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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A harum-scarum schoolgirl, 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: A harum-scarum schoolgirl
+
+Author: Angela Brazil
+
+Illustrator: John Campbell
+
+Release Date: February 19, 2008 [EBook #24645]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HARUM-SCARUM SCHOOLGIRL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Casey Peel and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A HARUM-SCARUM SCHOOLGIRL
+
+[Illustration: "COULD YOU DO ME A KINDNESS, MISS?" SHE ASKED _Page 252_]
+
+
+
+
+A HARUM-SCARUM SCHOOLGIRL
+
+BY
+
+ANGELA BRAZIL
+
+_Illustrated by John Campbell_
+
+NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS
+
+_Copyright, 1920, by_
+
+FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+  CHAP.                              Page
+
+      I. A PIXIE GIRL                   9
+
+     II. STARS AND STRIPES             23
+
+    III. A PENNILESS PRINCESS          39
+
+     IV. THE RUSH-BEARING              51
+
+      V. DIANA DARES                   65
+
+     VI. FRENCH LEAVE                  77
+
+    VII. LAND GIRLS                    91
+
+   VIII. ARMISTICE DAY                108
+
+     IX. DIANA'S ENGLISH CHRISTMAS    128
+
+      X. A FIT OF THE BLUES           141
+
+     XI. DIANA TO THE RESCUE          153
+
+    XII. DIANA BREAKS OUT             167
+
+   XIII. CRUSOE ISLAND                178
+
+    XIV. SPOOKS                       195
+
+     XV. JOY-RIDING                   207
+
+    XVI. A FAMILY CREST               219
+
+   XVII. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER       235
+
+  XVIII. DIANA'S FOUNDLING            247
+
+    XIX. AMBITIONS                    259
+
+     XX. A TANGLED PLOT               271
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+                                                          Page
+
+  "COULD YOU DO ME A KINDNESS, MISS?" SHE ASKED
+                                           _Frontispiece_
+
+  "O-O-O-OH! HOW GORGEOUS TO BELONG TO A HIGH-FALUTING
+  FAMILY THAT'S GOT LEGENDS AND GHOSTS!"                    48
+
+  TWO PAIRS OF BARE FEET WENT SPLASHING JOYOUSLY
+  INTO THE BROOK                                            72
+
+  WE SET OFF AND RODE ALL THE MORNING                      144
+
+  ITS COWL FELL BACK, AND DISCLOSED A WELL-KNOWN
+  AND DECIDEDLY MIRTHFUL COUNTENANCE                       200
+
+  DIANA CALLED AND SHOUTED TO THEM. THEY TOOK
+  NO NOTICE                                                240
+
+
+
+
+A HARUM-SCARUM SCHOOLGIRL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A Pixie Girl
+
+
+"If I'd known!" groaned Winifred Cranston, otherwise Wendy, with a note
+of utter tragedy in her usually cheerful voice. "If I'd only known!
+D'you think I'd have come trotting back here with my baggage? Not a bit
+of it! Nothing in this wide world should have dragged me. I'd have
+turned up my hair--yes, it's _quite_ long enough to turn up, Jess Paget,
+so you needn't look at it so scornfully; it's as nice as yours, and
+nicer! Well, I tell you I'd have turned up my hair, and run away and
+joined the 'Waacs' or the 'Wrens', or have driven a motor wagon or
+conducted a tramcar, or scrubbed floors at a hospital, or done
+anything--_anything_, I say!--rather than stay at the Abbey without Mrs.
+Gifford."
+
+"It's pretty stiff, certainly, for the Head to go whisking away like
+this," agreed Magsie Wingfield, sitting on the other shaft of the
+wheelbarrow. "And without any notice either! It leaves one gasping!"
+
+"Stiff? It's the limit! Why didn't she give us decent warning, instead
+of springing it on to us in this sudden fashion? I feel weak!"
+
+"There wasn't time," explained Sadie Sanderson, who, with Violet Gorton
+and Tattie Clegg, occupied, in a tight fit, the interior of the
+wheelbarrow. "It was all done at a day's notice. Geraldine's been
+telling me the whole history."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Mr. Gifford got suddenly exempted, and was made Governor of some
+outlandish place with an unpronounceable name in Burma. He telegraphed
+to Mrs. Gifford to join him at Marseilles, and go out with him. So she
+went--that's the long and the short of it!"
+
+"Went and left her school behind her," echoed Vi.
+
+"I call it simply running away," commented Wendy. "Why couldn't she have
+stopped to arrange things--say till Christmas--and then followed him?"
+
+"It's some tiresome red-tape business at the War Office. They'd give her
+a passport to travel out _with_ him, but not to join him afterwards, so
+she thought she'd better take the opportunity and go out with him while
+she could. It must have been a terrific scramble for her to get off. I
+believe she just bundled her things together and bolted, and left the
+school to Miss Todd."
+
+"Will she ever come back?"
+
+"I shouldn't think it's likely now."
+
+"Then we're left for evermore to the tender mercies of Toddlekins?"
+
+"That's just about the size of it. Toddlekins has taken the whole thing
+over."
+
+"She's been longing and yearning to seize the reins and drive the coach
+ever since she came," commented Tattie.
+
+"Well, she's got her chance now."
+
+"And she'll use it, too! You bet there'll be changes!"
+
+"Changes! There are changes already, although Mrs. Gifford can hardly
+have reached Marseilles yet."
+
+"It's going to be a queer term," grunted Wendy.
+
+The five girls were sitting in a retired corner of the garden at
+Pendlemere Abbey. On one side, above the tops of the rhododendron
+bushes, they could see the tall, twisted chimneys and flagged stone roof
+of the old house; on the other side, below the lawn and across the
+paddock, gleamed the silver waters of the lake, with its banks of rushes
+and alders, and beyond lay a range of grey hills that seemed to melt
+away into more distant peaks that merged into the mists on the horizon.
+It was a beautiful view, and on this hazy September afternoon, with the
+hidden sun sending long shafts of light from behind radiant masses of
+cloud, it formed a prospect that should have afforded keen aesthetic
+satisfaction to anybody who cared to look at it. Usually the girls
+appreciated its changeful glories, but to-day--this first day of a new
+term--they were too much taken up with their own grievances to think
+about scenery. In fact, they sat huddled together in the wheelbarrow
+with their backs towards the view.
+
+It had certainly been a considerable shock to the girls to find, on
+arriving after the holidays, that their popular Principal had deserted
+them in so sudden a fashion. It was not indeed the first surprise which
+she had given them. Two years before she had been Miss Housman, with a
+purely educational outlook in life, and a horizon bounded by her school;
+but Cupid, who plays strange pranks even with head mistresses, brought
+her fate along in the shape of a major from the temporary camp by the
+lake, and shot his arrows with such deadly aim that the whole romantic
+business--courtship, engagement, and war wedding--took place in the
+course of a few weeks, almost under the very noses of her interested
+pupils. They had gone home for their Easter holidays much thrilled about
+her engagement ring, and had returned to school to find her a war bride,
+with her husband already in the trenches. When the excitement of
+choosing her a wedding present was over, matters seemed to settle down
+pretty much as before. Except in an increased anxiety for news from the
+front, Mrs. Gifford had differed in no degree from Miss Housman. To the
+school the Major was a mere abstraction; his leave had always occurred
+during the holidays, and up to this time his existence--apart from the
+element of romance with which it invested their head mistress--had not
+affected the atmosphere of Pendlemere in the least. It had occasionally
+occurred to some of the girls to question what would happen when the war
+was over, but they generally ended by deciding: "He'll have to come and
+live here, I suppose, and turn the junior room into a smoke-room". Some
+of the more imaginative had even ventured the suggestion that he might
+teach drilling and Latin. It never struck any of them that instead of
+settling down at the school he would want to whisk away his bride to the
+other side of the world. The unexpected had happened, however. Pretty
+Mrs. Gifford had decided that the claims of matrimony outweighed all
+consideration for her pupils, and had gone without even a good-bye,
+leaving Miss Todd to reign in her stead.
+
+There was no doubt that Miss Todd was admirably fitted to fill the post.
+Possibly, unknown to the girls, she had been gravitating towards it ever
+since her principal's hasty war wedding. Certainly she was ready, with
+the utmost calm, to take over the school at the critical moment, and
+transfer the connection from Mrs. Gifford's name to her own. She was a
+woman of decided character, at her prime intellectually and physically,
+tremendously interested in reconstruction problems, and longing to try
+some educational experiments. So far, her ambitious schemes had been
+much hampered by her Head. Mrs. Gifford, pleasant and popular both with
+girls and parents, had clung to old-fashioned methods, and had been very
+difficult to move in the matter of modern innovations. She had always
+put on the curb when the second mistress's fertile imagination had
+pranced away on Utopian lines. To an ardent spirit, steeped in new
+race-ideals, and longing for an opportunity of serving her generation,
+it was a proud moment when she suddenly found herself in a position to
+carry out her pet schemes unchecked. On this first day of the new term
+she moved round the school with the satisfaction of an admiral reviewing
+a battleship.
+
+It was much to Miss Todd's credit that she was able to take her fresh
+duties quite calmly, and without any fuss or exhibition of nerves. She
+was not a nervy woman, to begin with, and she had made a great point of
+cultivating self-control. With her tall figure, clear grey eyes, bright
+complexion, and abundant chestnut hair, she made a very favourable
+impression upon those parents who had brought their daughters back to
+school in person. At the moment when Wendy, Sadie, Tattie, Magsie, and
+Vi were sitting grousing in the wheelbarrow, Miss Todd, in the
+drawing-room, was completing an arrangement which was largely to affect
+their future.
+
+"It's very short notice, of course," she was saying. "But, as it
+happens, there's a vacant bed, and I can manage it perfectly well."
+
+"That's just a real relief to me!" replied a pleasant American voice
+from the sofa. "We can't take Diana with us to Paris, and I don't want
+to burden my cousin with her, so I said to my husband: 'There's nothing
+for it but school, only it must be a good one'. Well, we motored along
+to the nearest clergyman, introduced ourselves, and asked him to
+recommend a real first-class, high-toned British school that would take
+in Diana, and he said: 'Why, there's one on the spot here--you needn't
+go any farther!' Time was getting short, so we brought her right along.
+I must say I'm satisfied with all I've seen, and the talk I've had with
+you, and I feel we're leaving her in good hands. My cousin, Mrs.
+Burritt, will send over the rest of her things from Petteridge, and if
+there's anything else she needs please get it for her. Well, Steve, if
+we've to catch that 4.30 train, we must be going."
+
+The tall dark gentleman in the arm-chair consulted his watch and rose
+hastily.
+
+"Just time if we put on some speed; but the roads are execrable," he
+vouchsafed.
+
+The central figure around whom this conversation had revolved had been
+sitting in the window gazing at the view over the lake. She now turned
+her head sharply, with an inscrutable expression in her dark grey eyes,
+and, walking across to her father, linked her arm in his. He bent down
+and whispered a few rapid words into her ear. Her mother patted her on
+the shoulder reassuringly.
+
+"You're going to have a good time, Diana. Why, I expect you won't be
+wanting us to come back, you'll be so happy here. Address your letters
+under cover of the American Embassy, Paris, till we send you the name of
+our hotel. Good-bye! Be a good child and a credit to us."
+
+The leave-taking was perhaps purposely cut short. Mr. and Mrs. Hewlitt
+each bestowed a swift kiss upon their daughter, then made a hasty exit
+to their waiting car, and were whirled away in the direction of Glenbury
+Station and the 4.30 train, and their ultimate destination of Paris.
+
+Ten minutes later Lennie Browne, one of the juniors, disturbed the
+quintette on the wheelbarrow with a message.
+
+"Miss Todd's sent me to find you," she announced. "You've got to come
+and make friends with a new girl."
+
+Sadie, Vi, and Tattie quitted their seats so suddenly that Magsie and
+Wendy, still resting on the handles, came croppers on to the grass.
+Wendy rolled over into a comfortable position, and did not trouble to
+rise.
+
+"Bunkum!" she remarked incredulously. "Don't try to rag _me_, Lennie
+Browne, for it won't come off. As it happens, I asked Toddlekins half an
+hour ago, and she said there were _no_ new girls. There!"
+
+"Well, there's one now, at any rate."
+
+Wendy looked at her pityingly, and shook her head.
+
+"Lennie, you're a decent kid, but you're not clever. If you'd really
+wanted to have us on successfully, why didn't you try something more out
+of the common? You've a great lack of imagination. Anybody--yes,
+_anybody_--could have thought of inventing a new girl!"
+
+"But I _haven't_ invented her--she's really here! She walked with me as
+far as the sundial, and I left her sitting on the seat while I went to
+look for you. I said I wouldn't be a minute. Why, there she is!--come to
+see what's become of me."
+
+The quintette turned hastily, to find themselves confronted with an
+absolute endorsement of the truth of Lennie's statements. A stranger of
+about fourteen was walking towards them, or perhaps "shambling" would be
+a better description of her method of progress. She stooped badly, swung
+her arms in an awkward fashion, and shuffled her feet along the grass;
+her eyes were vacant, her chin was retreating, and her mouth was set in
+a foolish smile. For a full ghastly minute she stood and stared at the
+girls, and they, in utter and amazed consternation, could not think of a
+single intelligent remark with which to break the silence. Magsie was
+the first to recover herself.
+
+"You--you've only just come, I suppose?" she gasped, as politely as she
+could.
+
+The stranger gave a sickly giggle.
+
+"Are you my new schoolfellows?" she asked in a low creaking voice.
+"Miss Todd said you'd be pleased to see me, and I must make friends with
+you. I've been wanting a bosom friend, so I'll just pick one of you out.
+Let me see"--running her vacant eyes over the group and singling out
+Wendy--"I may as well choose you as anybody. Are you ready to be my
+chum?"
+
+Wendy flushed scarlet, and, jumping up from the grass, brushed some dead
+leaves from her dress.
+
+"It's too soon to think about chums yet," she returned. "You haven't
+even told us your name, and you don't know ours. Where do you come
+from?"
+
+"That means, I suppose, that you don't want me for a friend!" rasped the
+creaking voice. "Don't you like the look of me? What's wrong with me
+now? Please tell me, for I'd really like to know. I'm just crazy to make
+friends."
+
+In huge embarrassment Wendy and her companions stared at the
+extraordinary stranger. She bore their united gaze without flinching.
+She even turned round slowly, so that they might have an adequate view
+of her foolish profile, protruding lips, and retreating chin.
+
+"Do tell me what's wrong with me?" she repeated.
+
+No one volunteered a criticism, and for another whole minute there was
+dead silence. Then a brisk voice remarked:
+
+"Would this style suit you better now, I wonder?"
+
+The girls caught their breath in amazement. The stooping, slouching
+figure had suddenly straightened itself up, the protruding lips had set
+into a small, neat mouth, the receding chin had come forward, and the
+vacant eyes were twinkling with mirth. Instead of a half-idiotic, and
+wholly unattractive, specimen of girlhood, a very charming little
+personality stood before them. The transformation was so utter that at
+first the audience simply gaped, then with one accord they exploded into
+laughter and words.
+
+"Oh, I say!"
+
+"You fraud!"
+
+"I really thought you were dotty!"
+
+"How _did_ you do it?"
+
+"You looked too awful for words!"
+
+"You haven't told us your name yet!"
+
+"Can you do it again?"
+
+The stranger curtsied, dropped her jaw, set her eyes in a glassy stare,
+and, resuming the creaking voice, bleated forth:
+
+"Thank you! Thank you for welcoming me! I'm called Miranda Jane Judkins,
+and I come from Conic Section Farm, Squashville, Massachusetts. Which of
+you wants to chum with me? Don't all speak at once!"
+
+"Oh, for goodness' sake drop that awful face! It absolutely gives me
+spasms!" hinnied Magsie. "It's the very image of a village idiot who
+used to terrify me when I was a kiddie. Don't look at me with those
+horrid eyes! I shall have a fit!"
+
+"Look here, you mad thing!" said Vi. "Can't you tell us who you really
+are?"
+
+"Miss Judkins."
+
+"No, no! Your real name! Stop ragging!"
+
+Once more the half-witted, shambling figure gave place to a sparkling,
+self-possessed, laughing young witch of fourteen, who with another mock
+curtsy introduced herself.
+
+"Diana Hewlitt--quick-change artiste. Entertainments arranged at any
+moment. Reserved seats, five shillings. Proceeds to the Red Cross Fund.
+Oh, I believe at first I really _did_ take you in!"
+
+"You did," admitted Wendy; "because, of course, we weren't expecting it.
+We shall know you better now, and be prepared. I say, you're rather a
+sport! Where have you turned up from? Miss Todd said only an hour ago
+there weren't any new girls."
+
+"No doubt she told the truth. There weren't then! Why, an hour since we
+were just half-way between Glassenrigg and Scawdale, pelting along at
+about double the speed limit. Miss Todd didn't even know of my
+existence. I've been dropped upon her like a bolt from the blue. I must
+say I admired the calm way she fixed up to take me, all in ten minutes.
+Most Britishers wouldn't have fallen in so quickly with Dad's lightning
+methods, but she seemed to understand right away."
+
+"Are you American, then?"
+
+"Rather! I was born under the Stars and Stripes. Never saw England till
+we crossed this summer. Dad's just been called over to Paris, and d'you
+know, they've let Mother go with him, but they wouldn't give _me_ a
+passport. Wasn't it real mean of them? I do think the War Office is the
+limit! Well, of course, the question was: what could be done with me. I
+said: 'Leave me at Petteridge'. But Mother said: 'No; I'm not going to
+dump you on Cousin Coralie; she'd be down with nervous exhaustion at the
+end of a fortnight. School's the place for you, and we've got to rake
+round and find a school in double-quick time'. Dad nodded, and just rang
+up and ordered the car, and we started out with no more idea than the
+man in the moon where I was going to be landed. I'm glad fate tossed me
+here, though. It looks nice; kind of a real old-world flavour about the
+place, somehow. I'm crazy on old things--Scott's novels, you know, and
+castles, and all the rest of it. When I heard this was called Pendlemere
+Abbey, I said: 'That'll do! Take me there!' So here I am!"
+
+"It takes one's breath away," commented Tattie. "I don't know that I'd
+like to be whisked off to school in such a precious hurry myself."
+
+"It's rather as if the pixies had dropped you," laughed Vi.
+
+"Right you are! I guess I'm a pixie sort of girl. Please don't expect
+'prunes and prism' from me, for you won't get them!"
+
+"I don't know that we want them," chuckled Wendy.
+
+"That takes a weight off my mind, then," twinkled Diana. "I like
+mediaeval abbeys and black beams and raftered roofs, and even ghosts; but
+I don't know that I exactly want mediaeval schoolgirls."
+
+"Don't alarm yourself," said Wendy, clapping her on the shoulder. "I
+assure you you'll find us all absolutely and entirely modern and
+up-to-date."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Stars and Stripes
+
+
+If Diana was possessed with a passion for antiquities, she might
+certainly congratulate herself that a kindly fate had popped her into
+such an appropriate spot as Pendlemere Abbey. It offered every
+attraction to those in search of the romantic and picturesque. The
+Cistercian monks who had founded it in the thirteenth century had
+exhibited their proverbial good taste in the choice of a situation. It
+was built on rising ground above the lake, and commanded a glorious view
+across the fells. The garden, with its hill-side of rhododendrons, its
+clumps of sweet-smelling pines, and its borders of such hardy flowers as
+did not mind the nip of the northern air, ran steeply from a flat
+terrace towards the lake, where it ended in a landing-stage and a locked
+boat-house. Its orchard linked branches with the apple-trees of a
+neighbouring farm. The house itself, though preserving the name and the
+traditions of the Abbey, had been converted during Tudor times from
+religious to lay uses. Very little of the old monks' building remained
+intact, though evidences of it cropped up in unexpected quarters. There
+were the remains of a piscina in the pantry; a groined arch roofed the
+back kitchen; two carved stone pillars supported the fire-place in the
+dining-room; a Gothic doorway led into the courtyard, and the remnants
+of some ancient choir stalls were fitted as a window-seat on the stairs.
+The Tudor and Elizabethan periods had left more permanent traces, and,
+though later architects had played havoc with the simplicity of the
+style, they had not altogether destroyed its sixteenth-century
+appearance. The greater part was built of northern stone, with mullioned
+windows, twisted chimneys, peaked gables surmounted with stone balls,
+and a roof of flat slabs of the same yellow-brown stone that formed the
+walls. A section of black and white timbered Elizabethan work, a Queen
+Anne wing, and some early Victorian alterations made a strange
+conglomeration of styles of architecture; but the roses and ivy had
+climbed up and clothed ancient and modern alike, and Time had softened
+the jarring nineteenth-century additions, so that the whole now blended
+into a mellow, brownish mass, with large, bright windows enclosed in a
+frame of well-clipped greenery.
+
+There was accommodation in the roomy old house for twenty boarders, and
+though no day pupils were supposed to be received a special exception
+had been made in the case of Meg and Elsie Fleming, the Vicar's
+daughters, who arrived every morning by nine o'clock, and Nell Gledhill,
+whose governess brought her each Friday afternoon for dancing-lessons.
+So far the school had jogged along very happily under Mrs. Gifford's
+mild regime. Fathers and mothers had sometimes shrugged their shoulders
+and hinted that her methods were old-fashioned, but they always added
+that the tone of the place was so excellent, and the health of the
+pupils so well looked after, that there was really no just cause for
+complaint. Miss Todd, sitting in her study, and writing twenty neat,
+well-thought-out letters to explain the sudden transfer of the school,
+assured parents that, while preserving all the traditions of her
+predecessor, she hoped to introduce a modern element of progress in
+keeping with the needs of the day. "I realize that we must march with
+the times," she wrote; and she meant it. She began her innovations on
+that very first day. Several disconsolate seniors congregated on the
+upper landing viewed change number one with dismay.
+
+"But Mrs. Gifford promised that Geraldine and Ida and I might have the
+East room," urged Nesta Erskine. "It was all arranged last term, and we
+clubbed together to buy a bookcase. What are we to do with it if we're
+separated? It belongs to us all three."
+
+"I can't help it; those are Miss Todd's orders," answered Miss Beverley
+briskly. "Your names are on cards pinned on to the doors of your new
+rooms. Pass along at once, and find your quarters and begin to unpack.
+Don't stand here blocking up the passage! Yes, Betty? Miss Hampson wants
+to speak to me? Tell her I'm coming now."
+
+As Miss Beverley bustled away the seniors moved slowly and forlornly
+along the landing in quest of billets. It reminded them of finding their
+places in an examination-room. Their names were unquestionably on the
+doors in black-and-white, but their distribution called forth a storm of
+indignant comment.
+
+"I'm actually put with Tattie Clegg and Jess Paget!"
+
+"And I'm boxed up with Dorothy, and Nora Haddon, and Glynne Hamilton!"
+
+"Why, we're all mixed up with the kids!"
+
+"Look here, you know, we can't stand this kind of thing!"
+
+"Somebody had better go to Miss Todd!"
+
+"It's no use; I've just been," said Loveday Seton, joining the group of
+malcontents. "We had it all out in the study, and she listened quite
+kindly and politely, but she was firm as nails. She says it's an
+experiment for the sake of good tone, and she hopes it will work well.
+We seniors are sandwiched up with intermediates and juniors so that our
+influence may permeate through the school."
+
+The five listeners groaned.
+
+"Couldn't we permeate enough during the daytime?" sniffed Ida. "I don't
+see what influence I can have while I'm asleep. I call it a jolly
+nuisance to be saddled with three kids in one's room."
+
+"Of course you have your curtains."
+
+"What's the use of curtains? A cubicle's only semi-private after all.
+What it means is that we seniors are always on duty policing those
+juniors. What a life!"
+
+"Where are you put, Loveday?" asked Geraldine.
+
+"In the little ivy room upstairs. There are two beds, and I'm to act
+mentor to this new American girl who's just arrived."
+
+"Poor you! What's she like?"
+
+"I don't know. I haven't seen her yet, but I wish she were at Jericho."
+
+In a decidedly ruffled frame of mind, Loveday passed along the landing,
+and climbed the stairs that led to the ivy room. She found her room-mate
+already in possession, and with her belongings half-unpacked. Photos
+adorned her dressing-table, a large American flag draped the mirror, and
+her bed was spread with odds and ends. She smiled broadly as Loveday
+entered.
+
+"So here you are!" she greeted her. "Goody! What a relief! I've been
+worrying about what you'd be like, and just praying you wouldn't have
+spectacles and talk with a lisp. Miss Todd gave me to understand you
+were a peach, and I might think myself in luck to room with you, but you
+never can trust head mistresses till you see for yourself. She's told me
+the truth, though, after all. Yes, I like you right straight away, and I
+always make up my mind about people, slap bang off at once."
+
+Loveday stared in surprise at the impetuous little figure kneeling
+beside the big trunk. Diana's dark-grey eyes shone like stars, her oval
+face, if not exactly pretty, was piquant and interesting, her
+light-brown hair curled at the tips. It was, of course, an unheard-of
+liberty for a new girl, and an intermediate to boot, thus to address a
+senior, but the greeting was spontaneous and decidedly flattering. The
+grey eyes, in fact, expressed open admiration. On the whole, Loveday
+decided to waive ceremony and tradition for the nonce.
+
+"We've been put together for the term, so we must make the best of each
+other," she conceded, more graciously than she had intended to address
+the interloper. "I'm glad to see you've kept to your own side of the
+room, and haven't overflowed into mine."
+
+"No fear!" chuckled Diana. "I've been at school before, and learnt not
+to spread myself out. We're on rather a short allowance of space, aren't
+we? Are these drawers all I've got? I shall have just to wedge my things
+in. There's my cabin trunk to come yet."
+
+"You may have three pegs in the landing cupboard, and a locker in the
+cloak-room, but anything else will have to be stored in the box-room. I
+should think you had enough clothes there to last you a year, instead of
+wanting another trunk full."
+
+Diana shook her head.
+
+"They're all mixed up. We packed in half an hour. I just flung in the
+first things that came to hand. Cousin Cora promised to send on the
+rest of my luggage after me. If she doesn't, I'd best 'phone."
+
+"You'd have a little difficulty to do that," said Loveday dryly.
+
+"D'you mean to say there's no 'phone here, or"--looking round the
+room--"no electric light either?"
+
+"Certainly not. We go to bed with candles."
+
+"Well! I wanted mediaeval ways, and it looks as if I was going to get
+them. It'll be rather a stunt to go to bed by candle-light. Are there
+any ghosts about this place? Or skeletons built into the wall? Or
+dungeons with rusting chains? Or mysterious footsteps? Oh! I thought
+there'd have been at least something spooky in a house that claims to be
+six hundred years old."
+
+Diana's cabin trunk arrived in the course of a few days. She sorted out
+a selection of her numerous belongings, arranged them in her limited
+number of drawers, and consigned the surplus back to her boxes to be
+stored in the attic. This done, and a telegram received to announce the
+safe arrival of her father and mother in Paris, she seemed prepared to
+settle down. Her fellow intermediates, biased largely by her generosity
+in the matter of chocolates, gave her, on the whole, a favourable
+reception. Wendy even went further, and proffered friendship.
+
+"You're just the jolly kind of girl I like," she explained. "I think we
+might have some topping times together, and wake up the school. Things
+are apt to get a little dull sometimes."
+
+Diana nodded intelligently.
+
+"I know. It was just the same at my last school. Everyone got into a
+sort of stick-in-the-mud mood, and one felt it was only _kind_ to stir
+them up. I guess I did it!"
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if you did," twinkled Wendy. "I vote we make an
+alliance, and, if one of us thinks of any rather ripping rag, she just
+tells the other, and we'll play it off together."
+
+"Right you are! Let's shake on it!" agreed Diana, extending a small,
+slim hand, with a garnet birthstone-ring on the middle finger.
+
+The little American did not fit into her niche at Pendlemere without
+encountering a certain amount of what her schoolmates considered
+necessary discipline for a novice. She had to go through an ordeal of
+chaff and banter. She was known by the sobriquet of "Stars and Stripes",
+or "The Yank", and good-natured fun was poked at her transatlantic
+accent. She took it good-temperedly, but with a readiness of repartee
+that laid the jokers flat.
+
+"One can't get much change out of Diana," commented Magsie, after an
+unsuccessful onslaught of teasing.
+
+"I think she's a scream," agreed Vi.
+
+The baffling part of the new schoolmate was that her powers of acting
+were so highly developed that it was impossible to tell whether she was
+serious or playing a part. She "took in" her teasers times out of
+number, and in fairness they deserved all they got. Towards the end of
+the first week she came into the intermediate room one morning fondling
+a letter.
+
+"From Paris," she vouchsafed. "Dad and Mother have got anchored at last.
+The journey must have been a startler. Paris is so full of Americans,
+it's like a little New York."
+
+"Why do you call it 'Parr-is'?" sniggered Sadie.
+
+"It's more like the French than your way of saying it, at any rate,"
+retorted Diana smartly. "This letter's been four days in coming
+through."
+
+"You might give me the stamp."
+
+"Certainly not. You don't deserve it. I wish I were in Paris, too. Yes,
+I shall call it 'Parr-is'. I'm beginning to want some of my own folks."
+
+"I've never met any Americans, except you," volunteered Vi. "What are
+they like?"
+
+"What do you imagine they're like?"
+
+"Like the pictures of 'Uncle Sam', with a limp shirt front, and a big
+tie, and a goatee beard. I want to meet some real out-and-out Yankees."
+
+"Won't your cousins from Petteridge ever come over to see you, Di?"
+asked Magsie.
+
+"Perhaps they may, sometime," replied Diana thoughtfully. "I should say
+it's quite within the bounds of possibility, considering they only live
+ten miles away."
+
+"Gee-whiz! I guess I'd just admire to make their acquaintance!" mocked
+Vi. "I reckon they'll be _some_ folks!"
+
+Diana's eyes were fixed upon her with an inscrutable look, but she
+answered quite calmly:
+
+"I'll take care to introduce you if they come."
+
+It was in the course of the next few days that a parcel for Diana
+arrived from Petteridge Court. What it contained nobody saw except
+herself, for she did her unpacking in private. Judging from certain
+outbursts of chuckling, the exact cause of which she steadily refused to
+reveal, the advent of her package gave her profound satisfaction. The
+next Saturday afternoon was wet: one of those hopelessly wet days that
+are apt to happen in a land of lakes and hills. Banks of mist obscured
+the fells; the garden walks were turned to running rivers, the bushes
+dripped dismally, and cascades poured from the gutters. The school,
+which had been promised a country tramp, looked out of the windows with
+woeful disappointment. The seniors consoled themselves by holding a
+committee meeting, from which all but their elect selves were rigidly
+excluded. The juniors took possession of the play-room, and relieved
+their spirits by games which made the maximum of noise. Several of the
+intermediates peeped in, but, finding the place a mixture of a
+bear-garden and the Tower of Babel, they retired to the sanctuary of
+their own form-room, where they sat making half-hearted efforts to read
+or paint, and grousing at the weather.
+
+"Is _every_ Saturday going to be wet?" demanded Magsie in an injured
+voice.
+
+"Seems like it!" mourned Jess Paget. "Of course it can be beautifully
+fine on Friday, when we have to stop in and do dancing; and it just
+keeps all the rain for Saturday. I call it spiteful! I wish I knew what
+to do with myself. I'm moping."
+
+"Get a book out of the library."
+
+"I loathe reading."
+
+"Do some painting."
+
+"You know I can't paint."
+
+"Go and romp with the juniors."
+
+"I'd as soon spend an hour in a monkey-house."
+
+"Then I can't do anything for you, I'm afraid. You'll just have to
+mope."
+
+"Where's Sadie?" asked Peggy Collins. "She promised to give me back my
+crochet-needle, and I can't get on without it."
+
+"She went off with Diana and Wendy half an hour ago. I saw them running
+upstairs together. Don't flatter yourself she'll remember about your
+crochet-needle."
+
+"I know she won't--the slacker! I shall just have to go and rout her up,
+and make her find it. Oh, kafoozalum! It's a weary world!"
+
+Peggy rose languidly, stretched her arms, and strolled in the direction
+of the door, which at that identical moment opened to admit the missing
+Sadie.
+
+"Here, you old blighter, where's that crochet-needle?" demanded Peggy
+impolitely.
+
+"Bother your crochet-needle! I've no time to go and hunt for it now. I
+say, girls!" continued Sadie excitedly; "anybody know what's become of
+Diana? She's wanted. Those American cousins of hers have turned up. I
+told them she was in here, and they're waiting outside the door. Oh!"
+
+Sadie's exclamation was caused by the door, which she had carefully
+closed suddenly opening, and nearly knocking her over. Apparently the
+visitors did not approve of being left to wait in the passage, and
+judged it expedient to make an entrance.
+
+"Excuse me if we walk right in," said a nasal-toned voice; "but I was
+told we'd find Miss Diana Hewlitt in here."
+
+The five girls, scattered about the room, stared for a second in blank
+amazement at the intruders. They were certainly unlike any other
+visitors who had ever come to Pendlemere. The speaker was a little,
+short, wiry man, in a slack-fitting, brown tweed suit, with a rather
+obtrusive striped tie. His raggy, grey beard straggled under his chin
+and up to his ears; his eyes twinkled through a pair of gold-rimmed
+spectacles; in defiance of European etiquette, he wore his hat over a
+crop of rough, grey hair. Clinging to his arm was a very stout lady in a
+green coat and a velvet turban adorned with feathers. She also was
+grey-haired, and her features were somewhat obscured by a thick, black
+veil. The most prominent thing about her was a large and obtruding
+tooth, which gave her somewhat the appearance of a good-natured walrus;
+she held a morocco-leather satchel in her unoccupied hand, and wore a
+large feather-boa round her neck.
+
+Magsie, to her eternal credit, was the first to remember her manners,
+and offer some sort of a greeting to the extraordinary strangers.
+
+"Er--good afternoon!" she stammered. "I'm afraid Diana isn't here.
+Shall--shall I go and fetch her?"
+
+"Well, now, I'd call that real elegant of you," returned the stout lady
+heartily. "We can't stay long, and we don't want to waste time."
+
+"Cora, I guess we'd best introduce ourselves," observed the gentleman,
+gently disengaging her from his arm. "We're Mr. and Mrs. Elihu Burritt
+of Petteridge Court. I reckon you're Diana's schoolfellows? Pleased to
+meet you, I'm sure."
+
+"Did you have a wet drive?" asked Jess Paget, making a desperate and
+most gallant attempt to pump up some item of conversation.
+
+The stout lady shook her head eloquently.
+
+"I _do_ say that in the matter of weather a British wet day just about
+takes the cake!" she replied.
+
+Her voice was slightly tremulous and muffled; perhaps the weather
+agitated her. Moreover, her large tooth seemed to cause her some
+inconvenience--it wobbled visibly as she spoke.
+
+"If Diana don't turn up, I guess we'll have to be getting on," ventured
+Mr. Elihu Burritt, pulling out a big watch and consulting it. "We've
+got to call at the drug store at Glenbury, and time presses."
+
+"Magsie's gone to fetch her. Peggy, you go too, and hurry her up. Won't
+you sit down while you're waiting?" asked Jess, pulling forward two
+chairs.
+
+The visitors seated themselves, that is to say, they sank heavily down,
+and planted their hands on their knees. Their eyes took an interested
+review of the embarrassed faces of the girls, then they suddenly
+collapsed into gurgles of laughter. An instant wave of comprehension
+swept through the room.
+
+"Diana and Wendy!" exclaimed a chorus of voices.
+
+Mr. Elihu Burritt was guffawing to such an extent that his hat, and the
+venerable locks stitched inside it, tumbled to the ground, revealing a
+crop of brown hair. Mrs. Cora had lost her tooth altogether, and her
+turban was tilted to a most disreputable angle. She slapped her partner
+on the back, and commanded, between sobs of mirth:
+
+"Elihu--stop laughing! I guess we'd best wangle ourselves off!"
+
+But the girls had crowded round to examine the details of the costumes.
+
+"They're topping!" they approved. "Absolutely A1! Can't think how you
+did it! Diana, where did you get those togs?"
+
+"Sent to Petteridge for them," exulted Diana. "They came in that parcel.
+It's an old suit of Cousin Hugh's. I told Cousin Coralie I wanted it to
+dress up in. The beard's just made out of tow, and so's Wendy's hair.
+Flatter myself I came up to your expectations of a real backwoods Yank.
+I wonder if I'd take in Miss Todd. I'd give a hundred dollars to try.
+But it might be rather a risky experiment. Don't you think my old girl
+is a peach? I'm nuts on her!"
+
+"I simply shouldn't have known you, Wendy," said Jess. "How did you make
+yourself so fat?"
+
+"I'm stuffed out with all sorts of things," laughed Wendy. "Vests, and
+nightdresses, and stockings, and anything we could lay our hands on.
+I'm specially padded over the shoulders. The toque is one of Diana's
+hats turned inside out with some feathers pinned on. The tooth? Why,
+that was a piece of india-rubber tucked inside my lip. It was fearfully
+difficult to make it stick, I can tell you. It kept jiggling about when
+I tried to talk. Elihu, old man, shall we dance a tickle-toe?"
+
+"Stop, you mad creatures! If you make such a racket you'll be bringing
+Bunty down upon us," interposed Magsie, as the masquerading couple
+twirled each other round and round. "If you want to be ready in time for
+tea, you'd better go and get out of those weird garments."
+
+"I'd like to go down to tea in them," declared Diana. "What a lovely
+sensation they'd make! Magsie, just peep out and see that the coast is
+clear before we make a dash for it along the passage. It might upset
+Bunty's nerves if she met us."
+
+As it happened, during the very next week Diana received a visit from
+her cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Burritt of Petteridge Court. They arrived in
+their Daimler car, and lunched with the school. They were the very
+epitome of cultured and polished America, and the girls raved over them.
+After half an hour of their company, seven intermediates had determined
+to mould themselves absolutely on the lines of "Cousin Coralie", and to
+marry exact replicas of Mr. Burritt. It was felt that ambition could
+soar no higher.
