herself free.
+"Where did you get this chocolate?"
+
+Rona pulled a face expressive of mingled secrecy, delight, and triumph.
+
+"Rats!" she chuckled enigmatically. "Little girls shouldn't ask
+questions."
+
+"But I want to know."
+
+"That's not sporty! Take the goods the gods send you, and don't ask 'em
+what tree they picked them from."
+
+"But, Rona----"
+
+"Are you two girls still out of bed and talking?" said an indignant
+voice, as Miss Lodge opened the door and glared reproval. "Make haste. I
+give you three minutes, and if you're not ready by then I shall report
+you. Not another word! I'm astonished at you, Ulyth, for breaking the
+silence rule."
+
+"I didn't hear the half-past nine bell," replied Ulyth, abashed.
+
+"Then it's your business to hear it. It's loud enough. Everybody else on
+the landing is in bed."
+
+Miss Lodge put out the light and walked away, with a final warning
+against further conversation. Rona was asleep in a few minutes,
+breathing calmly and peacefully as was her wont, but Ulyth lay awake for
+a long time watching a shadow on the wall cast from the beech-tree
+outside. Where had Rona got her chocolates? The answer was perfectly
+plain. With the little brooch for evidence there could be no mistake.
+
+"She's not so bad as the others, because I really don't think she quite
+realizes even yet what school honour means. But Tootie and her scouts
+know. There's no excuse for them. Well, only two days now, and Mrs.
+Arnold will be here. What a tower of strength she is! I can tell her
+everything. Friday will very soon come now, thank goodness!"
+
+But those two days were to bring events of their own, events quite
+unprecedented in the school, and unexpected by everybody. How they
+affected Ulyth and Rona will be related farther on in our story; but
+meantime, for a true understanding of their significance, we must pause
+to consider a certain feature of the life at The Woodlands. When Miss
+Teddington had joined partnership with Miss Bowes she had added many new
+ideas to the plan of education which had formerly been pursued.
+
+She was determined that the school should not be dubbed "old-fashioned",
+and by all means in her power she kept it abreast of the times. So well
+did she succeed that the girls were apt to complain that their second
+Principal was a crank on education, and fond of trying every fresh
+experiment she could get hold of. The various enterprises added an
+atmosphere of novelty, however, and prevented the daily life from
+degenerating into a dull routine. No one ever knew what scheme Miss
+Teddington might suggest next; and even if each course was not pursued
+for very long, it did its work at the time, and was a factor in the
+general plan. All kinds and varieties of health exercises had had their
+day at The Woodlands--poles, dumb-bells, clubs, had been in turn
+discarded for deep breathing or for swimming motions. Slow minuets or
+lively tarantellas were danced, according to the fashion of the moment,
+and had the virtue of teaching stately dignity as well as poetry of
+motion. It was rumoured sometimes that Miss Teddington, with her eye on
+the past, contemplated a revival of backboards, stocks, and
+chest-expanders; but those instruments of torture, fortunately, never
+made their appearance, much to the relief of the intended victims, who
+had viewed their advent with apprehension.
+
+Naturally, dancing and indoor P.T. went on mostly in the winter months,
+their place being taken by outdoor drill during the summer term. The
+Camp-fire movement had appealed to Miss Teddington. She would herself
+have liked to be "Guardian of the Fire" and general organizer of the
+League, but her better judgment told her it was wiser to leave that
+office to one who had not also to wield the authority of a teacher. She
+supported the League in every way that came within her province. As
+Camp-fire honours were given for nature study, astronomy, and geology,
+she took care that all had a chance to qualify in those directions; and
+lately, acting on a hint from Mrs. Arnold, she had made a special point
+of manual training. Since Christmas the studio had assumed a new
+importance in the school. It was a big glass-roofed room at the top of
+the house, reached by a small stair from the west bedroom landing. A
+carpenter's bench stood at one end of it, and wood-carving went on
+fairly briskly. The girls might come in at any time during their
+recreation hours, and the occupation was a great resource on wet days.
+Bookbinding, stencilling, clay modelling, and fretwork were included
+among the hobbies, and though there might not be definite lessons given,
+there were handy primers of instruction on the book-shelf, and it was
+interesting to try experiments.
+
+"Do something on your own initiative. Take the book and puzzle it out,
+even if you make a few mistakes," urged Miss Teddington. "Nothing but
+practice can give you the right feel of your tools; you'll learn more
+from a couple of failures than from a week's work with a teacher at your
+elbow the whole time, saying 'Don't!'"
+
+So the girls struggled on, making merry at each other's often rather
+indifferent efforts, but gaining more skill as they learnt to handle the
+materials with which they worked. If the mallet hit the chisel so
+vigorously as to spoil a part of the pattern, its wielder was wiser next
+time; and the experimenters in pyrography soon learned that a red-hot
+needle used indiscreetly can dig holes in leather instead of ornamenting
+it. Such "dufferisms", as the girls called them, became rarer, and many
+quite creditable objects were turned out, and judged worthy of a
+temporary place on the view-shelf.
+
+Since Christmas a very special feature had been added to the handicraft
+department. Miss Teddington had caused apparatus to be fixed for the
+working of art jewellery. A furnace and a high bench with all necessary
+equipment had been duly installed. This was a branch much too
+technically difficult for the girls to attempt alone, so a skilled
+teacher had been procured, who came weekly from Elwyn Bay to give
+lessons. Those girls who took the course became intensely enthusiastic
+over it. To make even a simple chain was interesting, but when they
+advanced to setting polished pebbles or imitation stones as brooches or
+pendants, the work waxed fascinating. Some of the students proved much
+more adept than others, and turned out really pretty things.
+
+There was not apparatus for many pupils to work, so the class had been
+limited to seniors, among whom Doris Deane, Ruth White, and Stephanie
+Radford had begun to distinguish themselves. Each had made a small
+pendant, and while the craftsmanship might be amateurish, the general
+effect was artistic. Miss Teddington was delighted, and wishing to air
+her latest hobby, she decided to send the three pendants, together with
+some other specimens of school handiwork, to a small Art exhibition
+which was to be held shortly at Elwyn Bay. Miss Edwards, the teacher who
+came weekly to give instruction, was on the exhibition committee, and
+promised to devote a certain case to the articles, and place them in a
+good light. Though small shows had been held at The Woodlands
+occasionally in connection with the annual prize distribution, the
+school had never before ventured to send a contribution to a public
+exhibition, and those whose work was to be thus honoured became heroines
+of the moment.
+
+On the very evening after Ulyth's and Lizzie's excursion down the
+garden, a number of girls repaired to the studio to view the objects
+that Miss Teddington had chosen as worthy to represent the artistic side
+of the school.
+
+"I wish I were a senior," said Winnie Fowler plaintively. "I'd have
+loved this sort of thing. To think of being able to make a little
+darling, ducky brooch! It beats drawing hollow. I'd never want to touch
+a pencil again."
+
+"You've got to have some eye for drawing, though," said Doris, "or you'd
+have your things all crooked. It's not as easy as eating chocolates, I
+can tell you!"
+
+"I dare say. But I'll try some day, when I am a senior."
+
+"Are these the three that are to go to the exhibition?" asked Rona,
+pushing her way to the front. "Which is which?"
+
+"This is mine, that's Ruth's, and that's Stephanie's," explained Doris.
+
+"Why isn't Ulyth's to go? It's just as nice as Stephanie's, I'm sure."
+
+"Miss Teddington decided that."
+
+"How idiotic of her! Why couldn't she send Ulyth's? I think hers is the
+nicest, and it's just the same pattern as Stephie's--exactly."
+
+"Do be quiet, Rona!" urged Ulyth, laying her hand on the arm of her too
+partial friend. "My pendant has a defect in it. I bungled, and couldn't
+get it right again afterwards."
+
+"It doesn't show."
+
+"Not to you, perhaps; but any judge of such things would notice in a
+moment."
+
+"Well, your work's as good as Stephanie's any day, and I hate for her
+name to be put into the catalogue and not yours. Yes, I mean what I
+say."
+
+"Oh, Rona, do hush! I don't want my name in a catalogue. Here's Stephie
+coming in. Don't let her hear you."
+
+"I don't mind if she does. It won't do her any harm to hear somebody's
+frank opinion."
+
+"Rona, if you care one atom for me, stop!"
+
+Rather grumbling, Rona allowed herself to be suppressed. She was always
+ready to throw a shaft at Stephanie, though she knew Ulyth heartily
+disliked the scenes which invariably followed. She took up Ulyth's
+pendant, however, and, after ostentatiously admiring it, laid it for a
+moment side by side with Stephanie's.
+
+"There isn't a pin to choose between them," she murmured under her
+breath, hoping Stephanie might overhear.