+
+"I'm glad you like them," said Diana, as she stood on the steps with
+some of her friends watching the Daimler pass out through the gate. "I
+thought you would--when they really turned up. That was why I wanted you
+to see 'Cousin Elihu' and 'Cousin Cora' first. They were more your idea
+of typical Americans, weren't they? Ah!"--shaking her head
+commiseratingly--"that's because you benighted Britishers just don't
+know anything about the _real_ America."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A Penniless Princess
+
+
+Miss Todd, sitting at her desk in her study, with a row of the very
+latest publications on the most modern theories of education in a
+bookcase so near that she could stretch out her hand for any particular
+one she wanted, rapidly reviewed some of her new experiments. First and
+foremost came the plan of sandwiching seniors and juniors together in
+their bedrooms. She hoped the influence of the elder girls would work
+like leaven in the school, and that putting them with younger ones would
+give them the chance of developing and exercising their motherly
+instincts. She tapped her book with her pencil as she mentally ran over
+the list of her seniors, and considered how--to the outside view of a
+head mistress--each seemed to be progressing.
+
+"It's difficult to foster just the spirit one wants in them--it depends
+so largely on the girl," she decided.
+
+And there she was right--the girl made all the difference. Hilary
+Chapman had listened to her remarks on "the mother instinct", and had
+walked straight into her dormitory, tow-rowed her young room-mates for
+their untidiness, snapped at their excuses, and sent them downstairs
+with a snubbing, returning to the bosom of the seniors ruffled, but with
+a strong sense of having performed her obvious duty. Betty Blane, Erica
+Peters, and Peggy Collins, comparing injured notes, viewed the matter
+from a different angle.
+
+"Calls herself a mother, does she? Jolly more like a step-mother, I
+should say," objected Erica.
+
+"Pretty grizzly to be boxed up with Hilary for a whole term," lamented
+Betty.
+
+"I'm _not going_ to be 'mothered' by her," proclaimed Peggy with energy.
+"She's only two years older than I am, and yet from the airs she gives
+herself you'd think she was Methuselah."
+
+"You don't _look_ like her daughter," remarked Betty, who was
+literal-minded to a fault.
+
+Peggy made an eloquent grimace.
+
+"I'm an undutiful one, at any rate," she laughed. "I'm afraid Hilary
+will find me somewhat of a handful."
+
+Up in the little ivy room, however, matters were going somewhat better.
+Diana and Loveday, after a few minor differences, dovetailed both their
+possessions and their dispositions so as to admit of the least possible
+friction. It was fortunate for Diana, for she had a side to her
+character that would have bristled into porcupine quills had she been
+placed with Hilary. Loveday's particular temperament soothed her down.
+
+"I'm falling in love with her," she admitted to Wendy. "I was taken
+with her, of course, the moment I saw her, but I believe now I'm going
+to have it badly. I think she's beautiful! If there were a Peach
+Competition, she'd win at a canter."
+
+Such a pandering to the "pomps and vanities" as a Beauty Show was
+certainly not an item in the list of new experiments at Pendlemere, but
+there was a general consensus of opinion that Loveday held the palm in
+the matter of looks. She was a fair, slender girl, with delicate
+features, a clear complexion, and a quantity of long flaxen hair. She
+spoke prettily, but without affectation, and always gave an impression
+of great refinement. The wistful look that sometimes shaded her blue
+eyes was, on the whole, attractive.
+
+"She's like a picture I once saw of Eve just turned out of Paradise,"
+commented Diana, sitting with Wendy and Tattie in the window-seat on the
+stairs.
+
+"Not half a bad shot," said Wendy. "In fact, it just about hits the
+mark. In a way, Loveday _is_ turned out of Paradise. That's to say, I
+suppose, if her grandfather hadn't gambled, the Abbey would have
+belonged to her."
+
+"What Abbey?"
+
+"Why, this, of course, stupid!"
+
+"Do you mean to say Loveday's folks used to _own_ this place?"
+
+"They did. Owned it for hundreds of years. They were an old Border
+family, and mixed up with the rebellion of 1745, and all sorts of
+interesting things. Loveday's grandfather was the regular old-fashioned
+sporting kind of squire you read about in books. He gambled the whole
+property away. I suppose it used to be a fine place in his day. I've
+heard he kept eight hunters, and always had the house full of guests
+while his money lasted. Then there was a grand smash up, and everything
+had to be sold--house, horses, furniture, and all. He went abroad and
+died of a broken heart--never smiled again, and all that sort of thing,
+you know."
+
+"How fearfully romantic!" gasped Diana. "Of course it was his own fault
+for gambling, but still one feels sorry for him. Did Loveday live here
+too when she was little?"
+
+Wendy shook her head.
+
+"I shouldn't think so. I believe it happened ever such a long time ago;
+before she was born, even."
+
+"Couldn't her father get it back?"
+
+"I suppose not. Besides, he's dead too. Loveday is an orphan. She's
+neither father nor mother."
+
+"Where does she live, then, when she's at home?"
+
+"With an uncle and aunt--her mother's relations. But she never talks
+very much about them, so we fancy they're not particularly nice to her.
+She has no brothers or sisters. I think she feels lonely, if you ask my
+opinion, but she's too proud to say so."
+
+"And Pendlemere ought to be hers! How romantic!" repeated Diana. "I
+wanted to stay in a real old-fashioned mediaeval British house, and here
+I'm plumped into a story as well. It's most exciting! What's going to
+happen next? Is Loveday going to get it back? Will she marry the man who
+owns it? Or will somebody leave her a fortune? Or will she find a lost
+will? How do stories generally end?" continued Diana, casting her mind
+over a range of light literature which she had skimmed and half
+forgotten.
+
+Wendy disposed of each of the suggestions in turn.
+
+"There isn't anybody to leave her a fortune; and what's the good of
+finding a will when the place is sold? The present owner is a fat old
+fellow of fifty, with a wife already, and, even if _she_ died, I
+shouldn't think Loveday would want to marry him. He has three daughters
+older than she is, and he's quite bald."
+
+Diana looked baffled. Her romantic plan of restoring the fortunes of the
+Seton family through matrimony certainly did not seem hopeful.
+
+"I'm fearfully sorry for Loveday," confided Tattie. "I know something
+about her, because some friends of ours live near her aunt. They say she
+gets very much snubbed; her cousins make her feel it's not her own home.
+She wants to go to college, but it's doubtful if she'll be able. Nesta
+Erskine says Loveday is just _counting_ on a career. She wants to be
+independent of her aunt."
+
+"It must be horrible to be snubbed," commented Diana thoughtfully.
+
+She had admired Loveday before, but now she looked at her room-mate with
+new eyes. To Diana there was something fascinating about the idea of a
+"penniless princess".
+
+"Do your ancestors go right slap-bang back to the Conquest?" she asked
+interestedly, while she was undressing that evening.
+
+"Well, not quite so far as that," smiled Loveday, diligently brushing a
+flaxen mane ripply with plaiting. "But I believe there were Setons in
+the fourteenth century, long before they had the Abbey from Edward the
+Sixth's commissioners. There are all sorts of stories and legends about
+them, of course."
+
+"What kind of stories? Do tell me! I'd just admire to hear. I'm crazy on
+Border ballads and legends. Tell me, while I fix my hair."
+
+"Well, there was little Sir Rowland. When he was only six years old his
+father was killed in one of the battles of the Wars of the Roses. They
+were Lancastrians, and the Yorkists seized his estate, and Rowland was
+only saved from the fury of the conquering party by the devotion of his
+nurse. She managed to hide him in a secret place in the tower till there
+was an opportunity to escape, and then she got him away to her father's
+house in the midst of a wild tract of forest. He lived there, disguised
+as a forester, for years and years, and helped to cut wood and to hunt,
+and only two or three people knew the secret of his birth. He used to go
+errands sometimes to the great Hall of the neighbourhood, and there he
+saw Lady Anne, the beautiful daughter of Lord Wharton, and fell
+desperately in love with her. One day when she was out riding he was
+able to save her from the attack of an infuriated stag, and I suppose
+she was very grateful, and perhaps showed her feelings too plainly, for
+her father shut her up in a turret-room, and ordered her to marry
+somebody whom she didn't like at all. I don't know what would have
+happened, but just then Henry VII came to the throne, and one of his
+first acts was to restore Sir Rowland Seton to his possessions and
+dignity. Lord Wharton must have thought him an eligible suitor then, for
+he was allowed to marry the Lady Anne, and take her away to his castle.
+Their tomb is in Dittington Church. He was killed at the Battle of
+Flodden, and one of his sons with him.
+
+"There's a romantic story, too, about Sir Roderick Seton, who lived at
+the Abbey here in the days of Charles I. He had a stone seat made, and
+put just by the front door. The first person who sat on it was a lovely
+girl named Katherine, and he said to her: 'Katherine, you have sat on my
+seat, so you must give me three kisses as toll'. Not very long after he
+went away to London, leaving his brother William to look after the
+estate. Then civil war broke out, and he joined the Royalist forces, and
+followed the young King Charles into exile. After the Restoration he
+journeyed north, and came on foot to his old home. It was years and
+years since he had left there, and nobody had had any tidings about him,
+or knew whether he was alive or dead. He found his brother William, who
+was now married to Katherine, sitting with her and their two children on
+the stone seat by the door. He asked them for a night's lodging, and,
+though they did not know who he was, they took him in and treated him
+kindly. Next morning he asked his hostess to accompany him to the door,
+and, pointing to the stone seat, said:
+
+"'It is many years since I had three kisses from the dame who first sat
+on it.'
+
+"She recognized him then, and ran joyously to call the rest of the
+household. His brother at once wished to hand over the keys to him, but
+he would not accept them. 'I am old and childless,' he said. 'All I ask
+here is bed and board till you carry me to the churchyard.' He lived
+with them for some years, and devoted himself to study. The people of
+the neighbourhood venerated him as a sage, and after his death he was
+supposed on very special occasions to appear and give the family warning
+of future trouble. They say he was seen before the Battle of Culloden,
+and several times during the Napoleonic wars; but of course I can't
+vouch for that--it's only legend."
+
+Diana, sitting up in bed with the curtains of her cubicle drawn aside to
+listen, gave a long-drawn, breathless sigh.
+
+"O-o-o-oh! How gorgeous to belong to a highfaluting family that's got
+legends and ghosts. I'm just crazy to hear more. What about the house?
+Aren't there any dungeons or built-up skeletons or secret hiding-places?
+There _ought_ to be, in a real first-class mediaeval place like this."
+
+Loveday was plaiting her flaxen hair into two long braids; she paused
+with the ribbon in her hand.
+
+"I don't know--as you say, there ought to be. I've often
+wondered--especially since----" She hesitated.
+
+"Since what?" urged Diana, scenting the beginning of a mystery.
+
+"Since something that happened once."
+
+"When? Oh, _do_ tell me!"
+
+"I've never told anybody."
+
+Diana hopped out of bed, and flung two lace-frilled arms round her
+room-mate, clinging to her with the tenacity of a young octopus.
+
+"Oh, Loveday! Ducky! Tell me! I shan't let you go till you promise.
+Please! please!" she entreated.
+
+"If you strangle me I can't tell anything. Get back into bed, Diana! I
+don't know whether it was really important, but it may have been. It
+happened when I was quite a little girl. I had a slight attack of
+measles, and of course I was kept in bed. Mother was nursing me, and one
+afternoon she went out to do some shopping and left me to have a nap. I
+wasn't sleepy in the least, and it was horribly dull staying there all
+by myself. I remembered a book I wanted to read which was in the
+dining-room bookcase, so I did a most dreadfully naughty thing: I jumped
+up, put on my dressing-gown and bedroom slippers, and ran downstairs to
+fetch _At the Back of the North Wind_. I opened the dining-room door and
+marched in, and then I got a surprise, for seated in a chair by the fire
+was a stranger. He looked as much surprised as I was.
+
+"'Hallo!' he said. 'We go to bed early in this part of the world, don't
+we? Or are we only getting up?'
+
+"I walked to the fire and warmed my hands, and looked at him calmly. I
+was a funny child in those days.
+
+"'It's neither,' I answered. 'I've got measles.'
+
+"'Then please don't give them to me,' he laughed. 'I assure you I don't
+want them. Look here! I called to see your father, or, failing your
+father, your mother. They're both out, and I've been waiting half an
+hour for either of them to come in. I can't stay any longer. Will you
+give them a message from me? Say I've been over at Pendlemere Abbey, and
+that I've made a most interesting discovery there. If they care to
+communicate with me, I'll tell them about it. Here's my card with my
+address. Now I must bolt to keep an appointment. You'll remember the
+message?'
+
+[Illustration: "O-O-O-OH! HOW GORGEOUS TO BELONG TO A HIGH-FALUTING
+FAMILY THAT'S GOT LEGENDS AND GHOSTS!"]
+
+"He flung his card on the table, went out of the room, and I heard the
+hall door bang after him. I stood for a moment thinking. If I gave this
+message, Mother would know that I had been out of bed and downstairs,
+and I should be sure to get a tremendous scolding. I was a naughty
+little girl in those days; I took the card, flung it on the fire, seized
+_At the Back of the North Wind_ from the bookcase, and tore upstairs
+again. Of course I caught cold, and had rather a serious relapse which
+puzzled everybody. No one except myself knew the reason, and I took good
+care not to tell. Only six months afterwards I lost both my father and
+mother, and went to live with my aunt at Liverpool. What became of the
+stranger I don't know. I didn't even remember his name."
+
+"You weren't living at the Abbey then?"
+
+"No, no! We never lived at the Abbey. It was sold before I was born. I
+believe at that time it was empty, and a caretaker used to allow
+tourists to look through it. I suppose that gentleman was a tourist."
+
+"What had he found?"
+
+"That's a question I've asked myself a hundred times. Was it a sliding
+panel or a secret door? Or was he simply some antiquarian crank who
+wanted to prove that the Abbey was of Norman origin, or built on a Roman
+foundation? How I wish I hadn't forgotten his name! When I heard that
+Pendlemere had been turned into a school I begged my aunt to send me
+here. For a long time she wouldn't, and I went to a day-school. Then two
+years ago she and uncle decided to send me to a boarding-school, so
+again I asked to come here, and after a great deal of urging they let
+me. I hoped I might find out something. I'm always hunting about, but
+I've never yet made the 'interesting discovery'."
+
+"Where have you looked?" asked Diana, immensely thrilled.
+
+"Oh, everywhere! I've tapped panels, and pushed bits of carving to see
+if they'd move, but they're all absolutely firm and solid. I've had no
+luck."
+
+"I'll go exploring on my own."
+
+"Well, if you do, don't tell the other girls. I hate to pose as a sort
+of turned-out heiress, and have them pitying me. If they knew I was
+hunting for hiding-places, I believe some of them would rag me
+dreadfully. I should never hear the last of it. They'd always be
+pretending they'd found something, just to tease me."
+
+"And yet you ought to have been the heiress," mused Diana.
+
+"It's no use talking about being an heiress when the place was sold
+before I was born," returned Loveday rather bitterly. "I've told you
+this, but I trust you not to go blabbing it all over the school. If
+you're ready, I'll blow out the candle. Miss Hampson will be round in a
+minute."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The Rush-bearing
+
+
+Among Miss Todd's modern principles of education was the sensible theory
+that if you can once get a girl interested in a subject she will learn
+without any labour, and that self-acquired knowledge is far more readily
+retained than facts which are crammed down one's throat. More especially
+she applied this to history. Instead of making it a dry catalogue of
+dates of kings and battles, she tried to show the gradual evolution of
+the British nation from the barbarism of the Stone Age to present-day
+civilization. She dwelt much on folk-lore, ancient customs and
+traditions, and especially encouraged the study of all local legends and
+observances. In this she found an ally in the new vicar who had lately
+come to the church at Pendlemere, and whose daughters, Meg and Elsie,
+attended the school as day-girls. Mr. Fleming was an enthusiastic
+antiquarian, and revelled in the history of the neighbourhood. He went
+round his parish collecting information from the oldest inhabitants with
+regard to vanished and vanishing customs, and took notes for a book
+which he hoped to write upon the folk-lore of the northern counties. In
+the heat of his ardour he suggested the revival of several quaint old
+festivals which had once held time-honoured places in the calendar of
+the year. First and foremost came the Rush-bearing. In ancient days it
+had been the custom of the parishioners to cut bundles of rushes, and,
+walking in procession to the church, to strew the floor thickly with
+them as a covering for the winter. They would be left till the spring,
+and cleared away in time for Easter. This old ceremony had long fallen
+into disuse, and was only remembered by village patriarchs as one of the
+yearly events of their far-away childhood.
+
+Though it might not be desirable once more to strew the floor with
+rushes, Mr. Fleming suggested that it would be a pretty idea if the
+girls at Pendlemere School were to cut some bundles of them, tie them
+with ribbons, and carry them into the church on the date of the old
+festival, as a memorial of the past observance. Anything so interesting
+as going out to cut rushes appealed to the girls, and they readily
+adopted the suggestion. Miss Todd decided to turn the afternoon into a
+kind of natural history and antiquarian excursion.
+
+"The rushes by the lake are not very easy to get," she explained, "but
+there are beauties growing on Fox Fell. We'll have a ramble there on
+Saturday, take our lunch, and bring back our bundles. Then we can plait
+our ribbons at our leisure on Monday, in time for the festival on
+Tuesday. Who wants to go? Anybody who likes may stay at home."
+
+A rustle passed round the room, for nobody was anxious to be left out of
+the fun. Rambles were considered special treats at Pendlemere, and
+smiles decorated twenty faces at the prospect. At Geraldine's suggestion
+they did their Saturday prep. in Friday's recreation time.
+
+"And get all your practising finished too," she urged. "If we can tell
+Miss Todd that our work's quite squared up, she'll let us stay out
+longer; but you know her. If there's a single girl who hasn't learnt her
+literature, or made up her music list, the whole crew of us will have to
+come trotting back. I'd be sorry for that girl!" Geraldine looked round
+the room grimly. "I should give her a very unpleasant time myself, and I
+expect the rest of you would, too. She'd richly deserve all she got."
+
+Warned by the head girl's awful threat, tasks were completed in good
+time, and promptly by half-past ten the school, in a uniform of brown
+jerseys, brown tam-o'-shanters with orange tassels, strong boots,
+lunch-wallets slung over their shoulders, and sticks in their hands,
+were prepared, like a group of pilgrims, to make their start. Spot, the
+fox terrier, escorted them, barking his loudest. Meg and Elsie Fleming
+joined them in the village; so with Miss Todd and Miss Beverley they
+formed a party of twenty-four. They set their faces towards the fells,
+and stepped out briskly. They were not bound to walk in a crocodile,
+but, though some progressed in groups, most of the girls gravitated into
+pairs. Diana and Wendy linked arms as naturally as two pieces of mercury
+merge together in a box. Their spirits, usually high, were to-day at
+bubbling-over point: they laughed at everything, whether it was a joke
+or not.
+
+"It's my first real mountain walk in England," announced Diana.
+
+"Oh! I'm glad you allow they _are_ mountains," said Sadie, coming up
+from behind. "You've been bragging so hard about America, that I thought
+perhaps you'd consider them hillocks."
+
+"They _are_ hillocks compared with the Rockies," flashed Diana. "I'm not
+going to give way an inch about America, so there!"
+
+"All right, Uncle Sam, brag away. Everything over there is ten times
+bigger and better than here--the apples are the size of pumpkins, and
+the brooks are so wide you can't see across them, and it takes you years
+to ride round a single farm! We know! You needn't tell us again."
+
+"I wasn't going to!" retorted Diana. "What's the use, when you can make
+it all up for yourself?"
+
+"Oh! my invention's nothing to yours. I expect you're telling Wendy some
+startlers. I'm going to walk with Vi, she's more interesting than you
+two."
+
+"What's the matter with Sadie?" asked Diana, as their schoolmate ran on
+to catch up Violet.
+
+"Jealous!" said Wendy, shaking her head sagely. "She has these attacks
+sometimes, and I know the symptoms. She doesn't like to see you and me
+walking together. Last term she and I and Magsie and Tattie were in
+Dormitory 4. Magsie and Tattie did the 'twin cherries on one stalk'
+business all the time, so in self-defence Sadie and I had to chum,
+though we squabbled six times a day. I'm not going to be monopolized
+now, so she needn't think it. Let her chum with Vi if she likes, I'm
+sure I don't care. Hallo! Which stile do we go over here, I wonder?"
+
+The two girls had lagged behind, so that the rest of the party, walking
+at the brisk pace set by Miss Todd, had passed on in front. Wendy
+mounted each stile in turn, and surveyed the prospect of fields and high
+hedges. There was not a solitary tam-o'-shanter to be seen from either
+of them. In much doubt she hesitated.
+
+"It'll probably be to the left, because I know we have to go through
+that wood over there before we get out on to the fells," she
+conjectured.
+
+"I can't help you," said Diana. "Is it any use tossing for it?"
+
+They ventured to the left, and, after walking over three fields, found
+themselves in a narrow lane which terminated in a pond. It was such an
+evident cul-de-sac that there was nothing for it but to turn back. When
+they again reached the stiles they found Geraldine sitting upon the
+right-hand one. Her expression was thundery, and her greeting the
+reverse of cordial.
+
+"Where _have_ you been, you two stupids? Why can't you keep up with the
+rest of us instead of side-tracking like this? Here you're keeping the
+whole party waiting, and I've had to turn back to hunt you up."
+
+"Sorry to be on the earth!" apologized Wendy; "but we missed our way."
+
+"Then it's your own fault, for we left the gipsy trail for you as plain
+as plain could be. Some people have no eyes!"
+
+"What gipsy trail?"
+
+Geraldine pointed laconically to the grass.
+
+There, just by the right-hand stile, lay two crossed sticks. They were
+placed in a most obvious position. It was a marvel how they had escaped
+notice.
+
+"You may well stare!" commented Geraldine with sarcasm.
+
+"I believe I did see them," said Diana, "but I didn't know what they
+meant."
+
+"Didn't know! Why, Sadie told you! I sent her on purpose. Miss Todd said
+we were to leave the gipsy trail at every doubtful place."
+
+"Sadie never told us. She never said a single word."
+
+"You probably didn't listen. Well, I can't argue it out now, the others
+are waiting, and Miss Todd's furious. Come along as fast as you can."
+
+Diana and Wendy considered that the summary scolding which they received
+from Miss Todd, who was in too big a hurry to listen to any excuses, was
+entirely Sadie's fault, and a point to be settled up with her later. At
+present she scuttled on ahead, conveniently out of their way.
+
+"Just let her wait!" vowed Wendy darkly.
+
+It was necessary to step along briskly if they meant to accomplish the
+walk which Miss Todd had in her mind's eye, and anybody who has ever
+acted leader to a party of twenty-four knows the difficulty of making
+everyone keep the pace.
+
+"I believe Toddlekins would like to rope us all together as if we were
+Swiss mountaineers," giggled Magsie, "or a gang of prisoners clanking
+chains. It's rather weak if one can't even stop to pick a flower."
+
+They had passed through the wood by now, and were on the open fells. The
+view was gorgeous. The October sun flooded the landscape and showed up
+the wealth of autumn colour: tree-crested crags, ravines with brawling
+brooks, stretches of heather-clad moor, banks of faded bracken, rugged
+rocks and stony hill-crests were spread on the one hand, while to the
+west lay a distant chain of lakes, embosomed in meadows green as
+emerald, and reflecting the pale autumn sky in their smooth expanse. At
+the top of the first fell, Miss Todd called a halt. They had reached
+number one of the objects she had set in the day's programme. It was a
+pre-historic cromlech--three gigantic stones reared in the form of a
+table by those old inhabitants of our island whose customs and modes of
+worship are lost in the mists of antiquity. The storms and snows of many
+thousand years sweeping round it had slightly displaced the cap stone,
+but it stood otherwise intact, a grey, hoary monument to the toil of the
+short, dark neolithic race who once hunted on these self-same fells. The
+girls crowded round the cromlech curiously. It was large enough for four
+of them to sit underneath, and several crammed in as an experiment.
+
+"Was it an altar?" asked Stuart.
+
+"The altar theory is exploded now," said Miss Todd. "It is generally
+recognized that they were burial-places of great chiefs. The body would
+be placed inside, with stone weapons and drinking-cups, and any other
+articles the man had loved when he was alive. Then a great heap of
+stones and earth would be piled over and round it, to keep out the
+wolves which were the terror of early man. The weather, and perhaps
+farmers, have taken away the mound, and laid bare the cromlech; but
+look! here is one that is almost in its natural position."
+
+The girls turned, and saw close by a rocky mound that jutted from among
+the crags. In its side was a small opening, just large enough to squeeze
+through. Miss Todd had brought candle and matches, and personally
+conducted relays of girls into the chamber within. They went curiously
+or timorously as the case might be.
+
+"Is there a skeleton inside? I don't know whether I _dare_," shivered
+Tattie. "It's like going into a grave, and I'm scared to death."
+
+"Don't be silly!" said Geraldine, who, with Loveday and Hilary, was
+making her exit. "There's nothing inside it. It's only like a cave."
+
+"You're sure bogeys won't catch my legs?"
+
+"Stop outside, if you're afraid."
+
+"It's like a fairy-tale, and going into the gnome's hill," fluttered
+Magsie.
+
+Everybody was determined to have a peep, and even Tattie mustered up
+sufficient courage to screw through the narrow portal, though she
+squealed in the process, and clung tightly to Magsie's hand. Diana and
+Wendy were among the last to effect the investigation. By that time the
+piece of candle was guttering out, and Miss Todd, tired of acting
+show-woman, returned to the open air, and gave marching orders.
+
+Diana and Wendy, rather fascinated with the "Goblin Hole", as they
+called it, lingered, poking their noses inside the entrance.
+
+"I didn't go in," said a voice behind them. Turning, they saw Sadie's
+face, interested, and half-regretful.
+
+"Then you've lost your luck," said Diana decisively. "If you go in and
+turn round three times inside, you can have a wish, and it's bound to
+come true. You'd better do it. You've just time."
+
+"In the dark?" hesitated Sadie.
+
+"Quick! Go on!" urged her companions, standing back to make way for her.
+"Here are the matches."
+
+Sadie struck a match, and cautiously ventured forward. The moment she
+was well inside Diana motioned to Wendy, and, catching up a piece of
+wood that lay on the ground, tilted it like a door across the entrance,
+and piled some stones against it. Then the pair fled. They heard an
+agonized shriek behind them, but they turned deaf ears to it.
+
+They were half-way down the heathery hill-side when a very ruffled and
+indignant Sadie overtook them.
+
+"Hallo! I thought you'd gone to live with the goblins," exclaimed Diana
+cheerfully.
+
+"You're a pair of BEASTS!" exploded Sadie.
+
+"Don't mench! What kind of beasts, please? Young gazelles or kittens?"
+
+"Pigs would be more like it!" snapped Sadie. "To think of shutting me up
+alone in that bogey-hole! I might have lost my reason."
+
+"Didn't fancy you'd go stark staring mad as fast as all that," chuckled
+Diana. "It didn't take you very long to push that door down."
+
+"If we see any symptoms of insanity cropping out in you, we'll know the
+reason," added Wendy smartly.
+
+"And you see it's been very good for you to know what it feels like to
+be left behind," rubbed in Diana. "You never told us about that gipsy
+trail dodge. Tit for tat's my motto."
+
+"I think you're the two horridest girls in the school! I sha'n't speak
+to you again. You may consider yourselves funny, but no one else does,"
+said Sadie witheringly, as she flounced away to hang on to Geraldine's
+arm, and pour her woes into the head girl's not too willing ear.
+
+It was a good hour's walk from the cromlechs to Birk Water, the lake
+where they intended to pick the rushes. The path was the merest track,
+and the tramp through the heather and over rough and rugged stones well
+justified the thick footgear upon which Miss Todd had insisted. Birk
+Water was a lovely little mountain tarn lying under the shadow of Fox
+Fell, a smooth, grassy eminence down which hurried a noisy stream. They
+found a sheltered place in the sunshine on the bank, and sat down to eat
+their lunch. Hard-boiled eggs and cheese sandwiches tasted delicious in
+the open air, and for a special treat there was an apple apiece. In
+normal times the supply of apples was liberal, but this year the crop
+had failed, and they were rare dainties.
+
+"I sympathize with Eve," said Wendy, munching blissfully. "It must have
+been a very great temptation, especially with 'knowledge' thrown in.
+Just think of being able to eat an apple that would teach you all your
+dates and French verbs."
+
+"There weren't any dates then, unless they counted the geological
+periods; and the Tower of Babel came later, so the French language
+wasn't invented," objected Tattie.
+
+"Oh! don't be so literal-minded. I never meant that Eve sat at a desk
+and wrote exercises. I'm only telling you I like apples."
+
+"Well, so do I, and yours is a bigger one than mine."
+
+"It won't be long, don't you worry yourself. It's getting 'small by
+degrees and beautifully less'."
+
+The slopes of the hill were slightly marshy, and grew a crop of
+remarkably tall and fine rushes. They were much easier to gather than
+those on the borders of the lake. The girls had brought knives, and,
+when lunch had vanished to the last crumb, they dispersed up the
+hill-side to reap their rush harvest.
+
+"If they're not all wanted for the church, I vote we ask Miss Todd to
+let us put some down on the schoolroom floor," said Diana, hacking away
+cheerfully. "I'd just admire to know what they feel like under one's
+feet. It would take one back about five centuries."
+
+"Spiffing! We'll ask her! Get as many as you can carry, and tell the
+others. They'd be far more interesting than linoleum. Think of being
+able to swish one's toes about in them. I hope the church won't want too
+many."
+
+"It oughtn't to claim more than its tithe. I suppose it's entitled to a
+tenth of every harvest, if we stick strictly to the old customs," smiled
+Loveday, whose arms were already filled with a sheaf of green and
+orange.
+
+On the open side of the fell the wind blew strongly, and it was a
+struggle to toil upwards. The school tacked instead towards the
+sheltered bank of the stream, and with one accord broke into Scotch
+songs. Geraldine, in a full contralto, was singing "Green grow the
+rashes, O". Betty Blane's chirpy voice proclaimed "I'm ower young to
+marry yet",--a self-evident proposition, as she was only thirteen.
+Stuart and Loveday were crooning "Flowers of the Forest" as a kind of
+soprano dirge, which was drowned by a chorus of juniors roaring "Auld
+Lang Syne".
+
+  "We twa hae paidled i' the burn
+  Frae mornin' sun till dine",
+
+chanted Diana after them. "And that's just what I want to do. I've never
+had a chance yet to 'paidle' in a British burn."
+
+"You won't to-day, then," said Geraldine, who chanced to overhear, and
+stopped her singing to interpolate a remark. "Shoes and stockings aren't
+allowed off, except in the summer term."
+
+    "Green grow the rashes, O!
+     Green grow the rashes, O!
+  The sweetest hours that e'er I spent
+  Were spent among the lassies, O!"
+
+Diana stood frowning as Geraldine passed along, carolling at the pitch
+of her voice.
+
+"What nonsense!" she growled. "Who made such a silly old rule? I'm not
+going to keep it."
+
+"It's quite as warm to-day as it sometimes is in summer," agreed Wendy.
+
+"I believe it's only 'swank' on Geraldine's part, because she's head
+prefect. I _shall_ paddle! Just because she said I mustn't. Come on,
+Wendy! Let's scoot into this hollow and enjoy ourselves. Geraldine makes
+me feel real bad when she bosses. I want to go and break all the rules I
+can."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Diana Dares
+
+
+If Diana--a modern Eve--hankered after the apples of new experiences,
+Wendy succumbed to her persuasions as readily as Adam. The little
+purling brook was attractive, mistresses and prefects were safely out of
+sight, and schoolmates, if they chanced to appear on the scene, might be
+bribed not to blab. In a twinkling laces were unfastened, and two stout
+pairs of boots stowed away among the stones, each with its stocking
+tucked inside; while two pairs of bare feet went splashing joyously into
+the brook. It was fun paddling in the little pools and scrambling over
+the rocks, waving a foot occasionally into a foaming fall, and dancing
+out on to the grass when the water grew too cold to be endured any
+longer. They wandered for some distance up the hill-side, supremely
+happy, though taking care not to allow their exuberant spirits to
+overflow into song. So far not a soul seemed to have noticed them--they
+were enjoying the sweets of undiscovered crime. Suddenly through the
+clear autumnal air rang out the shrill, bubbling call of the regimental
+whistle with which Miss Todd was wont, on country walks, to collect her
+scattered flock. The two sinners jumped so uneasily that Wendy slipped
+from a stone and splashed into a pool, with rather disastrous
+consequences to her skirt.
+
+"We'd best go back and find our boots," she said, hurriedly wringing the
+water from the brown tweed.
+
+They had not realized how far they had roamed up the stream, and the
+length of the way back surprised them. It is not an easy matter to hurry
+over slippery stones, though they made what speed they could, urged by
+another summons from the whistle.
+
+"I think this was the place," declared Diana, at last arriving at
+landmarks that seemed familiar. "I left mine just over there."
+
+Both girls sought their hiding-places, but, to their utter dismay, the
+boots were missing. They searched about here, there, and everywhere, but
+not so much as the tab of a lace could be found. Meanwhile the whistle
+sounded impatient blasts.
+
+"What _are_ we to do?" flustered Wendy. "Toddlekins will be furious if
+we don't go; and yet how _can_ we go without our boots?"
+
+"We must have mistaken the place," gasped Diana. "Perhaps it was farther
+down."
+
+"No, no! I'm certain it was just here."
+
+"Well, we're in a pretty fix, at any rate."
+
+"T-r-r-r-r-ee-ee!" came again from the fell side. To disobey the summons
+deliberately was open mutiny. An agitated voice on the bank called to
+them.
+
+"Wendy and Diana, can't you hear the whistle? Come this instant!"
+
+It was Stuart Hamilton, who stood beckoning violently.
+
+"We've lost our boots," wailed Wendy.
+
+"Then come without them. Miss Todd has sent me to find you. Hurry up!"
+
+It was a scratchy and painful performance to hurry through heather and
+over sharp stones to the spot where the school was assembled. Miss Todd
+stood staring at them as they approached, with her "report yourself in
+my study" expression. They felt their bare legs and feet most
+embarrassingly conspicuous, and wished that fickle fashion had clothed
+them in longer skirts.
+
+"What is the meaning of this?" asked the Principal, eyeing their
+uncovered extremities severely.
+
+"We've--we've--lost our boots," stammered Diana, speaking for both.
+
+"And why were your boots taken off? You were aware of the rule, for I
+happen to know that you had just been reminded of it." (Here Wendy fixed
+a reproachful gaze on Geraldine, who coloured slightly.) "You've
+deliberately disobeyed orders, and you will be confined to 'bounds' for
+a fortnight. It's absolutely essential in our country rambles that
+discipline should be kept up, and any girl who breaks rules will stay at
+home next time. You deserve to walk back with bare feet, but Miss
+Beverley will give you your boots. Put them on at once!"
+
+It was horrible to have to sit down upon the heather and pull on
+stockings and boots under the critical supervision of twenty-two pairs
+of eyes. Diana's lace broke, and Wendy's fingers seemed all thumbs. Miss
+Todd superintended till the last knot had been awkwardly tied, then she
+gave the signal for marching. Considerably crestfallen, the delinquents
+dropped towards the rear.
+
+"Did Geraldine sneak?" whispered Wendy to Violet.
+
+"No, it wasn't exactly her fault--it was Spot really. He routed out the
+boots, and began barking and worrying them, and Miss Beverley rushed up
+to see what he'd got--she thought he'd caught an otter or a water-rat.
+When she saw it was boots--well----"
+
+"She knew she'd caught us," finished Diana.
+
+"She took the boots straight to Miss Todd, and Toddlekins blew her
+whistle and counted us over like sheep to find who was missing. Then she
+asked who'd seen you last, and if anyone had given you leave to wade.
+She dragged it all out of Geraldine. I don't think Gerry would have told
+on her own."
+
+"Spot!" said Diana, turning reproachful eyes on that panting specimen of
+the canine race. "I used to think you a dinky little dog, but I'm out of
+friends with you now. It's a real mean trick you've played us. Oh! you
+needn't come jumping up on me and licking my hand. What possessed you to
+unearth those boots? 'Bounds' for a whole fortnight! And I wanted to go
+to Glenbury on Wednesday. It's too disgusting for words! Vi, d'you think
+if I looked an absolute hallowed saint all Sunday, and Monday, and
+Tuesday, Miss Todd would let me go to Glenbury? My name's down for the
+exeat, you know."
+
+Violet regarded Diana for a moment or two as if making mental
+calculations.
+
+"You couldn't do it," she decided at last. "You couldn't look the least
+tiny, weeny atom like a saint if you tried till doomsday. Saints ought
+to be thin and wan, with straight noses and fair hair parted in the
+middle. You're rosy and substantial, and your nose isn't straight, and
+your hair's too brown, and as for your eyes--they've a wicked twinkle in
+them the whole time. No, my good girl, whatever else you may do, you
+won't succeed in looking saintly."
+
+"Well, I guess I've got some bounce in me, certainly," agreed Diana.
+"But I thought perhaps if I went about on tiptoe and whispered,
+and"--hopefully--"I could keep my eyes half-shut, couldn't I?"
+
+Violet shook her head decisively.
+
+"That twinkle would ooze out of the smallest chink, and besides, even if
+you managed to look a saint, that wouldn't influence Toddlekins. You
+don't know her yet. Once she says a thing she sticks to it like glue.
+_She_ calls it necessary firmness in a mistress, and _we_ call it a
+strain of obstinacy in her disposition. In the old days we could get
+round Mrs. Gifford, but now Toddlekins rules the show, you may as well
+make up your mind to things and have done with it. What she says is
+kismet."
+
+"Why do you want to go to Glenbury?" asked Jess.
+
+"Oh! just a reason of my own," evaded Diana.
+
+"You'll very likely get an exeat the week after," consoled Violet.
+
+"It would be no use to me then," said Diana dismally.
+
+The procession of rush-bearers, each carrying a good-sized sheaf in her
+arms, wound down the hill-side to go back to Pendlemere by a different
+route. This was a wild track over the moors, past the old slate-quarry,
+where rusty bits of machinery and piles of broken slates were lying
+about, then over the ridge and down by Wethersted Tarn to the gorge
+where the river took its rise. Here a stream of considerable force
+thundered along between high walls of rock. It was a picturesque spot;
+rowan-trees hung from clefts in the crags, their bright berries
+rivalling the scarlet of the hips and haws; green fronds of fern bent at
+the water's edge, and brilliant carpets of moss clothed the boulders. At
+one point a great tree-trunk, a giant of the fells, rotten through many
+years of braving the strong west wind, had fallen and lay across the
+torrent. It stretched from bank to bank like a rough kind of natural
+bridge, with the stream roaring and foaming only six feet below. The
+girls scrambled over its upturned roots, and stood looking at the
+straight trunk and withered branches that lay stretched before them.
+
+"Shouldn't care to venture across there," said Loveday with a shiver.
+
+"It looks particularly slippery and horrid," agreed Geraldine.
+
+"The water must be so very deep down there," said Hilary.
+
+"I don't believe there's one of us who'd go across for a
+five-pound-note," said Ida. "What offers? Don't all speak at once!"
+
+The girls smiled, and were turning away to follow Miss Todd, when
+Geraldine stopped and held up a finger.
+
+"What's that noise?" she asked.
+
+"I don't hear anything but the stream," said Ida doubtfully.
+
+"I do, though," said Diana, who with Wendy and Vi had joined the
+seniors. "It sounds like somebody whimpering."
+
+"I'm going down the bank to see."
+
+The others followed Geraldine, and swung themselves down to the water
+level. Sitting under the arch formed by the roots of the tree was a
+small boy of about seven, rubbing two swimming eyes with two grimy
+little fists and sobbing lustily.
+
+"Hallo! What's the matter here?" said Geraldine briskly. "Where do you
+come from, and why don't you go home? Are you lost?"
+
+At the mention of "home" the little fellow's tears redoubled, and the
+whimper rose to a roar. Ida sat down on the rock beside him, and tried
+to comfort him. It was a difficult process to get any coherent or
+sensible replies to her questions, but after considerable coaxing, and a
+last piece of chocolate which Wendy fortunately fished from her pocket,
+she managed to wring from him that his name was Harry, that he lived at
+a farm on the other side of the torrent, that he had come down to the
+river with several other boys, and that they had dared him to cross by
+the fallen tree. Once over, he was too frightened to go back, and, after
+waiting and calling to him for some time, the other boys had run away.
+How was he going to get home?
+
+The situation was difficult, for there was no bridge across the river
+for many miles. Unless the child could go back the way he had come, it
+was a problem what was to be done.
+
+"You were a silly boy ever to try to cross," said Geraldine
+sententiously.
+
+"They said I durstn't!" sobbed the small sinner.
+
+"Oh, don't scold him!" pleaded Diana. "I do know so exactly how he felt.
+I've often been dared to do things myself, and done them, though I
+shivered."
+
+"Well, you'd surely never do such a silly thing as cross that tree?"
+
+[Illustration: TWO PAIRS OF BARE FEET WENT SPLASHING JOYOUSLY INTO THE
+BROOK]
+
+"Wouldn't I? I believe I'm going to do it now."
+
+"Diana!"
+
+"He's got to get home somehow. Look here, Harry!"--Diana knelt on the
+pebbles, and put her arm round the little blue-jerseyed figure--"suppose
+I were to go too, would you dare to cross again? We'd both crawl on our
+hands and knees."
+
+The sobs stopped, while Harry took a swift survey of her face.
+Apparently he found it satisfactory.
+
+"If you'll go first," he stammered.
+
+"Then come along--we've no time to waste," said Diana, springing up and
+giving him her hand.
+
+"Diana! You surely don't mean----" began Geraldine in eager
+remonstrance.
+
+"Yes, I do!" interrupted Diana. "I've done worse things before, and I'm
+not scared. Come on, Harry! We'll have you home in forty cracks."
+
+The girls did not attempt to interfere. They stood and watched while
+Diana hauled the little boy up the bank. Perhaps each secretly wished
+she were capable of such a piece of pluck. Though the tree was tall
+enough to span the stream, its bole seemed very narrow to form a bridge,
+and the rounded surface made it all the more slippery; the few branches
+here and there were of little help. Diana hoisted up her protege, then
+going in front of him began to crawl across on her hands and knees,
+speaking to him all the time, so as to encourage him to follow her.
+Beneath them the water foamed and roared over the rocks: to slip would
+mean to be whirled into the depths of a dark pool below. It was a slow
+progress, but inch by inch they crept along till the most dangerous part
+was passed, and they had reached comparative safety. The girls cheered
+when at last Diana scrambled to her feet and lifted Harry on to dry
+ground. A path led up the side of the gorge, and along this he set off
+at full speed for home. His preserver stood looking after him for a
+minute or two, and then she turned to re-cross her perilous bridge. Six
+hands were stretched out to help her as she completed the venturesome
+journey.
+
+"You're a trump, Di!"
+
+"_I_ daren't have done it!"
+
+"You've been a guardian angel to that child!"
+
+"Was it _very_ awful?"
+
+"I can't think how you managed it!"
+
+"I nearly screamed when you reached the middle!"
+
+"It felt worse coming back than going," said Diana, brushing her skirt,
+which had suffered considerably. "Somehow I minded it more. Well, it's
+over now! We'd better be getting on, hadn't we?"
+
+"Yes, indeed; the others will think we're lost," agreed Geraldine.
+
+The t-r-r-ee-ee of the whistle was sounding from the far distance, so
+the girls made a spurt and hurried along to catch up the rest of the
+party. Geraldine, in virtue of her office as head prefect, briefly
+explained to Miss Todd the cause of the delay.
+
+"I shouldn't have let you do it, Diana, if I had been there," said the
+Principal. "But I've no doubt the little boy's mother is blessing you.
+We should have had to take him to Pendlemere with us, and have sent
+somebody from the village to take him home. There would have been no
+other way. Remember, though, that I'm responsible for you to your
+parents, and I really can't allow these harum-scarum tricks. Suppose
+there had been an accident!"
+
+"Dad knows me, and he wouldn't have blamed you," said Diana cheerily.
+"He says I'm like a cat with nine lives, or a bad halfpenny that always
+turns up again. I've done worse things than this."
+
+"Then you won't do them while you're at this school," returned Miss Todd
+firmly, motioning her to walk along in front with Geraldine.
+
+On Monday afternoon, with the aid of some ribbons, the girls made their
+rushes into pretty little sheaves. They plaited bands for them, and
+twisted them securely. Miss Todd, much interested, superintended their
+operations.
+
+"You may pick some flowers from the garden to-morrow, and put garlands
+round them," she suggested. "We're reviving a most ancient custom that
+dates back to the early days of Christianity in Britain. Pope Gregory IV
+recommended that on the anniversaries of the dedication of churches
+wrested from the Pagans, the converts should build themselves huts with
+the boughs of trees round their churches, and celebrate the day with
+feasting. The rush-bearing is probably the last relic of that ancient
+ceremony. At one time there was always a village feast in connection
+with it, though it degenerated at last into a sort of rustic saturnalia,
+and had to be suppressed."
+
+"Old customs are very interesting," said Diana, staring at the Principal
+with wide-open, steady eyes.
+
+"I'm glad you find them so."
+
+"It's nice to see them _all_ kept up. If we have the rush-bearing
+to-morrow, oughtn't we--just to revive an old ceremony--to have the
+feast as well?"
+
+A rustle passed over the school at Diana's temerity. Miss Todd returned
+the steady gaze, then the corners of her mouth twitched.
+
+"You've stated the case very accurately. As a matter of fact, I have
+ordered seed-cake and scones, and have invited the Vicarage people to
+tea."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+French Leave
+
+
+The sheaves of rushes were duly carried into the church, and stacked
+artistically in the deep window-sills, where they gave somewhat the
+effect of a harvest festival. The girls were eager to lay bundles of
+them in the particular pews occupied by the school, but the verger, who
+looked askance at the whole business, and whose wife was hovering about
+with a broom to sweep up bits, vetoed the suggestion so emphatically
+that the Vicar, wavering with a strong balance towards ancient custom,
+hastily and regretfully decided in the negative. Neither would Miss Todd
+allow them to be strewn upon the schoolroom floor, although Diana
+ventured to suggest the advisability of practical study of mediaeval
+methods.
+
+"There are some things best left to imagination," replied the Principal
+dryly. "For instance, there would be no need to dispense with forks, and
+let you hold mutton bones with your fingers at dinner, in order to
+demonstrate fourteenth-century manners, nor to bleed you every time you
+had a toothache, to test ancient practices of medicine. If you're so
+very anxious to skip a few hundred years, I have, in an old Herbal, a
+prescription to cure 'swimming in ye heade and such like phantasies'. It
+consists mainly of pounded snail-shells, mixed with boiled tansy and
+snippings from the hair of an unbaptized infant born between Easter and
+Michaelmas. Any one who wishes has my permission to try it."
+
+"No, thank you!" said Diana, screwing up her mouth. "Unless," she added
+hopefully, "I might go out and gather the tansy. We saw some growing on
+the way to Fox Fell."
+
+"There's a fine clump at the bottom of the garden, so you needn't go out
+of bounds to get it," replied Miss Todd, glancing at her pupil with eyes
+that clearly saw through all subterfuges.
+
+The Principal was determined that Diana and Wendy, having deliberately
+broken a rule, should suffer the just consequences, and she did not
+intend to remit one jot or tittle of the punishment she had inflicted.
+"Bounds" at Pendlemere were sufficiently extensive to allow ample
+exercise, and any farther excursions must be deferred till the end of
+the appointed fortnight.
+
+Diana, looking at the exeat list which hung in the hall, shook her head
+at sight of her own name scored through with a blue pencil.
+
+"Just to think that removing my boots and stockings for ten short
+minutes should have cut me off from going to Glenbury," she
+philosophized. "I was only 'laving my feet', as the poets say. Nymphs
+always did it in classical times. Indeed, I don't suppose they ever had
+boots and stockings to take off, so they could paddle as they pleased."
+
+"They had a warmer climate in Greece," sniffed Wendy, who had a bad cold
+in her head as the result of her paddling; "and I suppose they were
+accustomed to it. If there is anything you want particularly in
+Glenbury, Magsie's going, and I expect she'd get it for you."
+
+"I don't know whether she could."
+
+"What is it you want?"
+
+Diana hesitated, then whispered in Wendy's ear:
+
+"Three packets of Turkish cigarettes."
+
+"O-o-o-oh!"
+
+Wendy's eyes were wide. Diana nodded determinedly.
+
+"But what do you want them for?"
+
+"That's my own business."
+
+"You surely don't _smoke_!"--in a horrified voice.
+
+"I don't want them for myself--I'll tell you that much."
+
+"For whom are they, then?"
+
+"I shan't tell you!"
+
+"Magsie would never dare to bolt into a tobacconist's and buy
+cigarettes."
+
+"I was afraid she wouldn't," said Diana sadly.
+
+"And you'd better be careful yourself if you go to Glenbury next exeat
+day. Toddlekins would draw the line at cigarettes. You wouldn't like to
+get expelled?"
+
+"I don't know that I'd very much care," sighed Diana.
+
+She revenged herself for her enforced seclusion by clumping noisily
+about the passages, till Miss Todd, hearing the racket, dropped a
+significant hint as to the necessity of compulsory felt slippers for
+girls who had not learnt to walk lightly. So, fearing that the Principal
+might really carry out this threat, Diana betook herself to the garden,
+and expended her superfluous energy on a fast and furious set of tennis.
+Having lost three balls, she left Vi and Peggy to look for them, and,
+still in a thoroughly bad temper, strolled round the corner of the
+house. On the front drive she saw a sight that set her running. Exactly
+opposite the door stood the car of her cousin, Mrs. Burritt. It was
+empty, but the chauffeur, at the top of the steps, was in the very act
+of handing two envelopes to the housemaid.
+
+"Anything for me, Thompson?" cried Diana eagerly.
+
+"Yes, miss. Letter for you, and one for Miss Todd," replied the man,
+touching his cap.
+
+Diana seized hers from Edith, the maid, devoured its contents, and
+clapped her hands.
+
+"I'll be ready in five minutes, Thompson!" she exclaimed, and fled
+indoors.
+
+Half-way down the corridor she nearly ran into Miss Todd, emerging from
+her study with an open letter in her hand.
+
+"Where are you going, Diana?"
+
+"Cousin Cora's asked me for the night! She's sent the car for me. My
+cousin Lenox is there on leave!" panted Diana.
+
+"So I understand from Mrs. Burritt's letter, but I certainly cannot
+allow you to go."
+
+"Not go?"
+
+Diana's face was a study.
+
+"I had no authority from your father and mother to allow you to accept
+invitations."
+
+"But I _know_ they'd let me! Oh, Miss Todd, I simply _must_!"
+
+"That's for me to decide, Diana, not you, and I say 'no'."
+
+Mistress and pupil looked at each other squarely. Miss Todd's mouth was
+set in a firm line. Evidently she considered that she was fighting a
+campaign against Diana, and she meant to carry this outpost. Diana had
+the sense to realize her defeat. She drooped her lashes over her eyes.
+
+"May I send a note to Cousin Cora?" she asked in a strangled voice.
+
+"You can if you wish, and I'll write to her myself, and explain that it
+is against our rules."
+
+Murmuring something that sounded dangerously like "Strafe rules!" Diana
+darted upstairs for blotting-pad and fountain-pen. She frowned hard
+while she scribbled, thumped the envelope as she closed it, then ran
+down to give it into the personal charge of the chauffeur. She would
+have added some comments for his benefit, had Miss Hampson not been
+standing upon the doorstep.
+
+"You're not coming, miss?" enquired Thompson civilly, but with evident
+astonishment.
+
+"_No!_" grunted Diana, turning indoors and clumping down the hall past
+Miss Todd's study with footsteps heavy enough to justify the demand for
+felt slippers.
+
+She was too angry at the moment to mind what happened, and the
+Principal, who was wise in her generation, allowed her to stamp by
+unchallenged.
+
+At tea-time, at preparation, at evening recreation, and at supper Diana
+sat with a thunder-cloud on her face. When she went to bed it burst. She
+squatted in a limp heap on the floor and raged at fate.
+
+"I'm sorry, but you're really making a most fearful fuss!" said Loveday,
+whose sympathy and sense of fitness were playing see-saw. "It's one of
+the rules of the school that we don't go away for odd holidays. We may
+have Friday to Monday at half-term, but even Mrs. Gifford never let
+anyone off in the middle of the week to stay a night. You're only served
+the same as everybody else. Why can't you take it sporting?"
+
+"You don't understand!" wailed Diana, mopping her moist cheeks.
+
+"Do get up from the floor, at any rate. It looks so weak to be huddled
+up like a bundle of rags. You haven't brushed your hair yet. Don't be a
+slacker, Diana!"
+
+Thus morally prodded, Diana rose dejectedly, put on her bedroom
+slippers, and took the hair-brush which her room-mate handed. She did
+not like to be called a slacker, particularly by Loveday. The atmosphere
+was not altogether harmonious: she felt as if their thoughts were
+running round in circles, and had not yet met at a mutual angle of
+comprehension.
+
+"Loveday doesn't understand me--she thinks me a spoilt cry-baby!" she
+kept repeating to herself, and the mere fact of realizing that attitude
+in her companion prevented her from trying to explain the situation.
+Hair-brush drill proceeded in dead silence, only broken by an occasional
+gasping sigh from Diana, which echoed through the room about as
+cheerfully as a funeral dirge. Loveday stared at her once or twice as if
+about to make a remark, but changed her mind; she dawdled about the
+room, opening drawers and rearranging her possessions. When at last she
+was ready to put out the light she paused, and turned to the other
+cubicle. Diana lay quietly with her nose buried in the pillow. Loveday
+bent over her and dropped a butterfly kiss on the inch of cheek visible.
+
+"Poor old sport! Was I rather a beast?" she said; then, hearing Miss
+Beverley's patrol step in the passage, she dabbed the extinguisher on
+the candle and hopped hastily into bed.
+
+All night long Loveday had uneasy and troubled dreams about Diana. They
+met and parted, and quarrelled and made it up; they did ridiculous and
+impossible things, such as crawling through tubes or walking on roofs;
+they were pursued by bulls, or they floated on rivers; yet always they
+were together, and Loveday, with a feeling of compunction and no sense
+at all of the ridiculous, was trying with a sponge to mop up Diana's
+overflowing rivers of tears that were running down and making pools on a
+clean table-cloth. She awoke with a start, feeling almost as if the
+sheets were damp. Stealthy sounds came from the next cubicle, and the
+candle was lighted there.
+
+"What's the matter, Diana?"
+
+"S-h-s-h!"
+
+"Aren't you well?"
+
+"Yes, I'm all right."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+As a grunt was the only answer, Loveday got up and drew aside the
+curtains. Her room-mate was ready dressed, and was in process of combing
+her light-brown locks and fixing in a slide.
+
+"What the dickens are you up to, child?" ejaculated Loveday in
+amazement.
+
+Diana turned quickly, pulled Loveday down on to the bed, flung an arm
+round her, and laid a fluffy head on her shoulder.
+
+"Oh, _do_ be a sport!" she implored.
+
+"But what do you want to do?"
+
+"Look here--it's like this! I'm such a duffer at explaining, or I'd have
+told you last night. My cousin, Lenox Clifford, has come over to England
+with the American contingent. He has just thirty-six hours' leave, and
+he rushed over to Petteridge to see the Burritts. Lenox and I were
+brought up together; I've stayed whole months with them when Uncle Carr
+had a ranch in New Mexico. It was Lenox who taught me to ride, and to
+fish, and to row, and to skate. There's no one in the world so clever as
+Lenox! It's his birthday to-day. It was for him I wanted to get those
+cigarettes--I thought he'd like them in camp. I couldn't think of
+anything else to send him that he could pack among his kit. Well, he's
+going off this week to the front, and, as likely as not, he'll be killed
+right away, and I'll never see him in this world again. It makes me
+crazy to think of it. He's only ten miles away, and I mayn't even say
+good-bye to him. Lenox, who's called me his 'little indispensable' ever
+since I was four! If he was killed, and I hadn't had one last word with
+him, I'd break my heart. Yes, I would! You English girls are so
+cold--you laugh at me because I feel red-hot about things."
+
+"We're not cold really. I didn't understand," said Loveday. "You never
+told me all this about your cousin. Does Miss Todd know he's just off
+for the front?"
+
+"Cousin Coralie said so in her letter. That's what made me so furious. I
+wouldn't have asked to go to Petteridge just for the sake of a holiday;
+but when it's a case of seeing Lenox, perhaps for the last time, I'm
+desperate. Rules are cruel things!"
+
+"I do think Miss Todd might have made a special exception," said
+Loveday, hugging the agitated little figure that clung to her. "I'm
+sure Mrs. Gifford would have let you go. It's because Miss Todd is new,
+and also because, when once she's said a thing, she sticks to it. You
+were kept to 'bounds'."
+
+"I know. But, Loveday, I'm going to break them this morning. I must say
+good-bye to Lenox whatever happens. I'm going to cycle over to
+Petteridge--now don't talk, for I've planned it all out. I can climb
+down the ivy, and I left Wendy's bicycle outside last night on purpose.
+I shall be back by half-past seven."
+
+The audacity of the proposal nearly took Loveday's breath away.
+
+"But--but----" she remonstrated.
+
+"No buts," said Diana, getting up and putting on her tam-o'-shanter.
+
+"But, you silly child, you'll never do it in the time, and they won't be
+up when you get to Petteridge."
+
+"Won't they? I rather guess they will! I told Cousin Cora I was coming
+to breakfast at six o'clock, and they must send me back in the car,
+bicycle and all."
+
+"Did you put that in the letter you sent by the chauffeur?"
+
+"Yes. Miss Todd didn't ask to read it. I reckon they'll have a nice
+little meal waiting. If I can manage to slip in here before the gong
+sounds for prayers, nobody need know a word about it except you,
+Loveday, and I trust you not to tell."
+
+"It's frightfully against my conscience," faltered Loveday doubtfully.
+
+"Oh! Suppose you had a brother or a cousin of your own who was going out
+to the front, wouldn't you want to say just one word of good-bye?
+Especially when you hadn't seen him for a year! It isn't as if I were
+doing anything that Father and Mother would be angry about. And Cousin
+Cora will send me back in the car."
+
+"It really is red-tape of Miss Todd," murmured Loveday yieldingly.
+
+"Then you'll promise? Oh, good! What a sport you are! Help me on with my
+coat. No, I don't need a scarf--it's quite warm. I must take my watch,
+though."
+
+The girls drew aside the curtains and looked out of the window. It was
+only about half-past four; the stars were shining, and there was a thin,
+horned moon hanging in the east, its radiant rim turned towards the spot
+where the day would break. No hint of dawn was yet in the air, though
+curlews were calling from the meadows by the lake. Bushes and garden
+paths were plainly distinguished in the starlight.
+
+"It'll be light soon," said Diana, "and, at any rate, I can see quite
+well enough to ride. I shall just enjoy spinning along."
+
+"Be careful going down hills," urged Loveday. "By the by, you're on the
+early practising-list this morning--had you forgotten?"
+
+"Oh, kafoozalum! So I am! Suppose Bunty comes to see why the piano's
+silent? Well, I can't help it! I'm going! Do the best you can for me,
+won't you?"
+
+The close ivy which grew up the side of the house had stems as thick as
+tent-posts. Diana let herself down over the sill, found a footing, and
+descended hand over hand with the agility of a middy. Wendy's bicycle
+was leaning against the wall at the bottom. She took it, and waved
+good-bye to Loveday, then walked along the side-path that led to the
+gate. A minute later she was free-wheeling down the hill that led
+through the village in the direction of Petteridge Court. Loveday,
+shaking her head, went back to bed.
+
+"I'm thankful I'm not a prefect, or I should have felt bound to stop
+her," she reflected. "If I'd had a brother or a cousin whom I hadn't
+seen for a year, and who was just off to the front, I declare I'd have
+done it myself. I don't blame her! But there'll be a row if Bunty
+doesn't hear her scales going."
+
+Exactly at a quarter to eight o'clock a Daimler car whisked through the
+village, and stopped by the gate of Pendlemere Abbey. A small figure
+hopped from it, and the chauffeur handed out a bicycle, then drove away
+at full speed. Girl and bicycle crept through the laurels to the side
+door, whence the former fled upstairs like a whirlwind. From the
+intermediates' room came the strains of the Beethoven sonata with which
+Loveday was at present wrestling. Diana, wrenching off coat and hat in
+her bedroom, paused to listen.
+
+"Bless her!" she muttered. "She's actually gone and taken my place! What
+an absolute trump she is!"
+
+It was not until morning school was over that the confederates had the
+slightest chance to compare notes.
+
+"Well, did you see him?" asked Loveday, when at last they met in their
+bedroom to brush their hair for dinner.
+
+Diana's eyes filled with tears.
+
+"Yes, and Cousin Cora said she was glad I came. She lost her own boy,
+you know--he went out with the American Red Cross, and was killed when a
+Zepp. bombed the hospital. That's two years ago now. I wouldn't have
+missed saying good-bye to Lenox for worlds. I'd quite a nice ride to
+Petteridge. It got light directly, and the hills looked beautiful in the
+dawn. Loveday, you did my practising for me!"
+
+"Not exactly _for_ you! I took your half-hour, and you must take mine
+instead, from half-past four till tea-time."
+
+"Right-o! But did Bunty come in?"
+
+"Yes; and I told her I wanted to go out with Nesta this afternoon. So I
+do."
+
+"You don't think anybody suspects?"
+
+"Not a soul!"
+
+Diana came close, and laid a hand on her room-mate's arm.
+
+"Loveday, I'll never forget what you've done for me to-day--_never_! If
+I ever get the chance to do anything for you in return, you bet I'll do
+it, no matter _what_ it costs me! You've been a real mascot. There isn't
+a girl in the school who'd have played up better, certainly not among
+the seniors. I do think you're just ripping! Did Bunty look _very_
+surprised to see you at the piano?"
+
+"She did, rather; but I asked her if Nesta and I might have an exeat
+this afternoon to go to the Vicarage. Mrs. Fleming gave us an open
+invitation, you know, to come and see her sketches."
+
+"What a brain! You really are too lovely!" chuckled Diana.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Land Girls
+
+
+With the bond of such a secret between them, Diana and Loveday cemented
+a firm friendship. To be sure, Loveday's conscience, which was of a very
+exacting and inquisitorial description, sometimes gave her unpleasant
+twinges like a species of moral toothache; but then the other self which
+also talked inside her would plead that it was only sporting to screen a
+schoolfellow, and that no one but a sneak could have done otherwise. She
+sincerely hoped that Diana had escaped notice both going and returning,
+and that no busybody from the village would bring a report to Miss Todd.
+If the matter were to leak out, both girls would get into serious
+trouble--Diana for running away, and her room-mate for aiding and
+abetting her escapade. That she was really in some danger on her account
+gave Loveday an added interest in Diana. She began to be very fond of
+her. The little American had a most lovable side for certain people, on
+whom she bestowed the warmth of her affection, though she could be a
+pixie to those who did not happen to please her. With the seniors in
+general she was no favourite. She had more than one skirmish with the
+prefects, and was commonly regarded as a firebrand, ready at any moment
+to set alight the flame of insurrection among turbulent intermediates
+and juniors.
+
+"Diana's at the bottom of any mischief that's going!" proclaimed
+Geraldine one day, after a battle royal over an absurd dispute about the
+tennis-court.
+
+"And the worst of it is, she makes Wendy just as bad!" agreed Hilary
+warmly.
+
+"Wendy wasn't exactly a saint before Diana came," put in Loveday.
+
+"Oh, you always stand up for Diana! I can't think what you see in her--a
+cheeky little monkey, I call her!" Geraldine was still ruffled.
+
+"She has her points, though."
+
+"She'll get jolly well sat upon, if she doesn't take care," muttered
+Geraldine, who held exalted notions as to the dignity of prefects.
+
+It was at the beginning of the second week in October that Miss Todd, in
+whose brain ambitious projects of education for the production of the
+"super-girl" had been fermenting, announced the first of her radical
+changes. She had not undertaken it without much consultation with
+parents, and many letters had passed backwards and forwards on the
+subject. Most, however, had agreed with her views, and it had been
+decided that at any rate the experiment was to be tried. Pendlemere,
+which so far had concentrated entirely on the Senior Oxford Curriculum
+and accomplishments, was to add an agricultural side to its course.
+There was to be a lady teacher, fresh from the Birchgate Horticultural
+College, who would start poultry-keeping and bee-keeping on the latest
+scientific principles, and would plant the garden with crops of
+vegetables. She could have a few land workers to assist her, and the
+girls, in relays, could study her methods. Miss Todd, who in choosing a
+career had hesitated between teaching and horticulture, snatched at the
+opportunity of combining the two. She was bubbling over with enthusiasm.
+In imagination she saw Pendlemere a flourishing Garden Colony, setting
+an educational example to the rest of the scholastic world. Her girls,
+trained in both the scientific and practical side of agriculture in
+addition to their ordinary curriculum, would be turned out equipped for
+all contingencies, either of emigration, or a better Britain. She
+considered their health would profit largely. She explained her views to
+them in detail, painting rose-coloured pictures of the delights in store
+for them in the spring and summer. The girls, very much thrilled at the
+prospect, dispersed to talk it over.
+
+"Is Pendlemere to be a sort of farm, then?" asked Wendy.
+
+"Looks like it, if we're to keep hens and bees, and grow all our own
+vegetables! Bags me help with the chickens. I love them when they're all
+yellow, like canaries. Toddlekins hinted something about launching out
+into a horse if things prospered."
+
+"A horse! Goody, what fun!" exulted Diana. "I just _adore_ horses! Bags
+me help with stable-work, then. I'd groom it instead of learning my
+geography or practising scales. I say, I call this a ripping idea!"
+
+"Don't congratulate yourself too soon," qualified Magsie. "You'll
+probably find the geography and the scales are tucked in somehow. All
+the same, I think it sounds rather sporty."
+
+"It will be a change, at any rate, and we'll feel we're marching with
+the times."
+
+"When does the 'back-to-the-land' teacher come?"
+
+"On Friday, I believe."
+
+Miss Chadwick, the graduate of Birchgate Horticultural College, who was
+to run the new experiment, arrived at the end of the week, and brought
+two students as her assistants. They were a fresh, jolly-looking trio,
+with faces rosy from open-air work, and serviceable hands which caused a
+considerable flutter among those of the school who went in for manicure.
+At tea-time they talked gaily of onion-beds, intensive culture,
+irrigation, proteids, white Wyandottes, trap-nests, insecticides,
+sugar-beets, and bacteria. Miss Todd, keenly interested, joined in the
+conversation with the zeal of a neophyte; Miss Beverley, the
+nature-study side of whose education had been neglected, and who
+scarcely knew a caterpillar from an earthworm, followed with the uneasy
+air of one who is out of her depth; the school, eating their
+bread-and-butter and blackberry jam, sat and listened to the talk at the
+top end of the table.
+
+"It sounds rather brainy," commented Diana in a whisper.
+
+"Yes," replied Wendy, also in a subdued tone. "Poor old Bunty's
+floundering hopelessly. Did you hear her ask if they were going to
+cultivate cucumbers in the open? I nearly exploded! I believe she thinks
+pineapples grow on pine-trees. She's trying _so_ hard to look as if she
+knows all about it. I'll be sorry for the infant cabbages if she has the
+care of them."
+
+"It wouldn't be her job, surely."
+
+"I'd agitate for a 'Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Vegetables'
+if it were. I believe I'm going to adore Miss Chadwick! She looks so
+sporty. She wrinkles up her nose when she laughs, just like a baby
+does."
+
+"The little dark student with the freckles is my fancy."
+
+"Oh! I like the other, with the bobbed hair."
+
+Miss Chadwick, with her assistants Miss Carr and Miss Ormrod, brought a
+new and decidedly breezy element into the school. They spent Saturday in
+reviewing the premises, and on Monday they set to work. The girls, who
+as yet were only in the position of onlookers, watched the operations,
+much thrilled. All sorts of interesting things began to arrive: portable
+hen-houses packed in sections, chicken-coops, rolls of galvanized wire
+netting, iron stakes, the framework of a greenhouse, and a whole cargo
+of tools. The three enterprising ladies seemed to have some knowledge of
+carpentry, and at once began to fit parts together and erect sheds.
+Their sensible land costumes excited admiration and envy.
+
+"It's what I mean to do when I grow up," resolved Magsie. "Did you see
+the way Miss Carr ran up that ladder? And she's begun to thatch the roof
+so neatly. She does it far better than that old man from the village who
+potters about. I'm just yearning to try my hand at thatching. I wish
+Miss Carr would let me!"
+
+While they were busy getting the place in order, Miss Chadwick and her
+assistants declined all offers of inexperienced help, assuring the girls
+that they would have their "jobs" given them later on, when there was
+time to teach them. This did not at all content the enthusiastic spirits
+who were burning to throw lessons to the winds and spend their days in
+mixing putty, lime-washing hen-houses, and fixing up wire netting. They
+hung about disconsolately, snatching at such opportunities of assistance
+as holding ladders or handing nails.
+
+"You _might_ let me tar the roof of the chicken-coop," begged Wendy.
+"I'd just love to let it all squelch on, and I adore the smell!"
+
+But Miss Carr, who the day before had rashly allowed Diana the use of
+the lime-wash pail, was firm in her refusal.
+
+"I haven't time to show you how, and I don't want things spoilt. Put
+down that tar-brush, Wendy! If you get smears on your skirt, you'll
+never get them off again."
+
+"I don't see where _we_ come in!" groused Wendy. "I thought we were to
+learn agriculture."
+
+"You won't learn it by dabbing tar on the end of your nose," laughed
+Miss Carr.
+
+In the course of a few weeks, however, the preliminary stages were over.
+Some fowl-houses and runs were finished, and their feathered occupants
+arrived and took possession. A consignment of spades, rakes, and hoes
+was delivered by the carrier, and arranged by the students in the new
+tool-shed. Miss Carr announced herself ready to begin her course of
+instruction. To the girls the crowning-point of the preparations was the
+opening of several large boxes posted from a London shop. They contained
+twenty land costumes in assorted sizes. The excitement of trying them on
+was immense. Twenty little figures in smocks and gaiters went capering
+about the school, wild with the fun of the new experiment, and feeling
+themselves enthusiastic "daughters of the soil".
+
+"It was A1 of Toddlekins to let us have a 'land uniform'."
+
+"Couldn't do any decent work without, I should say."
+
+"I believe Miss Carr insisted on it."
+
+"Sensible woman!"
+
+"It feels so delightfully business-like."
+
+"Shall we win green armlets?"
+
+"I'm just dying to start and dig!"
+
+"And I want to climb a tree!"
+
+Miss Chadwick and her students set to work methodically. They gave
+classroom lectures on the principles of agriculture, and practical
+demonstrations in the garden. The girls learnt the constituents of
+soils, and also how to trench; the theory of scientific poultry-raising,
+and the actual mixing of the food. They prepared plots that would be
+sown in the spring, cleared and rolled paths, planted bulbs, and divided
+roots of perennials; they sawed wood, lifted rhubarb, and helped to
+prepare a mushroom bed. It was all new and exciting, and there was a
+spice of patriotism mixed up with it. They felt that they were training
+to be of some service to the community.
+
+"It's fearfully weird," said Wendy, writing her essay on _Insect Pests_,
+"to have to find out whether your insect has a biting or a sucking
+mouth, so as to know whether you must spray the beastie direct, or apply
+poison to the plant. I'd feel rather like a dentist examining their
+jaws."
+
+"I heard of an editor in America," laughed Magsie, "who got his 'answers
+to correspondents' mixed up, and in reply to 'how to kill a plague of
+crickets' put 'rub their gums gently with a thimble, and if feverish,
+administer Perry's Teething Powders'; while to 'Anxious Mother of
+Twins', he gave the advice: 'Burn tobacco on a hot shovel, and the
+little pests will hop about and die as dead as door-nails'."
+
+"You always fix these yarns on America," pouted Diana. "It sounds a
+great deal more like one of your British editors."
+
+To some of the girls the greatest event of all was the arrival of the
+horse and trap which Miss Todd had decided to add to her establishment.
+Pendlemere was some distance from the station and from Glenbury, the
+nearest town, and she thought it would be a great convenience to be
+independent of carriers and able to fetch supplies for themselves.
+Diana, keenly interested, was allowed by Miss Ormrod to make the
+acquaintance of "Baron", the pretty chestnut cob, and even to help in
+his toilet. Diana loved horses, and used the curry-comb with enthusiasm,
+talking to Baron in what she called "horse language"--a string of
+endearing terms that on the whole he seemed to appreciate.
+
+"I'd just adore to drive him!" she sometimes hinted; but Miss Ormrod
+always ignored the hint, and, instead of offering her the reins, never
+even invited her into the cart. Diana would stand watching wistfully
+when Baron was harnessed, and the governess car would start out on a
+pilgrimage to the town. She considered that a practical part of her
+education was being obviously neglected.
+
+"If we could each keep a pony and go for rides on the hills, it would be
+ripping!" she sighed.
+
+"Goody! What a circus we'd look!" said Vi, who did not take so kindly to
+horsemanship, and preferred a car.
+
+Early in November, Miss Todd, having some urgent business to transact,
+went up to London for a few days, leaving Pendlemere in the hands of
+Miss Beverley. The school jogged along without any mishaps during her
+absence. She was expected home upon the Thursday. On Wednesday
+afternoon, which was a holiday, Miss Chadwick, Miss Carr, Miss Ormrod,
+and Miss Hampson mounted bicycles, and rode away with a party of seniors
+to Glenbury. The juniors, by special invitation from Mrs. Fleming, went
+to tea at the Vicarage. Two intermediates were in bed with a mild form
+of "flu", and the remainder amused themselves as they liked best. Peggy
+sat indoors, doing pen-painting; Vi brought stones for a rockery; Sadie
+and Magsie played a set of tennis on the cinder court; Diana and Wendy,
+who had asked to join the cycle party, and had in consequence received a
+severe snub from Geraldine, wandered about the garden like unquiet
+spirits.
+
+"It's the limit to be an intermediate!" groused Wendy gloomily. "Seniors
+and juniors get all the fun! Did you ever hear of _our_ form being taken
+to do anything special while the others stopped at school? Of course you
+didn't, because we never are! The seniors get first innings, and we only
+have the crumbs that are left, and those juniors are treated like babies
+though they're nearly as tall as we are. I'm fed up with it!"
+
+"We'd better have a demonstration--parade the corridor with a placard:
+'Fair play for Intermediates! Equal treats for all!'" suggested Diana,
+who was always ready with ideas.
+
+"Much good it would do us! We should only get sat upon by everybody.
+Hullo! Here's Peggy wandering down. What's the matter with you, chucky?
+You look disturbed."
+
+"I hate coming out in a wind," said Peggy, holding her hands over her
+rumpled hair. "I say, did you, or did you not see Miss Chadwick, Miss
+Ormrod, _and_ Miss Carr bike off to Glenbury? Are they all three gone?"
+
+"Of course they're gone!"
+
+"You saw them with your own eyes?"
+
+"Helped to blow up their tyres, which we thought was really saintly,
+when we weren't asked to go with them," said the still injured Wendy.
+
+"Well, it's a pretty go they're all off! Bunty's just had a telegram
+from Toddlekins. She's coming back this afternoon, and wants the trap to
+meet the four-thirty train."
+
+"She should! She's in a precious hurry to leave her beloved London.
+Whence this thusness?"
+
+"I don't know. She's coming, at any rate," said Peggy, rather crossly.
+"Bunty sent me to find out if everybody had really gone. Toddlekins will
+have to get a taxi, that's all. Whew! I'm being blown to bits! I want to
+get back to my pen-painting. I'm making a birthday present for my
+cousin. Ta-ta!"
+
+Diana stood watching Peggy's retreating figure as the latter raced up
+the garden and into the house.
+
+"Toddlekins will be rather savage not to be met," she commented.
+
+"Yes; she's so keen on the trap, and the amount it saves in taxis and
+carriers."
+
+"It does seem rough on her, especially when she's sent a telegram. Look
+here, old thing, let's take it to meet her ourselves!"
+
+"What? You and me?"
+
+"Why not? I can drive, and I know how to harness Baron. I have helped to
+put him in the trap heaps of times. Bunty? Best not tell her anything
+about it; she's always such a scared rabbit, and she'd only have fits!"
+
+Wendy's eyes shone like stars.
+
+"It _would_ be a stunt! Fancy driving in state to the station and
+fetching Toddlekins! She'd be pleased to save a taxi."
+
+"Bless her, she shall! We'll show her that her girls have some spirit
+and self-reliance at a crisis. It's only making a practical
+demonstration of our new agricultural course! What's the use of learning
+if you can't apply it at the right moment? Run and fetch our coats and
+hats and gloves, that's a cherub, while I go and tell Baron all about
+it."
+
+Wendy, much thrilled, and fired with the excellence of Diana's notion,
+went indoors, and, taking elaborate precautions not to meet anybody,
+secured outdoor garments worthy of the occasion. She rolled them in a
+Union Jack for camouflage, and bore them off to the stable.
+
+"I've brought 'bests'," she said. "Toddlekins wouldn't thank to be met
+by two Cinderellas!"