+
+Ulyth was at the other side of the room, but Stephanie's quick ears
+caught the whisper. She looked daggers at Rona, but she made no remark,
+and Ulyth, returning, gently took her pendant away and placed it with
+the other non-exhibits on the bench. It had been a wet afternoon. No
+outdoor exercise had been possible that day, and the girls were tired of
+all their usual indoor occupations.
+
+"I wish somebody'd suggest something new to cheer us up," yawned Nellie
+Barlow. "There's a quarter of an hour more 'rec.' It's too short to be
+worth while getting out any apparatus, but it's long enough to be deadly
+dull."
+
+"Can't someone do some tricks?" asked Edie Maycock.
+
+"All right, Toby; sit on your hind legs and beg for biscuits," laughed
+Marjorie Earnshaw.
+
+"I mean real tricks--conjuring and fortune telling; the amateur wizard,
+you know."
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Then you're stupid. Have you never seen amateur conjuring--coins that
+vanish, and things that come out of hats?"
+
+"Yes; but I couldn't do it, my good child. Being in the Sixth doesn't
+make me a magician."
+
+"We tried a little bit at home," pursued Edie. "We had a book that told
+us how; only I never could manage it quickly. People always saw how I
+did it."
+
+"Rona's the girl for that," suggested Hattie Goodwin.
+
+"Is she? Come here, Rona, I want you. Can you really and truly do
+conjuring?"
+
+"Oh, not properly!" laughed Rona. "But when I was on board ship there
+was a gentleman who was very clever at it, and I and some boys I'd made
+friends with were tremendously keen at learning. We got him to show us a
+few easy tricks, and we were always trying them. I could manage it just
+a little, but I'm out of practice now. You'd see in a second how it was
+done, I'm afraid."
+
+"Oh, do show us, just for fun!"
+
+"What do you want to see?"
+
+"Oh, anything!"
+
+"The vanishing coin?"
+
+"Yes, yes. Go ahead!"
+
+"Then give me two pennies or shillings, either will do."
+
+The audience who had clustered round looked at one another, each
+expecting somebody else to produce a coin. Then everybody laughed.
+
+"We haven't got so much as a copper amongst us! We're a set of absolute
+paupers!" declared Doris. "Can't you do some other trick?"
+
+"There is nothing else I could manage so well," said Rona
+disconsolately. "This was the only one I really learnt."
+
+"Can't it be done with anything but coins?"
+
+"Something the same size and round, perhaps?"
+
+"My pendant?" said Ulyth, fetching the trinket from the bench. "It's
+just as big as a penny."
+
+"Yes, I could try it with this and another like it. Give me
+Stephanie's."
+
+"No, no! You shan't try tricks with mine!" objected Stephanie
+indignantly.
+
+"I won't do it a scrap of harm."
+
+"Oh, Stephie, don't be mean! She'll not hurt it. Here, Rona, take it!"
+exclaimed several of the girls, anxious to witness the experiment.
+
+Stephanie's protests and grumbles were overridden by the majority, and
+Rona, in her new capacity of wizard, faced her audience.
+
+"It'll be rather transparent, because you oughtn't really to know that
+I've got two pendants," she explained apologetically. "Please forget,
+and think it's only one. I must put some patter in, like Mr. Thompson
+always used to do. Ladies and gentleman, you've no doubt heard that the
+art of conjuring depends upon the quickness of the hand. That's as it
+may be, but there is a great deal that can't be accounted for in that
+way. Ladies and gentlemen, you see this coin--or rather pendant, as I
+should say. I am going to make it fly from my left hand to my right.
+One, two, three--pass! Here it is. Did you see it go? No. Well, I can
+make it travel pretty quickly. Now we'll try another pretty little
+experiment. You see my hand. It's empty, isn't it? Yet when I wave it
+over this desk Miss Stephanie Radford's pendant will be returned to its
+place. Hey, presto! Pass! There you are! Safe and sound and back again!"
+
+Stephanie took up her treasure and examined it anxiously.
+
+"This isn't mine!" she declared.
+
+"Rubbish! It is."
+
+"I tell, you it isn't! Don't I know my own work? This is Ulyth's. What
+have you done with mine?"
+
+"Vanished under the wizard's wand," mocked Rona.
+
+"Give it me this instant!" cried Stephanie angrily, shaking Rona by the
+arm.
+
+Rona had been standing upon one leg, and the unexpected assault
+completely upset her balance. She toppled, clutched at Doris, and fell,
+bumping her head against the corner of the table. It was a hard blow,
+and as she got up she staggered.
+
+"I feel--all dizzy!" she gasped.
+
+An officious junior, quite unnecessarily, ran for Miss Lodge, magnifying
+the accident so much in her highly coloured account that the mistress
+arrived on the scene prepared to find Rona stretched unconscious. Seeing
+that the girl looked white and tearful, she ordered her promptly to bed.
+
+"It may be nothing, but any rate you will be better lying down," she
+decreed. "Go downstairs, girls, all of you. Nobody is to come into the
+studio again to-night."
+
+"Rona had my pendant in her hand all the time," grumbled Stephanie to
+Beth as she obeyed the mistress's orders. "She dropped it as she fell.
+I've put it back safely, though, and I don't mean to let anybody
+interfere with it. I shall complain to Miss Bowes if it's touched
+again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A Storm-cloud
+
+
+Rona woke up next morning without even a headache, in Miss Lodge's
+opinion "justifying the prompt measures taken", but according to the
+girls, "showing there had been nothing the matter with her to make such
+a fuss about". Breakfast proceeded as usual, and afterwards came the
+short interval before nine-o'clock school. Now on this day the
+contributions to the Art exhibition were to be packed up and dispatched
+by a special carrier, and Stephanie, as a budding metalworker, ran
+upstairs to the studio to take one last peep at her exhibit. She flew
+down again with white face and burning eyes.
+
+"Girls!" she cried shakily. "Girls! Somebody's taken my pendant! It's
+gone!"
+
+"Why, nonsense, Stephie; it can't be gone! It was there all right last
+night."
+
+"It's not there now. Ulyth's has been put in its place, and mine's
+vanished. Come and see."
+
+There was an instant stampede for the studio.
+
+"It's probably on the bench," said Doris. "Some people are such bad
+lookers. I expect we shall find it directly."
+
+"You can't find a thing that isn't there," retorted Stephanie with
+warmth.
+
+Doris considered herself an excellent looker, and, in company with a
+dozen others, she searched the studio. Willing hands turned everything
+over, hunted under tables, on shelves, and among shavings, but not a
+sign of the pendant could they find.
+
+"Are you sure this one isn't yours?" asked Ruth, coming back to the
+exhibits.
+
+"Certain! I know my own work. This is Ulyth's; and there's the mistake
+she made that disqualified it."
+
+"Yours was put back last night?"
+
+"I saw it safe myself, after Rona'd been juggling with it. Where is
+Rona? I believe she's at the bottom of this."
+
+"She's in the garden."
+
+"Then she must be fetched."
+
+"What's the matter? What are you making a bother about?" cried Rona, as
+an excited detachment of girls stopped her game of tennis and asked her
+a dozen questions at once. "What have I done with Stephanie's pendant?
+Why, I've done nothing with it, of course."
+
+"But you must have hidden it somewhere."
+
+"It's a mean trick to play on her."
+
+"You and Steph are always at daggers drawn."
+
+"Do go and put it back."
+
+"I can't think what you're talking about!" flared Rona. "I've not even
+been inside the studio. If a joke's being played on Stephanie, it's
+somebody else who's doing it, not me. For goodness' sake let me get on
+with my game. Come, Winnie, it's your serve."
+
+The girls retired, whispering to one another. They were not at all
+satisfied. The news of the loss spread rapidly over the school, and had
+soon reached the ears of the authorities. Miss Lodge, who heard it from
+a monitress, at once sought Miss Bowes' study. A few moments later she
+went in a hurry to summon Miss Teddington, and a rash junior who
+ventured within earshot was sent away with a scolding. Miss Bowes looked
+grave as she walked into the hall for call-over. She took the names as
+usual, then, instead of dismissing the forms, she paused impressively.
+
+"I have something to say to you, girls," she began in a strained voice.
+"A most unpleasant thing has happened this morning. The pendant made by
+Stephanie Radford, which was to have been sent to the Elwyn Bay
+Exhibition, has disappeared, and Ulyth Stanton's pendant has been
+substituted for it. It is, I suppose, a practical joke on the part of
+one of you. Now I highly disapprove of this foolish form of jesting; it
+is neither clever nor funny, and is often very unkind. I beg whoever has
+done this thing to come forward at once and replace the pendant. She
+need have no fear, for she will not be punished or even scolded, though
+she must give me her word never to repeat such a prank."
+
+Miss Bowes stopped, and looked expectantly at the rows of intent eyes
+fixed upon her. Nobody spoke and nobody moved. There was dead silence
+in the hall. The Principal flushed with annoyance.