+
+Diana was standing with her arms thrown round Baron's neck, whispering
+sweet nothings into his twitching ear. If he did not understand the
+substance of her remarks, he realized the force of her affection, and
+kept rubbing his nose against her shoulder in a sort of caress, very
+gently catching her jersey with his lips and pulling it.
+
+"I've told him, and he's delighted to go," declared Diana. "He's just
+pining for a run. It's so dull for him standing here with no one to talk
+to. It takes away his appetite. He'll enjoy his supper twice as much
+when he comes back. Won't you, dear old man?"
+
+"We mustn't be all day about starting. If you've finished making love to
+him, let's get out the trap."
+
+"Right you are!"
+
+Diana was perfectly capable of accomplishing what she had undertaken.
+She took down the harness, led Baron out into the yard, and proceeded to
+put him into the shafts in quite a professional fashion. She looked over
+all the straps, fetched the whip, donned the garments which Wendy had
+brought, and proclaimed herself ready.
+
+"We'll go out quietly by the back way," she chuckled. "Open the gate;
+that's a mascot!"
+
+There was nobody to say them nay, so in a few minutes they were trotting
+briskly along the Glenbury Road. Diana was a capital little Jehu, and
+held the reins with a practised hand. Baron, perfectly conscious of who
+was driving him, behaved admirably. The girls felt their spirits at
+high-water mark. They had certainly scored over the rest of the school,
+and secured a superior jaunt to anybody. Moreover, it was a pleasant
+afternoon to be out. The weather, which for some days had been damp, had
+changed to windy. Long, dappled mare's-tail clouds stretched across the
+pale November sky, and every now and then the sun shone out between
+them. The glory of the autumn tints had been blown away, but the
+infinitely intertwined, almost leafless boughs of the woodlands had a
+beauty apart from foliage. Bushes covered with crimson masses of hips or
+haws foretold a hard winter; birds twittered restlessly in the
+hedgerows; and the withered leaves came whirling along the road with a
+scurrying, rustling sound as of the little footsteps of innumerable
+fairies. A seed-vessel of the sycamore, flying like a miniature
+aeroplane, struck Diana full in the face. She picked it up as it fell on
+her coat, and put it in her pocket.
+
+"I shall keep it as my mascot," she said. "It was evidently meant for
+me, so it will bring me luck. Do you believe in luck?"
+
+"Very much, sometimes, but I don't often have any."
+
+"We've got it to-day, though. Baron's going splendidly. I think the wind
+excites him. You wouldn't believe he'd been out every day this week.
+He's as fresh as a daisy. What's the time? I can't get to my watch."
+
+"Quarter past four."
+
+"Gee whiz! We must hurry ourselves. We've to be waiting at the station
+by half-past. Baron, can you put on a spurt?"
+
+They were bowling along a good macadam road and down hill, so that Baron
+did not object to the extra strain put upon his legs. The spire of
+Glenbury Church loomed ahead; in a few more minutes they began to see
+the roofs of the houses. They crossed the bridge over the river, turned
+the corner by the King's Arms Inn, and were trotting at a good pace
+along Castle Street, when suddenly Wendy's side of the trap dipped down.
+There was a horrible jarring and grinding, and horse and governess car
+seemed to be trying to practise sliding. With great presence of mind,
+and also strength of arm, Diana pulled Baron up.
+
+"We've lost our wheel!" she gasped.
+
+A crowd immediately collected round the little carriage, which stood
+lop-sided in the gutter. One passer-by held the horse, another helped
+Diana and Wendy out; a boy came running up with the wheel that had
+danced across the street. People stood at shop doors and stared.
+Sympathetic voices asked if the girls were hurt. Several connoisseurs
+were feeling Baron's legs. In that most critical and agitating
+situation, who should be seen riding up from the town but a group of ten
+cyclists, led by Miss Chadwick, and displaying the familiar hatbands of
+Pendlemere School. Diana and Wendy turned the colour of boiled beetroot.
+The cyclists dismounted in a body, and Miss Chadwick, staggered at the
+amazing spectacle of the wreck before her, took over instant possession.
+She tilted her bicycle against a lamp-post, sent a boy for a blacksmith,
+and began to unharness Baron. When he was clear of the shafts, and being
+led away by a friendly ostler, she demanded explanations. Diana supplied
+them briefly. Miss Chadwick looked at her keenly, but forbore to comment
+before the crowd.
+
+"Miss Ormrod and I will stay in town and come back with Miss Todd," she
+said, with compressed lips. "You and Wendy can ride our bicycles. Miss
+Carr, will you please go as quickly as you can to the station and
+explain to Miss Todd what has happened. The train must be in by now. I
+think, Miss Hampson, you'd better take the girls on."
+
+It was ignominious to be thus dismissed, and to be forced to mount
+machines and cycle back to school, instead of having the proud
+distinction of driving the head mistress. Diana and Wendy felt their
+feathers fall considerably, especially when they contemplated the fuller
+explanations which must inevitably follow.
+
+It was quite dark before Miss Todd arrived in the mended cart. She and
+Miss Chadwick and Miss Ormrod had tea together in the drawing-room.
+
+Later in the evening Diana and Wendy received orders to report
+themselves in the study. They entered with sober faces. Outside, a band
+of thrilled intermediates, who had listened with bated breath to the
+account of the adventure, hung about and discussed possible punishments.
+Miss Todd was not a mistress to be trifled with, and the trap was her
+latest toy. It was nearly half an hour before the door opened, and two
+very subdued and crushed specimens of girlhood issued, mopping their
+eyes.
+
+"She says Miss Chadwick knew the wheel wasn't safe, and had gone to get
+a fresh pin for it," volunteered Wendy with a gulp. "But how could _we_
+know that? She doesn't believe in practical demonstrations of our
+lessons, or in self-reliance; she says we've just to do what we are
+told. She got quite raggy when Diana mentioned it. We mayn't go near the
+stable for a week, and we've each to learn ten pages of poetry by
+heart."
+
+"Ten pages! What an atrocious shame!" sympathized Vi. "It'll take all
+your recreation time this week."
+
+"I know it will, and I wanted to do some sewing."
+
+"She never said _what_ poetry," put in Diana, her moist eyes suddenly
+twinkling. "I'll learn something out of the _Comic Reciter_--the very
+maddest and craziest one I can manage to find."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Armistice Day
+
+
+Diana had a fairly retentive memory, and learned poetry without much
+trouble. By far the hardest part of her punishment was to be forbidden
+to visit the stable for a week. She was sure Baron would miss her, and
+that, though he might receive other offerings of bread and carrots, he
+would be looking out and pricking his ears in vain for the friend with
+whom he had grown to be on such intimate terms.
+
+Miss Chadwick, much annoyed at the accident to the cart, treated Diana
+distantly. Instead of smiling at her when she came into the room, she
+would look round her or over her head, and flash recognition to somebody
+else. It was humiliating to find herself out of favour, especially as it
+was noticed and commented on by her form-mates, all of whom were
+candidates for Miss Chadwick's friendship. Wendy, toiling away at her
+punishment task and grumbling at its difficulty, was not at all a
+cheerful companion. Moreover, it rained--rained for two days and nights
+without stopping; rained as it only can rain in a northern and
+mountainous district in the month of November. The fells were covered
+with mist, rivers ran down the garden paths, and from the eaves came a
+continual and monotonous drip-drip-drip. Diana, whose letters from Paris
+had been delayed, and who was home-sick in consequence, vibrated between
+a fit of the blues and a wild outbreak of spirits. She had reached the
+stage when she must either laugh or cry. She wandered restlessly round
+the schoolroom on Saturday afternoon, while the others were amusing
+themselves with reading, painting, or sewing.
+
+"What a quiet set you are!" she raged. "Anyone would take you for 'Miss
+Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies'! Why can't you wake up? This is
+the dullest hole I've ever been in in my life. Magsie, stop that eternal
+sewing, and be sporty! You look like a model for 'gentle maidenhood'. I
+want to stick a pin into you, to see what would happen."
+
+"Draw it mild, Stars and Stripes," answered Magsie, biting off the end
+of her cotton. "And be careful about experiments with pins, or something
+more may happen than you quite bargain for."
+
+"I don't care! Anything for an excitement! I want some fun, and there'll
+be a shindy if I don't get it. Wendy! Vi! Sadie! Do brace up and be
+sports! Let's go on the upper landing and let off steam. It's better
+than moping here."
+
+Diana, by sheer force of will, carried the day, detached her friends
+from their several occupations, and bore them, three steps at a time, up
+the stairs to the top story. The upper landing was long, and had a
+polished oak floor; it looked gloomy on this wet afternoon, and the rain
+made a continual patter on the roof. In Diana's eyes, however, it
+afforded a field for enterprise.
+
+"I've a gorgeous idea!" she purred. "We'll pretend the floor's a
+skating-rink. I've borrowed Loveday's roller skates, and we'll take it
+in turns."
+
+That roller skates were hardly meant for indoor amusement did not occur
+to the girls. They agreed with enthusiasm. In order to share the
+pleasure Vi and Sadie each buckled one on, and began a series of glides,
+punctuated by pushes from the other foot. Wendy and Magsie, not to be
+outdone, began to slide down the polished floor, and Tattie, who had
+powers of invention, fetched a cake of soap and a sponge, and perfected
+their activities by making a slippery course along the boards.
+
+"It's like Alpine sports," exulted Wendy, taking a turn with one of the
+skates, and skimming at top speed. "Can't you just imagine you're in
+Switzerland? I want to make snowballs. Oh! why can't we do some
+toboganning? I'd like to go tearing down a hill on a bob-sleigh. It
+would be priceless."
+
+"You shall do next best to it, my child," said Diana cheerily. "Trust
+your granny to find the way for you. I've coasted indoors before now.
+Wait a second, and you'll see!"
+
+She disappeared, and in a short time returned with her drawing-board.
+
+"You just squat on this," she explained, "and you go skimming down the
+stairs like a water-chute. It'll be prime!"
+
+"O-o-o-oh!"
+
+"You _are_ priceless!"
+
+"Great is Diana of the Americans!"
+
+The improvised bob-sleigh worked admirably, and if it happened to catch,
+there was always the banister to clutch at. Its popularity eclipsed even
+that of the soap-slide and the roller skates. The fun waxed fast and
+furious, not to say noisy. Bumpings and bursts of laughter began to echo
+downstairs on to the lower stories. Miss Hampson, coming to unlock the
+jam-cupboard in preparation for tea, stood for a moment in the corridor,
+listening like a pointer. Then she thrust the key into her pocket and
+dashed to the upper regions, just in time to behold Wendy, with scarlet
+cheeks and flying hair, coasting down the stairs on a drawing-board. For
+a moment Miss Hampson was without words. She stared, gasping, at Wendy,
+who hurriedly picked up both herself and the drawing-board, and stood at
+attention. The sporting party on the upper landing would gladly have
+melted away had there been any possible cover, but there was not. Vi and
+Sadie had not even time to kick off their roller skates. Miss Hampson's
+keen eyes took in every detail of the trails on the polished oak floor,
+and the soap-slide. Then they focused on Diana.
+
+"I can imagine who's been the instigator of all this!" she said
+sharply. "We've never been accustomed to such doings at Pendlemere
+before. Miss Todd will be appalled at the damage you've done to the
+floor. Go downstairs to the schoolroom at once, and remember that this
+landing is prohibited in future. I'm astonished that all of you don't
+know better!"
+
+It was on the following Monday that tidings of the armistice were
+proclaimed. The girls heard the church bells ringing when they were in
+the middle of morning lessons, and unanimously "downed books and
+pencils" and trooped to the front door, where Miss Todd was verifying
+the good news from the butcher boy. For five minutes the school went
+wild; everybody joined hands and danced in a circle on the drive,
+shouting "Hurrah!" After all the long suspense and anxiety the relief
+was stupendous. There was hardly a girl who had not some relation at the
+front over whose safety she might now rejoice. That the shadow of more
+than four years had at length been removed, seemed almost too good to be
+true. Miss Todd and Miss Beverley had gone indoors to find all the
+available stock of bunting; Miss Chadwick was already climbing on a
+ladder up the porch to hang the Union Jack over the threshold.
+
+"We ought each to have a flag of our own," said Geraldine, who was
+intensely patriotic. "I'm going to ask Miss Todd if we may go and buy
+some."
+
+Wild schemes for celebrating the day floated in the air, varying from a
+picnic to a bonfire.
+
+"The ground is too wet yet for either," decreed Geraldine. "How could we
+tramp over the fells when everything's a quagmire? And if you think you
+can light a bonfire with damp wood, you're jolly well mistaken. We'll
+collect sticks, and have one when they're dry. I plump for a flag-hunt.
+There must be some in the shops."
+
+Geraldine's suggestions were generally received with favour at
+head-quarters. Miss Todd felt that the school was fizzing over, and must
+find some outlet for its excitement. An expedition to Glenbury to buy
+flags seemed feasible. They could have an early lunch, and start
+immediately afterwards. Those who possessed bicycles could ride, and the
+rest could walk a mile to Athelton village and catch the motor-omnibus
+which passed there. Everybody was satisfied with the arrangement, and
+the cyclists dispersed to oil their machines and pump tyres. Miss Todd
+and Miss Chadwick were going in the trap; even Spot, with a bow of red,
+white, and blue ribbon tied to his collar, was to accompany the party.
+
+Diana did not possess a bicycle, so Wendy, out of sheer good-fellowship,
+decided to lend hers to Sadie and to take the omnibus, so that she
+herself might go in company with her chum. Nine girls and a mistress
+started off in good time for Athelton, slightly in advance of the
+cyclists, who expected to meet them in Glenbury. Even in the village of
+Pendlemere and the little hamlet of Athelton people were making peace
+rejoicings: flags hung from windows, and children ran about blowing tin
+trumpets, whistles, and mouth-organs. A string of small urchins had
+improvised a band, and paraded proudly along, banging on tin trays and
+old kettles, and yelling the National Anthem. Men talked eagerly
+together outside the post office; women stood at their doors and
+watched, some radiant and excited, and some quieter, with a heartache
+behind the smile, as they thought of those lads who would not come
+marching home with the others.
+
+The wild weather of the last few days seemed to have rolled away with
+the war clouds. The sky was flecked with blue, and the trees by the
+roadside were hung all over with drops that sparkled in the sun like
+jewels. The brook that ran down from the fells was tumbling along in a
+great brown stream, thundering under the bridge; robins, hopping in the
+wet hedgerows, twittered their plaintive little autumn song. A woman
+picked a marigold from her battered, rain-sodden garden, and handed it
+over the wall to Wendy. Everybody seemed to want to speak, even to
+strangers, and to tell how many of their relations had served in the
+war.
+
+At last the omnibus, ten minutes late, came rumbling along, and stopped
+to pick up passengers. The school scrambled in, and with difficulty
+found places. It was a jolting journey, much crammed up among country
+people with baskets, but it was fun, even though the rattling almost
+shook them off their seats, for all the passengers seemed so
+good-tempered and jolly. On their arrival at Glenbury they found the
+town _en fete_, with bunting hanging across the streets, and large
+banners decorating the public buildings. The pavements were so full that
+the crowd overflowed into the road. The cyclist members of the
+Pendlemere party had arrived first, and had already bought flags, which
+they pinned in their hats. The motor-omnibus contingent rushed off
+immediately to secure any that were left, and to try to get some sweets.
+Miss Todd, who had put up the cart at the Queen's Hotel, met them as
+they were emerging from the confectioner's, sucking pear-drops and
+toffee.
+
+"You're lucky, for sweets are scarce," she commented. "Thanks very
+much--I won't have one just now. Where are the others? Can you find
+them? I'm going to take you all up the church tower to get a bird's-eye
+view of the town. It will look nice to-day, with the flags out, and we
+ought to be able to see for miles round."
+
+Glenbury Church was almost as large as a cathedral, and possessed a
+steeple which was a landmark for the neighbourhood. It was possible to
+ascend as far as the flying buttresses, and to walk round a stone
+causeway that encircled the tower just where the spire tapered up. The
+entrance was in the nave, through a small oak door studded with nails.
+The verger, aged, wheezy, and inclined to conversation, admitted them.
+
+"You'll get a fine view," he said huskily; "you ought to be able to see
+the prison and the cemetery, and, with luck, the lunatic asylum as well.
+It's over amongst the trees to the east of Chatford. You can't miss it
+if the sun's shining on the roof. There's been a-many folks up to-day."
+
+The narrow corkscrew staircase was old and worn, and seemed to twist
+round and round in an absolutely endless ascent as the girls toiled up
+its hundred-and-eighty-six steps. To add to their difficulties, parties
+of people kept coming down, and the problem of passing was difficult; it
+could only be accomplished by the school flattening itself against the
+walls while the descending sightseers gingerly made their way round the
+narrow centre of the staircase. Tiny lancet windows here and there let
+in streams of sunshine, but most of the pilgrimage was made in a
+decidedly "dim religious light". Everyone's knees were aching when at
+last they emerged through a small door on to the causeway. They were
+standing on a flat terrace edged by a stone parapet just tall enough to
+allow them to lean their arms on it and look over. Above them rose the
+spire, tapering thinner and thinner till its slender point ended in a
+weather-cock. Below, the town lay spread out like an architect's design.
+They could see the roofs of all the buildings, and the streets, and the
+lawns, and the pond in the park; all seemed viewed at an unusual angle,
+for they were gazing down on the tops of things. Round the town
+stretched miles of misty woods and fields, melting into the grey haze
+of the fells. The objects of attraction mentioned by the verger--the
+jail, cemetery, and lunatic asylum--were not particularly conspicuous,
+and nobody was very anxious to localize them. The girls walked all round
+the causeway, so as to get the view at every point.
+
+"I suppose Pendlemere's over there?" said Diana, pointing a brown-gloved
+finger in the direction of the fells.
+
+"Yes; you can see the road we came by in the 'bus," explained Stuart.
+"It winds round by Athelton. There's a much shorter way back, though, if
+we were walking. Do you see that white farm-house on the hill above the
+park? Well, you go through the fold-yard, across a field, and down a
+lane, then there's a straight path over the moor, right to Pendlemere.
+It saves two miles at least. Hilary and Nesta and I walked it once with
+Miss Todd."
+
+"Dinky, I should guess."
+
+"Nice in summer, but it might be pretty wet now."
+
+Most of the girls agreed that coming down steps was rather worse than
+going up. Their ankles ached when they reached the bottom. The old
+verger was taking the sixpences of another party of tourists, and
+telling them, in his wheezy voice, to look out for the cemetery, the
+jail, and the lunatic asylum--to him evidently the three prime points of
+interest in the landscape. Spot, who had been fastened by his leash to
+the railings outside, greeted the girls with noisy enthusiasm. Diana
+untied him, and gave him a pear-drop.
+
+"Bless him! He wants a bit of candy as well as the rest of us. He's a
+'booful' dog with his patriotic ribbon on his collar. Stop barking,
+that's a cherub boy, or you'll drive your Auntie Diana crazy!"
+
+There was a short interval of shopping after the excursion up the tower,
+and then Miss Todd pulled out her watch, compared it with the church
+clock, and declared it was time to be returning. The motor-omnibus,
+which started from Shipham, five miles away, was due in Glenbury at a
+quarter to four. Miss Hampson marched her contingent to the
+market-place, where it always stopped to pick up its passengers. Already
+quite a crowd was waiting for it--people who had come in from the
+neighbouring villages to see the peace rejoicings. There was no
+policeman to insist on an orderly queue, so when the great scarlet
+vehicle lumbered up, a wild scramble ensued. Some of the Pendlemere
+girls were pushed in amongst the jostling throng, and some were elbowed
+out. Wendy, Diana, and Miss Hampson, at the tail-end of the crush, tried
+to scramble on to the step. The conductress, a brawny woman in uniform,
+stopped them.
+
+"Only room for one more," she shouted; "and I can't take that dog!"
+
+"But we'd stand!" entreated Miss Hampson piteously.
+
+"They're standing as it is! Can't take more than the 'bus is registered
+for, or we'd break down at the hills. Room for one! Which of you's
+coming? Be quick! I can't wait all day!"
+
+It was a matter that had to be decided in a moment. Miss Hampson,
+knowing that seven of her girls were already packed in the omnibus, felt
+that she must go and escort them. She turned desperately to Wendy and
+Diana, and panted:
+
+"Miss Todd won't have started yet. Run to the 'Queen's'. She'll take you
+back in the trap."
+
+Then she allowed herself to be hustled inside by the impatient
+conductress.
+
+The two girls left behind stood staring for a minute after the
+retreating omnibus. Spot, straining at his leash, barked his loudest.
+
+"Well, I don't envy them their drive. They're packed like sardines,"
+commented Wendy.
+
+"I guess we've got the best of it," agreed Diana.
+
+Evidently the next thing to be done was to walk to the Queen's Hotel and
+report themselves, to Miss Todd. Diana was even beginning to speculate
+whether she could advance any possible argument, such as a desire to
+save strain on her mistress's arm, whereby she might induce the
+Principal to allow her to take the reins and drive Baron home. They went
+along Westgate, and turned the corner of Hart Street; in another two
+minutes they would have been in Castle Street. Then fate interfered.
+From a narrow alley on the right came sounds resembling explosives, and
+three small boys, yelling gleefully, shot out into the road. Wendy,
+pausing to ascertain the cause of the excitement, ejaculated the one
+word, "Squibs!"
+
+"Gee whiz! You don't mean to say they've got fireworks!" exclaimed
+Diana. "Then I'm not going back till I've bought some. Here,
+sonny!"--catching a bare-headed urchin by the shoulder--"tell me where
+you got those squibs, and I'll give you my last bit of candy. Mrs.
+Cobbes's in Beck Street? Where's Beck Street? Is it far? You ought to
+come and show us for that big bit of candy."
+
+"Can't! Got to go 'ome to my tea," returned the youth, whose small teeth
+were already in the toffee. "Cobbes's is down there!" pointing an arm
+like a sign-post in the direction of a by-street.
+
+Diana and Wendy did not even wait to discuss the expediency of thus
+side-tracking. The magic lure of fireworks drew them on, and with one
+accord they trotted off to seek Mrs. Cobbes's shop. It took a little
+hunting about and asking to find it; and then Mrs. Cobbes was stout and
+slow, and seemed to need an eternity of time to wrap up their purchases
+in an old piece of newspaper.
+
+"We shall have to hurry!" said Diana, emerging at last, hugging her
+parcel, and dragging Spot away from the pursuit of an impudent and
+provocative tabby cat, with a torn ear, that was spitting at him from
+the railings.
+
+They did hurry. They nearly ran up Jessamine Street and Vine Street,
+and clattered up the steps behind the post office into Castle Street,
+and tacked through the crowd into the yard of the Queen's Hotel. A whole
+row of conveyances was standing with shafts down, but the familiar
+governess car was not among them. Perhaps it had been put inside the
+coach-house.
+
+"Miss Todd's trap, did you say?" replied the ostler, removing the
+fag-end of a cigarette from his lips. "Why, she's gone! I harnessed her
+only five minutes ago!"
+
+Here was a blow indeed! They had never expected Miss Todd to drive away
+without them, though, considering that she did not know they had been
+left behind by the omnibus, she was scarcely to be blamed for doing so.
+The two girls looked serious as they walked into the street again.
+Somehow they felt aggrieved.
+
+"If the rest haven't started, Magsie and Vi might take us behind them on
+their bicycles," suggested Wendy dubiously. "Hodson's would know if
+they've gone. They were to call for some parcels there."
+
+It proved a forlorn hope. The girl behind the counter assured them that
+a party on bicycles, wearing brown tam-o'-shanters, had come and claimed
+their purchases, and ridden off up the street ringing their bells. The
+next motor-omnibus would come through at seven. It was always crowded,
+and no doubt would be particularly full to-night.
+
+"There's nothing else for it, Di--we shall have to walk," said Wendy
+blankly.
+
+"Whew! It's a pretty good step."
+
+"Six miles."
+
+"Je-hoshaphat!"
+
+"Well, it's no use waiting for the 'bus. We should never get places."
+
+"Let's take that short cut that Stuart was talking about. She said it
+saves two miles."
+
+"What a brain wave! It's only a quarter past four. We'd be home long
+before dark. You can walk four miles an hour, can't you?"
+
+"Ra-ther!"
+
+So they turned across the park, and up the hill to the white farm, and
+through the fold-yard, and over the field, and along the lane on to the
+open moor. They felt decidedly pleased with themselves, for it was far
+nicer here than plodding along the high road. The ground was not so wet
+as Stuart had prognosticated; indeed the path was quite firm and well
+trodden, and in parts was even paved with stones. Spot, released from
+his leash, careered about like a mad creature. Diana could not help
+dancing a few steps, and Wendy, though she was growing hungry, stopped
+grousing to admire the view. The sun, a red ball among grey masses of
+mist, was sinking behind the fells, and a golden glow tipped the brown,
+withered heather. The whole atmosphere seemed to reflect peace.
+Overhead, little radiant clouds stretched themselves into the semblance
+of angels' wings moving lightly across the evening sky. To watch them
+was like gazing at the portals of a heavenly world.
+
+The girls walked along as briskly as they could, but on the rough
+moorland path it was impossible to keep the pace at four miles an hour.
+They were going uphill, and, unless they went in single file, one of
+them, owing to the narrowness of the track, was obliged to keep stepping
+into the heather. At the top of the crest they dipped down again into a
+high, narrow valley between two fells. It was swampy here, and in places
+there were quite wide pieces of water to jump across. The path, which
+had been growing worse and worse, finally separated into a fork. The
+girls came to a halt, and stood looking first at one track, then at the
+other. They were in doubt which to choose, for each looked equally bad.
+They had turned so often that they had rather lost their sense of
+locality.
+
+"I should think Pendlemere must be over there," said Wendy, pointing to
+the right, but looking frankly puzzled.
+
+"Well, you know the place better than I do," answered Diana, following
+her lead.
+
+So they went to the right, through a small thicket of hazel-bushes, over
+some rocks, and on up the bleak fell-side. The sun had disappeared, and
+the little golden angels' wings had given place to sombre, grey clouds.
+It was growing distressingly dark. A spot or two of rain began to fall.
+The path, degenerated into a mere sheep track, was increasingly
+difficult to trace. Though neither would admit it, both the girls felt
+uneasy. They could not recognize any familiar landmarks to show them
+their whereabouts. Suppose darkness came on, and found them still
+wandering about on the moor?
+
+"Do you think we've come the right way?" asked Diana at last.
+
+Wendy looked round in the fading light, hoping against hope to see the
+corner of Pendlemere gleaming below her in the valley. By now it
+certainly ought to be visible. Nothing in the shape of a lake, however,
+appeared in the landscape; only an interminable waste of brown heather
+under threatening rain-clouds.
+
+"No," said Wendy, with a shake in her voice. "As a matter of fact, I
+believe we're lost."
+
+Diana was plucky as a rule, but she was very tired now, and hungry as
+well. Two somethings that may have been rain-drops splashed down her
+cheeks; she turned her face away from Wendy as she wiped them off.
+
+"What's to be done?" she asked huskily.
+
+"Go back, I suppose. Goodness knows where this will lead to!"
+
+"We ought to have taken that other turning."
+
+"It's too dark to go that way now. We'd better get back to Glenbury, and
+try for the 'bus."
+
+Very soon the girls realized that it was getting too dark even to
+distinguish the path at all. They stumbled blindly on through the
+heather, conscious only that they were going downhill, but whether they
+were really retracing their steps or not, it was impossible to tell.
+Spot, whose spirits had failed him, followed at their heels. Faster and
+faster fell the darkness; the girls linked arms to avoid getting
+separated. They were both thoroughly frightened. Would they be obliged
+to spend the night upon the moor? If there were only some means of
+finding the way back to Glenbury!
+
+Suddenly, a long distance in front of them, a light flashed out, as
+though a candle had been placed in a cottage window. Hope revived. If
+only they could reach some human habitation, they could ask to be
+directed. They dragged their tired feet along, splashing in the dark
+through puddles, sinking in soft ground, or stumbling over stones. It
+seemed an interminable tramp before at last they struck the end of a
+wall, and, feeling their way with their hands, groped along till they
+reached a gate. The next moment they were rapping with their knuckles on
+a door.
+
+It was opened by a thin, middle-aged woman, who stared at them in
+suspicious amazement as they asked to be directed to Glenbury; then,
+seeing that they were only girls with their hair down their backs, she
+cautiously invited them to come in. They accepted thankfully. After the
+dark and the damp outside, the farm-kitchen seemed a haven of refuge.
+
+A little boy, who had been sitting by the fireside, sprang up at their
+entrance, and faced them with wondering eyes. Something in the small
+figure seemed familiar. Diana's mind galloped rapidly back to a day in
+late September when she had crawled along a tree-trunk across a racing
+torrent, with a frightened, blue-jerseyed atom of humanity creeping
+behind her.
+
+"Gee-whiz! I guess you're Harry!" she exclaimed heartily.
+
+The mental thermometer of the kitchen, which had stood at about
+freezing-point, suddenly thawed into spring. Harry, recognizing his
+former friend in need, hastily explained to his mother, who turned to
+the girls with a light in her face.
+
+"I've always wanted to thank you," she said to Diana; "but I never knew
+who it was who'd helped Harry home that day. Sit you down, both of you,
+by the fire. You'll let me make you a cup of tea?"
+
+Rest, warmth, and tea were what the tired girls craved. They sat on the
+settle, with a little round table in front of them, and ate the scones
+and blackberry jam that with true northern hospitality were piled on
+their plates. Harry's father came in presently, and, after a whispered
+conversation with his wife in the back-kitchen, offered to take a
+lantern and escort the girls back to Pendlemere.
+
+"It's a goodish step, but you're rested now, maybe, and it's no use
+risking missing the 'bus at Glenbury, and having to walk it after all."
+
+A very tired Diana, and an equally weary Wendy arrived at the school
+just when Miss Todd was getting absolutely desperate about their
+absence. She had sent Miss Chadwick to Athelton to meet the seven
+o'clock omnibus, and the teacher had returned to report that they had
+not come on it. Miss Todd forbore to scold two such limp wrecks, and
+sent them straight upstairs, with orders for hot baths, bed, and basins
+of bread-and-milk. Explanations were reserved for next day, and they did
+not get off scot free by any means. Miss Todd had an aggravatingly
+mathematical mind. She calculated the time the omnibus left the
+market-place, the exact moment when she herself started in the trap from
+the Queen's Hotel, the distance between these two given points, and in
+how many minutes at the rate of not less than three miles an hour two
+ordinary walkers should accomplish it. The answer left ten whole minutes
+to spare, and of that ten minutes of the afternoon she demanded a strict
+account from Diana and Wendy.
+
+The sinners, whose bones still ached after their adventure, appeared in
+such crushed spirits that they did not receive the entire scolding their
+head mistress had intended, and were for once dismissed with a caution.
+
+"She didn't say we mightn't go to the bonfire," sneezed Wendy, on their
+way down the passage. Wendy as usual had taken a cold in her head.
+
+"I kept the squibs dry, thank goodness!" sighed Diana. "Nobody knows
+about them yet, so we'll let them off as a surprise. Won't they all just
+jump when they hear them? I'm looking forward to that bonfire as the
+event of my life!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+Diana's English Christmas
+
+
+Diana had fondly hoped that the armistice meant an immediate declaration
+of peace, that her father and mother would return post-haste from
+France, take her away from Pendlemere, and cross at once to America, so
+that they might spend Christmas in their own home. To her immense
+disappointment, nothing so nice happened. The peace conferences were
+lengthy. Mr. and Mrs. Hewlitt remained in Paris, and did not even speak
+of booking passages to New York. They wrote instead to make arrangements
+for Diana's holidays in England. It was at first decided that she should
+spend the time with her cousins, the Burritts, but influenza broke out
+so badly at Petteridge Court that all in a hurry the plans had to be
+changed. It ended in Diana passing Christmas with the Flemings at
+Pendlemere Vicarage. So far she had scarcely realized Meg and Elsie
+Fleming. They came to school daily, and she had seen them among the
+juniors, and remarked that they were "sweet kids". She was now to meet
+them at nearer acquaintance, and not only Meg and Elsie, but Monty,
+Neale, and Roger as well.
+
+They were an interesting and lively family, and after a preliminary
+half-hour of painful politeness, they thawed over schoolroom tea, and
+adopted her into their midst. Monty, the eldest, was an eccentric,
+clever lad in spectacles, fond of making scientific and chemical
+experiments, which generally ended in odours that caused the others to
+hold their noses and open the schoolroom windows, top and bottom. He had
+a philosophical mind and a love of argument, and would thrash out
+questions for the sheer fun of debate in a growling sort of tone that
+was not really bad-tempered, only put on.
+
+Neale, six months older than Diana, was a bright, jolly-looking boy,
+with a freckled nose and chestnut hair that rather stood on end. As
+regards book-learning, the less said about his attainments the better,
+and he had an unpleasant half-hour in his father's study, explaining
+details of his school report; but in all practical matters he was ahead
+of Monty. He was a thorough young pickle, up to endless pranks, and
+determined not to let time hang heavy on his hands during the holidays.
+
+Roger, the youngest, a smart little chap of nine, followed in the wake
+of his brothers, poking interfering fingers into Monty's chemical
+messes, or acting scout for Neale's escapades. At the end of twelve
+hours Diana felt that she knew them perfectly, and had shaken down into
+a place of her own amongst them.
+
+Six young people home for the holidays are apt to turn a house upside
+down, and it was fortunate for Mrs. Fleming that she had an easy-going
+and happy-go-lucky disposition, and could view with comparative
+equanimity the chaos that reigned in the schoolroom. To Diana it was
+delightful; she preferred a floor littered with shavings, a table spread
+with paints, plasticine modelling-clay, and other descriptions of mess,
+and chairs encumbered with books and papers, to the neatest, tidiest
+room where everything you want is put away out of reach in cupboards.
+
+"When I heard I was coming to the Vicarage, I thought: 'My, I guess I
+won't have to bounce there!' But you're a real set of sports," she
+assured her new friends.
+
+"Well, I don't think we're exactly what you'd call prim and proper,"
+chuckled Meg.
+
+There were still a few days before Christmas, and the energies of the
+whole family were focused on decorations. There were not many people in
+the village with leisure to help, so most of the work fell upon the
+Flemings. They tramped down to the church, bearing great armfuls of
+evergreens, strings of holly-berries, and texts cut out in paper
+letters. The girls sat in a pew and twisted garlands of yew and laurel,
+which the boys, with the aid of a short ladder, fastened round the
+pillars. Mrs. Fleming was fitting panels of cotton wool on to the
+pulpit, and sprinkling them with artificial frost.
+
+"We ought to have lots of flags about the place this Christmas," said
+Monty, "to make it a sort of victory celebration as well. I'll put two
+or three over the organ, and stick some round the monuments. What I'd
+like would be to see our huge Union Jack hanging down over that blank
+wall there."
+
+"Well, why don't you put it?" enquired Diana, looking up from her
+wreath-twisting.
+
+"All very well, madam, but how am I going to get it there? That's a
+little detail which escapes your feminine observation. Please to note
+the height of our ladder and the height of that wall, and compare the
+difference."
+
+"I'd get up on to that passage and fix it," nodding to the triforium.
+
+"Would you, indeed, Miss America? I rather think I see you toddling
+along there, with a drop of thirty feet below you."
+
+"Do you dare me to?"
+
+"You're brave enough down here in a pew, but I don't believe any girl
+would have the head for that. Women aren't steeple-jacks!"
+
+"You needn't speak so scornfully. There may be a few steeple-jennies
+among them!"
+
+"No fear," laughed Monty, turning away.
+
+Diana said nothing more, but as she went on with her wreath her thoughts
+were as busy as her fingers. She was more silent than usual at lunch,
+and slipped away quickly afterwards, leaving the family talking round
+the fire. First, she ran upstairs to the corner of the upper landing,
+where she knew the big Union Jack was kept. She rolled it into a tight
+bundle, tucked it under her arm, then tore off to the church. She found
+herself alone there, for none of the other decorators had returned. It
+was exactly the opportunity she wanted. The bunch of keys was hanging in
+the big door. She pulled them out, and carried them to the tiny door by
+the chancel steps. This she unlocked and flung open, disclosing a steep,
+winding stair. Almost on her hands and knees Diana scrambled up, and up,
+and up till she reached the triforium, the narrow stone gallery that ran
+round the church under the clerestory windows. The first few yards were
+safely protected with arches, pillars, and a balustrade, but after that
+came a stretch of about twenty feet with no parapet at all. The gallery
+was only twenty-four inches wide; on the one side was the wall, on the
+other a sheer drop of about thirty feet. Diana paused, and set her
+teeth. She did not dare to walk it, but she knelt down and crawled along
+till she reached the next piece of balustrade. Then she unrolled her
+Union Jack, and, tying it by its cords to the pillars, arranged it so
+that it hung down into the church and covered the exact spot of blank
+wall that Monty had indicated. She had just finished when she heard
+footsteps in the porch. Not wanting to be caught by the Vicar, she began
+to crawl back in the same way as she had come. Perhaps the sense that
+someone might be watching her from below unnerved her, for the return
+journey seemed far worse than the outward one had done. She did not
+venture to look down, but kept her eyes on the wall. Half-way she was
+suddenly seized with a horrible paroxysm of dizziness. For a moment or
+two she lay flat, too frightened to move, while her giddy head seemed to
+be spinning round. With a supreme effort she mastered the sensation, and
+crawled on, inch by inch, till she once again reached safety. With
+rather tottering knees she came down the winding staircase, and through
+the small door to the chancel steps. Mrs. Fleming, Meg, Monty, and Neale
+were standing by the lectern when she appeared. Mrs. Fleming was white
+as chalk; the others were staring open-mouthed, with a queer strained
+look in their eyes.
+
+"Well, I've done it, you see!" said Diana jauntily.
+
+The Flemings gazed at her without speaking. Monty went and locked the
+door of the staircase and put the keys in his pocket. The silence was
+embarrassing.
+
+"I think it looks very nice hanging there," declared Diana, nodding at
+her Union Jack.
+
+"My dear," said Mrs. Fleming in a shaky voice, "if you knew what I
+suffered when I saw you creeping along the triforium you couldn't speak
+so lightly. It isn't right to risk your life in this fashion."
+
+Diana tried to carry the matter off airily, but the boys were grumpy and
+would not speak. Meg kept looking at her with a peculiar expression, as
+if she were recovering from a shock. Altogether, Diana felt that her
+deed of daring had fallen very flat. She was annoyed that no one
+congratulated her upon it. She considered that for a girl of fourteen it
+was rather a record. Monty would not be able to sneer at "Miss America"
+again. She strolled in a casual way past the font which he was
+decorating, and made a final effort to wring from him the appreciation
+she craved.
+
+"There _are_ some steeple-jennies in the world!" she remarked, staring
+upwards at the clerestory.
+
+Monty picked up another piece of holly, placed it deliberately in
+position, and then turned his spectacles on Diana.
+
+"And there are more jenny-asses in it too than I should have expected!"
+he answered pointedly.
+
+When Diana had undressed that evening Mrs. Fleming came into her room to
+say good-night, and sat down for a minute on the edge of her bed.
+
+"Have you thought, dear," she said, "what it would have meant to Mr.
+Fleming and me to have been obliged to write to your father and mother
+and tell them you were lying dead, or, worse still, a cripple with a
+broken spine; and what your father's and mother's feelings would have
+been at the news?"
+
+Diana turned her face away.
+
+"Thoughtlessness can sometimes amount to heartlessness in its lack of
+consideration for others."
+
+"Monty dared me to do it."
+
+"He never dreamed you actually would. Besides, are you going to do every
+idiotic, silly thing that every foolish person says you dare not? I
+thought you were more sensible, Diana! Remember, we are responsible for
+you during the holidays, and I wish to return you whole to your parents.
+We use every reasonable precaution to take care of you, but I can't
+calculate on safeguarding you as if you were a baby of three."
+
+Diana drummed her fingers on the pillow. Mrs. Fleming waited a moment,
+then tried a different tack.
+
+"I'm not very strong, Diana. My heart is weak, and I'm afraid for some
+days I shall feel the effect of the shock you gave me this afternoon. I
+don't believe you're the kind of girl who'd deliberately want to make me
+ill."
+
+Diana wriggled round, but her head was bent down.
+
+"Remember that we care about you, dear. It would grieve us very much if
+the slightest little accident were to happen to you. We want you to have
+jolly holidays here, and to go back to school safe and well, with, I
+hope, a happy remembrance of the Vicarage."
+
+Two soft arms were thrown round Mrs. Fleming's neck.
+
+"I'd do anything for _you_, though I hate to be a molly-coddle!"
+whispered Diana. "I'm most fearfully sorry if I've really made you feel
+ill!"
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The decoration of the church was only one of the incidents of Christmas;
+there were other things to be done before the festival arrived. The
+Flemings liked to preserve old traditions, and finding that their
+little American guest was very keen on all the details of a genuine
+British Yule-tide, they did their best to satisfy her. Mrs. Fleming used
+the cherished half-pound of currants--which in the war-time shortage of
+dried fruits was all the grocer could send her--to make the frumenty and
+spiced cakes that from time immemorial had been eaten in that northern
+district to celebrate the feast of the Nativity. A Yule-log was sawn and
+placed upon the dining-room fire, and a huge bough of mistletoe hung up
+in the hall.
+
+"We ought to have the Waits to make it just perfect!" said Diana.
+
+"I believe some of the choir used to go round carol singing once," said
+Meg, "but it's been given up. The mothers said the girls caught cold,
+and they stayed out too late, so it was put a stop to. It's a pity in a
+way. Mrs. James was saying only the other day that she quite missed
+them, and so did Mrs. Holmes. They both said Christmas wasn't what it
+used to be."
+
+The pupils of Diana's eyes were growing large and round and shining, as
+they always did when her fertile mind was evolving new ideas. She seized
+Meg's arm.
+
+"Oh, I've got such a brain-wave!" she confided. "Look here! Why
+shouldn't we be Waits? We've learnt all those Christmas carols at
+school. Let's go round and sing them. It would be ripping fun!"
+
+The idea appealed to Meg and Elsie, and, rather to the astonishment of
+the girls, the boys also took it up with enthusiasm, and volunteered
+their assistance. They enlisted the help of the village schoolmistress,
+and some of the most tuneful among her pupils, and all on the spur of
+the moment made up their company.
+
+"What always spoils carol singing," said Monty sententiously, "is that
+everybody's generally so beastly out of tune. They don't seem able to
+keep the pitch without a harmonium."
+
+"Pity we can't carry a harmonium with us!"
+
+"Why shouldn't we?" suggested Neale. "I don't mean I'm going to haul the
+thing on my back, so you needn't grin. I've a better notion than that.
+We'll see if the Blackwoods will lend us a cart. Put the harmonium
+inside, hang up a lantern to see by, and there you are, with a movable
+concert platform ready to take round where we like."
+
+The others looked at Neale with admiration. It was such a very brainy
+idea, they wondered they had never thought of it for themselves. Time
+was short, as the performance was to be that evening, so they dispersed
+to make their arrangements. Ted Blackwood, a member of the church choir,
+agreed to bring his father's cart.
+
+"I'll take t'owd mare," he grinned. "Shoo's steady, and won't bolt when
+th' harmonium starts. Aye, I've a big stable lantern as 'ull do too."
+
+Here indeed was an excitement for a young American visitor. Diana could
+hardly wait till tea was over and darkness fell. Fortunately it was a
+fine evening, with a hint of frost in the air, so the expedition would
+not be damped by rain. Mrs. Fleming insisted upon all the party being
+very warmly clad, and brought out an old picture of "The Waits" to
+demonstrate that the use of mufflers was an integral part of the
+ceremony. Diana, to her delight, was lent a Red Ridinghood cloak of
+Meg's, clad in which she felt that she had stepped back at least three
+centuries, and was walking in the days of the Stuarts.
+
+"I might be one of the pilgrims in the _Mayflower_!" she exclaimed.
+"What would Dad give to see me? I wish you were coming too," she added
+to Mrs. Fleming.
+
+"I'm too busy, child, to-night," said Mrs. Fleming, kissing the roguish
+little face framed in the red hood. "Enjoy yourselves, chicks! And,
+Diana,"--with a warning finger held up--"_don't_, please, do anything
+desperately amazing!"
+
+"I'll be an absolute model of mild mediaeval maidenhood," promised that
+damsel, with twinkling eyes.
+
+They went first to the Blackwoods' farm, then, when Ted had harnessed
+"t'owd mare", they proceeded with the cart to the schoolhouse, and,
+after a good deal of heaving and hauling, lifted in the harmonium and a
+stool for Miss Simpson, the schoolmistress, to sit upon while she
+played. The rest of the party having joined them, they jogged along to
+the first house on their list, that of Mrs. Holmes at the Old Grange
+Farm. They drew up the cart outside the door, placed lanterns on the
+harmonium, and saw Miss Simpson settled at the instrument--a matter of
+some difficulty, as the cart sloped, and the stool was inclined to slide
+away. Ted held the old mare by the bridle, in case the music might
+revive her youthful spirits and cause her to bolt. The others grouped
+themselves round the cart. Miss Simpson struck up, and through the keen
+night air rang out the cheerful strains of "Christians, awake!" The
+Holmes family opened the door in quite a state of excitement, and
+listened with much appreciation while "Good King Wenceslas", "The First
+Nowell", and other old carols were sung. They insisted on bringing the
+party indoors for slices of Yule cake, and would have given them hot
+coffee as well, but Monty, who wished to visit other houses, declared
+they had not time to wait while it was made. So they tramped on to the
+James's farm, where they had an equally hearty reception, and were
+regaled with cocoa, currant bread, and cheese.
+
+It was a unique experience, trudging along country lanes with a cart and
+lanterns, with hoar-frost under foot, and a few stars winking in a misty
+sky, then standing in the cold night air to sing their carols. Diana
+felt that she could never forget it, and that the shrill voice of little
+Jack Greenhalgh warbling
+
+  "Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
+  Born is the King of Israel!"
+
+would always be associated with her idea of Christmas.
+
+She had her fill of old-world customs, for she was allowed, by special
+favour, to go into the belfry and help for one brief minute to pull a
+bell. And after service on Christmas morning she stood in the church
+porch and watched the distribution of the "roth shillings", which, in
+accordance with the terms of an old charity, were handed over to "twelve
+worthy widows resident within the bounds of the parish". She helped in
+the afternoon at the schools, where a big tea-party and Christmas-tree
+were given to the children of the village, and joined nobly in the games
+that were played afterwards, tearing round at "Drop the Handkerchief",
+or pulling at "Oranges and Lemons", with unflagging energy.
+
+"Have you had a nice Christmas Day, childie, away from all your own
+people?" asked Mrs. Fleming, holding Diana's face between her hands as
+she said good-night, and looking at her critically for signs of
+home-sickness.
+
+But Diana's eyes were without a suspicion of moisture, and her voice was
+absolutely cheerful as she answered:
+
+"Yes, thanks; just topping!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A Fit of the Blues
+
+
+The interest of experiencing a real old-fashioned English Christmas had
+kept Diana's spirits up at fizzling-over point, but directly the
+festival was over, her mental barometer came down with a run, and landed
+her in a bad fit of the blues. There were several reasons for this
+unfortunate plunge into an indigo atmosphere. First, the inevitable
+reaction after the over-excitement of breaking up, sending off presents
+and cards, and duly celebrating the Yule-tide feast. Diana was a
+highly-strung little person, whose nerves were apt to get on edge, and
+who made the common mistake of trying to live too fast. Her father's
+"lightning methods", which she much admired and imitated, were decidedly
+wearing to her vitality, and left her sometimes like a squeezed orange
+or an india-rubber ball that has lost its bounce. Then secondly, the
+French mails had been delayed, and, since the holidays began, Diana had
+not received a single parcel, letter, or even solitary picture post card
+from her parents in Paris. The blank was great, and though the Flemings
+assured her that foreign posts were irregular, and that the whole of
+her correspondence would probably arrive together in one big cargo, she
+nevertheless could not rid herself of the uneasy impression that illness
+or accident to father or mother might be the cause of the delay. Reason
+three, a hackneyed but very present trouble was the weather. The English
+climate had behaved itself during the first days of the holidays, and
+had shown Diana quite a story-book aspect of Christmas, with a light
+fall of snow on the fells, hoar-frost on all the plants and ferns in the
+garden, and the sun a red ball seen through a rime-tipped tracery of
+trees. After that, however, it revenged itself in rain, steady rain that
+came down from a hopelessly grey sky without the least glint of sunlight
+in it. It was very mild too; the air had a heavy languor that made
+everybody feel tired and disinclined for any exertion. Mrs. Fleming
+spread the table with sewing, and sighed at the largeness of the task
+which faced her. The Vicar shut himself in his study, and pinned a
+notice on the door stating that nobody must disturb him. Monty retired
+to develop photos; Neale, clad in a mackintosh, went out into the wet;
+Meg and Elsie buried themselves in books.
+
+Diana, feeling that life was utterly drab, wandered from room to room
+doing nothing. She could not settle to sew, read, paint, write letters,
+or any normal employment, and had not even the patience to try to put
+together a jig-saw puzzle. She missed Wendy and her other chums amongst
+the intermediates, and was almost tempted to wish herself back at
+school. Her piquant little face with this new _triste_ aspect was a
+sorry spectacle, and Mrs. Fleming watched her uneasily.
+
+"I hope the child isn't going to be home-sick," she said to herself. "I
+shall be sorry we took her in if we can't make her happy."
+
+It was evident that something must be done, and something beyond the
+ordinary resources of books and dissected puzzles. Mrs. Fleming
+cudgelled her brains. Her few days' acquaintance with her young visitor
+had taught her that Diana needed judicious handling. It was no use
+making palpable efforts to interest her. In her pixie moods she seemed
+almost to resent it.
+
+"I believe the secret of Diana is to switch her thoughts off herself on
+to other people," ruminated Mrs. Fleming. "Instead of trying so hard to
+amuse her, I shall ask _her_ to amuse _us_."
+
+She waited till her guest, who had taken an aimless prowl round the
+house, returned once more like a wandering will-o'-the-wisp to the
+dining-room, then she tackled her.
+
+"Diana, I want you to do something very kind. I'm in low spirits to-day,
+and feeling as stupid as an owl. I believe we all are--Meg and Elsie,
+and the boys, and even the Vicar! I'd give anything for something to
+buoy me up and to look forward to. Suppose, after tea, we were to make a
+circle round the fire and tell stories--really jolly stories that we'd
+prepared beforehand. We'd each take the rest of the day to think them
+out. If possible, they must be personal experiences; things that have
+actually happened to ourselves. You must have had adventures in America,
+I'm sure, that would interest us immensely. I'm just longing to hear
+about your life out there. Can't you write down a few notes, and give us
+a really good yarn? You've no idea how much I'd enjoy it."
+
+Diana stopped whistling, and stood with her mouth screwed into a button.
+Her grey eyes were fixed on Mrs. Fleming speculatively.
+
+"I didn't know grown-up ladies ever got bored stiff!" she remarked at
+last.
+
+"They do horribly sometimes; indeed the more middle-aged they are the
+more they need cheering up, I think. They don't like 'getting on in
+years'."
+
+"I guess you want me to act jester."
+
+"That's exactly the role I'd like to assign to you."
+
+The twinkle was slowly coming back to Diana's eyes, and the dimples to
+the corners of her mouth. The effect was like sunshine bursting through
+a rain-cloud.
+
+"I guess I'll try if I can remember anything to startle you, if you're
+out for sensations. It's a kind of literary society, isn't it? Can you
+lend me a pencil, please, and some waste paper? I don't know what I've
+done with my blotter. Thanks! Now I'm going right up to my bedroom to
+sort of ruminate."
+
+Mrs. Fleming's prescription for low spirits acted like a charm. Diana
+spent most of the rest of the day scribbling. She came down to tea
+looking quite elated. The others tried to question her, but she refused
+to be drawn. "Wait and see!" was all she would vouchsafe.
+
+[Illustration: WE SET OFF AND RODE ALL THE MORNING]
+
+It was cosy in the drawing-room when the family collected and made a
+circle round the log-fire. By unanimous vote Diana's story was given
+first innings, and, seated in a basket-chair near the lamp, she opened
+her manuscript.
+
+"I thought I'd rather read it than tell it, if you don't mind," she
+said. "I'm a duffer sometimes at telling things. Before I start off,
+though, I'd best explain who folks are, or you won't understand. Uncle
+Carr Clifford had a ranch in New Mexico, and I used to go and stay there
+months. They always kept a special pony for me to ride. Her name was
+Darkie, and she was just a peach. I used nearly to live on her back.
+Lenox, my cousin, would take me all round the ranch. I'd great times.
+Well, it was when I was staying at Buller's Creek (that was Uncle Carr's
+ranch) that this happened. Have I made it clear?"
+
+"Crystal! Bowl ahead!"
+
+So Diana began:
+
+                          "THE LOST PONY
+
+    "I had been staying some weeks at Buller's Creek, and one morning,
+    when I came down to breakfast, Lenox ran into the veranda. He looked
+    fearfully excited.
+
+    "'Do you know,' he cried, 'that Darkie's missing from the stable?'
+
+    "We all sprang up at the bad news, and Uncle Carr whistled. Darkie
+    was my special pet, and, apart from that, she was the best pony on
+    the ranch. How had she got out of the stable? Lenox had tied her up
+    himself the night before. Either some malicious person must have let
+    her loose or, worse still, some one must have stolen her.
+
+    "'I believe it's Lu Hudson!' declared Lenox and Uncle Carr nodded.
+
+    "Lu Hudson, whom most people called 'Spanish Lu', was the owner of
+    the next ranch, and a very disagreeable neighbour. He was a big,
+    rough, dark, hot-tempered fellow, with a bad reputation for picking
+    quarrels and using his revolver. He and Uncle Carr were continually
+    having lawsuits about the boundary of their ranches, and his sheep
+    were constantly trespassing on the Buller's Creek ranges. He had the
+    greatest admiration for Darkie, and several times had asked to buy
+    her, but Uncle Carr had always curtly refused to part with her. The
+    last time there had been trouble about the boundary, Spanish Lu had
+    sworn that he would pay Uncle Carr out, and he was just the sort of
+    desperate fellow to keep his word. Of course the first thing to be
+    done was to ride round the ranch and see whether Darkie could be
+    found anywhere.
+
+    "'I'm sorry I can't look after the matter myself to-day,' said Uncle
+    Carr; 'but Jake and I have to get off to the mart at Louisville. She
+    may have strayed, but it's not likely. I don't believe you'll find
+    her.'
+
+    "As soon as Uncle and Jake, the herdsman, had started off in the
+    buggy, Lenox saddled Whitefoot, his own pony, to go in search of
+    Darkie. I begged and prayed and implored to go too, so finally they
+    let me have my way, and saddled Jap for me, a brown pony, quiet and
+    steady, though not so clever as Darkie. Coonie, a little half-caste
+    boy, went with us.
+
+    "'The air feels heavy this morning,' said Aunt Frances, as we were
+    starting. 'If a storm comes on, make for cover. Don't try to get
+    home across the prairie till it's over.'
+
+    "The sun was shining, and we did not think the weather looked at all
+    like a storm. I rather laughed at Auntie as she fastened a wrap on
+    to my saddle, with instructions to wear it if I felt cold. Lenox had
+    the lunch-basket, and also a small axe, which he always took with
+    him when going round the ranch.
+
+    "We set off and rode all the morning, but never a trace of Darkie
+    was to be found. We ate our lunch in a stony little glen, where a
+    stream flowed down from the ridge above. I was very keen on getting
+    wild flowers, and while our ponies rested, I wandered up the bank of
+    the stream, gathering myself a posy. I went on and on, much farther
+    than I intended. At the very head of the glen was a natural barrier
+    of rock, with a few steep steps leading on to a kind of plateau at
+    the top. This spot, I knew, marked the boundary between my uncle's
+    ranch and that of Spanish Lu. The glen was the property of Buller's
+    Creek; the farther side of the ridge belonged to the Hudson range,
+    and the plateau was neutral ground.
+
+    "Something, I don't know what, impelled me, as I stood there, to
+    give the long-drawn, peculiar whistle with which we always called
+    Darkie. To my astonishment, a whinny came from the plateau above. In
+    another moment I was scrambling up the rock steps. There, tied to a
+    cedar-stump, was Darkie. She recognized me at once, and whinnied
+    again. There was nobody in sight. I did not even stop to think of Lu
+    Hudson. I just ran to Darkie and untied her, and took her by the
+    bridle. It was a fearful business to lead her down the rock steps,
+    but she was as surefooted as a mule, and together we managed it
+    somehow. The boys nearly had a fit when I made my appearance with
+    the missing pony. It was pretty plain, so they said, that Spanish Lu
+    must have stolen her and taken her there for safety, intending to
+    come back and fetch her. Where was he now? The answer came
+    unexpectedly.
+
+    "'What's that smoke there?' asked Coonie.
+
+    "Lenox and I turned to look in the direction in which he pointed. A
+    grey haze was mounting from the horizon.
+
+    "'It's more like dust than smoke,' said Lenox. 'I wouldn't mind
+    betting it's sheep.'
+
+    "Who could have the impudence to be driving sheep on to the
+    Buller's Creek range? It seemed more than probable that Lu Hudson
+    had broken his pledge, and was again trespassing on his neighbour's
+    property. Lenox and I looked at each other. If Spanish Lu were
+    within short distance of us, the sooner we got Darkie safely home,
+    the better.
+
+    "'I'll ride her, and you lead Jap,' I decided.
+
+    "We started off at once. As we got out of the glen and on to the
+    prairie we could see in the distance an immense flock of sheep,
+    herded by two men on horseback. We were too far from them to
+    recognize faces, but the general appearance of one of them suggested
+    Spanish Lu.
+
+    "'They're grazing east of the ridge, in spite of what the judge
+    settled!' exclaimed Lenox angrily. 'If I hadn't to take care of you
+    and Darkie, I'd go and tell them what I think of them.'
+
+    "It seemed no use running our heads into danger, and perhaps having
+    Darkie wrenched from us, so we made off east towards home. We had
+    only gone about a mile when suddenly the sky to the west behind us
+    turned black. In a few minutes we were in the thick of a terrific
+    blizzard. My first instinct was to give Darkie her head and fly for
+    the ranch, but Lenox caught at my bridle.
+
+    "'Ride back to the glen!' he shouted.
+
+    "Lenox knew enough about prairie blizzards to prevent him from
+    trying to find our way home through this one. On the open plains,
+    where the wind has full sweep, a blizzard is a thing to be dreaded.
+    Though we had to face the storm to ride back to the glen, it was
+    the safest thing to do, for we were not far away, and we should find
+    shelter there. With our heads down, and sharp scraps of ice beating
+    on our saddles, we urged our ponies along. Suddenly we caught sight
+    of a great moving mass coming on with the storm. It was the immense
+    flock of sheep, that had stampeded before the blizzard, and were
+    drifting along across the prairie. Lenox stood up in his stirrups,
+    and shouted to Coonie:
+
+    "'Ride over there, and we'll turn them into the glen!'
+
+    "Coonie understood in a second, and so did I. Unless we could drive
+    the sheep into shelter, undoubtedly the whole number would perish in
+    the storm. Lenox thrust Jap's bridle into my hand, and dashed ahead.
+    In a few minutes he and Coonie had succeeded in turning the leaders
+    towards the entrance of the creek, and after them swept the rest of
+    the flock. We followed into the sheltered glen, and, dismounting
+    from our ponies, found a nook under a projecting piece of rock.
+    There were some tree-stumps about, and Lenox set to work to chop
+    them with his axe, and soon made a roaring fire. How glad I was that
+    Aunt Frances had made me bring the wrap! I should have been frozen
+    without it. Even by the fireside the air was bitter. What must it be
+    like out in the open prairie, we wondered? We had not sat long in
+    our sheltered nook before we heard voices, and two figures, covered
+    with ice and snow, made their appearance leading horses. They
+    staggered to our camp-fire, half exhausted by the violence of the
+    storm. Though his hair and his beard were white with snow, we had no
+    difficulty in recognizing Spanish Lu. He thawed for a little, and
+    then spoke to his herdsman.
+
+    "'The sheep!' he gasped.
+
+    "'They're all here,' answered Lenox in triumph. 'We saw them, and
+    turned them into the creek.'
+
+    "Spanish Lu stared at us as if he could hardly believe his eyes.
+
+    "'You kids! You turned the whole herd?'
+
+    "I expect he felt pretty grateful, for, if it hadn't been for Lenox
+    and Coonie, several thousand of his sheep would certainly have been
+    lost, and, as it was, they were safely grazing in shelter. When the
+    storm was sufficiently over for us to venture home, he led out
+    Darkie himself and helped me to mount. Neither he nor we said a word
+    about her loss, though we were perfectly certain he must have taken
+    her from the stable.
+
+    "After that day he kept his sheep to his own side of the ridge, and,
+    though he was never a pleasant neighbour, Uncle Carr wasn't obliged
+    to go to law with him again about the boundary of the two ranches.
+    So we felt that Darkie had patched up peace, particularly as we
+    didn't accuse Lu Hudson of taking her. Horse-stealing is a very
+    serious crime in the West, so I expect he thought he had got off
+    uncommonly well."
+
+"And what became of Darkie?" asked Meg, as Diana's manuscript came to a
+rather abrupt end.
+
+"Uncle Carr gave up the ranch when he went into Congress, and Darkie and
+all the other ponies were left at Buller's Creek. She wouldn't have been
+happy off the prairie, or I'd have begged to have her. Lenox? Why, he's
+still in France; but I suppose he'll be demobilized soon, and going back
+to Harvard. He wants to be a professor, not a ranchman. He's a fearfully
+clever boy. Now, I've read my story, and I'm waiting for yours. Who's
+going to come next?"
+
+"After such excitements as horse-stealing and a blizzard, our poor
+little adventures would seem very tame," said Mrs. Fleming, voicing the
+general feeling of the family, each member of which was showing a plain
+desire to shirk. "Suppose we keep our stories for another evening, and
+play games now? Meg, get pencils and paper, and we'll have a round of
+'telegrams'."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Diana to the Rescue
+
+
+Next morning the postman arrived quite laden with parcels and letters
+addressed to "Miss Diana Hewlitt". As Mrs. Fleming had prophesied,
+everything came at once, and her young guest spent a busy and ecstatic
+half-hour opening her various packages. Scent, French chocolates,
+Parisian embroideries, gloves, ribbons, and other dainty vanities such
+as girls love were raved over and spread forth on the table, while Diana
+devoured the contents of her letters. From one large envelope she drew
+forth a photograph of a lovely lady in evening-dress.
+
+"It's Mother! Oh, how perfectly sweet! And the very image of her, too!"
+she cried, handing the photo to Meg for admiration.
+
+Her fit of the blues had utterly vanished, and she was in a
+rose-coloured mood to-day. Meg, leaning over the table, deeply
+interested in the parcels, looked critically at the picture of the
+bright-eyed lady with the soft coils of fair hair.
+
+"She's not like you, Diana."
+
+"No. A thousand times better looking than I am!"
+
+"I suppose you're like your father?"
+
+"Yes, so people say, though I can't see it myself."
+
+"How pretty she is--and how young! She might almost be your sister. And
+yet I suppose she must be middle-aged."
+
+"What do you mean by 'middle-aged'?" demanded Diana sharply.
+
+"Why, anything over thirty! I call _my_ mother middle-aged."
+
+"Do you?"
+
+"Of course!" (Meg was still examining the photo.) "What a perfectly
+glorious dress to be taken in! And I adore her necklace. She's like the
+pictures one sees in _The Queen_. It must be lovely to have a pretty
+mother."
+
+Diana was looking at Meg with an unfathomable expression in her grey
+eyes.
+
+"Don't you call your mother pretty, then?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, yes! she's a darling; but she's had her day. She's not a society
+beauty, is she?"
+
+"N-n-n-o, I suppose not," said Diana thoughtfully.
+
+The boys came into the room just then; the conversation was interrupted,
+and Meg probably forgot all about it. Diana, however, did not. At
+lunch-time she critically studied her hostess's features, and mentally
+compared them with those of the photo which had arrived that morning
+from Paris.
+
+"I don't believe Mrs. Fleming is really any older than Mother," she
+decided. "She's been very pretty some time, but she's let herself go.
+It's a pity. All the same, I could shake Meg!"
+
+An impression that had been gathering in Diana's mind ever since she
+arrived at the Vicarage now shaped itself into definite form. She did
+not like the attitude of her friends towards their mother. They were
+devoted to her, but their love lacked all element of admiration. Mrs.
+Fleming had made the common mistake of effacing herself utterly for the
+sake of her children. She had dropped her former accomplishments, even
+the music in which she had once excelled, and made herself an absolute
+slave to her household. So long as Meg and Elsie wore pretty frocks she
+cared nothing for her own dress; she never bought a new book or took a
+holiday; her interests were centred in the young people's achievements,
+and she had become merely the theatre of their actions. Going away
+seldom, and reading little, had narrowed her horizon. She often felt her
+ideas were out of date, and that she was not keeping up with the modern
+notions her children were imbibing at school. They always spoke with
+more respect of their teachers' opinions than of hers, and would allude
+to subjects they were learning as if they did not expect her to
+understand them. Sometimes they assumed little airs of patronage towards
+her. Among themselves they occasionally referred to her as "Only
+Mother!"
+
+Diana, thinking it all carefully over, raged mentally. "I guess I've got
+to make those Flemings admire their mother!" she said to herself. "Just
+how to do it beats me at present, but I don't give up. I'd like to fix
+her hair for her if I dared. She strains it back till she looks like a
+skinned rabbit, and her dresses were made in the year one, I should say.
+She's a dear, all the same, though. If she could only be cured of
+feeling on the shelf, she'd grow ten years younger."
+
+Having set herself the surprising undertaking of rejuvenating Mrs.
+Fleming, Diana went warily to work. It would certainly not do to
+reproach Meg, Elsie, and the boys for lack of appreciation of their
+mother; they would simply have stared in utter amazement. Somehow, by
+hook or by crook, she must be made to shine, so as to command their
+honest admiration. Diana catalogued her personal attractions:
+
+  1. A really quite classical nose.
+
+  2. A nice, neat mouth.
+
+  3. Good teeth.
+
+  4. A pretty colour when she gets hot or excited.
+
+  5. Quite fascinating brown eyes.
+
+  6. Hair that would be lovely if it were only decently done, instead
+  of scooped away and screwed into a tight knob at the back.
+
+Anybody with these points might make so much of them, if they only knew
+how to use them properly. Diana wondered if it would be possible to buy
+a book on the secrets of fascination. It was just the element that was
+lacking. Putting personality aside, she began probing into the extent of
+her friend's mental equipment. She induced her to bring out the
+water-colour sketches of former years, and even wrung from her a half
+promise that some day--when the weather was nice, and if she had
+time--she would paint a picture of the church.
+
+"The boys would each like a sketch of their mother's to take to school
+with them," decreed Diana. "Monty would have his framed and hang it in
+his study, and show it to all his friends as _your_ work."
+
+"Why, so he might," said Mrs. Fleming, looking much surprised. The idea
+had evidently never occurred to her before.
+
+From painting, Diana passed to other accomplishments. Mrs. Fleming
+rendered the accompaniments to Elsie's violin pieces and Meg's songs
+with a delicacy of touch that revealed the true musician.
+
+"I wish you'd play something to me," begged Diana one day when the
+girls' practising was over and their mother was rising from the piano.
+
+"_I_, my dear child! I never play now."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I gave up my music long ago, when I got married."
+
+"You haven't forgotten it, though."
+
+"Well, not altogether, of course. I'm a good reader still."
+
+"Please!" urged Diana.
+
+And, to content her impetuous visitor, Mrs. Fleming gave in. She pulled
+a volume of Chopin from the stand, and began the twelfth nocturne. It
+was years since she had played it, but as she touched the keys the old
+spirit crept back into her fingers, and the notes came rippling out
+delicately and easily. Diana, sunk back in the recesses of the long
+basket-chair, listened fascinated. She loved music when it was of a
+superior quality, and she did not often get the chance of hearing
+playing such as this.
+
+"More! More!" she begged, when the nocturne came to an end.
+
+The ice once broken, Mrs. Fleming, as much to her own astonishment as to
+that of the family, actually revived her interest in the piano. She
+hunted out her old pieces and began to practise them. She said it was to
+amuse Diana, but it was evident that enjoyment was mixed with her
+philanthropy. As a girl she had studied under a good master, and she had
+much natural talent. She would improvise sometimes, and even compose
+little things of her own.
+
+"Why, my dear," said her husband, peeping into the drawing-room one
+evening just at the conclusion of the "Moonlight Sonata", "this takes me
+back to the time when we were engaged! I've been sitting listening in my
+study."
+
+Diana, squatting on one foot in the corner of the sofa, clapped her
+hands softly. She liked the Vicar, but she thought his antiquarian
+researches monopolized the conversation at meal-times. It was quite nice
+to hear him express appreciation for some other line than his own. Diana
+had a scheme in her mind, and, when she judged the time was ripe, she
+proposed it suddenly and boldly in the face of the whole united family
+of Flemings. It was nothing more or less than that Mrs. Fleming should
+play a solo at the concert which was to be held at the schools on the
+10th of January. In vulgar parlance, she "shot her bird sitting",
+plumped the idea upon her, and dragged forth an acceptance before--as
+the poor lady afterwards protested--she had time to realize what she was
+undertaking.
+
+"Certainly. Why not?" confirmed her husband. "We badly want some more
+items on the programme. I shall put you down for two solos."
+
+"But what _can_ I play?" remonstrated Mrs. Fleming.
+
+"Oh, Mother, you know heaps of things! Don't be absurd!" reproved Meg.
+
+"I guess we'll have a rehearsal to-night, and choose your star pieces,"
+said Diana, with shining eyes.
+
+So far, so good. Her plot had answered admirably. The family took it
+almost as a matter of course that "Mother" was to perform at the
+concert, though it had never occurred to any of them to ask her to do
+so.
+
+"She's a very good pianist," said Meg airily to Diana.
+
+"Glad you think so!" rapped out Diana, with an emphasis that made Meg
+stare and whisper afterwards to Elsie that she couldn't quite somehow
+get at the back of "Stars and Stripes".
+
+It was a mighty matter to select the two solos. Mrs. Fleming, flustered
+and bewildered at this unexpected dive into publicity, hesitated among
+many pieces. As she could not make up her own mind, Diana made it up for
+her.
+
+"We want the 'Moonlight Sonata' for one, and Chopin's 'Ballade in A
+flat' for the other," she decided. "They're classical, but they're so
+exquisite that I guess even the old women will enjoy them. Then for the
+encores you could play----"
+
+"Encores!" gasped Mrs. Fleming feebly.
+
+"Why, of course there'll be encores! Schubert's 'Hedge Roses' for one,
+and that nocturne of your own for the other. It'll just about take the
+house!"
+
+So Mrs. Fleming, with an extraordinary feeling that she had somehow been
+whisked back to her school-days, sat practising in the drawing-room,
+with Diana, curled up in the corner of the sofa for audience. It was a
+dream-world for them both. Diana had been reading _Stories of the Great
+Composers_, and now she knew the hearts of the musicians she could enter
+more fully into the meaning of their music. She had fallen, utterly and
+entirely, under the magic spell of Chopin; the lovely, liquid melodies
+thrilled her like the echo of something beyond her earthly experience,
+and seemed to go soaring away into regions she had not yet explored,
+regions of breathless beauty, though only entered by the gates of
+sorrow. She would read Alfred Noyes's poem on Chopin as she sat
+listening to the haunting, bewitching rhythm of the "Ballade in A", and
+the ring of the poetry merged itself into the glamour of the music, so
+that ever afterwards she connected the two.
+
+  "'Do roses in the moonlight glow
+  Like this and this?' I could not see
+  His eyes, and yet--they were quite wet,
+  Blinded, I think! What should I be
+  If in that hour I did not know
+  My own diviner debt?"
+
+or
+
+                "Wrapped in incense gloom,
+  In drifting clouds and golden light;
+  Once I was shod with fire, and trod
+  Beethoven's path through storm and night:
+  It is too late now to resume
+  My monologue with God."
+
+"I don't wonder Chopin had his piano carried out into the fields!" she
+commented. "I don't believe he could have composed in the house. You
+hear the wind blowing through his pieces, and see the tassels of the
+laburnum-tree he was sitting under swaying about in it."
+
+The concert was an annual gaiety which most of the people in the
+neighbourhood attended, and was generally much above the average of
+village performances. North-country folk are musical, and this district
+of the Pennines had produced many voices that passed on to cathedral
+choirs. Instrumental music, also, was appreciated and understood, and
+before the war there had been quite a good little orchestra in the
+parish. When Mr. Fleming drew up his programme, he knew the audience for
+whom he was catering, and did not fill it entirely with coon songs and
+ragtimes. Diana, to whom the affair loomed as the main event of the
+holidays, discussed at the Vicarage the eternally feminine question of
+dress.
+
+"No one ever comes very smart," Mrs. Fleming assured her.
+
+"But one likes to see the performers in something pretty," pleaded
+Diana. "It makes it so much more festive, doesn't it?"
+
+"Mother, you intend to go in evening-dress, don't you?" said Meg.
+
+Mrs. Fleming had intended nothing of the sort, but urged on by the
+girls, she took a review of her wardrobe. She shook her head over the
+result.
+
+"I haven't anything at all except that grey silk, and it's as old as the
+hills. Why, I got it for my sister's wedding, when Roger was a baby!"
+
+"But fashions come round again," said Diana, who, with Meg and Elsie,
+had been allowed to watch what came out of the big ottoman in the spare
+bedroom. "Why, this dress is the very image of the picture of one in
+that magazine Mother sent me from Paris! It only wants the sleeves
+shortened and some lace put in, and the neck turned down to make it
+lower, and then a fichu put round. Here's the very thing! I'd fix it
+for you if you'd let me. I'd adore to do it."
+
+No one knew exactly how Diana managed to work matters, but for this
+occasion she took over Mrs. Fleming's toilet, and that astonished lady
+resigned herself into her hands. She was a natty little person, with
+exquisite taste, and by the aid of some really good lace, which the
+ottoman yielded, she managed to transform the grey silk dress into a
+very creditable imitation of the Parisian fashion-plate. She even dared
+to venture a step further without offending.
+
+"I often help Mother fix her hair when she's going out, and she calls me
+her little _coiffeuse_. I'm crazy to try yours, if I may."
+
+"'In for a penny, in for a pound,' I suppose, you young witch!"
+acquiesced Mrs. Fleming, letting her enthusiastic guest have her way.
+
+So on the evening of the concert Diana shut herself up in her hostess's
+bedroom with a pair of crimping-irons and some curling-tongs. She
+covered up the result with a light gauze veil.
+
+"Don't let them see you till you get to the concert," she implored,
+helping her friend to put on her cloak. "I want them to get a real
+surprise. I guess it will make them sit up!"
+
+The parish hall was quite full that evening, and the platform was
+prettily and appropriately decorated with flags and plants in pots.
+There was a sprinkling of local gentry on the front benches, and Miss
+Todd, who had returned after the holidays, and was entertaining some
+visitors at the Abbey, brought her whole house-party. The villagers had
+turned up in full force, thoroughly prepared to enjoy themselves. The
+Fleming family sat at the end of the second row, and watched as the
+audience filed in.
+
+"Where's Mother?" asked Elsie.
+
+"She's in the performers' room, talking to Miss Watson," vouchsafed
+Diana, chuckling softly to herself.
+
+Then the concert began. There was a madrigal by the choir, and a glee
+for four male voices, and a duet for soprano and mezzo, and then came
+the item for which Diana was waiting:
+
+           The Moonlight Sonata, ....... _Beethoven_.
+
+                   MRS. CARISBROOK FLEMING.
+
+The curtain at the back of the platform was drawn aside, and a lady
+entered--a lady who was palpably nervous, but oh, so pretty! Her brown
+eyes shone like two stars, and her cheeks were the colour of the knot of
+carnation ribbon that fastened the lace fichu of her dress. Her lovely
+bronze hair was parted on one side, and rippled lightly over her
+forehead; it looked the very perfection of glossy fluffiness. She wore a
+moonstone pendant set in dull silver that matched the shimmering grey of
+her dress. The piano had been drawn to the front of the platform, and
+she took her place. Then the magic music began. Diana knew her friend
+could play well, but she had never heard her reach this pitch before.
+The audience listened as if spell-bound, and, when the last note died
+away, broke into a storm of applause. There was no question about their
+enthusiasm, and an encore was inevitable. They stamped heartily, indeed,
+for a second encore, but Mrs. Fleming refused to return to the platform,
+and sent on the next performer instead. The "Ballade in A flat", in the
+second part of the programme, was an almost greater success, and
+produced shouts of "Brava!" from the back of the hall. Pendlemere people
+could appreciate good music, and showed their approval with
+north-country heartiness.