+
+"Girls, must I appeal to your honour? Is that necessary at The
+Woodlands? Have I actually one among you so lacking in moral courage
+that she dare not own up? I repeat that she will meet with no reproof.
+Nothing more will be said about the matter."
+
+Still no reply. Each girl looked at her neighbour, but not even a
+whisper was to be heard.
+
+"Girls, I am exceedingly pained. Such a thing has never happened here
+before. For the sake of the school, I make one last appeal to you. Will
+nobody speak? Then I shall be obliged to ask each of you in turn what
+she knows."
+
+It was a dreary business putting the same question to forty-eight girls,
+receiving one after another forty-eight decided negatives. Miss Bowes
+sighed wearily as it came to an end, and turned to Miss Teddington, who
+had sat on the platform silent but frowning during the ordeal.
+
+"We cannot let it rest here."
+
+"Certainly not!" snapped Miss Teddington firmly. "The matter must be
+sifted to the bottom."
+
+The two Principals conferred for a moment in whispers, then Miss Bowes
+announced:
+
+"Girls, this affair must be very carefully inquired into. I hoped it was
+only a practical joke, but a circumstance came to my knowledge last
+night which, I fear, may lend a more sinister aspect to it than either
+Miss Teddington or I had imagined. I am most deeply disappointed that
+the code of honour which we have always upheld at The Woodlands seems
+by some of you to have been broken. I shall have more to say to you
+later on. In the meantime you may go to your classrooms."
+
+Very solemnly the girls turned to march in their separate forms from the
+hall; but as IV B filed through the door there was a sudden outcry, a
+hustling, a rush of other girls, and an excited, aghast crowd.
+
+"It's here! It's here, Miss Bowes!" shouted Doris Deane. "Rona Mitchell
+had it! It fell from her blouse pocket when she pulled out her
+handkerchief."
+
+"It's Rona!"
+
+"We saw it fall!"
+
+"She had it all the time!"
+
+"Oh, the sneak!"
+
+"Silence!" thundered Miss Bowes, ringing her bell.
+
+In the midst of the sudden hush the Principal walked down the hall and
+took the pendant from Doris's hand.
+
+"What have you to say for yourself, Rona Mitchell?"
+
+Rona was standing staring as if a ghost had suddenly risen up and
+confronted her. Her vermilion colour had faded, and left her face deadly
+white.
+
+"Rona, do you hear me?"
+
+Rona shivered slightly, glanced desperately at Miss Bowes, then cast her
+eyes on the floor. She did not attempt to reply.
+
+"I give you one more chance, Rona."
+
+"Oh, Rona," interrupted Ulyth, who was weeping hot tears of dismay,
+"remember the Camp-fire! For the sake of the school, Rona!"
+
+She drew back, choking with emotion, as Miss Bowes waved her aside.
+
+Rona gazed for a moment full at Ulyth--a long, long, searching gaze, as
+if she would read Ulyth's very soul in her eyes. Then the colour flooded
+back, a full tide of crimson, over brow and neck.
+
+"Yes--for the sake of the school!" she repeated unsteadily, and,
+bursting into tears, hid her burning face in her hands.
+
+Miss Teddington hastily dismissed the other girls, and, coming to the
+assistance of her partner, asked many questions. It was absolutely
+useless, for Rona would not answer a single word.
+
+"Go to your bedroom," said the irate Principal at last. "This matter
+cannot be allowed to pass. If you had owned up at once nothing would
+have been said, but such duplicity and obstinacy are unpardonable. Until
+you make a full confession you must not mix with the rest of the school.
+We should be sorry to have to send you back to New Zealand, but girls
+with no sense of honour cannot remain at The Woodlands."
+
+Still sobbing hysterically, Rona was policed upstairs by Miss Teddington
+and locked into her bedroom. An hour or two of solitude might bring her
+to her senses, thought the mistress, and break the stubborn spirit which
+seemed at present to possess her. A wide experience of girls had proved
+that solitary confinement soon quelled insubordination, and by
+dinner-time the culprit would probably volunteer some explanation.
+
+Both Principals were greatly upset by the occurrence. Hitherto the
+little world at The Woodlands had jogged on without any more desperate
+happenings than the breaking of silence rules or the omission of
+practising. Never in all its annals had they been obliged to deal with a
+case of such serious import.
+
+Ulyth, with the rest of V B, was obliged to march off to her form-room.
+The inquiry had delayed the morning's work, and Miss Harding began to
+give out books without a moment's further waste of time. Ulyth sat
+staring at the problem set her, without in the least taking in its
+details. She could not apply her mind to the calculation of cubic
+contents while Rona was crying her heart out upstairs. What did it, what
+could it, all mean? Had her room-mate only been intending to play a
+practical joke on Stephanie? If so, why had she not at once admitted the
+fact? Nobody would have thought much the worse of her for it, as such
+jokes had been rather the rage of late among the juniors. It seemed so
+unlike Rona to conceal it; lack of candour had not been her fault
+hitherto. She was generally proud of the silly tricks she was fond of
+playing, and anxious to boast about them. She could not have been
+deterred by dread of the Principals' displeasure. Only yesterday she had
+marched into the study, to report herself for talking, with a sangfroid
+that was the admiration of her form; and had come out again smiling,
+with the comment that both the Rainbow and Teddie were "as decent as
+anything if one owned up straight". No, there must be another and a much
+graver explanation.
+
+A chain of circumstances flashed through Ulyth's mind, each unfortunate
+link fitting only too well. The evidence seemed almost overwhelming.
+Rona had been present at the meeting by the stream when Tootie incited
+the juniors to some secret act of rebellion against the school rules.
+What this act was the occurrence in the garden had plainly shown. That
+Rona had been implicated seemed a matter of certainty. Her brooch had
+been in the possession of the cake-vendor, and she had chocolates in her
+bedroom, the acquisition of which she had refused to explain. Did she
+intend to keep the pendant and exchange it for confectionery? Her
+pocket-money, as Ulyth knew, was exhausted, and she had hardly any of
+the trinkets that most girls wear.
+
+"Ulyth Stanton, you are not attending to your work. Give me your answer
+to Problem 46."
+
+Ulyth started guiltily. Her page was still a blank, and she had no
+answer to produce. She murmured a lame excuse, and Miss Harding glared
+at her witheringly. Thrusting her preoccupation resolutely aside, she
+made an effort to concentrate her thoughts upon the subject in hand.
+
+The morning passed slowly on. To Ulyth each successive class seemed
+interminable. At recreation, the girls, in small clumps, discussed the
+one topic of the hour.
+
+"I'm not surprised. I'd think anything of Rona Mitchell," said
+Stephanie. "What else could you expect of a girl from the backwoods?"
+
+"But she was so much improved," urged Addie, who had rather a weakness
+for the Cuckoo.
+
+"Only a veneer. She relapsed directly she got the chance, you see."
+
+"But why should she take your pendant?"
+
+"I can't pretend to explain her motive, but take it she did--stealing, I
+should call it. But we're too polite at The Woodlands to use such a
+strong word."
+
+"What'll be done to her?"
+
+"Pack her back to New Zealand, I hope--and a good riddance. I always
+said she wasn't a suitable girl to come to this school. She hasn't the
+traditions of a lady. You might as well try to make a silk purse out of
+a sow's ear as to get such a girl to realize the meaning of _noblesse
+oblige_. It's birth that counts, after all, when it comes to the test."
+
+"There I think you're wrong, Stephie," put in Lizzie quietly. "Gentle
+birth is all very well if it involves preserving a code of honour, but
+in itself it's no hall-mark of character. Some of the humblest and
+poorest people have been the stanchest on a question of right, when
+those above them in station have failed utterly. A charwoman can have
+quite as high standards as a duchess, and often lives up to them much
+better."
+
+"Oh, you're a Radical!"
+
+"I want fair play all round, and I must say that Rona has been very
+straight and square so far. Nobody has ever accused her of sneaking."
+
+"No; the bear cub was unpolished, but not a vicious little beastie,"
+agreed Addie.
+
+"And it had grown wonderfully tame of late," added Christine.
+
+Rona did not appear at the dinner-table; she had been removed from her
+own bedroom to a small spare room on another landing. She still refused
+to answer any question put to her. Her silence seemed unaccountable, and
+the Principals could only consider it as a display of temper.
+
+"She was annoyed at being caught red-handed with the pendant in her
+possession, and she won't give in and acknowledge her wrongdoing," said
+Miss Teddington to Miss Bowes.
+
+"From a strong hint Cook gave me last night I fear there is something
+more behind it all," returned her partner. "I shall question every girl
+in the school separately until I get at the truth."
+
+Beginning with the monitresses, Miss Bowes summoned each pupil in turn
+to her study and subjected her to a very strict catechism. From the
+Sixth she gained no information. They formed a clique amongst
+themselves, and knew little of the doings of the younger girls. V A were
+likewise absorbed in their own interests, and only classed Rona as one
+among many juniors. It was now the turn of V B, and Miss Bowes sent for
+Ulyth a trifle more hopefully. She, at least, would have an intimate
+knowledge of her room-mate.