+
+The Fleming family sat during the performance gazing as if they could
+scarcely believe the evidence of their own eyes and ears. Diana had
+calculated upon giving them a surprise, and she had certainly done so.
+Apparently it was a very pleasant one, to judge from the expression on
+their faces.
+
+As the crowd filed out from the benches at the close of the concert,
+Diana found herself walking behind Meg, who was speaking to a friend.
+
+"That 'Moonlight Sonata' was beautiful!" Ada Davis was saying. "And Mrs.
+Fleming looked so charming to-night! How nice to have such a pretty,
+clever mother!"
+
+"I'm _awfully_ proud of her!" agreed Meg, with unction.
+
+"Humph! High time you were!" sniffed Diana behind.
+
+At the door the Vicar was helping his wife into her cloak. He put it
+round her with quite a gallant little air, and offered her his arm as
+they stepped out into the starlight together.
+
+"I hardly know you to-night, Sylvia. You excelled yourself!" he
+remarked.
+
+"'Sylvia'!" Diana triumphed inwardly. "That's the first time I've ever
+heard him call her anything except 'Mother'. If _I_ get married, I'll
+want my husband to call me 'Diana', even if I've a dozen children to be
+'Mother' to! I guess Mrs. Fleming has hopped off the shelf to-day, and I
+just hope to goodness she'll never go back."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Diana Breaks Out
+
+
+Diana went back to school in the wildest and most rampageous of spirits.
+She felt that she just had to let off steam somehow. She seized Wendy's
+hand, tore with her to the very top of the house and down again, then
+careered along the corridor in such a mad, not to say noisy stampede,
+that Miss Todd issued from her study like a lion from its lair, and
+fixed the culprits with the full concentrated power of what the girls
+called her "scholastic eye".
+
+"Winifred and Diana," she remarked in calm, measured tones, "if I have
+to remind you again about walking quietly in the passages, it will mean
+forty lines for you both, and I should be sorry to have to give
+punishments on the first day of term."
+
+The tempestuous pair, very much sobered down, tip-toed away, and went to
+unpack their possessions in their separate dormitories. Diana found
+Loveday in the ivy room, and burst in upon her with as much of the
+bubbling-over spirits as she dared to exhibit, hugging her till she
+nearly choked her.
+
+"I've missed you loads, Loviekins!" she assured her. "It felt queer to
+be in bed, and not have you on the other side of a curtain. I used to
+wake up in the night and begin to speak to you out of sheer force of
+habit. I wanted my 'little elder sissie' awful bad sometimes! Did you
+miss me the least tiny atom? Do you care that much for your 'pixie
+girl'?"
+
+"Of course I missed you, darling! I'm just delighted to see you again!
+It's nice to be back. I haven't enjoyed the holidays _very_ much. I
+never do----"
+
+"I know," said Diana sympathetically, as Loveday hesitated. "I could
+read that between the lines, in your letters. You wrote me absolutely
+ripping letters! I loved them! You were a dear to write so often. It
+must have taken heaps of time."
+
+"I'd nothing very much else to do," sighed Loveday, disengaging herself
+gently from Diana's arms. "Let me go, child! I haven't half finished my
+unpacking, and you haven't even begun yours yet."
+
+"_Bust_ the unpacking!" said Diana naughtily. "I don't feel inclined to
+be tidy; I shall just shovel armfuls of things out, and pitch them
+anyhow into the drawers. Yes, Loveday Seton, I feel like that! I'm 'fey'
+to-day, as the Scotch say, and must 'dree my weird'. Don't quite know
+exactly what that means; but I guess I've got a little pixie imp dancing
+around inside me, and he's going to make me do something crazy. There's
+no help for it! It's kismet!"
+
+"And Miss Hampson is also kismet!" said Loveday, leaving her own box and
+coming to the rescue of Diana's garments, which were being literally
+pitched into the drawers with no regard at all for their condition.
+"Look how you're crushing your blouses! Go and sit on the bed, and let
+me do it. There! What a baby thing you are! You're more like four than
+fourteen!"
+
+"It pays," said Diana serenely, squatting cross-legged on her bed, while
+Loveday's neat hands arranged her possessions. "If I were a sedate,
+goody-goody, 'old-beyond-her-years', staid sort of a person, you'd never
+spoil me as you do. I'll try to practise it if you like, though.
+Anything to please you! How would this do?"
+
+Diana's mobile face suddenly underwent a quick change. The corners of
+her mouth were drawn down, her eyelids drooped, while her eyes were cast
+upward in a sort of sanctimonious squint.
+
+"Don't!" implored Loveday, almost hysterically. "Oh, suppose your face
+were to stick like that! You'd look the most abominable little Pharisee.
+I'd hate you!"
+
+"You like your pixie-girl best? Then, that settles it! Now, if you ever
+scold me again about anything, I'll put on the Pharisee face; so I warn
+you. You've got to choose between them. Yes, I know I'm a handful--I
+always have been--but, perhaps, it's good for you, Loveday mine:
+develops your character, and makes you more patient and persevering,
+and--and----"
+
+"You're the cheekiest little imp on the face of the earth!" interrupted
+Loveday. "Get up, this minute, and come and finish your own work. I've
+something else to do besides unpack for you. If Miss Hampson comes and
+finds my box still half full----"
+
+"She'll say how slow you've been, and what a nice, tidy child Diana is!
+Don't try to look 'proper', Loveday! It doesn't suit your style of
+beauty. Yes, put my collars away, too, or I shall only crush them.
+There! Very well done! First prize for order! I think you're absolutely
+topping, if you ask me!"
+
+All that evening, and all the next morning, Diana's spirits continued to
+fizz. She might possibly have worked them off out-of-doors, but the
+British climate was against her; once more the fells were swathed in
+their familiar garments of mist, and the rain came pitter-pattering down
+on the roof of Pendlemere Abbey, and falling from the eaves in a
+monotonous drip, drip, drip. It was drawing afternoon, and promptly at
+half-past two intermediates and juniors would be due in the studio to go
+on with the various copies and models on which they were engaged. It was
+now shortly after two o'clock, and the school was amusing itself for the
+half-hour between meal-time and lessons. During that brief interval
+Diana, so to speak, "popped her cork".
+
+"Hallo, America! You're looking rather weedy, standing on one leg like a
+marabou stork!" quizzed Sadie. "What's the matter with you?"
+
+"Your beastly, abominable British climate!" retorted Diana. "It goes on
+rain, rain, raining till I'm fed up. I want to get away somewhere, and
+see something different from just school. I wasn't born for a convent!"
+
+"I should think not!" chuckled Vi.
+
+"But I'm in one, and I'm tired of it! I'm tired of you all! Yes, I mean
+what I say!"
+
+"Draw it mild, Stars and Stripes!" warned Sadie.
+
+"I don't care! School's dull, and I'm bored stiff. I'll wake things up
+somehow; see if I don't!"
+
+"What'll you do, old sport?"
+
+"Ah! _Just wait and see!_" nodded Diana, putting down the foot that had
+been twisted round her leg, and stamping to get rid of the pins and
+needles that followed her cramped position. "It's just possible I may
+turn philanthropist, and give you all a dinky little surprise," she
+added casually, as she strolled towards the door.
+
+The studio was a large room on the upper story, with the orthodox north
+windows and top-light, in the shape of a skylight. It was fitted with
+desks and easels, and round its walls was a row of casts on pedestals.
+The girls liked drawing afternoon well enough, but they were not in any
+particular hurry to go upstairs and take out boards and pencils. It was
+not until twenty-five minutes past two that Wendy, Vi, Sadie, and Peggy
+came leisurely along the top landing. They opened the door of the studio
+in quite an every-day manner, and walked in. Then they all four stared
+and ejaculated:
+
+"O-o-o-oh!"
+
+"Jehosh-a-phat!"
+
+"I say!"
+
+"Good night!"
+
+They might well exclaim, for a very startling and unanticipated
+spectacle greeted them. The classic heads of the casts had lost their
+dignity. Apollo wore a tam-o'-shanter cocked rakishly over his left ear;
+Clytie had on a motor veil; Juno and Ceres were fashionably arrayed in
+straw hats; a wreath of twisted paper encircled the intellectual brow of
+Minerva; Psyche peered through spectacles; Perseus was decked with a
+turban; and, worst of all, the beautiful upper lip of Venus sported a
+moustache. Armed with a pointer stood Diana, ready, like Mrs. Jarley of
+the famous waxworks, to act show-woman.
+
+"Walk up! Walk up, ladies and gentlemen!" she began glibly. "This isn't
+funny at all, it's calm and classical. Greek art up-to-date is what I
+call it. If Apollo had lived in this British climate I guess he'd have
+needed a tammy to keep his hair in curl; and Psyche must have been
+short-sighted when she blundered about hunting for Cupid; she'd have
+found him in a decent pair of spectacles, poor girl! Clytie suffered
+from earache, and couldn't motor without a veil; as for Venus, it's
+giving her the vote that's forced a moustache; she's sent for a
+safety-razor, but it hasn't arrived yet."
+
+More girls had come in during Diana's explanation, and they wandered
+round the room in explosions of laughter.
+
+"Why has Perseus got a turban on?" demanded Tattie.
+
+"Because his hair grew thin on the top, and even Tatcho didn't fetch up
+another crop of curls, and Andromeda so objected to seeing him bald that
+there was nothing for it but to turn Moslem and wear a turban. He did it
+in self-defence, because she threatened to buy him a dark wig, and he
+said it would make him look like a Jew."
+
+"That's _my_ hat!" objected Vi, pointing to the straw that decorated
+Juno.
+
+"Excuse me--hers! The lady's gone on the land, working like a nigger
+digging the ground for the potato crop. You see, Jupiter hasn't got
+demobilized yet, and----"
+
+The flower of Diana's eloquence suddenly withered and dried up as if
+electrocuted. In the doorway, above the heads of the giggling girls,
+appeared a vision in pince-nez--an avenging vision that passed rapidly
+through the several stages of amazement, consternation, and wrath.
+
+"Di-ana _Hew_litt!" snapped Miss Hampson. "Go down and report yourself
+_instantly_ to Miss Todd. This is simply disgraceful! Girls, take your
+seats! Tattie and Vi, help to remove those--those----" The irate mistress
+paused for a word, but, failing to find one adequate to the occasion,
+began instead, her fingers trembling with indignation, to strip the
+turban from the classic head of Perseus.
+
+Dead, awful silence reigned in the room. Not a girl dared to giggle; a
+few began nervously to sharpen pencils, but most sat and stared while
+the casts were denuded of their trappings. Miss Hampson removed the
+moustache from Venus as if she were apologizing to that deity for
+sacrilege, and, with her own handkerchief, wiped away from the lovely
+lip the seccotine which had attached the masculine appendage to the
+Queen of Beauty. She rolled up the hats in the towel which had served as
+turban, set her pupils to work at their copies, then marched sternly
+downstairs to lay the full enormity of the case before the
+justly-shocked ears of Miss Todd. Nobody ever heard exactly what
+happened in the interview; no coaxing or persuasion would induce Diana
+to disclose details even to Wendy or Loveday, but it was generally
+understood in the school that Miss Todd had "spoken her mind". One
+result loomed large, and that was the punishment. It was absolutely
+unique. Perhaps the Principal was tired of giving poetry to learn or
+lines to write, and considered that confinement to bounds was not very
+good for a girl's health, so she devised something else to act as a
+discipline. For a week Diana was condemned not to wear evening-dress. It
+was a far greater trial than it sounds. Each night before supper the
+school changed into pretty frocks, and, when the meal was over, spent a
+pleasant hour together at recreation. With everybody else in festive
+attire, it was terrible for Diana to be obliged to come downstairs in
+her serge skirt and jersey, the one Cinderella of the party. Most
+especially trying was it on Saturday, when chairs and tables were pushed
+back in the dining-room, and dancing was the order of the evening. Poor
+Diana, in her thick morning-shoes, stood forlornly in a corner, refusing
+all offers of partners, but watching wistfully as the others whirled by.
+Miss Hampson, whose wrath was of the short, explosive kind that quickly
+turns to softness of heart, was understood to murmur something to Miss
+Todd about the impossibility of waltzing in anything but
+dancing-slippers; but the Principal's mouth was set firm, and she would
+not remit the least atom of the sentence till it was paid to the
+uttermost farthing.
+
+If Diana looked wistful, she nevertheless bore her punishment with
+dignity. She was a girl of spirit, and she did not mean to betray, even
+by the blink of an eyelid, how much she cared. Geraldine, Hilary, and
+Ida had rubbed in her ostracism, and certain impudent juniors had
+enjoyed themselves with witticisms at her expense. To these she must
+preserve an attitude of sang-froid. But up in the ivy room, when she
+went to bed, the mask fell off. The Diana that cuddled in Loveday's arms
+was a very different Diana from the don't-care young person of
+downstairs. Loveday--who understood her now--consoled and kissed where a
+term ago she would have scolded. There are some dispositions that can
+only be managed by kisses.
+
+"It wasn't as if I'd taken a hammer and smashed the wretched old casts!"
+sobbed Diana. "I really didn't do them any damage; even the seccotine
+was easily sponged off Venus. But Miss Todd talked and talked as if I'd
+done something irreligious in church. I'd never do that, you know! Would
+I, now? She said I had 'an irreverent mind'. I don't believe she'll ever
+_quite_ forgive me. And oh, Hilary has been so nasty! Thank goodness,
+dancing evening's done with! I've only Monday and Tuesday nights to go
+through now, then the whole wretched week will be over. I suppose I'm to
+be allowed to wear my Sunday clothes to-morrow? If I mayn't, I'll sham
+ill and stop in bed. I won't go to church in my brown coat and tammy,
+and have Mr. Fleming and everybody staring at me. I just _couldn't_! I'd
+die!"
+
+"It's all right about that--don't you worry! I asked Miss Hampson, and
+she said: 'Certainly, Sunday clothes'. I'll speak to Hilary, and try to
+get her to leave you alone. As for those kids, just leave them to me;
+I'll tackle them, and tell them what I think of the way they behaved
+to-night--the young wretches! I fancy I'll make them squirm!"
+
+"You mascot! Miss Todd says I've been utterly and entirely spoilt. Do
+_you_ think I have?"
+
+Loveday took the piquant little face between her two hands and looked a
+moment into the upturned grey eyes.
+
+"Yes," she decided. "You're undoubtedly a spoilt darling--but you're a
+darling all the same," she added softly under her breath.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Crusoe Island
+
+
+When the days grew a little finer, and it was possible to venture out of
+doors without being almost drowned, Miss Chadwick began to put the
+"Principles of Agriculture" into practical application. All through the
+winter she and her assistants--Miss Carr and Miss Ormrod--had worked in
+all weathers looking after the poultry, the pony, and the new
+greenhouse, but it was only at rare intervals that it had been possible
+for the school to turn out and do digging in the garden. The "Land
+Classes" had, however, been studying the scientific side of the matter.
+They had analysed soils, estimated the rainfall, and examined the
+germination of seeds; they understood such mysterious terms as bacteria,
+protozoa, cotyledons, trenching and ridging, cross-fertilization and
+spermatozoids, and had some elementary acquaintance with the theory of
+the rotation of crops. They felt like full-fledged farmers when Miss
+Chadwick wrote on the black-board such questions as:--
+
+"How far apart should different kinds of orchard trees be planted to
+ensure enough sunlight?"
+
+"Explain a method of testing seeds."
+
+"What effect has transplanting on a seedling?"
+
+"Describe the difference in structure between a corn-stem and a
+rose-stem. Make a cross-section drawing of each."
+
+They tried experiments, such as planting in a box six beans with the
+scarred ends down, and six with the scarred ends up, and noted the
+results from day to day; they placed blotting-paper between two panes of
+glass, with seeds next to the glass, put the apparatus in water, and
+demonstrated the growth of roots; they started one plant in the dark,
+and another in a light place, grew identical peas in moist cotton or
+saw-dust, broke the seed leaves from specimen beans to observe what
+happened, and compared the results of distilled water and tap water as
+nourishment.
+
+Everybody agreed, however, that it was much more interesting to put on
+their land costumes and work out-of-doors. Miss Chadwick, whose methods
+were on the newest lines, taught rhythmic digging, which is far less
+fatiguing than anyhow exertions, and was very particular about the
+position of the body and the action of the spade. Miss Todd, looking on
+with huge satisfaction, felt that she was cultivating girls as well as
+vegetables, and that her educational experiment promised elements of
+success. Certain special pupils were allowed to help to attend to the
+poultry--a coveted honour as soon as the fluffy chickens and ducklings
+began to be hatched; others were being trained to understand
+bee-keeping; it was rumoured in the school that Miss Todd's ambition
+even soared so high as buying a cow.
+
+"Where would she keep it, though?" asked Tattie, who was practical.
+
+"I don't know, unless on the lawn," ventured Jess.
+
+"Whew! It would spoil the tennis-courts."
+
+"Well, I suppose she could hire a field. It would be ripping fun to
+learn to milk."
+
+"Don't flatter yourself you'd have the chance. The seniors get all that
+kind of fun, and we poor intermediates only get the spade work. I've
+never been allowed to feed the chickens once, no--not _once_--and I
+think it's jolly hard luck!"
+
+"Well, after the way you stuck your fingers into the bee-hive, I should
+think Miss Ormrod would hardly trust you to feed a sparrow!"
+
+"What nonsense! I was only investigating!"
+
+"Oh, I dare say! It sounds very grand when you put it that way. Miss
+Ormrod called you 'Meddlesome Matty', and said you deserved to be
+stung!"
+
+One great advantage of the farming operations, in the eyes of the
+younger girls, was that so many materials were left lying about, and it
+was quite possible to obtain a considerable amount of enjoyment from
+them. A plank placed over a tree-trunk made quite a good see-saw; the
+new back gate was a delightful one to swing upon; and, when Miss
+Ormrod's back was turned, it was a favourite amusement to place a ladder
+against the potting-shed wall, climb to the ridge of the roof, and then
+slide down and give a flying jump to the ground. There was an old bucket
+inside the potting-shed upon which Diana had her eye; she had schemes
+that centred round that bucket. It had holes drilled in its sides, and
+had been used during building operations to light a fire in. She was
+determined it should be used for that purpose again.
+
+Down by the brink of the lake was a boat-house that belonged to the
+school. It was kept carefully locked, and Miss Todd had the key. Since
+she had taken over the school she had allowed no one to use the boat--a
+grievance at which the girls sometimes grumbled. There was a small
+landing-stage at the edge of the water, and only six feet away from this
+was a sort of island formed of some willow-stumps and a little soil. It
+was a tiny place, hardly worthy to be called an island, and yet for
+Diana it held an immense attraction. She wanted to get on to it. She
+went down one day with Wendy, Peggy, and Vi, and they took the plank
+which had been used for a see-saw, fixed it as a bridge from the
+landing-stage to a willow-stump, and then walked across and took
+possession. Their new property was only about as large as a good-sized
+dining-table, but they were immensely pleased with it.
+
+"We'll bring down the Stars and Stripes and hang them up!" exulted
+Diana.
+
+"The Union Jack, you mean!" corrected Wendy. "Can't run up even an
+Allied flag on British soil without first claiming it for the King! I'd
+like to have a picnic here!"
+
+"That's exactly what's in my mind," agreed Diana, waiving the question
+of the colours. "And I've got a brain-wave. We'll carry the bucket over,
+light a fire, and cook something. Wouldn't it be rather ripping?"
+
+"A1!" beamed Peggy and Vi.
+
+"Crusoe Island", as the girls named their willow-clump, might certainly
+claim the doubtful distinction of being the smallest British possession
+in the world, but it was an important one in the eyes of its owners.
+They duly brought down the Union Jack and the American flag, and--as a
+concession to Diana--planted them side by side on its scanty soil. They
+decided not to tell seniors or juniors anything at all about it. Of
+course, in a vague way, the whole school knew of its existence, but
+nobody had troubled before to land on its few yards of surface. It was
+well hidden by the boat-house, so that any operations there were not
+visible from the garden or orchard. The rest of the intermediates,
+admitted with many cautions of silence into the secret, approved
+whole-heartedly; the form squatted in a circle on their territory,
+linked little fingers, and pledged themselves into a sort of Crusoe
+Society. Everybody felt that the first thing to be done was to hold an
+inauguration feast. They borrowed the bucket, filled it with coal and
+coke from the greenhouse, and carried it successfully over the plank to
+the island.
+
+"So far so good!" purred Diana. "We've got our fire!"
+
+"But not our feast!" qualified Wendy.
+
+"We shall have to be jolly careful to dodge those juniors," advised
+Jess. "If they see us carrying out cups they'll be on the scent
+directly."
+
+"We mustn't risk it. Besides, Barker would be sure to catch us in the
+pantry, and make a clamour if we took cups; we must manage without
+things from the house."
+
+"There's a large biscuit-tin lid in the hen-yard," suggested Sadie. "If
+we washed it very well, it would do as a frying pan."
+
+"Good biz!"
+
+"What could we fry?"
+
+The commissariat question was indeed the problem of problems. The
+village was unfortunately out of bounds, so that, except on stated
+occasions, when they were escorted by a mistress, the girls were unable
+to do shopping "on their own". There are ways, however, of crawling
+through even the most barbed-wire fence of rules.
+
+"Toddlekins never told us we weren't to ask anybody else to do shopping
+for us," said Wendy demurely. "When you've not been told not to do
+anything, you're not disobedient if you don't do it--oh! I'm getting
+rather in a muddle, but you know what I mean."
+
+They did, and they grinned approval.
+
+"There's a little boy working on the next farm," continued Wendy. "I've
+smiled and waved to him over the hedge sometimes. I believe he'd do
+_anything_ for me. If you can stump up some cash, I'll get him to run an
+errand for us. He's picking stones out of the field at this present
+moment--at least, to be absolutely truthful, he was, ten minutes ago,
+and I don't suppose he's stopped. If I go to the orchard fence I can
+call to him."
+
+The circle looked at Wendy with admiration. They had not before realized
+the riches of her resourcefulness. Each promised to contribute sixpence,
+and told her where to find their purses, so that they need not arouse
+suspicion by visiting their dormitories in a body.
+
+"We'll be lighting the fire while you get the prog," they assured her.
+
+So Wendy departed on her foraging expedition, collected the necessary
+funds after much hunting in various drawers and coat pockets, hurried to
+the orchard, and climbed the fence. Freddie Entwistle was still steadily
+engaged in the rural occupation of ridding his father's field of
+superfluous stones, but he kept an eye on the horizon, and at the sight
+of Wendy's beckoning finger he flung duty to the winds.
+
+"D'you want me?" he grinned, as he came panting across the newly
+ploughed earth.
+
+"Yes," said his siren sweetly. "I want you badly. Will you go to the
+village and buy something for me?"
+
+"I don't mind. What shall I get?"
+
+"Half a pound of biscuits and something to fry."
+
+"Bacon?" suggested her swain laconically.
+
+"N-n-no. We had bacon for breakfast."
+
+"Kippers or ham?"
+
+"I don't think kippers; but really it must be anything you can get.
+Here's the money. If there's any change, take it out in sweets."
+
+"Right you are! I'll be as sharp as I can."
+
+"It's something to have a knight-errant who's prepared to relieve a
+maiden in distress," reflected Wendy, seating herself on the fence to
+await the return of her chivalrous squire.
+
+He came back in course of time with his pockets bulging with parcels,
+evidently very proud of himself for having executed his lady's commands.
+Her thanks and a commission of sweets left him radiant. He returned to
+his stone-picking, living in a dream.
+
+The party on the island received Wendy with enthusiasm. The fire was
+burning beautifully in the bucket, the tin had been scoured with sand
+and well washed, large ivy leaves had been picked to serve as plates,
+and the company had their penknives ready.
+
+"It's sausages!" exclaimed Wendy, opening one of the parcels; "and he's
+actually bought some lard to fry them in. What a brain--and only twelve!
+That boy'll be a general some day, if he doesn't die of over-cleverness.
+Biscuits to eat with them, my children, and some chocs. for dessert. I
+beg to propose that we accord a hearty vote of thanks to Freddie
+Entwistle."
+
+  "For he's a jolly good fellow!
+  For he's a jolly good fellow!"
+
+began Jess; but Diana promptly squashed her.
+
+"Stop that noise! D'you want to give the whole show away, and have
+Lennie, and Nora, and Betty, and all the rest of the kids swarming down
+upon us? Anybody who can't keep quiet will be made to walk the plank.
+Yes, and splash into the river at the other end of it! We wouldn't pick
+you out either; we'd let you drown!"
+
+"Then I'd sing 'For he's a jolly good fellow' as my 'dying swan song',"
+protested Jess. "The kids are far enough away. No one can hear us."
+
+She took the hint, all the same, and did not allow her enjoyment to
+bubble over into music. Instead, she helped Wendy to prick the sausages
+with a penknife and place them on the temporary frying-pan. The
+biscuit-tin lid just fitted nicely over the bucket. In a few minutes
+there was a grand sound of fizzling, and a most delicious scent began to
+waft itself over the waters of the lake. The best of a bucket-fire is
+that everybody can sit round it in a circle and superintend the cooking
+operations. Eight penknives prodded the sausages so often that it was a
+wonder they were not all chopped to pieces before they were done. At
+last the connoisseurs declared they were brown enough, and they were
+carefully and mathematically halved and served on biscuits.
+
+"Delicious!" decreed Tattie, critically.
+
+"Couldn't have been better if Toddlekins had reared the piglets on our
+own farm," chimed in Peggy.
+
+"Diana, you haven't taken a bite yet," commented Wendy.
+
+"I'm not sure that I want any. I think I'll only have a biscuit, after
+all."
+
+"Not want any? Not want the lovely sausages that I risked so much to
+get? Diana Hewlitt, what's the matter with you?"
+
+"Oh, nothing--only----"
+
+"Only nothing, I should say! Eat up that piece of sausage double quick,
+if you value my friendship."
+
+"Suppose you eat it for me? That would be sentiment."
+
+"No, it wouldn't; you must eat it yourself. There'll be a shindy if you
+don't. Our first feast! It's a sort of ceremonial!"
+
+"Not 'the cup of brotherhood' but 'the sausage of sisterhood'!" hinnied
+Jess.
+
+Diana looked doubtfully at the two inches of brown, porky substance on
+her ivy-leaf plate, and sighed.
+
+"I feel like the elephant at the Zoo when they offered him his hundredth
+bun: It may kill me, but it's a beautiful death," she demurred. "Well,
+if you're all nuts on my having some, I guess there's nothing else for
+it. Here goes! What a life!"
+
+"The Sisterhood of the Sausage," murmured Jess fatuously.
+
+"Don't make such a fuss; you know you're enjoying it, old sport," said
+Wendy. "It isn't every day in your life you can come and have a blow-out
+on Crusoe Island."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+On Thursday morning Diana, who had been restless and fidgety in the
+night, awoke with a rash all over her face and chest. Loveday, much
+alarmed, would not allow her to get up till the authorities had seen
+her, and fetched Miss Todd. The Principal, dismayed at the prospect of
+infection in the school, mentally ran over the gamut of possible
+diseases from scarlatina to chicken-pox, ordered Diana to stop in bed,
+and sent at once to Glenbury for the doctor.
+
+Now it happened that Dr. Hunter was himself in bed, suffering from a
+severe attack of influenza, and, as it was extremely difficult for him,
+at a few hours' notice, to secure the services of a really competent
+medical man as locum tenens, he had been obliged to put up with a Hindoo
+doctor who was sent by the London agent in answer to his urgent
+telegram. It was a case of "any port in a storm", and though Dr.
+Jinaradasa's qualifications might be such as only just to satisfy the
+board of the Royal College of Surgeons, it was better to send him to
+look after the patients than to leave them utterly unattended.
+Therefore, when the neat little two-seater car drew up at Pendlemere
+Abbey it was not the bluff, rosy-cheeked Dr. Hunter who stepped out of
+it, but a foreign-looking gentleman with a very dark complexion. He
+explained his presence to Miss Todd, who gasped for a second, but
+recovered herself, received him gratefully, and conducted him upstairs
+to view his patient. Diana, I regret to say, behaved like the spoilt
+child she really was. She buried her head under the bedclothes, and at
+first utterly refused to submit to any examination. Miss Todd coaxed,
+wheedled, stormed, and finally pulled the clothes away by force and
+displayed the rash to the dark, lustreless eyes of Dr. Jinaradasa. He
+asked a few questions--which Diana answered sulkily--took her
+temperature, felt her pulse, and retired downstairs to talk over the
+case with Miss Todd, leaving a very cross and indignant patient behind
+him. Ten minutes afterwards the door of the ivy room swung gently open,
+and Wendy's interested and sympathetic face made its appearance.
+
+"Di!" she whispered impressively; "I'm coming to see you, even if it's
+smallpox you've got. I'm supposed to be practising, but I just did a
+bolt. Well, old sport, you do look an object, I must say!"
+
+Diana hitched herself higher in bed.
+
+"You needn't be afraid. I'm not infectious," she remarked.
+
+"They say you've got measles," ventured Wendy.
+
+"Measles!" snorted Diana scornfully. "That's all they know about it.
+I've told them till I'm tired that it's nettle-rash. I've had it before.
+I always _do_ get the wretched thing when I eat sausages. They sort of
+poison me. It'll go away all right if they only let me alone. What did
+Miss Todd want bringing that black doctor up to see me? I had nearly
+forty fits when he came marching into my room."
+
+"Well, he says you've got measles at any rate, and Toddlekins is in no
+end of a state. Thinks it's going to spread all through the school.
+D'you know she's making arrangements to send you to the Fever Hospital?
+They're to come and fetch you away in the ambulance."
+
+"_What!_ The idiots! I tell you I _haven't_ got measles. I won't go! Do
+you think I'm going to let myself be bundled off to the Fever Hospital
+just because an ignoramus of a Hindoo doctor doesn't know his business
+sufficiently to tell nettle-rash when he sees it? Rather not! I'd show
+fight first!"
+
+"They'll roll you in blankets and carry you downstairs!" thrilled Wendy.
+
+"They'll do nothing of the sort--I'll take good care of that. I wouldn't
+be easy to carry if I kicked, even inside blankets. I never heard of
+such an outrageous thing in all my life. I've some bounce left in me
+yet, and I'll use it--see if I don't! Measles, indeed! I wonder he
+didn't say it was hydrophobia."
+
+"Well, whatever it is, you're to be taken to the Fever Hospital; they've
+ordered the ambulance. I'm awfully sorry, old sport! It's hard luck on
+you. I must scoot now, and go back to my practising, or I shall have
+Bunty on my track. Bye-bye!"
+
+Wendy vanished, leaving Diana alone and most upset. She considered that
+she was being treated abominably. She longed to telegraph to her
+parents, but she knew that was impossible.
+
+"Whatever happens, I'm not going to that wretched Fever Hospital," she
+said to herself. "I'm sure Cousin Cora wouldn't like me to be taken
+there. Why shouldn't I go to Petteridge? They're all well again from the
+'flu'. What a brain-wave! I declare I will, and tell Cousin Cora all
+about it!"
+
+Diana was nothing if not impetuous. She jumped up immediately, and began
+a hasty toilet. She was just three-quarters through with it when she
+heard footsteps on the stairs. She immediately whisked her nightdress on
+over her clothes, and popped into bed just three seconds before Miss
+Todd entered the room. The excitement of such a rush made her face more
+flushed than ever. Miss Todd came and looked at her critically.
+
+"Yes, the rash is coming out very nicely," she observed.
+
+"It's nettle-rash, not measles!" affirmed Diana defiantly.
+
+"That's for the doctor to decide, not you. I'm afraid you must have
+caught it the day you went in the omnibus to Glenbury. It takes nearly
+a fortnight to incubate."
+
+Diana shivered with anxiety lest Miss Todd should wish to inspect the
+progress of the rash on her chest as well as on her face, and thus
+discover that she was half clothed beneath her nightdress, but
+fortunately the head mistress did not descend so far in her
+investigations. Instead, she turned to Diana's drawers, and began
+filling a hand-bag with various necessaries. She did not mention the
+Fever Hospital, probably judging it better not to prepare the patient
+beforehand, but to wait until the ambulance arrived. Diana, of course,
+knew why she was collecting the garments, but feigned to ignore the
+matter, and made no comment. She wished Miss Todd would be quick and go.
+She was so terribly afraid that the ambulance might drive up before she
+had the chance to make her escape. Flight seemed certainly preferable to
+a struggle.
+
+The mistress at last found a sufficiency of nightdresses and other
+garments, and, telling Diana to keep herself covered up and warm, took
+her departure.
+
+The moment she was safely out of the way the invalid sprang up and
+resumed her interrupted toilet. Diana had suffered from nettle-rash
+several times before, and the treatment had not included stopping in bed
+or even staying indoors. Her complaint was really more in the nature of
+dyspepsia. She felt as if fresh air would do her good. She did not dare
+to walk downstairs in case she might meet anybody, so she decided to
+adopt the method she had found effective last autumn, and climb out
+through the window and down the ivy. Lessons were in progress, so nobody
+would be in the garden to watch her, except Miss Carr and Miss Ormrod,
+who would probably be engaged with the horse or the hens. She swung
+herself out, therefore, and let herself down by the thick stems. Then
+she dodged round the house to the bicycle-shed. She did not yet possess
+a machine of her own, but Wendy's stood handy, and she knew her chum
+well enough to borrow it. She wheeled it through the back gate,
+fortunately without meeting Miss Carr, and then set off at top-speed for
+Petteridge Court.
+
+Mrs. Burritt was naturally much surprised to see her young cousin turn
+up in so unexpected a fashion, and with a rash on her face, but she did
+the most sensible thing in the circumstances: she put Diana to bed, and
+sent to Dunswick for a doctor. He arrived during the course of the
+afternoon, and, after a careful examination of his patient, pronounced
+her complaint to be nettle-rash.
+
+"There's not a doubt about it!" he declared. "You need not be in the
+least afraid that it's measles."
+
+Armed with a medical certificate to that effect, Mrs. Burritt motored
+over to Pendlemere Abbey to patch up peace with Miss Todd. Partly for
+reasons of health, and partly to let the storm blow over, she kept
+Diana at Petteridge until the rash had entirely disappeared and the girl
+seemed in her absolutely normal condition. Mrs. Burritt took her back on
+the understanding that bygones should be bygones, and a fresh start
+should be made without any reference to former delinquencies.
+
+Miss Todd received Diana quite amiably, but insisted upon her having a
+carbolic bath, and herself washed her hair with strong disinfectant
+soap. The clothes she had worn disappeared mysteriously for some days,
+and were then returned from the stoving department of the Glenbury
+Sanitation Office. Diana made no comments at head-quarters, but laughed
+to herself.
+
+"I'm sure Toddlekins believes I've had measles," she confided to Wendy.
+
+"Of course she does. She said she hadn't the least doubt about it, and
+that you hadn't eaten anything which could have caused you to have
+nettle-rash."
+
+"What would she say if she knew about the sausages?" queried Diana.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Spooks
+
+
+March had come, and even in the northern mountainous region of
+the Pennines, where snow lingers long after it has melted in more
+favoured districts, winter had begun to make way for spring. The
+snowdrops--January flowers in Wales or Cornwall, fair maids of February
+in most counties--were late bloomers at Pendlemere, and were never in
+their prime till St. Patrick's Day. They made up for their tardy arrival
+by their luxuriance. They grew almost wild in the orchard, and spread
+like a white carpet over the grass, tossing fairy bells in the wind.
+Diana, promoted to help Miss Carr in the spraying of apple-trees, paused
+in her work to look round and revel in nature's re-awakening. She was a
+sun lover, and the long months of perpetual mist and rain had tried her
+very much. She had, to be sure, kept up her spirits in spite of weather;
+still, the sight of fleecy, white clouds scudding across a blue sky, and
+the sound of the missel-thrush tuning up on the bare branch of the
+plum-tree were particularly cheering. Hedge-sparrows twittered among the
+shrubs, and rooks were busy flying with large twigs in their bills to
+repair their nests in the elms near the church. In the March sunshine
+the lake glittered like gold.
+
+"I wonder if it looked just like this when the old monks lived here,"
+said Diana. "Did they see exactly what we do now?"
+
+"Pretty much the same, I expect," answered Miss Carr rather
+abstractedly. "The lake and the fells would be there, and probably most
+of the farms, though the buildings would be different in those days. The
+lay brethren would attend to the land just as we do. I dare say they dug
+in this very orchard, and grew herbs in the same place where we're going
+to plant our potatoes."
+
+"It's a pity we can't call up a vision of them!"
+
+"No, thank you!" said Miss Carr, who was a practical person, and not
+given to romance. "I've not the slightest desire to see spooks. I'm
+quite content with modern life, and don't want fourteenth-century ghosts
+gliding about the place. Get on with your work, Diana! I'm more
+concerned with apple-trees than with the old monks."
+
+When Diana got an idea into her head, however, it was apt to stick. She
+had a lively imagination, and she liked to picture what the Abbey had
+once been. She read the account of it in the local guidebook and in
+Chadwick's _Northern Antiquities_, which she borrowed from the library,
+and she further devoured Scott's _The Monastery_. Steeped in this
+mediaeval atmosphere, she began to tell the girls such vivid stories of
+the doings of the brethren that they almost believed her. She invented
+several fictitious characters: Brother Amos, Brother Lawrence, Brother
+John, and Prior Andrew, and gave a most circumstantial account of their
+adventures.
+
+"How do you know what they used to do?" asked Jess, much impressed.
+
+"I guess I sort of feel it," said Diana. "It's almost like remembering."
+
+"Some people think we come back to earth and live again. Were you one of
+the old monks, Di?"
+
+"She must have been an unholy one, if she was!" interrupted Sadie.
+"Anybody less like a monk than 'Stars and Stripes' I couldn't think of!"
+
+"There were all sorts, of course. I've told you Brother Lawrence was up
+to tricks sometimes, and got the discipline. The Prior used to be down
+on him, just as Toddlekins is down on us. He was more sinner than saint.
+That's why he can't rest quietly."
+
+"Doesn't he rest?" Jess's voice held a note of uneasiness.
+
+"No, I don't think he does. I've a kind of feeling that he haunts the
+place, coming back to find out what it's like now."
+
+"An earth-bound spirit!" gasped Jess.
+
+"Yes, he's got some sins to expiate, you see."
+
+The conversation was growing creepy. Sadie, Tattie, Jess, and Peggy, who
+with Diana were squatting near the schoolroom fire in the gloaming,
+moved a little nearer together. There is comfort in physical contact.
+The fact that Brother Lawrence was entirely an invention of Diana's did
+not relieve the tenseness of the situation; she had talked about him so
+often that she seemed to have conjured him up. They could almost see his
+white habit gliding along the corridor, and his unsaintly eyes gleaming
+from under his cowl. They began to wish he had behaved better during his
+lifetime, or at any rate that he had not chosen to revisit the scenes of
+his old sins.
+
+"If I were really to see him I'd have forty fits!" shivered Peggy, who
+was a superstitious little soul who threw spilt salt over her left
+shoulder, and curtsied religiously to the new moon.
+
+"It isn't everybody can see ghosts," declared Diana. "You've got to have
+the psychic faculty. Some people can feel they're there, even when they
+can't see them."
+
+"Oh, that would be _far_ worse! It would be awful to know something was
+in the room, and not be able to see it!" exploded Jess. "Tattie, may I
+come and sleep in your bed to-night?"
+
+"There's not much room, but you can if you like," conceded Tattie; "so
+long as Geraldine doesn't find out."
+
+"I'll creep in when she's asleep."
+
+It was all very well for Diana to people the corridor with imaginary
+monks; she knew they were images of her own creation; the more
+weak-minded of her form mates, however, were frankly frightened. Nothing
+spreads more readily than a ghost scare. Sadie, Jess, and Peggie were
+bolting squealing along the passage one evening, when they almost
+collided with Geraldine. She seized Jess by the arm, and pulled her into
+the radius of the lamplight, nodding to the other two to follow.
+
+"I want a word with you," she said. "It's high time you stopped this
+ridiculous nonsense. I don't know who started it, but it's getting the
+limit. Oh, yes! I know you go creeping into Tattie's bed when you think
+I'm asleep, and you daren't walk upstairs alone. I'm not as blind or
+deaf as you seem to suppose. You're putting silly ideas into juniors'
+heads. Whoever heard of the Abbey being haunted? Such stuff! You'll be
+afraid of your own shadows next. Do try to be more strong-minded! I
+really shouldn't have expected----"
+
+Geraldine stopped, because something like a whirlwind suddenly descended
+the stairs and stampeded towards them. It resolved itself into
+Diana--Diana with scarlet cheeks, shining eyes, and face simply bubbling
+over with excitement.
+
+"Hallo! I say!" she jodelled, "What _do_ you think?" Then she saw
+Geraldine, and halted dead.
+
+"Come here!" commanded the head girl. "I want to talk to you too about
+this absurd spook scare. It's mostly among you intermediates, and the
+sooner you get it out of your silly heads the better. Pity you can't
+find something more sensible to talk about. Why don't you read, and fill
+up your empty brains? There are heaps of good books in the library, if
+you'd only get them out. You spend all your spare time gossiping."
+
+"We _do_ read!" retorted Diana, taking up the cudgels for the maligned
+intermediates. "I've just read _The Monastery_, and that's all about a
+ghost called 'The White Lady of Avenel'. It's _grand_ where she rides
+the sacristan's mule down the river and sings:
+
+  'Merrily swim we; the moon shines bright.
+  Good luck to your fishing! Whom watch ye to-night?'
+
+There are heaps and loads of ghost tales in the guide book and in
+Chadwick's _Northern Antiquities_, and those are all books Miss Todd
+_told_ me I might read. She said they were 'educational'."
+
+"She didn't mean you to take the ghosts seriously, though, any more than
+you'd believe in the gods of Greece because you were learning classical
+literature. Why, you'll tell me next that you expect to see the
+fairies."
+
+"I'm not sure that I don't!"
+
+"Then you're a bigger goose than I thought you. Really, at fourteen! I'm
+astonished at all of you. You don't see _me_ running squealing away from
+supposed ghosts. Don't let me catch you being such little idiots again."
+
+Having finished her harangue, and having, as she thought, thoroughly
+squashed the folly of the intermediates, Geraldine proceeded on her way,
+happily oblivious of the faces they were pulling behind her back.
+
+"I'd like to see _her_ squeal and run," grunted Jess.
+
+[Illustration: ITS COWL FELL BACK, AND DISCLOSED A WELL-KNOWN AND
+DECIDEDLY MIRTHFUL COUNTENANCE]
+
+"So should I," agreed Sadie. "She's always _very_ superior. By the by,
+Stars and Stripes, what were you just going to tell us?"
+
+"Nothing particular."
+
+Diana was looking preoccupied, as if her thoughts were far away.
+
+"I'm sure it was," urged Sadie. "Don't be mean! Go on!"
+
+"I've changed my mind. No, I'm _not_ going to tell you. It's no use
+bothering me, for I just shan't."
+
+"I think everybody's horrid to-night," said Sadie, turning away much
+offended.
+
+It was on the very next evening that Ida Beckford, going to her bedroom
+in the gloaming, caught a glimpse of a white-robed figure with a cowl
+over its head gliding along the passage and up the stairs. Ida was not
+so strong-minded as Geraldine. She turned the colour of pale putty, and
+went straight downstairs again to relate her psychic experience to her
+fellow seniors. She did not meet with the sympathy she expected.
+
+"Some silly trick of those intermediates," sniffed Hilary.
+
+"I'll be down on them if they go shamming spooks," threatened Geraldine.
+
+"If it happens again we'll set a watch and catch it," declared Stuart
+loftily.
+
+Ida cheered up at this mundane view of the matter, and recovered her
+colour; but she abandoned the blotter she was going to fetch, and stayed
+in her form-room instead of walking upstairs again. The news began to
+creep about the school, however, that the Abbey was being haunted by a
+spiritual visitor. Many of the girls saw it glide along the landing in
+the dusk, and disappear up a certain narrow flight of stairs. Now herein
+lay the mystery. The stairs went up ten steps in full view of the
+passage, then they turned a sharp corner, rounded a yard of landing, and
+with four more steps ended in a locked attic door. Several of the most
+venturesome members of the school had tried to follow the figure, but
+when they came round the corner, to their immense surprise it had
+utterly disappeared. And there was absolutely no place in which it could
+possibly have concealed itself.
+
+"Has it crept through the keyhole?" quavered Peggy.
+
+"Or just vanished into thin air?" speculated Magsie.
+
+"The door's really locked!" declared Vi, rattling the handle again to
+make sure.
+
+"We certainly _saw_ it go up, but it's not here now!"
+
+"Flesh and blood can't disappear in a second!"
+
+"It's most uncanny!"
+
+"The old Cistercians wore white habits."
+
+"I say, I don't like this!"
+
+Brother Lawrence, as the girls began to call the apparition, showed
+himself frequently, but always with the same elusiveness. The phenomenon
+was invariably as before: his white monastic robes would glimmer
+through the darkness, glide up the stairway, and then seemingly melt
+into nothing. Geraldine herself pursuing hotly on the scent, found that
+she was utterly baffled.
+
+A head girl, especially a prefect with a scorn for superstition, does
+not like to admit herself baffled. Geraldine thought the matter over,
+took Loveday into her confidence, and went to Miss Todd. As the result
+of her interview she resolved to set what she called "a very neat little
+spook-trap". She and Loveday said nothing about it to the rest of the
+school. They merely bided their time.
+
+Brother Lawrence did not always show up when anybody was on the watch
+for him; he seemed to prefer displaying his supernatural powers to the
+unwary. For two whole days he did not put in an appearance; whether he
+was haunting elsewhere or expiating his sins in purgatory was a point
+for discussion. On the third evening, however, Tattie, Jess, and Magsie
+had screwed their courage to sticking-point, and strolled upstairs in
+the twilight, half hoping and half fearing to catch a glimpse of the now
+almost familiar apparition. They kept in the shadow of the big cupboard,
+and held each others' hands without speaking. A full moon was shining
+through the landing window, and lit up the narrow staircase with a
+silvery, ghostly gleam. Suddenly from the darkness of a doorway emerged
+the white robes, and passed rapidly upwards in the moonlight. Still
+clutching hands for moral support, the three girls tore after it.
+Surely this time they could manage to overtake it? But no; it had turned
+the corner before they reached the lowest stair, and by the time they
+had dashed up the ten steps it had made its usual disappearance. They
+halted on the yard of landing, breathing hard; then their hearts seemed
+to turn somersaults, for the attic door suddenly opened. It was no ghost
+who peered forth at them, but Geraldine and Loveday. The former had a
+candle in her hand; she struck a match and lighted it calmly.
+
+"You needn't look so scared!" she said to the panting trio. "I'm just
+going to show you your precious spook. Stand back a little, will you? I
+assure you it won't bite you!"
+
+She descended to the landing, turned round towards the four steps that
+led to the attic door, then, to the immense amazement of the girls,
+raised up the steps like the lid of a chest. There was a good-sized
+cavity below, and in this place of concealment crouched a white-clad
+figure. Geraldine took it by the arm and hauled it unceremoniously
+forth. It issued chuckling, and, as its cowl fell back, disclosed a
+well-known and decidedly mirthful countenance.
+
+"Stars and Stripes!" ejaculated Jess.
+
+"The game's up!" proclaimed Diana coolly. "You two"--nodding at the
+seniors--"have been too many for me."
+
+"I always thought you were at the bottom of all this, Diana Hewlitt!"
+said Geraldine. "I was quite determined I'd catch you. Take those
+things off at once. What are they? Sheets? Fold them up properly; don't
+trail them on the floor. Do you know that if anybody in the school had
+had a weak heart you might have killed her by playing such a trick?"
+
+"I knew you were all too strong-minded," twinkled Diana. "Of course,
+nobody believed in Brother Lawrence, any more than they believed in the
+fairies or the gods of Greece. I guess it's rather nice sometimes to
+make a sort of practical demonstration of one's reading. It shows one
+appreciates the books and takes an intelligent interest. There are heaps
+of good books in the library. I'm going to borrow _Customs and
+Superstitions of the Celts_."
+
+"You may borrow what you like," said Geraldine grimly; "but if we've any
+more of this business Miss Todd will settle it herself; so I tell you."
+
+"People who provide entertainment are rarely thanked," sighed Diana, as
+she folded the sheets. "I ought to receive a stipend for keeping the
+school amused."
+
+"You'll receive something you don't bargain for, if you don't take
+care," warned Geraldine. "Go downstairs, all of you!"
+
+That Brother Lawrence was identical with Diana did not very much
+surprise the school, but everybody went crazy over the discovery of the
+secret hiding-place under the stairs. Even Miss Todd had not known of
+its existence. Diana confessed that she had found it out quite by
+accident, had rushed downstairs to communicate the thrilling news, but
+had changed her mind as its obvious advantages flashed across her. She
+had not been able to resist making use of it to play a ghost trick. The
+little chamber which she had so unexpectedly brought to light was only
+just big enough to crouch in, and had probably been made in the
+troublous times of the Stuarts as a place of temporary concealment when
+the Abbey was searched by soldiers. Unfortunately it was quite empty.
+
+"When I first opened it I expected to find a hoard of spade-guineas or
+silver punch-bowls," said Diana ruefully to Loveday--the two girls were
+discussing the great discovery as they went to bed. "I nearly howled
+when I found nothing but dust."
+
+"I wonder," answered Loveday, "if this is what that gentleman found--the
+one, I mean, who came to see Father when I had measles. You know I've
+always been hunting about for hiding-places."
+
+"Yes, I know."
+
+"I thought somehow it would be rather better than this, though. It
+hardly seemed worth while his troubling to come and call; though, of
+course, it's interesting. Mr. Fleming will be very thrilled."
+
+"I'd have been a great deal more thrilled if there'd been anything worth
+having inside. As I told you before, I expected spade-guineas. It's one
+of the disappointments of my life!" declared Diana, getting into bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Joy-riding
+
+
+The post at Pendlemere Abbey was distributed after breakfast, and the
+girls devoured their correspondence in the short interval before lessons
+began. One morning in April the usual weekly letter with the Paris
+postmark arrived addressed to "Miss Hewlitt", and, five minutes after
+receiving it, Diana came tearing down the corridor in search of Loveday.
+She looked the very incarnation of joy--her face was aglow, and her eyes
+shining.
+
+"Such news!" she gasped. "What d'you think? I'll give you three guesses.
+Father and Mother are coming over to England for Easter. I haven't seen
+them since last September, and I'm simply off my head. Isn't it ripping?
+And that's not all, by any means. Come up to the ivy room, Loveday mine.
+I want to tell you all about it without those kids hanging about
+listening to every word one says. Come now!"
+
+Linking her arm in Loveday's, Diana dragged her friend upstairs, away
+from the eyes and ears of inquisitive juniors, who were veritable little
+pitchers where their elders' affairs were concerned. It was only when
+they were in the safety of their own sanctum that she fully unbosomed
+herself.
+
+"Somebody else is coming to England. It's my brother Giles. He's been
+made London correspondent of the _Louisville Herald_. He wanted most
+frightfully to join the army, but they wouldn't accept him because of
+his eyes. He'll be just standing on his head with joy at getting to
+Europe after all. Did I tell you he was in a newspaper office? He's
+crossing next week, and he's to go and see Father and Mother in Paris
+first, then come back with them to England, and have a holiday before he
+begins his new work. Dad's going to hire a car and take us a joy-ride,
+and Lenox is to get leave and join us. You know Lenox isn't demobilized
+yet. He's in a camp in Wales. But he expects they'll give him about five
+days. Think of seeing Britain in a car, with Father and Mother and Giles
+and Lenox! I want to shout!"
+
+"You little lucker!" sympathized Loveday.
+
+"But that isn't all yet. I haven't finished telling you," triumphed
+Diana, laying a fluffy head on her room-mate's shoulder, and poking a
+caressing finger into Loveday's dimples. "Mother said in her letter that
+she guessed I'd enjoy the tour so much more if I had a girl companion
+with me, and would I like to ask one of my school friends? You bet I
+would! Ra--ther! Do you know whom I'm going to ask?"
+
+"Wendy?"
+
+"Wendy! No! I'm very fond of her, but she's not _the_ one for a tour
+like this. Besides, I know she's going to the seaside with her own home
+folks. There's only one person from Pendlemere I want, and that's
+Loveday. Will you come? I'd just adore to have you!"
+
+"O-o-o-oh! If your mother really asks me."
+
+"Of course she does! She says she's writing about it to Miss Todd."
+
+Such a dazzling prospect as a joy-ride through England was hardly to be
+refused. In due course Loveday's aunt gave her permission, and the
+invitation was accepted. It was arranged for the motor tour to begin on
+Easter Tuesday, so as to allow Diana and her family to have a few quiet
+days together first. They were to spend them at Windermere, then call
+with the car at Liverpool for Loveday, and also to pick up Lenox, who
+would join them there from the American camp in Wales.
+
+Loveday went about the school feeling as if her reason were rocking. She
+had never imagined that anything so nice could happen to her. Since the
+loss of her parents life had not been too bright. Sometimes she almost
+dreaded the holidays at her aunt's. She was shy and sensitive, and the
+impression that she was not altogether welcome there was a bitter one.
+It is very hard for a girl when she has no home of her own, and no one
+whose special prerogative it is to love and encourage her. Though her
+uncle and aunt saw that she had everything needful in the way of
+education and clothing, they never petted her, and she had grown up
+with the starved feeling of the child who lacks kisses. She had too
+much self-respect to parade her woes at school, and perhaps her fellow
+seniors mistook her shyness for pride; they were nice to her, but she
+had not a real confidante among any of them. It was Diana--Diana whom
+she had at first resented as an intruder in the ivy room--who had broken
+down the wall of her reserve and found the road to her heart.
+
+The remainder of the term passed quickly; the spring days were so full
+with lessons and land-work that time at the Abbey literally raced along.
+Nevertheless, with characteristic impatience, Diana crossed off the
+calendar each evening, and counted the lessening dates in huge
+satisfaction. Then came the joyful afternoon when trunks were brought
+down from the box-room, and the school began its congenial task of
+packing. The accustomed term-end routine was gone through, and next
+morning three tired mistresses saw twenty excited pupils safely into
+their respective railway carriages.
+
+"Only a week and we meet again," said Loveday to Diana, whose train
+started first.
+
+"Just seven days," returned that damsel, leaning dangerously out of the
+compartment window. "Guess I'm about living for that tour. If we don't
+have the time of our lives, I'm much mistaken. Ta-ta till next Tuesday."
+
+Diana enjoyed the quiet week at Windermere with father, mother, and
+brother, and though the little circle was not quite complete--for there
+was a brother of seventeen at school in America--it was delightful to
+be among her own family again. Mr. Hewlitt was very tired after his long
+spell of arduous work in Paris, and was glad to rest his brains, so they
+spent most of the time boating on the lake, or strolling in the woods,
+getting new-made-over in the fresh, bracing country air. The car they
+had hired was to meet them at Lancaster. They went thus far south by
+train, then motored to Liverpool. Loveday, ready with suit-case packed,
+was eagerly expecting them. From the window of her aunt's drawing-room
+she watched the big six-seater car arrive at the door. Giles--a
+masculine edition of Diana, in spectacles--was driving. Lenox--a beaming
+khaki-clad figure with twinkle-some brown eyes--sat by his side. Mr. and
+Mrs. Hewlitt and Diana were in the rear seat. A goodly pile of boxes and
+baskets was strapped on to the luggage-carrier behind. A change of
+places was effected, resulting in the two girls sitting with Giles in
+the front. Loveday's suit-case was stowed away, her aunt waved good-bye,
+the electric-starter was applied, and the car moved off on its eventful
+journey south.
+
+It was a delightful way of travelling, to whiz along by road instead of
+by rail. The country was just in the blush of spring, the woods were
+bursting into tender leaf, plum blossom made fairy lace-work in wayside
+orchards, and wallflowers and cowslips bloomed in cottage gardens.
+Giles, who drove the car, had planned out their tour carefully. He was
+determined to see rural England to best advantage, and, instead of
+keeping always to the main roads, he intended to take by-ways, so as to
+pass through typical country villages. Once free from the suburbs of
+Liverpool, they avoided large towns as far as possible, as they made
+their way through Cheshire to the Midlands. Their first object was that
+Mecca of all American pilgrims--the Shakespeare country.
+
+"In five days we haven't time to look at everything as we go along, so I
+guess we'd better just sprint till we get to Kenilworth, and start our
+sight-seeing there," decreed Giles.
+
+He made an excellent chauffeur, and fortunately encountered no police
+traps, though he certainly exceeded the speed limit when he saw a clear
+road ahead. A lunch-basket with thermos flasks was packed in the car,
+and the party picnicked for their mid-day meal in a wood where primroses
+were opening their little pale-yellow flowers, and king-cups blazed in a
+marshy ditch. The air was fresh with spring, and cuckoos were calling
+from the fields by a river.
+
+"When I was a small girl," said Loveday, "I thought there was only one
+cuckoo in the world. People used to say: 'Oh, have you heard the cuckoo
+yet?' so, of course, I thought there was only one. Nobody said: 'Have
+you seen the swallow yet?' when swallows returned. I was fearfully
+puzzled one day when I heard _two_ cuckoos both cuckooing at once."
+
+They reached Kenilworth just at sunset, when a crimson sky was flaming
+behind the old castle, and glowing on the windows of the picturesque
+cottages that faced the ancient ruin from the other side of the village
+green. Its grey walls, magnificent even in their decay, seemed teeming
+with historic memories, and, in the glamour of the sunset, they could
+almost, in imagination, restore the half-legendary splendour of its
+later days, and picture Queen Elizabeth arriving there on her famous
+visit to the Earl of Leicester. It was too late to do any exploring that
+evening, so, after a halt to admire the beauty of the scene, they went
+on to their hotel, promising themselves to make it the first object of
+their sight-seeing to-morrow.
+
+"It seems so extraordinary," said Mr. Hewlitt at dinner, "that every
+little bit of ground we're passing over now has a history that dates
+right back to the Middle Ages. It's a wonderful corner of England, and
+so unspoilt. Half of the houses look as if they'd stepped straight out
+of an artist's canvas."
+
+For the next few days the party lived with guidebooks in their hands.
+They thoroughly explored Kenilworth Castle, tried to call up a vision of
+the pageant that was presented before Queen Elizabeth there, and
+deplored the tragic fate of poor Amy Robsart. Then the car splashed
+through the ford at the foot of the wood, and carried them along the
+Warwick Road, past Blacklow Hill, where Piers Gaveston was executed, and
+where, it is said, his restless spirit still rides at drear midnight, to
+Guy's Cliff, with its old Saxon mill and romantic view of the Avon.
+Then on to Warwick, to look at the treasures of a castle fortunately
+untouched by the ravages of war, and the beautiful Beauchamp Chapel,
+with its tomb of the "King Maker". They could have stayed a long time in
+ancient, picturesque Warwick, admiring the quaint, old houses and the
+smooth stretches of the river, but the attractions of Stratford lay only
+eight miles away, and they had booked their rooms in advance at the
+hotel there. None of them ever forgot their first entry into
+Shakespeare's town. It was the season of his anniversary, and in his
+honour flags decorated the black-and-white houses, and dainty little
+maidens, with May garlands of flowers, came tripping down the
+sixteenth-century streets. Our pilgrims did their devoirs in orthodox
+fashion, beginning with Shakespeare's birthplace and its museum of
+relics, going on to the Grammar School where he learned his "little
+Latin and less Greek", to the remains of his house "New Place", and his
+tomb and monument in the glorious old church. They could hardly tear
+themselves away from Anne Hathaway's thatched, half-timber cottage at
+Shottery, with its carved, four-post Elizabethan bedstead, its garden
+full of rustic flowers, and its ingle-nook where perhaps Shakespeare sat
+to woo.
+
+"If we could only take it just as it is, and carry it out to America,"
+sighed Diana.
+
+"But it would be nothing without its surroundings," said Loveday. "It's
+because Shakespeare seems associated with every corner of Stratford that
+the whole place is so fascinating. Wherever you go you feel as if you
+were following him round. I'd like to spend a month here, and do each
+separate spot leisurely and quietly."
+
+If the whole of the projected tour was to be carried out, and the
+Shakespeare villages inspected, not to speak of Edgehill, Evesham,
+Broadway, and Gloucester, which they had also set their hearts on
+seeing, it was impossible to do more than rush through the various
+sights, so their boxes were once more strapped on to the
+luggage-carrier, and the car set off on its further travels.
+
+They did not escape the usual accidents that delay motorists: a tyre
+exploded one afternoon with a terrific bang, and the ladies of the party
+had to sit for an hour by the roadside, while the men-folk fixed on the
+Stepney wheel. Giles's love for by-roads landed him sometimes in
+difficulties. He whisked them once down a charming primrose-starred
+lane, only to find that it ended in a ford. As you cannot run a car
+through even the shallowest river without stopping the engine, it was
+evidently a case of "thus far and no farther", and there was nothing for
+it but a return to the highway. There was no room to turn in the narrow
+lane, so the car had to back the whole distance to the road--a most
+difficult performance between high banks and round sharp corners, and
+one which required all Giles's skill as a chauffeur. Another time,
+trying a short cut across some fields, the car ran into soft earth and
+refused to stir. Her occupants got down and tried with their united
+efforts to push her out of her "slough of despond", but with no effect.
+Giles kept starting the engine, but the wheels, instead of gripping,
+simply turned round and round, and sank deeper into the soil. They were
+obliged to go to a farm for help, and have planks fixed under the wheels
+before the heavy car could move on to terra firma and proceed with its
+journey. These little accidents, however, all added a spice of adventure
+and fun to the tour; the young folks, at any rate, did not wish
+everything to be too plain sailing; they thoroughly enjoyed the romantic
+side of the trip, and liked to get off the beaten track into the wilds
+of the country. They had brought all sorts of wonderful contrivances for
+cooking the mid-day lunch, which they always ate out-of-doors. There was
+an apparatus with a spirit-lamp for making coffee, which whistled like a
+canary when the beverage was brewed; there was a marvellous double
+frying-pan, heated merely by strips of newspaper being lighted
+underneath it, which cooked eggs and sausages with surprising speed; and
+there was a neat canteen-basket with cups, plates, spoons, forks, and
+knives all ready to hand. In their enthusiasm the boys would have liked
+to sleep in the car had that been possible, and Lenox often regretted
+wistfully that they had not brought tents with them to pitch for the
+night.
+
+"No, thanks," said Mr. Hewlitt. "You youngsters may enjoy that sort of
+thing; but I consider this British climate is too damp for camping out,
+and I much prefer a comfortable bed at a decent hotel."
+
+"Besides which, the hotels are so delightfully old-world and quaint, I
+shouldn't like to miss them," added Mrs. Hewlitt.
+
+"Rather _too_ old-world sometimes," shivered her daughter.
+
+Diana had had an unpleasant experience the night before. Generally she
+and Loveday slept together, but on this occasion they had been given
+separate rooms. Diana, who had a tiresome trick of waking, furiously
+hungry, in the small hours of the morning, put a couple of biscuits
+under her pillow before she got into bed, so as to be prepared for any
+emergencies of appetite. She woke suddenly in the night, with the
+horrible sensation that a hand was groping under her pillow. She
+switched on the electric light by her bedside, but nothing was to be
+seen. Thinking she must have been dreaming, she switched off the light
+and lay down again. Hardly was she settled, and sinking off to sleep,
+when once more came a most unmistakable movement under her pillow.
+Thoroughly scared, she switched on the light, only to find nothing. When
+this happened a third time she no longer dared remain in the dark, so
+lighted a candle which fortunately stood on the mantelpiece, and placed
+it on a table not far from her bed. She could not see everything in the
+room, and lay watching with wide-open eyes. For a few minutes all was
+absolutely still; then came a slight noise, and along the rail at the
+foot of the bed ran something with whiskers, either a young rat or the
+very biggest mouse she had ever seen.
+
+"Sh-sh-sh-oo-oo!" cried Diana, sitting erect in bed with round
+frightened eyes. The intruder, equally terrified, took the hint to quit,
+and scuttled noisily away. The idea that it might return to seek her
+biscuits was too much for Diana.
+
+"Even if I eat them it'll come back to see if they're there," she
+thought. "I'd have a fit if I felt it under my pillow again. I can't
+sleep another wink in here, that's certain. I'd as soon have spooks as
+rats or mice. I'm going to Loveday."
+
+So, though the time was about 1 a.m., she jumped up, seized the candle,
+and managed to find her way along the passage to her friend's room.
+Loveday, much astonished to be thus awakened, took her into her bed, and
+they laughed over the little adventure.
+
+"Oh, yes, it's all very fine to laugh," said Diana. "But if _you_ were
+all alone you wouldn't like it yourself. Nothing will induce me to sleep
+by myself again in a strange hotel; so I warn you. You'll be saddled
+with your pixie girl for the rest of the tour. She's a scared baby at
+nights, and she doesn't mind confessing it. Rats--ugh! The very name of
+them makes me creep."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A Family Crest
+
+
+After the joys of Stratford-on-Avon came the delights of the rest of the
+fascinating Shakespeare villages. "Piping Pebworth", "Dancing Marston",
+"Drunken Bidford", "Haunted Hillborough", "Hungry Grafton", "Papist
+Wixford", and "Beggarly Broom" were visited and rejoiced over in turn;
+then the car wended its way from Warwickshire to sample the glories of
+Gloucestershire. Here, too, our pilgrims found plenty to arouse their
+enthusiasm: the richness of the landscape, with orchards just breaking
+into bloom; the slow winding rivers, with their willowy, reedy banks;
+the beautiful half-timbered manors and farms and the thatched cottages
+set in a tangle of greenery, made an ideal picture of English country
+life. They saw it at the cream of the year, in all the glory of spring
+tints and blossoms, and even if showers came on they put up the hood of
+the car and whisked along wet roads, admiring the freshness of the
+rain-washed leaves and the effects of gathering storm-clouds over
+distant hills. They were a full day's journey beyond Stratford when
+suddenly there happened that most common misfortune to motorists,
+"something wrong with the car". Giles just managed to run her into the
+nearest village, then, stopping at the inn, he sent for the services of
+the blacksmith, who was somewhat of a mechanic, and with his aid set to
+work on repairs. Leaving Giles, with his coat off and his sleeves rolled
+up, crawling under the car and getting exceedingly oily and dusty in the
+process, the rest of the party set off to explore the neighbourhood on
+foot. The village was so charming that they could really hardly grumble
+at being held up there. Each cottage seemed a picture, with its thatched
+or red-tiled roof, black-and-white walls, creeper-covered porch, and gay
+little garden. So luxuriant were the flowers that they even strayed
+through the railings and made bright borders among the grass at the edge
+of the road; forget-me-nots were mixed up with dandelions, and
+wallflowers bloomed side by side with dead-nettles.
+
+At the end of the village, on a rise overlooking the river, stood the
+parish church, a grey, old Early-English building whose priceless
+architecture had mercifully not been tampered with by the ruthless hand
+of the so-called restorer. With a little difficulty Lenox found the
+cottage of the caretaker, whose wife presently came up clanking the big
+keys and unlocked the west door for them. The interior was most
+beautiful: the graceful sandstone pillars, the interlacing arches, the
+delicate tracery of the windows with their old stained glass, the black
+oak roof, the carved choir stalls, the ancient rood-screen, the blazoned
+shields and faded banners, the Lancastrian tombs and the Elizabethan
+brasses, all combined to give that atmosphere which Milton expressed in
+his _Il Penseroso_; and as the afternoon sunlight flooded through the
+old stained glass, and cast blue and crimson gleams on the tiled floor
+of the chancel, the glorious building seemed like the prayers of many
+generations crystallized into stone.
+
+Their guide, a young woman in a sun-bonnet, took them round to show them
+the various points of interest. It was when they had duly examined the
+banners and the Norman font, the carving on the miserere seats and the
+motto on the base of the lectern, and had listened rather wearily to the
+sing-song description of them poured out, like a lesson learned by rote,
+from the lips of their conductress, that in the side chapel they came
+face to face with an ancient tomb. It was an unusually beautiful one,
+carved in marble, probably by some Italian master-craftsman of the late
+fifteenth century. A knight clad in full armour lay stretched out in his
+last sleep; his clasped hands rested over the good sword whose handle
+formed a cross upon his breast; the attitude of the inclined head and
+the sculpture of the strong, lined, noble face in its utter repose were
+magnificent, and recalled the marvellous art that created the busts of
+the emperors in the days of Rome's zenith. Round the base of the tomb
+were small figures in the costume of the period, somewhat defaced and
+worn, with finely-carved pilasters between the panels. At the end was a
+coat of arms.
+
+Lenox walked round with the others, admiring the beauty of the
+sculpture, though rather bored by the eloquence of their guide. At sight
+of the coat of arms, however, he stopped and whistled.
+
+"By all that's wonderful, that's our family crest!" he exclaimed.
+
+Here was an excitement! At once the whole party began to examine the
+ancient, worn escutcheon, on which was depicted a chained eagle with a
+crown on its head, three arrows, and the motto _Manu et corde_ (with
+hand and heart).
+
+"It's _exactly_ the same!" declared Lenox. "Dad has a copy of the crest
+in an old book that his grandfather brought out from England more than a
+hundred years ago."
+
+"It's the arms of the de Cliffords," said their guide, shaken out of her
+sing-song recitation into first-hand information. "You'll find the same
+crest on those monuments over there in the nave."
+
+"Dad always said we were descended from an old family," rejoined Lenox,
+immensely thrilled.
+
+That their young cousin should have discovered the tombs of his
+ancestors in the village church was certainly a matter of great interest
+to the Hewlitts. They besieged their guide with questions. She could not
+really tell them very much, except that from mediaeval times the
+Cliffords had owned the soil, and that the Manor House was now in the
+possession of Mrs. Elliot, a daughter of old Squire Clifford who had
+died many years ago.
+
+"It was before I was born, but I've heard my father speak of him," she
+added.
+
+"Where is the Manor House?" asked Lenox eagerly.
+
+"Two miles beyond the village. It's a beautiful old place too, with a
+moat round it, and big stone gates."
+
+"Is it possible to look over it?"
+
+The guide shook her head emphatically.
+
+"No. Mrs. Elliot won't have anyone coming. She's an old lady and very
+infirm, and she can't bear to see strangers about the place. At one time
+she'd let people look round with a guide, but she found them so
+bothersome she stopped it. One day some Americans came and peeped
+through the windows when she was having her lunch, and wouldn't go
+away."
+
+"I'm sorry they were Americans," put in Mrs. Hewlitt. "My countrymen
+don't often so forget their manners, I'm glad to say."
+
+"Well, at any rate," smiled the guide, "both English and Americans made
+themselves nuisances, and she wouldn't let any more tourists come near.
+She has the great gates locked, and whoever wants to go in, no matter on
+what errand, must ring the lodge-keeper's bell, and it's only her own
+visitors, or the tradespeople with meat and groceries and such like as
+are admitted. They say she's gone almost queer in her head about it."
+
+"What a pity!" sighed Diana.
+
+"Still, you can hardly blame her," added Mrs. Hewlitt. "It must be very
+trying to live in a show place. I'm afraid, Lenox, you'll have to give
+up the idea of going over it. Is anything to be seen from the road?"
+
+"Nothing of the house; it's all hidden by the trees. You can only see
+the great gates."
+
+"It would hardly be worth a four-mile walk, just for the gates," decided
+Mrs. Hewlitt. "If the car's not ready yet we'll just take a conveyance
+and drive to Ratcliffe this afternoon."
+
+The car repair proved a tougher job than either Giles or the blacksmith
+had anticipated, and, as it apparently could not be finished for many
+hours, the Hewlitts arranged to make an excursion in a wagonette, and,
+as the inn seemed comfortable, to return to the village, spend the night
+there, and proceed on their way the next morning. Though her mother had
+dismissed all question of visiting the old Manor House, Diana still
+harped on the subject. She and Lenox talked it over in private after
+dinner. They were sitting in the porch of the hotel, watching the lights
+begin to gleam in the windows down the village street. Mr. and Mrs.
+Hewlitt were writing letters; Giles and Loveday had disappeared into the
+garden to try to hear a nightingale reputed to sing there.
+
+"Len," said Diana, "you oughtn't to leave this place without seeing your
+ancestral home. Think of having an ancient ancestral family home! It's
+an immense idea! Aren't you just crazy to go and look at it?"
+
+Lenox rolled his cigarette carefully, and lighted it before replying.
+
+"So crazy that I mean to go," he admitted at last. "Don't say anything
+about it to the others, but I'm planning to get up early, climb over the
+Manor House wall, and take a peep at the outside of the old place at any
+rate before anybody's about. That much won't do the old lady's nerves
+any harm. Besides, who's to find out?"
+
+"What a ripping notion!" Diana drew her breath admiringly. "Oh, Len, I
+_must_ go too! I simply _must_! I'd give everything in the world to see
+your family manor. That woman said it has a moat. I've never seen a real
+moated British manor."
+
+"If you could be up by five?" suggested Lenox.
+
+"Couldn't I? Just you wait and see! I'll be all dressed and ready and
+standing in the hall by five o'clock. Oh, what _topping_ fun! Don't let
+us tell a soul about it. We'll just keep it to ourselves."
+
+"_Ra_--ther! I'm not going prating about my plans, I can tell you."
+
+Diana was almost sorry that her mouse scare had made her decide to sleep
+with Loveday. She did not want to be questioned beforehand about her
+expedition. Fortunately her room-mate was very sleepy next morning, and
+slumbered tranquilly on while the stealthy process of early dressing
+went forward. She did not lift an eyelid when Diana opened the door and
+crept downstairs. The big clock on the landing had not yet struck five,
+but Lenox was already waiting in the hall. He grinned as Diana joined
+him.
+
+"You _are_ a sport!" he whispered.
+
+They let themselves out softly, and in another minute were walking down
+the village street. The clocks were at "summer time", an hour forward,
+so it was really only four o'clock. The sun had not risen yet, though it
+was quite light already. The air felt deliciously fresh, birds were
+singing, and cattle lowing. Here and there a cottage door opened, and a
+labourer came out, who looked at them with speculative curiosity as they
+passed by. They were soon through the village and along the road that
+led in the direction of the Manor. On either side lay pastures with
+clumps of yellow cowslips, the faint fragrance of which was wafted on
+the pleasant air. Diana could not resist scaling a fence and going to
+gather some, though she got her shoes soaked with the morning dew. Down
+a hill, along the river side, and up through a long avenue of elms ran
+the road, till at last a high oak fence took the place of the hedge;
+this in its turn gave way to a wall, and presently to the left loomed a
+pair of great ornamental iron gates, with a lodge at the side.
+
+An archway across, surmounted by a stone escutcheon, bore the Clifford
+crest, so there was no doubt that they had reached their destination.
+The gates were padlocked together, and the blinds were drawn in the
+lodge; evidently the keeper was not an early bird.
+
+"How are we going to get in?" asked Diana.
+
+"Not here, certainly. We'll go back to that oak paling, and climb over.
+Don't you feel as if we were poachers?"
+
+"Yes, or burglars! I guess we've got to burgle quietly. Hope the old
+lady hasn't set man-traps in her park."
+
+"Or doesn't leave savage bloodhounds to roam at large and guard the
+premises. Well, we shall have to take our chance. It's rather like
+storming a fortress--isn't it?"
+
+"I call it precious!" chuckled Diana.
+
+The fence did not look too easy to scale. It was of solid oak pales set
+upright, and was about six feet in height. Its straight surface did not
+offer any foothold. For some distance they wandered along, rather
+discouraged, but at last an overhanging tree seemed to promise hope.
+Lenox lifted up Diana till she could catch hold of a branch, then, with
+considerable boosting and scrambling, she swung herself over. Lenox
+dropped after her directly, and the adventurous pair stood within the
+park.
+
+So far, so good. They were certainly trespassing, but they considered
+that their errand justified the deed. Lenox had brought his hand camera,
+and hoped to get a snap-shot of the old place to take back to America to
+show his father. He had ascertained that no picture post cards of it
+were obtainable in the village. They could see the twisted chimneys
+rising over the top of a thick grove of trees and shrubs, so they turned
+their steps in that direction. Over some grassy park-like land they
+tramped, where rabbits were still scuttling about, and a few tame deer
+were grazing; then through a thicket of trees and under a belt of
+ornamental shrubs. All at once, as they scrambled from the shade of some
+rhododendrons, they caught their first view of the Manor. It was a
+glorious old mansion, built partly in half-timber and partly in grey
+stone, with an embattled tower for entrance, and a stone bridge crossing
+the moat that encircled the walls. The morning sun shone direct on its
+mullioned, diamond-paned windows, its twisted chimney stalks, ivy-clad
+walls, and smooth, green stretch of water. Nothing could have been more
+charming for a photograph, and, to make the picture absolutely perfect,
+a pair of stately swans came sailing along the moat. Lenox pulled his
+camera from its case, ventured forth from the cover of the bushes, and
+began to focus. Diana followed closely at his elbow. They were brimful
+of excitement. Here they were actually facing the "ancestral home" of
+the Clifford family.