+
+"Have you ever known Rona mixed up in any deceit before? What is her
+general report among her form-mates?" asked the Principal.
+
+"Very square. She used to annoy me dreadfully when first she came by
+turning over all my things, but she soon stopped when I told her how
+horrid it was. She never dreamt of taking anything. It was the merest
+curiosity; she hadn't been taught differently at home."
+
+"Have you found her eating sweets or cakes in her bedroom lately?"
+
+Ulyth hesitated and blushed.
+
+"Ah! I see you have! You must tell me, Ulyth. Keep nothing back."
+
+Very unwilling to betray her friend, Ulyth admitted the fact that
+chocolate had been pressed upon her one evening.
+
+"Did Rona explain where she got it?"
+
+"No, she wouldn't tell me anything."
+
+Miss Bowes looked thoughtful.
+
+"I put you upon your honour, Ulyth, to answer this question perfectly
+frankly. Have you any reason to suspect that some of the juniors have
+surreptitiously been buying cakes and sweets?"
+
+Thus asked point-blank, Ulyth was obliged to relate what she had
+overheard; and Miss Bowes, determined to get at the root of the
+business, cross-questioned her closely, until she had dragged from her
+reluctant pupil the account of the occurrence in the garden and the
+conversation with the travelling hawker-woman.
+
+"This is more serious even than I had feared," groaned Miss Bowes. "I
+thought I could have trusted my girls."
+
+"I think most of them were ashamed of it," ventured Ulyth.
+
+"It is just possible that Rona refuses to speak because she will not
+involve her schoolfellows."
+
+"Oh yes, yes!" cried Ulyth, clutching at any straw to excuse her
+room-mate's conduct. "That's quite likely. Or, Miss Bowes, I've been
+thinking that perhaps it was a queer kind of loyalty to me. You know
+Rona's very fond of me, and she was quite absurdly angry because
+Stephanie's pendant was to go to the exhibition and not mine. She may
+have changed them, hoping it wouldn't be noticed and that mine would be
+packed up, and perhaps she intended to put Stephanie's back in the
+studio when the parcel had safely gone. Rona does such impulsive
+things."
+
+Miss Bowes shook her head sadly.
+
+"I wish I could think so. Unfortunately the other circumstances lend
+suspicion to a graver motive."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+Light
+
+
+Ulyth walked from the study feeling that she had told far more than she
+wished.
+
+"I've given Rona away," she said to herself. "Miss Bowes is thinking the
+very worst of her, I know. Oh dear! I wish she'd explain, and not keep
+up this dreadful silence. It's so unlike her. She's generally almost too
+ready to talk. If I could see her even for a few minutes I believe she
+would tell me. Perhaps Miss Teddington frightened her. Poor Rona! She
+must be so utterly miserable. Could I possibly get a word with her, I
+wonder?"
+
+She talked the matter over with Lizzie.
+
+"If I ask Miss Bowes, she'll probably say no," lamented Ulyth.
+
+"Then I shouldn't ask," returned Lizzie. "We've not been definitely
+forbidden to see Rona."
+
+"The door's locked."
+
+"You've only to climb out of the linen-room window on to the roof of the
+veranda."
+
+"Why, so I could. Oh, I must speak to her!"
+
+"I think you are justified, if you can get anything out of her. She'd
+tell you better than anybody else in the whole school."
+
+"I'll try my luck then."
+
+"I'll stand in the garden below and shout 'Cave!' if I hear anyone
+coming."
+
+To help her unfortunate room-mate seemed the first consideration to
+Ulyth, and she thought the end certainly justified the means. She waited
+until after the tea interval, when most of the girls would be playing
+tennis or walking in the glade; then, making sure that Lizzie was
+watching in the garden below, she stole upstairs to the linen-room. It
+was quite easy to drop from the window on to the top of the veranda, and
+not very difficult, in spite of the slope, to walk along to the end of
+the roof. Here an angle of the old part of the house jutted out, and the
+open window of Rona's prison faced her only a couple of yards away. She
+could not reach across the gap, but conversation would be perfectly
+possible.
+
+"Rona!" she called cautiously. "Rona!"
+
+There was a movement inside the room, and a face appeared at the window.
+Rona's eyes were red and swollen with crying, and her hair hung in wild
+disorder. At the sight of Ulyth she started, and stared rather
+defiantly.
+
+"Rona! Rona, dear! I've been longing to see you. I felt I must speak to
+you."
+
+No reply. Rona, in fact, turned her back.
+
+"I'm so dreadfully sorry," continued Ulyth. "I've been thinking about
+you all day. It's no use keeping this up. Do confess and have done with
+it."
+
+Rona twisted round suddenly and faced Ulyth.
+
+"Rona! You'd be so much happier if you'd own up you'd taken it. Surely
+you only meant it as a joke on Stephie? Miss Bowes will forgive you. For
+the sake of the school, do!"
+
+Then Rona spoke.
+
+"You ask me to confess--you, of all people!" she exclaimed with
+unconcealed bitterness.
+
+"Yes, dear. I can't urge it too strongly."
+
+"You want me to tell Miss Bowes that I took that pendant?"
+
+"There's no sense in concealing it, Rona."
+
+The Cuckoo's eyes blazed. Her hands gripped the window-sill.
+
+"Oh, this is too much! It's the limit! I couldn't have believed it
+possible! You, Ulyth! you to ask me this! How can you? How dare you?"
+
+Ulyth gazed at her in perplexity. She could not understand such an
+outburst.
+
+"Surely I, your own chum, have the best right to speak to you for your
+own good?"
+
+"My own good!" repeated Rona witheringly. "Yours, you mean. Oh yes, it's
+all very fine for you, no doubt! You're to get off scot free."
+
+"I? What are you talking about?"
+
+"Don't pretend you don't understand. You atrocious sneak and
+hypocrite--you took the pendant yourself!"
+
+If she had been accused of purloining the Crown jewels from the Tower of
+London, Ulyth could not have been more astonished.
+
+"I----!" she stammered. "I----!"
+
+"Yes, you, and you know it. I saw you."
+
+"You couldn't!"
+
+"But I did, or as good as saw you. Who came into our room last night, I
+should like to know, when Miss Lodge had sent me to bed, and slipped
+something into one of the blouses hanging behind the door? I'd forgotten
+by the morning, but I remembered when the pendant came jerking out of my
+pocket."
+
+"Certainly I didn't put it there!"
+
+"But you did. You came into the room, took off your outdoor coat, and
+threw it on your bed. I got up, afterwards, and hung it up in your
+wardrobe for you. Irene told me how you'd joined the cake club. She said
+you had the password quite pat."
+
+Ulyth was too aghast to answer. Rona, once she had broken silence,
+continued in a torrent of indignation.
+
+"You a Torch-bearer! You might well ask me not to expose you! 'Remember
+the Camp-fire,' you said. Yes, it's because of the Camp-fire, and for
+the sake of the school, that I've kept your secret. Don't be afraid. I'm
+not going to tell. It wouldn't be good for the League if a Torch-bearer
+toppled down so low! It doesn't matter so much for only a Wood-gatherer.
+I won't betray a chum--I've brought that much honour from the Bush; but
+I'll let you know what I think about you, at any rate."
+
+Then, her blaze of passion suddenly fading, she burst into tears.
+
+"Ulyth, Ulyth, how could you?" she sobbed. "You who taught me everything
+that was good. I believed in you so utterly, I'd never have thought it
+of you. Oh, why----"
+
+"Cave! cave!" shouted Lizzie excitedly below. "Cave! Teddie herself!"
+
+Ulyth turned and fled with more regard for speed than safety along the
+veranda roof, and scrambled through the window into the linen-room
+again. She was trembling with agitation. Such an extraordinary
+development of the situation was as appalling as it was unexpected. She
+must have time to think it over. She could not bear to speak to anybody
+about it at present, not even to Lizzie. No, she must be alone. She ran
+quickly downstairs, and, before Lizzie had time to find her, dived under
+the laurels of the shrubbery and made her way first down the garden and
+then to the very bottom of the paddock that adjoined the high road.
+There was a little copse here, of trees and low bushes, which sheltered
+her from all observation. Nobody was likely to come and disturb her, for
+the girls preferred the glade, and seldom troubled to enter the paddock.
+She flung herself down on the grass and tried to face the matter calmly.
+She had begged Rona to confess, and Rona in return had accused her of
+taking the pendant. This was turning the tables with a vengeance. How
+could her room-mate have become possessed of such a preposterous idea?
+And in what a web of mystery the affair seemed involved! One certainty
+came as an immense relief. Rona was not guilty. More than this, she was
+behaving with an extraordinary amount of courage and loyalty.
+
+"She believes I took it, and yet she is bearing all the blame, and
+shielding me for the sake of the school," groaned Ulyth. "Oh, what must
+she be thinking of me! We're all at cross-purposes. Did she really fancy
+that when I said: 'Remember the Camp-fire', I was begging her to screen
+me? Somebody took the pendant and put it in her pocket; that's the ugly
+part of the business. It's throwing the blame from one to another. What
+we've got to do is to find out the real guilty person, and that's not
+going to be easy, I'm afraid."
+
+Ulyth sighed and wiped her eyes. She had been deeply hurt at Rona's
+sudden attack. It is humiliating to find that where you occupied a
+pedestal you are now, even temporarily, a broken idol.
+
+"She's right to scorn me if she imagines I'm such a sneak, but how could
+she suppose I would? And yet I thought her guilty. Oh dear, it's a
+horrible muddle! How shall we ever get it straight?"
+
+Ulyth sat thinking, thinking, and was no nearer to a solution of her
+problem when she suddenly heard the brisk ringing of a bicycle-bell on
+the road below. Springing up eagerly, she rushed to the wall, and
+shouted just in time to stop Mrs. Arnold, whose machine was whisking
+past.
+
+"Hallo, Ulyth! What are you doing there?"
+
+"I'm coming over. Do please wait for me!"
+
+And Ulyth, scrambling somehow across the wall, slid down a gravelly bank
+on to the road.
+
+"You're the one person in the world I want to see," she added, hugging
+her friend impetuously. "Oh, Mrs. Arnold, the most dreadful things have
+been happening at school! Somebody took Stephie's pendant, and it fell
+out of Rona's pocket, and everybody thinks Rona took it, and Rona thinks
+it's me. What are we to do?"
+
+"Sit down here and tell me all about it. Yes, please, begin at the very
+beginning, and don't leave anything out, however trivial. Sometimes the
+little things are the most important. Cheer up, child! We'll get to the
+bottom of it, never fear."
+
+Sitting on the bank, with Mrs. Arnold's arm round her, Ulyth related the
+whole of her story, mentioning every detail she could remember. It was
+such a comfort to pour it out into sympathetic ears, and to one whose
+judgment was more likely to be unbiased than that of anyone connected
+with the school.
+
+"You always understand," she said, with a sigh of relief, as she kissed
+the hand that was holding hers.
+
+"It certainly is a tangled skein to unravel; but, as it happens, I
+really believe I can throw a little light upon the matter. You say Rona
+told you that somebody came into her bedroom last night, and presumably
+hid the pendant in her blouse pocket?"
+
+"Yes; and she was sure that somebody was myself."
+
+"Then what we have to do is to produce the real culprit."
+
+"If we can find her."
+
+"Just now I was wheeling my bicycle up Tyn y Bryn Hill, and I met one
+of the boys from Jones's farm. He stopped me and handed me a letter. 'A
+girl gave it to me five minutes ago,' he said. 'She asked me if I was
+going to the village, and if I'd post it for her; so I promised I would.
+But it's addressed to you, so I may as well give it to you as post it,
+and save the stamp.' I read the letter, and it puzzled me extremely. I
+hardly knew what to make of it; but since you've told me about the
+pendant I think I begin to understand its meaning. You shall see it for
+yourself."
+
+Mrs. Arnold spread out the letter on her knee, so that Ulyth might read
+it. It was written on village note-paper, in a childish hand, with no
+stops.
+
+    "DEAR MRS ARNOLD
+
+    "this comes hoping to find you as well as it leves me at present i
+    am in dredful trubble and i cannot stay here eny longer dear Mrs
+    Arnold after what cook said this afternoon i am sure she knows all
+    and i daresunt tell miss Bowes but you are the camp fire lady and i
+    feel i must say goodbye to ease your mind dear Mrs Arnold wen you
+    get this letter I shall be Far Away as it says in the song you tort
+    us by the stream and you will never see me agen but i shall think of
+    you alwus and the camp fire and i wish i hadn't dun it only I was
+    skared to deth for she said she wuld half kill me and she alwus
+    keeps her wurd your obedient servant Susannah Maude Hawley."
+
+"Susannah Maude!" exclaimed Ulyth. "I never even thought of her. Is it
+possible that she could have taken the pendant?"
+
+"From the letter it looks rather like it. It is very mysterious, and I
+cannot understand it all; but the girl appears to have done something
+she shouldn't, and to have run away."
+
+"Where has she run to?"
+
+"She can't have gone very far. She evidently did not mean me to receive
+this letter until to-morrow morning, as she asked Idwal Jones to post
+it. He forestalled her intention by giving it to me now. It's a most
+fortunate thing, as we may be able to overtake her. She is probably
+walking to Llangarmon, and cannot have gone more than a few miles by
+this time. I shall follow her at once on my machine, and shall most
+likely come up with her before she even reaches Coed Glas."
+
+"Oh, let me go with you!" pleaded Ulyth, starting to her feet and
+seizing the bicycle. "I could ride on the carrier. I've often done it
+before. Oh, please, please!"
+
+"What about school rules?"
+
+"Miss Bowes wouldn't mind if you took me. Just this once!"
+
+"Well, I suppose my shoulders are broad enough to bear the blame if we
+get into trouble about it."
+
+"Oh, we shan't! We must find Susannah Maude. Miss Bowes would want us to
+stop her running away."
+
+"Come along then, and mind you balance yourself, so that you don't upset
+us."
+
+"Trust me!" chuckled Ulyth delightedly.
+
+Back along the road by which she had come sped Mrs. Arnold, past the
+lane that led to her own house, and away in the direction of Llangarmon.
+Ulyth managed to stick on without impeding her progress, and felt a
+delirious joy in the stolen expedition. To be out with her dear Mrs.
+Arnold on such an exciting adventure was an hour worth remembering. She
+could not often get the Guardian of the Fire all to herself in this
+glorious fashion. She would be the envy of the school when she returned.
+Susannah Maude was apparently a quick walker. They passed through the
+hamlet of Coed Glas, and were half a mile beyond before they caught
+sight of the odd little figure trudging on ahead. They overtook her
+exactly on the bridge that crossed the Llyn Mawr stream.
+
+As Mrs. Arnold dismounted and called her by name, Susannah Maude
+started, uttered a shriek, and apparently for a moment contemplated
+casting herself into the stream below. The Guardian of the Fire,
+however, seized her firmly by the arm, and, drawing her to the low
+parapet, made her sit down.
+
+"Now tell me all about it," said Mrs. Arnold encouragingly, seating
+herself by her side. For answer Susannah Maude wept unrestrainedly, the
+hot tears dripping down her hard little cheeks into her rough little
+hands.
+
+Mrs. Arnold waited with patience till the storm had subsided, then she
+began to put questions.
+
+"Did you take the young lady's locket, Susan?"
+
+"Yes, I did; but I didn't want to. I wouldn't if I hadn't been so
+scared. I'm scared to death now as she'll find me."
+
+"You needn't be afraid of Miss Bowes."
+
+"I ain't. Leastways not so bad. It's her I'm feared of."
+
+"Whom do you mean, child?"
+
+"Her--my mother."
+
+"I didn't know you had a mother. I thought you were an orphan," burst
+out Ulyth.
+
+"I wish I was. No, my father and mother wasn't dead--they was both
+serving time when I was sent to the Home. When Mother come out she got
+to know where I was, and she kept an eye on me; then when I comes here
+to a situation she turns up one day at the back door and says she wants
+my wages. I give her all I got; but that didn't satisfy her--not much!
+She was always hanging about the place. She used to come and sell sweets
+and cakes, unbeknown-like, to the young ladies."
+
+"Was that your mother? The gipsy woman with the basket?" exclaimed
+Ulyth.
+
+"That was her, sure enough. She pestered me all the time for money, and
+then when she found I'd got none left she said I must bring her
+something instead. 'The young ladies must have heaps of brooches and
+lockets, and things they don't want, so just you fetch me one,' sez she;
+'and if you don't I'll catch you and half kill you.' Oh, I can tell you
+I was scared to death! I don't want not to be honest; but she'd half
+killed me once or twice before, when I was a kid, and I know what her
+hand's like when she uses it."
+
+"So you took something?"
+
+"Yes. I waited till the young ladies was all at supper; then I got down
+one of their coats from the pegs in the corridor and slipped it over my
+black dress and apron, and I put on one of their hats. I thought if I
+was seen upstairs they'd take me for one of themselves. I went into the
+studio, and there, right opposite on a little table, was that kind of
+locket thing. I slipped it in my pocket, and looked round the room. If
+there wasn't another just like it on the bench! I took that, and put it
+on the table. It wasn't likely, perhaps, it would be missed as quick as
+the other. Then I thought I'd better be going. I was just walking down
+the landing when I hears a step, and darts into one of the bedrooms.
+'Suppose they catches me,' thinks I, 'with one of the young ladies'
+coats and hats on and the locket in my hand!' There was a blouse hanging
+behind the door, with a little pocket just handy, so I stuffed the
+locket down into that; then I pulled off the coat and threw it on the
+bed, and flung the hat out of the window. I thought if anyone came in
+and found me I'd say I'd been sent to refill the water-jug. But the
+steps went on, and I rushed out and downstairs, and left the locket
+where it was. I was so scared I didn't know what I was doing."
+
+"Gracie found her hat in the garden this morning," gasped Ulyth. "She
+wondered how it got there."
+
+"But what made you run away?" asked Mrs. Arnold, returning to the main
+question. "Did you think you were suspected?"
+
+"Not till this afternoon. Then the servants were all talking in the
+kitchen about how one of the young ladies was supposed to have taken
+what they called a 'pendon' or something, and Cook looked straight at me
+and says: 'If anything's missing, it's not one of the young ladies
+that's got it, I'll be bound.' And I turned red and run out of the
+kitchen. My mother'd said she'd be coming round this evening, and how
+was I going to meet her with no locket? So I says, there's nothing else
+for it, I'd best go back to the Home. Miss Bankes, she was good to me,
+and Mother daresn't show her face there. So I wrote a letter, and asked
+Jones's boy to post it. I didn't think you'd get it till to-morrow."
+
+"Very fortunately I received it at once. You must come back with us now
+to The Woodlands, Susan. We shall all have to walk, for the bicycle
+won't take three."
+
+"I'll wheel it," cried Ulyth joyfully.
+
+"She'll half kill me to-night," quavered poor Susannah Maude. "Do let me
+go to the Home!"
+
+"Your mother shall not have a chance of coming near you. You must tell
+all this to Miss Bowes; then to-morrow, if you wish, you may be sent
+back to the Orphanage."
+
+No successful scouts could have returned to camp with more triumph than
+Mrs. Arnold and Ulyth, as, very late and decidedly tired, they arrived
+at The Woodlands to relate their surprising story. Miss Bowes sent at
+once for Rona, and in the presence of the Principals the whole matter
+was carefully explained to the satisfaction of all parties, even poor
+weeping Susannah Maude.
+
+"I am very glad to find the motive for which Rona kept silence was so
+good a one," commented Miss Teddington. "She has shown her loyalty both
+to her friend and to the school."
+
+Dismissed with honour from the study, Ulyth and Rona were hugging each
+other in the privacy of the boot cupboard.
+
+"Can you ever forgive all the horrible things I said?" implored Rona. "I
+think I was off my head. I might have known it wasn't--couldn't be
+possible; you are you--the one girl I've been trying to copy ever since
+I came here."
+
+"You've quite as much to forgive me, dear, and I beg your pardon. I'm so
+glad it's all straight and square now."
+
+"You darling! I don't mind telling you it was Tootie who gave me those
+chocolates."
+
+"Didn't you buy them from the cake-woman?"
+
+"I never bought anything from her. I didn't join the cake club."
+
+"Then how did she get hold of your New Zealand brooch? She showed it to
+me."
+
+"Why, I'd swopped that brooch with Tootie for a penknife ages ago. We're
+always swopping our things in IV B."
+
+"The whole business seems to have been a comedy of errors," said Ulyth.
+"Some mischievous Puck threw dust in our eyes and blinded us to the
+truth."
+
+After all, it was the juniors that suffered most, for Miss Teddington,
+who had been very angry at the whole affair, turned the vials of her
+wrath upon them, and took them to task for their illicit traffic in
+cakes. This, at any rate, she was determined to punish, and not a
+solitary sinner was allowed to escape. Tootie, the original leader in
+rebellion, issued from her interview in the study such a crushed worm as
+to stifle any lingering seeds of mutiny among her crestfallen followers.
+
+"What's to become of Susannah Maude?" asked everybody; and Miss Bowes
+answered the question.
+
+"I am taking the poor child back to the Orphanage. I have told the
+police to warn her disreputable mother from this neighbourhood; but, as
+one can never be certain when she might turn up again, we must remove
+Susan altogether out of reach of her evil influence. A party of girls
+will be sent from the Home very soon to Canada, and we shall arrange for
+her to join them and emigrate to a new country, where she will be placed
+in a good situation on a farm and well looked after. She is not really a
+dishonest girl, and has a very grateful and affectionate disposition. I
+am confident that she will do us credit in the New World, and turn out a
+useful and happy citizen. Why yes, girls, if you like to make her a
+little good-bye present before she sails, you may do so. It is a kind
+thought, and I am sure she will appreciate it greatly."
+
+"There's only one item not yet wiped out on the slate," said Ulyth to
+Lizzie. "Perhaps I ought to report myself for walking along the veranda
+roof. I'd feel more comfortable!"
+
+"Go ahead, then! Teddie's at the confessional now."
+
+"It's never been exactly forbidden," said Ulyth, with a twinkle in her
+eye, after she had stated the extent of her enormity to Miss Teddington.
+
+"I would as soon have thought of forbidding you to climb the chimneys!
+It was a dangerous experiment, and certainly must not be repeated. I'm
+surprised at a senior! No, as you have told me yourself, I will not
+enter it in your conduct-book. Please don't parade the roofs in future.
+Now you may go."
+
+"Got off even easier than I expected," rejoiced Ulyth to the waiting
+Lizzie. "Teddie's bark's always worse than her bite."
+
+"We've found that out long ago," agreed Lizzie.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+A Surprise
+
+
+The storm-clouds that had gathered round the mystery of the lost pendant
+seemed to clear the air, and sunshine once more reigned at The
+Woodlands. The juniors were on their very best behaviour; they indulged
+in no more surreptitious expeditions and abandoned their truculent
+attitude towards the elder girls, who, while careful to preserve their
+dignity as seniors, were ready to wipe off old scores and start afresh.
+Some manoeuvres in connection with the Camp-fire League proved a bond
+of union, for here there was no distinction between Upper and Lower
+School, since all were novices to the new work and had to learn alike.
+None, indeed, had any time at present to get into mischief. As the end
+of the term, with its prospects of examinations, drew near, even the
+most hardened shirkers were obliged to put their shoulders to the wheel,
+and show a certain amount of intimacy with their textbooks. A nodding
+acquaintance with French verbs or the rules of Latin Grammar might
+suffice to shuffle through the ordinary lessons in form, but would be a
+poor crutch when confronted with a pile of foolscap paper and a set of
+questions, and likely to lead to disparaging items in their reports.
+
+In every department, therefore, there was a flood-tide of effort.
+Nature-study diaries, roughly kept, were neatly copied; lists of birds
+and flowers were revised; the geological specimens in the museum were
+rearranged and labelled, the art treasures in the studio touched up,
+while pianos seemed sounding from morning to night. The school was on
+its mettle to appear at high-water mark. Miss Bowes had lately
+instituted an Old Girls' Union for The Woodlands, the first gathering of
+which was to be held in conjunction with the breaking-up festivity.
+Quite a number of past pupils had accepted the invitation, and people of
+influence in the neighbourhood were also expected to be present.
+
+"You must show the 'old girls' what you can do," said Miss Bowes, who
+was naturally anxious to make a good impression on the visitors. "I want
+them to think the standard raised, not lowered. Some of our ways will be
+new to them, and we must prove that the changes have been for the
+better."
+
+It certainly seemed a goal to work for. Even the most irresponsible
+junior would feel humiliated if the "old girls" were to consider that
+the school had gone down, and all took a just pride in keeping up its
+reputation.
+
+"Noelle Derrington and Phyllis Courtenay have accepted"--it was
+Stephanie who volunteered the information. "They have both been
+presented. And Irene Vernon has promised to come. She's been out two
+years now. I do hope those wretched kids in IV B will behave themselves.
+Manners have gone off at The Woodlands in my opinion, even if the
+work's better. When my sister was a junior, she says, they would as soon
+have thought of ragging the mistresses as of cheeking the seniors."
+
+"O tempora! O mores!" laughed Addie. "When you're an old lady, Stephie,
+you'll spend all your time lamenting the good old days of your youth,
+and telling the children just how much better-behaved girls used to be
+when you were at school."
+
+"I shan't say so of our juniors, at any rate," snorted Stephanie.
+
+"Have you heard yet who's coming from the neighbourhood?" Beth enquired.
+
+"Mr. and Mrs. Arnold, of course, and Colonel and Mrs. Hepworth, and the
+Mowbrays, and the Langtons."
+
+"Lord and Lady Glyncraig have accepted; Miss Harding told me so just
+now," remarked Christine.
+
+"Oh, what luck!" Stephanie's eyes sparkled. "It will just give the
+finishing touch to the affair."
+
+"Did you say that Lord and Lady Glyncraig are coming to our breaking-up
+party?" asked Rona quickly. She had joined the group in company with
+Winnie and Hattie.
+
+"So I understand; but you needn't excite yourself. It isn't likely
+they'll notice juniors, though they'll probably speak to a few seniors
+whom they already know."
+
+"Including Miss Stephanie Radford, of course," scoffed Winnie. "We
+shall expect to see you walking arm in arm with them round the grounds."
+
+"And hear them giving you a most pressing invitation to Plas Cafn,"
+Hattie added. "You don't get asked there as often as one would suppose,
+considering you're so intimate with them."
+
+"The cheek of juniors grows beyond all bounds!" declared Stephanie,
+stalking away. "I'm afraid I know what Irene Vernon will think of the
+school."
+
+It was of course impossible for all the parents of the girls to come to
+the "At Home", but a certain proportion had promised to be present.
+There was a good hotel at Llangarmon, and they could put up there, and
+drive over for the occasion. The neighbourhood was so beautiful that
+several would take the opportunity of spending a few days in
+sightseeing.
+
+"I've news to tell you," said Ulyth to Rona one morning, her face
+radiant as she showed a letter. "Who do you think are coming to the
+party? Motherkins and Oswald! Ossie'll just be home in time, so they're
+jaunting off to Elwyn Bay like a pair of honeymooners. Motherkins hasn't
+been very well, and Dad says the sea air will do her good--he can't
+leave business himself, more's the pity! Won't it be glorious to see
+them here! I could stand on my head, I'm so glad."
+
+The prospect of meeting any members of the Stanton family again was a
+great pleasure to Rona, who treasured the memory of the Christmas
+holidays as her happiest experience in England. Mrs. Fowler was also to
+be present, so she would see the friend who had been kind to her at
+Eastertide as well.
+
+"I'm glad my mother's coming," said Winnie. "When most of the other
+girls have somebody, its so horrid to be left out. Poor old Rona! I wish
+you'd got some relations of your own who could be here. It's hard luck!"
+
+A shade crossed Rona's face. She hesitated, as if about to speak, then,
+apparently changing her mind, kept silence.
+
+"What an idiotic duffer you are!" whispered Hattie to Winnie. "You
+needn't be always reminding her what a cuckoo she is."
+
+"The Cuckoo's got its feathers now, and has grown a very handsome bird,"
+said Winnie, watching Rona as the latter walked away.
+
+The At Home was to be chiefly a gathering for the Old Girls' Union, but
+the present pupils were to provide a short programme, consisting of
+music and recitations, to occupy a portion of the afternoon. Only the
+brightest stars were selected to perform.
+
+"The school's got to show off!" laughed Gertie. "It's to try and take
+the shine out of the old girls. Miss Bowes doesn't exactly like to say
+so, but that's what she means."
+
+"No inferior talent permitted," agreed Addie. "Only freshwater oysters
+may wag their tails."
+
+"Metaphor's a little mixed, my hearty. Perhaps you'll show us an
+oyster's tail?"
+
+"Well, they've got beards, at any rate."
+
+"To beard the lion with?"
+
+"If you like. I suppose Lord Glyncraig will be the lion of the
+afternoon. We shall have to perform before him."
+
+"Oh, I'm so thankful I'm not clever enough to be on the programme!"
+
+After careful consideration of her pupils' best points, Miss Ledbury,
+the music-mistress, had at last compiled her list. She put Rona down for
+a song. Rona's voice had developed immensely since she came to school.
+For a girl of her age it had a wonderfully rich tone and wide compass.
+Miss Ledbury thought it showed promise of great things later on, and,
+while avoiding overstraining it, she had made Rona practise most
+assiduously. There was rather a dearth of good solo voices in the school
+at present, most of the seniors having more talent for the piano than
+for singing, otherwise a junior might not have obtained a place on the
+coveted programme.
+
+"But of course Rona's not exactly a junior," urged Ulyth in reply to
+several jealous comments. "She's fifteen now, although she's only in IV
+B, and she's old for her age. She's miles above the kids in her form. I
+think Teddie realizes that. I shouldn't be at all surprised if Rona
+skips a form and is put into the Upper School next term. She'd manage
+the work, I believe. It's been rather rough on her to stay among those
+babes."
+
+"Well, I say Miss Ledbury might have chosen a soloist from V B,"
+returned Beth icily. She was not a Rona enthusiast.
+
+"Who? Stephie's playing the piano and Gertie's reciting, Merle croaks
+like a raven, you and Chris don't learn singing, Addie's no ear for
+tune, and the rest of us, as Leddie says, 'have no puff'. I'm glad Rona
+can do something well for the school. She's been here three terms, and
+she's as much a Woodlander now as anyone else."
+
+Rona herself seemed to regard her honour with dismay. The easy
+confidence which she had brought from New Zealand had quite disappeared,
+thanks to incessant snubbing; she was apt now to veer to the side of
+diffidence.
+
+"Do you think I'll break down?" she asked Ulyth nervously.
+
+"Not a bit of it. Why should you? You know the song and you know you can
+sing it. Just let yourself go, and don't think of the audience."
+
+"Very good advice, no doubt, but a trifle difficult to follow," pouted
+Rona. "Don't think of the audience, indeed, when they'll all be sitting
+staring at me. Am I to shut my eyes?"
+
+"You can look at your song, at any rate, and fancy you're alone with
+Miss Ledbury."
+
+"Imagination's not my strong point. I wish the wretched performance was
+over and done with."
+
+There were great preparations on the morning of 29th July. Outside, the
+gardeners were giving a last roll to the lawns, and a last sweep to the
+paths. In the kitchen the cook was setting out rows of small cakes, and
+the parlour-maid in the pantry was counting cups and spoons, and
+polishing the best silver urn. In the school department finishing
+touches were put everywhere. Great bowls of roses were placed in the
+drawing-room, and jars of tall lilies in the hall. The studio, arranged
+yesterday with its exhibits of arts and handicrafts, was further
+decorated with picturesque boughs of larch and spikes of foxgloves. Two
+curators were told off to explain the museum to visitors, and
+tea-stewards selected to help to hand round cups and cakes. A band of
+special scouts picked raspberries and arranged them on little green
+plates. Chairs were placed in the summer-house and under the trees in
+view of the lawn. The rustic seats were carefully dusted in the glade by
+the stream.
+
+By three o'clock the school was in a flutter of expectation.
+
+"Do I look--decent?" asked Rona anxiously, taking a last nervous peep at
+her toilet in the wardrobe mirror.
+
+"Decent!" exclaimed Ulyth. "You're for all the world like a Sir Joshua
+Reynolds portrait. I'd like to frame you, just as you are, and hang you
+on the wall."
+
+"You wouldn't feel ashamed of me if--if you happened to be my relation?
+I've improved a little since I came here, haven't I? I was a wild sort
+of goose-girl when I arrived, I know."
+
+"The goose-girl is a Princess to-day," said her room-mate exultantly.
+
+Ulyth thought Rona had never looked so sweet. The pretty white dress
+trimmed with pale blue edgings suited her exactly, and set off her
+lovely colouring and rich ruddy-brown hair. Her eyes shone like
+diamonds, and the mingled excitement and shyness in her face gave a
+peculiar charm to her expression.
+
+"She's far and away the prettiest girl in the school," reflected Ulyth.
+"If there were a beauty prize, she'd win it."
+
+Everybody was waiting in the garden when the guests arrived. The scene
+soon became gay and animated. There were delighted welcomings of
+parents, enthusiastic meetings between old school chums, and a hearty
+greeting to all visitors. Mrs. Stanton and Oswald had driven in a taxi
+from Elwyn Bay, and were received with rapture by Ulyth.
+
+"Motherkins! Oh, how lovely to see you again! I must have you all to
+myself for just a minute or two before I share you with anybody--even
+Rona!"
+
+"Is that Rona over there?" asked Oswald, gazing half amazed at the
+friend who seemed to have added a new dignity to her manner as well as
+inches to her stature since Christmas-tide.
+
+"Yes, go and fetch her to speak to Motherkins."
+
+"I hardly like to. She looks so stately and grown-up now."
+
+"What nonsense! Ossie, you can't be shy all of a sudden. What's come
+over you, you silly boy? There, I'll beckon to Rona. Ah, she sees us,
+and she's coming! No, I'm afraid she can't sit next to us at the
+concert, because she's one of the performers, and will have to be in the
+front row."
+
+The ceremonies were to take place in the hall, after which tea would be
+served to the company out-of-doors.
+
+"Lord Glyncraig is to act as chairman," whispered Addie. "Stephie is so
+fearfully excited. She means to go and speak to him and Lady Glyncraig
+afterwards. I hope to goodness they won't have forgotten her. She'd be
+so woefully humiliated. She wants us all to see that she knows them.
+She's been just living for this afternoon, I believe."
+
+Rona, her hands tightly clasped, watched the tall figure mount the
+platform. Lord Glyncraig, with his clear-cut features, iron-grey hair,
+and commanding air, looked a born leader of men, and well fitted to take
+his share in swaying a nation's destiny. She could picture him a power
+in Parliament. It was good of him to come this afternoon to speak at a
+girls' school. Lady Glyncraig, handsome, well-dressed, and aristocratic,
+sat in the post of honour next to Miss Bowes. Rona noticed her gracious
+reception of the beautiful bouquet handed to her by Catherine, and
+sighed as she looked.
+
+There were no prizes at The Woodlands this year, for the girls had asked
+to devote the money to the Orphanage; but the examination lists and the
+annual report were read, and some pleasant comments made upon the scope
+of the Old Girls' Union. Lord Glyncraig had a happy gift of speech, and
+could adapt his remarks to the occasion. Everybody felt that he had said
+exactly the right things, and Principals, mistresses, parents, and
+pupils past or present were wreathed in smiles. These opening ceremonies
+did not take very long, and the concert followed immediately.
+
+Marjorie's Prelude, Evie's Nocturne, Stephanie's Mazurka, and Gertie's
+recitation all went off without a hitch, and received their due reward
+of appreciation. It was now Rona's turn. For a moment she grew pale as
+she mounted the platform, then the coral flushed back into her cheeks.
+She had no time to think of the audience. Miss Ledbury was already
+playing the opening bars:
+
+    "Come out, come out, my dearest dear!
+      Come out and greet the sun!"
+
+Mellow and tuneful as a blackbird's, Rona's clear rich young voice rang
+out, so fresh, so joyous, so natural, so full of the very spirit of
+maying and the glory of summer's return, that the visitors listened as
+one hearkens to the notes of a bird that is pouring forth its heart from
+a tree-top in the orchard. There was no mistake about the applause.
+Guests and girls clapped their hardest. Rona, all unwilling, was
+recalled, and made to sing an encore, and as she left the platform
+everybody felt that she had scored the triumph of the occasion.
+
+"Glad the juniors weren't excluded. It's a knock-down for Steph,"
+whispered Addie.
+
+"Trust Miss Ledbury not to leave out Rona. She'll be our champion
+soloist now," returned Christine.
+
+The rest of the little programme was soon finished, and the audience
+adjourned to the garden for tea. Stephanie, with a tray of raspberries
+and cream, came smilingly up to Lord and Lady Glyncraig, and,
+introducing herself, reminded them of the delightful visit she had paid
+to Plas Cafn. If they had really forgotten her, they had the good
+manners not to reveal the fact, and spoke to her kindly and pleasantly.
+
+"By the by," said Lord Glyncraig, "where is your schoolfellow who sang
+so well just now? I don't see her on the lawn."
+
+"Rona Mitchell? I suppose she is somewhere about," replied Stephanie
+casually.
+
+"Do you happen to know if she comes from New Zealand?"
+
+"Yes, she does."
+
+"I wonder if you could find her and bring her here? I should like very
+much to speak to her."
+
+Stephanie could not refuse, though her errand was uncongenial. She could
+not imagine why an ex-Cabinet Minister should concern himself with a
+girl from the backwoods.
+
+"Lord Glyncraig wants you; so hurry up, and don't keep him waiting," was
+the message she delivered, not too politely.
+
+Rona blushed furiously. She appeared on the very point of declining to
+obey the summons.
+
+"Go, dear," said Mrs. Stanton quietly. "Perhaps he wishes to
+congratulate you on the success of your song. Yes, Rona, go. It would be
+most ungracious to refuse."
+
+With a face in which shyness, nervousness, pride, and defiance strove
+for the mastery, Rona approached Lord Glyncraig. He held out his hand to
+her.
+
+"Won't you bury the hatchet, and let us be friends at last, Rona?" he
+said. "I'm proud of my granddaughter to-day. You're a true chip of the
+old block, a Mitchell to your finger-tips--and" (in a lower tone) "with
+your mother's voice thrown into the bargain. Blood is thicker than
+water, child, and it's time now for bygones to become bygones. I shall
+write to your father to-night, and set things straight."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"How is it that you've actually been a whole year at The Woodlands and
+never let anybody have the least hint that Lord Glyncraig is your
+grandfather? Don't you know what an enormous difference it would have
+made to your position in the school? Stephie is quite hysterical about
+it. Why was it such a dead secret?" asked Ulyth of her room-mate, as
+they took off their party dresses, when the guests had gone.
+
+"It's rather a long story," replied Rona, sitting down on her bed. "In
+the first place, I dare say you've guessed that Dad was the prodigal of
+the family. He never did anything very bad, poor dear, but he was packed
+off to the colonies in disgrace, and told that he might stay there. At
+Melbourne he met a lovely opera singer, who was on tour in Australia,
+and married her. That made my grandfather more angry than anything else
+he had done. I'm not ashamed of my mother. She was very clever, and sang
+like an angel, I'm told, though I can't remember her. When she died, Dad
+went to New Zealand and started farming. Mrs. Barker was hardly an ideal
+person to bring me up, but she was the only woman we could get to stop
+in such an out-of-the-way place. I must have been an awful specimen of a
+child; I don't like to remember what things I did then. When I was about
+ten, Father went away for a few weeks to the North Island, and while he
+was gone, Mrs. Barker went off in the gig to have a day's shopping at
+the nearest store. She left me alone in the house. I wasn't frightened,
+for I was quite accustomed to it. No one but a chance neighbour ever
+came near. Yet that day was just the exception that proves the rule.
+Early in the afternoon a grand travelling motor drove up, and a lady and
+gentleman knocked at the door, and enquired for Dad. I was a little wild
+rough thing then, and I was simply scared to death at the sight of
+strangers. I told them Dad was away. Then they asked if they might come
+in, and the gentleman said he was my grandfather, and the lady was his
+new wife, so that she was my step-grandmother. Now Mrs. Barker had
+always rubbed it in to me that if I was left alone I must on no account
+admit strangers. That was the only thing I could think of. I was in a
+panic, and I slammed the door on them and bolted it, and then ran to the
+window and pulled faces, hoping to make them go away. They stood for a
+minute or two quite aghast, trying to get me to listen to reason through
+the window, but I only grew more and more frightened, and called them
+all the ugly names I could.
+
+"'It's no use attempting to tame such a young savage,' said the lady at
+last. Then they got into their car again and drove away.
+
+"By the time Mrs. Barker arrived I was ashamed of myself, so I said
+nothing about my adventure, and I never dared to tell Dad a word of it.
+I suppose his father had come to hunt him up; but he was evidently
+discouraged at the reception he had received at the farm, and went back
+to England without making another attempt at a meeting. I don't believe
+he and Dad ever wrote to each other from year's end to year's end. I
+tried to forget this, but it stuck in my memory all the same. Time went
+by, my friendship with you began, and it was decided that I should be
+sent to The Woodlands. I knew my grandfather lived at Plas Cafn, for Dad
+had told me about his old home, but I did not know it was so near to the
+school. You ask why I did not tell the girls that I was related to Lord
+Glyncraig? There were several reasons. In the first place, I was really
+very much ashamed of my behaviour the day he had come to our farm. I
+thought he had cast us off completely, and would not be at all pleased
+to own me as granddaughter. I would not confess it to any of you, but I
+felt so rough and uncouth when I compared myself with other girls that I
+did not want Lord Glyncraig to see me, or to know that I was in the
+neighbourhood. Perhaps some day, so I thought, I might grow more like
+you, if I tried hard, and then it would be time enough to tell him of my
+whereabouts. Then, because he had disowned us, I felt much too proud to
+boast about the relationship at school. If you could not like me for
+myself, I wouldn't make a bid for popularity on the cheap basis of
+being his granddaughter. I'm a democrat at heart, and I think people
+ought to be valued on their own merits entirely. I'd rather be an
+outsider than shine with a reflected glory."
+
+"You'll be popular now," said Ulyth. "Are you to spend the holidays at
+Plas Cafn?"
+
+"Yes. Miss Bowes says I must, though I'd far rather have accepted your
+invitation. Lady Glyncraig was very kind and sweet; she kissed me and
+said she hoped so much that we should be friends. They have promised to
+ask Dad to come over for next Christmas and have a big family reunion."
+
+"You won't let them take you away from The Woodlands? We don't want to
+lose you, dear. You must stay here now--for the sake of the school."
+
+"For my own sake!" cried Rona, flinging her arms round her friend.
+"Ulyth, I owe everything in the world to you. I understand now how good
+it was of you to take me into your room and teach me. I was a veritable
+cuckoo in your nest then, a horrid, tiresome, trespassing bird, a
+savage, a bear cub, a 'backwoods gawk' as the girls called me. It's
+entirely thanks to you if at last I'm----"
+
+"The sweetest Prairie Rose that ever came out of the wilderness!"
+finished Ulyth warmly.
+
+
+
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