+
+"Don't you wish you lived here?" sighed Diana.
+
+"Rather! But no such luck!"
+
+"If the old lady has no children perhaps you'll turn out to be the
+heir," said Diana wistfully.
+
+"She has nephews," said Lenox, dashing her hopes. "Besides, we must be a
+very far-off branch of the family tree. It's a hundred years since we
+settled in America. Now don't nudge me. I've just got the thing
+focused--swans and all."
+
+Lenox pressed the button, and turned the film on to No. 2, then looked
+about him.
+
+"I'm going to take the whole half-dozen," he announced. "Let's move on
+and get a different view."
+
+There was not a soul to be seen. With the exception of the swans, the
+inhabitants of the Manor did not seem to be early risers. Lenox and
+Diana grew bolder, and ventured nearer. By degrees they got right to the
+edge of the moat. The view here was beautiful, for it took in the bridge
+and the embattled tower, with the coat of arms over the doorway. It was
+exactly what they wanted to carry home to America. Lenox snapped it with
+huge satisfaction, including the swans, which luckily swam into the
+scene at the psychological moment.
+
+"I'd give worlds to be able to go inside and explore," said Diana. "I
+wish I could make myself invisible. D'you think we dare just toddle
+across the bridge, and perhaps peep in through a window? There's nobody
+watching. O-o-o-oh!"
+
+She might well exclaim, for, in direct contradiction to her words, the
+door at that moment opened, and an elderly lady made her appearance. She
+walked slowly with the aid of a cane, but it was evident that she had
+seen the intruders on her property, and was coming to tackle them.
+Swift and hasty flight seemed the only way out of the difficulty.
+
+"Quick, Lenox! Run!" gasped Diana.
+
+She turned, as she spoke, to make a dash for the cover of the shrubs,
+but in her hurry and agitation she tripped on her dangling shoe lace,
+missed her footing, slipped, tumbled down the bank, and fell backwards
+with a splash into the moat.
+
+It was not very deep, and Lenox hauled her out in a minute. There she
+stood upon the bank a dripping object, her nice dress all coated with
+duckweed and green slime. Her hat was floating away in the direction of
+the swans. The lady had crossed the bridge, and with the help of her
+cane walked painfully down the bank. Lenox and Diana felt like a pair of
+naughty school children caught stealing apples. The situation was most
+ignominious. Their faces would have made a study for a comic artist,
+especially Diana's, with smears of duckweed on her cheeks, and her moist
+hair hanging over her shoulders. They wondered what Mrs. Elliot was
+going to say to them.
+
+She came slowly up, blinking her eyes rather nervously, looked Diana
+over from dripping head to muddy shoes, then made the obvious comment:
+
+"You're very wet!"
+
+"Ye-e-es!" shivered Diana, with chattering teeth.
+
+"You'd better come indoors and have your clothes dried."
+
+The relief of receiving such a charitable reception, instead of the
+stern rebuke they felt they deserved, was intense. Lenox suddenly burst
+into a flood of gentlemanly apologies. He explained rapidly that his
+name was Clifford, that he had seen his father's coat of arms in the
+church, and had been tempted to trespass in order to secure some
+photographs of the house that was probably the old home of their family.
+Mrs. Elliot listened till he had finished.
+
+"I'd have given you permission if you had asked," she replied calmly.
+"Now it's time that your sister--cousin, is she?--took off those wet
+clothes, or she'll catch cold."
+
+Diana marvelled at Mrs. Elliot's goodness. She was taken indoors, and
+lent some garments while her own were dried. The household was an
+earlier one than they had supposed, and in answer to the mistress's bell
+came servants who were too well trained to express surprise in their
+faces at the sight of a dripping visitor. An elderly maid showed Diana
+to a bedroom, rubbed her hair for her with a towel, helped her into a
+pink silk kimono dressing-gown, and brought her a cup of hot tea. These
+precautions against cold having been taken, Mrs. Elliot most kindly
+volunteered to show the young people over the house. It was a funny
+little procession: the elderly lady with her cane; Lenox, in his khaki,
+still blurting out apologies; and Diana trailing the pink kimono, which
+was much too long, and shuffling in bronze-beaded shoes that were two
+sizes too large. The glories of the old Manor left them gasping: the
+big banqueting hall with its armour and tapestries, the panelled oak
+boudoir, the library with its family portraits, the wide staircase, the
+drawing-room with its cabinets and priceless china, the state bedroom
+with the carved four-post bed where Queen Anne had slept, the courtyard
+and dove-cote where pigeons were strutting and preening their feathers,
+and the little chapel with its coats of arms in the stained glass, and
+chained Bible. Through a window they could see the garden, with clipped
+yew hedges and smooth lawn, and a peacock spreading its gorgeous tail to
+the morning sun.
+
+"If your great-grandfather went to America a hundred years ago you are
+probably descended from either Guy, Charles, or Humphrey Clifford," said
+Mrs. Elliot, showing Lenox a family genealogical tree that hung in the
+hall.
+
+"I know my great-grandfather's name was Humphrey," answered Lenox, "and
+the dates would seem to correspond."
+
+Diana's clothes were dried at last, and brushed. Even her hat, by the
+aid of a fishing-rod, had been recovered from the moat. Though rather
+crushed and spoilt they were quite wearable. She felt herself again when
+she had put them on. Mrs. Elliot sent a servant to conduct the young
+people to the lodge, and order the gate to be unlocked for their exit.
+She received their renewed apologies and thanks in the same calm manner
+in which she had greeted them.
+
+"I hope the photos will come out well," were her last words, as she
+stood at the door watching them walk across the bridge.
+
+When Lenox and Diana returned to the inn, and burst upon the rest of the
+party, who were having breakfast, their extraordinary story was at first
+scarcely believed.
+
+"Bunkum, my boy!" said Giles, shaking his head.
+
+But the two witnesses gave such a circumstantial account of their
+adventure that incredulity turned to amazement, and then amusement.
+
+"You cheeky young cubs!" declared Mr. Hewlitt. "I think Mrs. Elliot was
+far too good to you."
+
+"You got more than you deserved; but I'm grateful to her for drying you,
+Diana," commented Mrs. Hewlitt.
+
+"I wish we'd been with you," said Giles. "You've had all the luck."
+
+As the car was now repaired, the party once more packed up their
+baggage, and set forth for the short remainder of their tour. Lenox's
+leave was nearly over; Giles would be due in London next week; and Mr.
+Hewlitt's business in Paris was not yet concluded. After another day's
+enjoyment they parted at Cheltenham, and sent the girls back to school
+by train.
+
+"We shan't forget you, dear," said Mrs. Hewlitt to Loveday, as she saw
+them off. "You must come and see us again some time--perhaps in
+America. Take care of my little Diana for me--won't you?"
+
+"I will--I will, indeed! Oh, I don't know how to thank you! It's been
+just the absolute time of my life!" said Loveday, leaning out of the
+carriage window as she waved good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+The Green-eyed Monster
+
+
+With the summer term came a period of great outdoor activity at
+Pendlemere. Miss Chadwick, Miss Carr, and Miss Ormrod were tremendously
+busy on the land, and gave the school a thorough initiation into the
+principles of gardening. The girls studied birds, noted what insects
+they ate, and how useful they were in a garden; they learned the
+life-histories of certain insects, and the causes of some plant
+diseases; they organized an amateur weather bureau, and kept charts of
+the progress of their crops. Everybody agreed that the new regime was
+much more interesting than that of the old days when the gardening had
+all been done for them, and they had only lounged about the lawn and
+played tennis. Each flower seemed twice as beautiful when they had
+helped to grow it, and the vegetables of their own cultivation were
+voted prize-winners.
+
+Diana, in consideration of her great love for horses, was allowed to
+give some assistance in Baron's toilet, and even sometimes to drive him,
+a privilege (dependent on good behaviour) which made her supremely
+happy.
+
+On the whole, though Miss Todd was undoubtedly rather strict, the girls
+decided that the school was jollier than in Mrs. Gifford's days. They
+did not forget their former Principal, who wrote to them sometimes from
+her new home and told them about her life in Burma, but they had
+accepted the changed conditions, and had grown to like them. The outdoor
+department seemed to bring a much wider current of life into Pendlemere.
+Miss Chadwick and her two assistants were thoroughly modern, and would
+discuss all sorts of up-to-date problems, so that the school kept in
+touch with the outside world instead of living in the narrow rut of its
+own little round of lessons and amusements. This term four elder
+students had come, principally to study gardening under Miss Chadwick.
+They were girls of eighteen and nineteen, who, instead of being placed
+among the school, took somewhat the position of the old-fashioned
+"parlour boarder" of sixty years ago, and were on terms of intimacy with
+the mistresses. Naturally they were the envy and admiration of those
+less fortunate beings who were still only ordinary pupils. They were
+good-natured to the schoolgirls, but held themselves a little aloof.
+Sometimes, in a rather superior manner, they would condescend to be
+friendly. Each had her own train of worshippers. The prettiest and most
+attractive of the four was Adeline Hoyle, a tall, fine-looking girl with
+dark eyes, a very fair skin, and thick coils of brown hair twisted into
+a classic knot. There was a calm dignity about her and a charm of
+manner that was exceedingly taking. It bowled over Diana's heart
+entirely. She took a sudden and most violent affection for Adeline. She
+would hang about to try to get a word with her, flush crimson at the
+slightest notice from her idol, and was ready to perform anything in the
+way of odd jobs. She even took up sewing--a much neglected part of her
+education--in order to embroider a handkerchief-case as a birthday
+offering. It is an exhilarating, but rather wearing process to be
+violently in love, especially when you are decidedly doubtful as to
+whether the loved object in the least appreciates your attentions.
+Adeline would accept Diana's sweets or flowers with a kind "Thank you",
+and then pat her on the shoulder and tell her to run away. She would
+sometimes allow her to link arms in the garden, but it was suffered with
+an air of amused tolerance. It was obvious that she very much preferred
+the society of Hilary, who was nearer her own age, and that she regarded
+intermediates as mere children. Diana, who was eccentric in her likes
+and dislikes, but very keen when she took a fancy to anybody, went
+through all the stages of longing, hope, elation, despair, and jealousy.
+When she saw Hilary received into supreme favour, the green-eyed monster
+swooped down and took possession of her. Loveday, who had watched the
+progress of the affair with some distress, offered what consolation she
+could in the sanctuary of the ivy room.
+
+"Adeline's really very good to you," she comforted.
+
+"Yes, but she doesn't care twopence," raged Diana. "I know she's nice
+and kind and all that, but she loves me with the love she'd give to a
+distressed negro or a starved cat. I want her to _want_ me--and she
+doesn't one little bit! She just tolerates me sometimes, and that's all.
+What she can see in Hilary I can't imagine. I think Hilary's the most
+detestable girl in the school. I always have disliked her. I _hate_ her
+now!"
+
+"Some people say that hating anybody sends out 'thought-forms' like
+hideous daggers into the invisible world, and they do dreadful harm, and
+in the end they come back to their owners like curses. Can't you manage
+to send out some prettier thoughts?"
+
+"No, Loveday Seton; I can't, and won't, and shan't!" said Diana
+emphatically, screwing up mouth and eyes into one of her ugliest faces.
+"I'm not going to pretend I like Hilary when I don't--that would be a
+fiblet and worse than red daggers. Yes, you can call me naughty if you
+like. I've got to the stage when I don't care."
+
+Knowing by experience that Diana generally received suggestions in this
+way, but sometimes ruminated over her remarks afterwards, Loveday
+shelved the question of thought-forms and their possible ill effects,
+and petted her spoilt room-mate instead till she cajoled her into a
+better temper. The green-eyed monster still reigned, however, and Diana
+sat at tea-time flashing, if not red daggers, very obvious untoward
+glances, as she caught a smile of comprehension pass between Adeline and
+Hilary. Nobody had time to take much notice of her heroics.
+
+Everyone was too busy discussing school affairs. The very latest news
+was that the boat-house was at last to be unlocked, the boat thoroughly
+overhauled and painted, and that mistresses and students would go rowing
+on the lake. A rumour even began to circulate that certain favoured
+members of the school might be taken as passengers.
+
+"We used when Mrs. Gifford was here," said Wendy. "She often got Mr.
+Thwaites from the village to come and row us. It was top-hole. And once
+he let Tattie and me try to row, but I 'caught a crab' and dropped the
+oar. I'd soon learn though, if I'd another chance."
+
+"We ought to have two or three boats," decided Sadie.
+
+"One for each form," amended Vi.
+
+"You bet it's only seniors who'll have any luck," groused Diana, who was
+still in the depths of despondency.
+
+"There's no knowing," said Jess hopefully.
+
+Though they might not be certain of sharing in the pleasure of
+navigating the lake, there was at least an element of anticipation in
+the matter. It was just possible that some fine day Miss Todd might say
+to one of them: "Put on your jersey and you may go for a row". They felt
+it was one of those sporting chances that sometimes turn up in a life.
+They hung about the boat-house wistfully when Mr. Appleton from Glenbury
+did his task of overhauling, and if he went away for a few minutes they
+took advantage of his absence to scramble in and sit inside the boat and
+imagine how delightful it would feel to be really on the water. They
+began to practise boat-songs, just to be ready for any emergency, and
+would sit on the landing-place singing "Row, brothers, row!" or "My
+barque is on the shore".
+
+It was very exciting when repairs got to the painting stage, especially
+when Diana did not notice, and took a leap inside, with equal disaster
+to Mr. Appleton's nice coat of paint and her own serge skirt. Great was
+the day when the _Peveril_ at last was dry, and Mr. Appleton launched
+her himself on the lake, and took Miss Todd, Miss Beverley, and Miss
+Chadwick for a trial trip. The school, watching enviously from the bank,
+decided that nothing but a steamer, or a small fleet of rowboats could
+satisfy its demands. They considered rowing ought to be a part of every
+girl's education.
+
+As Diana had prophesied, the intermediates came in for no luck. Miss
+Chadwick and her assistants, with the four gardening students,
+monopolized the _Peveril_. They took Miss Todd, Miss Beverley, and Miss
+Hampson out for airings on the lake; occasionally a senior was invited,
+and once the four youngest girls in the school were given a brief treat.
+All the rest had just to look on and long. Diana, indeed, extorted a
+sort of half promise from Adeline that some time, when it was
+convenient, and if she was not too busy, and if nobody else wanted the
+boat, she would let her realize her ambition, but so far this promise
+had remained an empty one, a vague invitation that meant nothing. Diana,
+catching Adeline in the garden one afternoon, made a desperate effort to
+obtain its fulfilment.
+
+[Illustration: DIANA CALLED AND SHOUTED TO THEM. THEY TOOK NO NOTICE]
+
+"Just for ten minutes," she pleaded.
+
+"I'm so busy," evaded Adeline. "I've got seedlings to plant out, and
+really haven't time to take people on the lake. What a bother you are,
+Diana!"
+
+"You said you would some time."
+
+"Well, so I will; but the time isn't to-day. I've other things to do."
+
+"May I help you to plant the seedlings?"
+
+"No indeed! They need very delicate handling, and I'm responsible to
+Miss Chadwick for them. Why don't you go and help Miss Carr?"
+
+With a decidedly snubbed feeling Diana strolled away, not to help Miss
+Carr, for it was recreation hour, and she felt at liberty to employ her
+leisure as she liked, but to find Wendy or some other congenial spirit.
+Wendy, Sadie, and Vi, however, had gone to the village with Miss Ormrod,
+and Tattie, Jess, Magsie, and Peggy occupied the tennis-court. Diana was
+the only one of the intermediates left out. She felt exceedingly
+aggrieved. She stood for a while watching the set; but looking on at
+tennis is never very amusing, so she wended her solitary way into the
+house to fetch a book. Down the corridor bustled Miss Hampson in a
+hurry.
+
+"Diana! I was just wanting somebody, and you'll do. Will you go and tell
+Adeline that Miss Todd wishes to speak to her as soon as she's finished
+in the greenhouse?"
+
+Miss Hampson, with her arms full of exercise books to correct,
+disappeared into the senior room, and Diana departed on her errand.
+Adeline was not in the greenhouse. She had not even begun to transplant
+the seedlings, though the pots and the soil were ready. Diana waited a
+few minutes to see if she would come, then went in quest of her. Bobbing
+briskly down the shrubbery path were two heads, a dark one with hair in
+a classic knot, and a fair one with a pig-tail. They could just be
+distinguished above the line of the laurels. Diana put her hands to her
+mouth and called:
+
+"Ad--el--ine!"
+
+The heads turned for a moment to look, then scuttled on with the utmost
+rapidity. Diana, following, caught a glimpse of two figures whisking
+past the boat-house to the landing-place. She stopped dead.
+
+"So it's Hilary Adeline's taking with her. And they're going in the
+boat. Well, of all mean things this is the limit! Adeline hadn't time to
+take people on the lake, and wanted to plant seedlings. That's why she
+was so anxious to send me off to help Miss Carr. If she won't listen
+when I call to her _I_'m not going to bother to give her Miss Hampson's
+message. I don't suppose Miss Todd wants her about anything important.
+I'm fed up!"
+
+A very disconsolate and indignant Diana once more walked up the garden;
+the green-eyed monster was sitting on her back and digging in his
+disagreeable talons pretty deeply; he was anything but a bright
+companion. She wandered aimlessly round the orchard, and finally came
+across Miss Carr and Loveday carrying out food to the chickens. They
+were chatting as she met them, and the words drifted to her between the
+apple-trees.
+
+"So Mr. Appleton said it really wasn't safe at all, and Miss Todd had
+better let nobody take her out till he could come up. He'd try to come
+this evening, but he wasn't sure if he'd manage it because--why, Diana,
+what's the matter?"
+
+"Is it the boat you're talking about?" demanded a breathless, excited
+little figure.
+
+"Yes--but why? Diana! What is it? Di--an--a!"
+
+Loveday spoke to the winds, for already her room-mate was half-way down
+the orchard. Diana's feet were trying to keep pace with her whirling
+brain. The boat was unsafe! That, no doubt, was the message that Miss
+Todd had intended for Adeline. If she had not already started it might
+be possible to stop her, or at any rate to call her back. She raced
+along the shrubbery and down the bank to the landing-place. But Adeline
+and Hilary had wasted no time, and were already quite a considerable
+way out on the lake. Diana called and shouted to them. They turned their
+heads to look, evidently laughed, and took no notice. It was plain that
+they thought Diana wished them to return and take her for a row, and
+that they had no intention of any such philanthropic course of action.
+On the landing-place Diana raged. If the _Peveril_ were really unsafe
+every stroke of the oar was taking Adeline and Hilary into greater
+danger. How could she possibly make them understand? The more she
+called, the more they would row away.
+
+Then a very desperate idea occurred to her, so desperate that only a
+harum-scarum like Diana would have thought of it. She would swim out
+towards them, and when they saw her in the water they would probably
+turn and come back. She pulled off her skirt and her shoes. Now Diana
+was not a very expert swimmer; it was indeed two years since she had had
+any practice, and that had been in the sea, which is easier than fresh
+water. She never thought of these particulars, however, but, putting her
+hands together, dived off the landing-place just as Loveday turned the
+corner of the boat-house. It was very cold, indeed, in the water, far
+colder than she had expected; it made her gasp for breath, and sent a
+numbness into her limbs. She struggled on, however, with brave strokes.
+
+"Di--ana!" screamed Loveday's agitated voice behind her.
+
+The girls in the boat were not even looking. How fearfully cold it was!
+It was difficult to hold up her head properly and see where she was
+going. She had thought swimming was so easy. A few more strokes and
+something seemed to be twining round her. She had dashed into some
+waterweeds, and their clammy stems clutched her like dead fingers. She
+made a desperate effort to free herself; down went her head, and next
+moment she was gulping, struggling, and shrieking for help. There was a
+splash behind from the landing-place as Loveday plunged to the rescue;
+the occupants of the boat also, at last looking and realizing the
+seriousness of the situation, began to row in her direction as fast as
+they could pull. They were some distance off, however, and Loveday won
+the race. She caught Diana just as she was sinking, and held her up
+until the boat arrived.
+
+A very draggled, agitated pair of girls made their way up the shrubbery
+walk to the house, leaving a wet trail to mark their path. Adeline tied
+up the _Peveril_ before she followed them.
+
+"I'm sure nobody can blame _us_," she remarked to Hilary.
+
+Loveday and Diana, warmed, dried, and clad in fresh garments, scolded by
+Miss Todd, and cosseted by Miss Carr, the heroines of a real adventure,
+and for the moment the centre of interest in the school, discussed the
+event in private.
+
+"I've explained, but Adeline doesn't see it," said Diana. "She says the
+boat wasn't as bad as all that, and they were in no real danger, and
+that I did a very silly, idiotic, foolhardy thing. She doesn't
+understand I was trying to save her life. But I _was_!"
+
+"I know," nodded Loveday. "I don't think somehow, though, that Adeline's
+the kind of girl whom you could ever make understand. Why do you lavish
+all this love on her, Di? She's not worth it."
+
+Diana was plaiting her skirt into little gathers. She looked at her
+fingers and not at Loveday.
+
+"I _did_ like her so! But it's all ended now--drowned in the water, I
+think. She doesn't care twopence about me. Well! If _she_ doesn't, no
+more do _I_! She may go to Hong-Kong as far as I'm concerned."
+
+Loveday glanced anxiously at her friend. There was a suspicious tremble
+in the usually cheerful voice. Were those drops shining on the long
+eyelashes?
+
+"It takes a good deal of riddling before we sort out the wheat and the
+chaff in our friendships," ventured Loveday.
+
+"_You're_ 'honest grain', at any rate!" said Diana, winking rapidly, as
+she rose and ended the conversation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+Diana's Foundling
+
+
+There was very little doubt in the minds of Miss Todd and of other
+mistresses at Pendlemere Abbey that Diana was a spoilt child. Her
+parents, far away in Paris, made up for their enforced absence by
+sending her a larger assortment of presents than usually falls to the
+lot of a schoolgirl. She had practically everything that she could want,
+and a great many things beside. There was one subject, however, upon
+which she had coaxed her father for a long time. In every letter she had
+written lately she had assured him that life was not liveable in the
+summer term without a pony. Diana had a passion for horses. She had
+ridden much in America, and her ideal of happiness was to be on
+ponyback. She was occasionally allowed to mount Baron, but, as Miss Todd
+would not permit her to take him into the lanes alone, she had to
+confine her gallops to the paddock, which she considered very poor
+sport. She thought the matter over till she evolved an idea; then she
+confided it to Miss Carr. Miss Carr was also an enthusiast about horses,
+and was secretly longing to ride Baron. Diana's scheme was that she
+should ask her father to allow her to hire a pony for the rest of the
+term, have it stabled at the farm near, and go with Miss Carr for rides.
+When she made up her mind to a thing she was apt to press the subject
+hotly. A series of such very urgent letters went to Paris that Mr.
+Hewlitt yielded, and wrote to Miss Todd asking her to be so kind as to
+arrange the matter. Very fortunately for Diana the idea appealed to Miss
+Todd; she wished to encourage riding amongst her girls, and was quite
+willing to allow the experiment to be tried. She commissioned Mr.
+Greenhalgh, a neighbouring farmer, to procure a suitable mount for a
+young lady of fourteen, and to take charge of it in his stable. Diana
+had to wait a week, in great impatience, while he made enquiries and
+interviewed horse-dealers; then one red-letter afternoon she was taken
+by Miss Todd to the farm, and introduced to the prettiest possible
+little white pony. "Lady" was getting on in years, but still had some
+spirit left in her, and she was accustomed to the saddle. Her owner,
+considering that she needed a rest, was glad to hire her out for such
+light work. Diana flung her arms round the pony's neck, and at once
+began the process of making love to her, cementing the new friendship
+with several lumps of sugar which she had brought in her pocket.
+
+Then began a series of perfectly delightful rides. Miss Carr and Diana
+would start out after tea, and explore all the bridle-roads in the
+neighbourhood. Sometimes they would go up on the moors, and enjoy a
+canter over the soft grass, or ride alongside the beautiful little lakes
+that lay like gems among the hills. Diana did not much mind where they
+went, so long as she could be upon Lady's back. Her new possession
+naturally aroused wild longing in the breasts of a considerable number
+of her schoolfellows. If it had been possible Miss Todd would have
+arranged for a riding-master to bring horses to Pendlemere and give
+lessons to some of the girls, but matters had not yet adjusted
+themselves sufficiently after the war for such an ambitious scheme as
+that, so she did the next best thing, hired a second pony, and sent
+certain girls, whose parents wished them to learn riding, out in relays.
+These elect few were regarded as favourites of fortune, but they were
+obliged to take their luck in turns. They could only have one ride a
+week each, and that was not nearly enough to content them. They wanted
+at least two.
+
+"If Miss Todd could hire another pony," sighed Wendy, "that would mean
+we each got in a second lesson a week."
+
+"Mr. Greenhalgh has tried, and says he can't hear of one anywhere,"
+lamented Tattie. "Horses are scarce since the war, and ponies seem
+particularly wanted in the summer. It's very difficult to get
+riding-ponies."
+
+"Glad I secured Lady," chuckled Diana.
+
+"I think it's very mean of you to keep Lady all to yourself," retorted
+Sadie, airing a grievance. "Why can't you let her be the second school
+pony, and take your turn with the rest of us? It would be far fairer."
+
+"Give up Lady? Well, I like that! Coolest idea I've ever heard! Why, I
+thought of the whole thing, and wrote to Dad, and she was hired
+specially for me. _Your_ riding lessons were only a copy of my idea. Get
+a third pony if you can, but I guess I'm not going to give up Lady to
+anybody. Why should I? Dad said she was to be mine."
+
+"It's not sporty of you, though," grumbled Sadie. "You know perfectly
+well we _can't_ get a third pony, and everybody in the school is saying
+how hard it is for you to monopolize one entirely to yourself. There are
+six other girls who'd be glad to learn riding if they could get a
+mount."
+
+"Then let them write home to their fathers to send them ponies."
+
+"As if they could! But their fathers would let them take lessons if
+there were a school pony for them. I know that for a fact."
+
+"Well, they shan't have mine, at any rate," rapped out Diana defiantly.
+"You just needn't think it, so there!"
+
+One afternoon it was Wendy's turn for the school pony. She and Diana and
+Miss Carr rode away together down the road to Chapelrigg. It was a
+gloriously fine day. Wild roses starred the hedgerows, and the beautiful
+blue speedwell bordered the lanes. Larks were singing, and, though the
+cuckoo had changed his tune, blackbirds still fluted in the coppices.
+
+They had come out on an errand--not a particularly romantic one, as it
+happened, only to pay a bill for Miss Todd at a farm-house a few miles
+away. If the errand was prosaic the farm and its surroundings looked
+attractive; it stood on a hill with a beautiful group of birch-trees
+behind it, and a small stream came rippling down at the bottom of the
+garden. The path from the high road was blocked by a cart left standing
+with a load of straw, so it would be impossible to ride the horses up to
+the door. The three riders dismounted, and Miss Carr, tying Baron to the
+fence, said she would walk up the lane and pay the bill while the girls
+waited for her in the road. Allowing Lady and Topsy to crop the grass in
+the hedge bottom, Diana and Wendy sat on the bank lazily enjoying
+themselves. It was very pleasant that afternoon to be alive. In that
+northern district although summer came late she made up for it by the
+extreme beauty with which she clothed the landscape; the view from the
+hill-side was like one of Turner's pictures.
+
+As the girls sat chatting, watching the ponies, and idly plucking
+flowers, they heard footsteps coming along the road, and presently a
+woman carrying a baby appeared round the corner. She was young and dark
+and gipsy-looking, and wore large ear-rings and a red cotton
+handkerchief knotted loosely round her brown throat. She stopped at the
+sight of Diana and Wendy and the ponies, and seemed to consider a
+moment. Then she walked boldly up to them, looked keenly in their faces,
+and evidently chose Diana.
+
+"Could you do me a kindness, miss?" she asked. "I've to go up to the
+farm for a basket. I don't want to carry the baby with me; she's so
+heavy. If I leave her here on the grass would you keep an eye on her
+till I come back? I shan't be gone five minutes."
+
+Now Diana was fond of babies, and the little dark-eyed specimen, wrapped
+up in the plaid shawl, was pretty and attractive and fairly clean. For
+answer she held out her arms, received baby, shawl, and feeding-bottle
+on to her knee, and constituted herself temporary nurse.
+
+"She'll be good till I come back," said the woman, turning up the lane
+that led to the farm.
+
+The small person with the brown eyes was probably accustomed to be
+handed about. She did not jib at strangers, as might have been expected,
+but accepted the situation quite amiably. She gurgled in response to
+Diana's advances, and allowed herself to be amused. Perhaps the vicinity
+of horses was familiar to her, and she felt at home. Diana, hugging her
+on her knee, freed her from the folds of the shawl and allowed her to
+kick happily. She was certainly a fascinating little mortal.
+
+In the course of about ten minutes Miss Carr, who had been having a
+chat at the farm about gardening prospects, returned leisurely down the
+lane, and was electrified to find Diana sitting by the roadside nursing
+a baby.
+
+"I didn't see any gipsy woman come up to the farm," she said, in answer
+to the girls' explanations. "You'd better go, Wendy, and see if you can
+find her, and tell her to come at once and fetch her baby."
+
+So Wendy went up the lane to the farm, and asked at the front door and
+the back door, and looked round the stack-yard and the buildings, but
+there was never a trace of the gipsy girl. A little boy playing by the
+pond, however, declared that he had seen a woman crossing the field and
+climbing over the fence on to the road. Wendy returned with this report.
+Miss Carr looked annoyed.
+
+"We must go along the road, then, and follow her. We can't wait here
+till she chooses to come back."
+
+So Diana carried the baby, and Wendy led Lady and Topsy, and Miss Carr,
+with an anxious wrinkle between her eyebrows, followed with Baron in the
+direction that the small boy had pointed out. They walked a mile, and
+enquired at cottages and from passers-by, and from men working in the
+fields, but nobody had seen the gipsy woman. Then they went back to the
+trysting-place to see if she had returned, but she was not there. They
+asked again at the farm, and went back to the cottages, and Miss Carr
+begged to leave the baby there, because its mother would be sure to
+enquire for it and find it. The occupants of the cottages, however,
+shook their heads, and were not at all prepared to accept the
+responsibility. Neither were the people at the farm. They utterly
+refused to take it in. Then Diana realized that it is one thing to offer
+to nurse a baby, and quite another to get rid of it again. What were
+they to do?
+
+"We can't dump the poor mite down by the roadside and leave it," said
+Miss Carr distractedly. "Whatever _can_ have become of its mother?"
+
+No answer was forthcoming to her question, and matters were urgent. She
+decided that the only thing to be done was to take the baby with them to
+Pendlemere, leaving messages at the farm and the cottages for the mother
+to follow on and claim it. Naturally it made a great sensation in the
+school when Diana arrived holding her foundling in her arms. Miss Carr
+explained at full length to Miss Todd, who was utterly aghast, but
+consented to take in the small stranger till it was claimed. Miss
+Chadwick, who had studied hygiene at the Agricultural College, and had
+once assisted at a creche, constituted herself head nurse, mixed a
+bottle, and left Miss Ormrod to feed the fowls while she sat in a
+rocking-chair and soothed the foundling to sleep.
+
+"Surely the mother'll turn up before dark," she said.
+
+But nobody turned up, and Miss Chadwick, who had had to guess at the
+baby's age and requirements, and had mixed too strong a bottle, spent a
+wakeful night patting her small guest on the back and endeavouring to
+still her wails. Next morning Miss Todd reported the matter at the
+police station, enquiries were made, and it was ascertained that a girl
+answering to the description given had been in the company of a band of
+hawkers, but had disappeared and left no trace of her whereabouts. The
+baby was not hers, but belonged to a woman who had just been arrested on
+a serious charge and taken to Glenbury jail; the hawkers with whom she
+had associated disclaimed all responsibility for the child.
+
+"The only thing to be done is to send it to the Union," said the police
+sergeant.
+
+But by that time the school in general, and Diana in particular, had
+fallen in love with the poor little baby. They raged at the idea of
+sending it to the workhouse. They had borrowed clothes for it; and,
+nicely bathed and dressed and recovered from its fit of indigestion, it
+looked a sweet thing, and was ready to make friends with anybody and
+everybody.
+
+"Bless her, she _shan't_ go the workhouse!" declared Diana, kissing the
+small fist that clung round her finger.
+
+There was a wild idea among the girls that the foundling might be kept
+as a "school baby".
+
+"We're taught gardening, and poultry-keeping, and bee-keeping," said
+Wendy quite seriously, "so why not the care of children? We could learn
+to bathe her, and mix her bottle, and do heaps of things for her."
+
+Miss Todd, however, thought otherwise. Theoretical hygiene of infants
+was all very well as part of the curriculum, but the practical side of
+it was disturbing to the school. Miss Chadwick had other duties besides
+that of nursing a baby. Rows of plants needed attention, and young
+chickens claimed her care.
+
+"If the mother gets a heavy sentence," said Miss Todd, "I think the
+child would be received into a 'Home for Destitute Children'. In the
+meantime----"
+
+"_Not_ the workhouse!" pleaded Diana. "Isn't there anybody in the
+village who'd take her in?"
+
+"Mrs. Jones would have her, but she would charge twelve and sixpence a
+week; nobody will take in a baby for less now."
+
+"What's that in dollars? About three, isn't it? Dad will fix that up
+easily. I'll write to him to-night. It's as good as settled."
+
+"Diana," said Miss Todd emphatically, "I shall _not_ allow you to write
+to your father and ask him for anything more. If you care to give up
+your pocket-money for the baby's sake that's another matter; but you're
+getting into a bad habit of expecting your father to pay for every whim
+that comes into your head. It's cheap charity to suggest something
+that's to cost _you_ nothing. You want to have all the credit of the
+generosity at your father's expense."
+
+Diana flushed up to her hair, and down over her neck.
+
+"Do you think me a slacker?" she asked.
+
+"Yes; in this respect I certainly do. If you were prepared to deny
+yourself anything it would be different, but you're not. You like to
+call the child _your_ foundling, but personally you've done nothing for
+her. It's Miss Chadwick who's had the wakeful nights."
+
+Diana did not urge in self-defence that she would willingly have taken
+the baby to bed with her if she had been allowed; she knew it was
+useless to offer arguments or excuses. She was busy thinking. Miss
+Todd's reproaches stung her like a whip. She would let the school see
+that she was not the pampered, spoilt darling that they imagined. On
+that score she was determined. Sacrifices! She was quite prepared to
+make sacrifices if they were necessary. Nobody should again have the
+chance of telling her that she did her generosity at other people's
+expense. An idea swept through her mind, and she set her teeth.
+
+"Does it cost more than twelve and six a week to keep Lady?" she asked.
+
+"Considerably more; though I don't suppose you've ever concerned
+yourself about the cost," returned Miss Todd sarcastically.
+
+"Might I hand Lady over to the school for the rest of the term, then,
+and pay for the baby instead? I'd square it up with Father. He wouldn't
+mind about the riding when I explained."
+
+Miss Todd looked Diana squarely in the face. Pupil and mistress met each
+other's eyes. The Principal's voice softened when she spoke.
+
+"Yes; if you like to do this, Diana, I could arrange it. We want another
+school pony. You could take your turn with Lady once a week, the same as
+the other girls. By the end of the term we should know whether the
+'Home' would receive the baby. Meantime, Mrs. Jones would take good care
+of her."
+
+"Then I guess it's fixed," said Diana rather hoarsely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Ambitions
+
+
+The poor little foundling, pending her mother's trial at the Assizes,
+was boarded out in the village with Mrs. Jones, and Diana had permission
+to see her twice a week. Miss Todd communicated with the "Home for
+Destitute Children", and received the reply that, should the mother be
+convicted, as seemed only too probable, they would be ready to receive
+the baby, and would apply to the judge for an order for entire charge,
+so that it should not be claimed and taken away to a possibly criminal
+life when the mother's term of penal servitude was over.
+
+For the present, therefore, there was nothing more to be done except
+take an interest in their protegee. Diana set to work to make her a
+dress--a really heroic effort, for she hated sewing--and sat stitching
+at it on those afternoons when the other girls were riding Lady. It was
+typical of Diana that she would not discuss her arrangement about the
+pony with anybody, not even Wendy.
+
+"I've done it for reasons of my own, and that's enough!" she said rather
+crossly. "You've no need to thank me--it wasn't particularly to please
+_you_! I suppose I can do as I like!"
+
+"Of course you _can_, but you needn't flare up so!" retorted Sadie.
+"_Most_ people would _expect_ to be thanked. What a queer girl you are,
+Diana!"
+
+At which remark Diana grunted and turned away.
+
+It is a funny thing that a burst of self-sacrifice often leaves us in a
+bad temper. Diana was no model heroine, only a very ordinary and rather
+spoilt girl. The reaction after giving up her pony had sent her spirits
+down to zero, and if all her doings are to be faithfully chronicled, it
+must be confessed that for a day or two she did not display herself at
+her best. She was snappy even with Loveday, and matters came to an open
+quarrel with Hilary, who, as prefect, was inclined to be dictatorial. A
+war of words followed; Hilary threatened to appeal to Miss Todd, and
+Diana, defeated but unrepentant, retired vowing vengeance.
+
+"I'll pay you out some day; see if I don't!" she declared hotly.
+
+"You're not worth noticing!" retorted Hilary, shrugging her shoulders.
+
+Diana retired to the ivy room, had a thoroughly good cry, and came down
+with red eyes, but feeling better. She did not speak to Hilary again,
+however, for days.
+
+Meantime, examinations were drawing near. Although Miss Todd conducted
+her school on absolutely modern lines, she still clung to examinations
+as being some test of a girl's attainments. The seniors in especial were
+anxious to distinguish themselves. It was their last chance before they
+left, and all, with the exception of Stuart and Ida, who were to remain
+as gardening students, were leaving at the end of the term. The breaking
+up of her school-days meant an anxious time for Loveday. When they were
+alone in the ivy room she sometimes confided her troubles to Diana.
+
+"I don't know what I'm to do next. Uncle Fred has told me plainly that
+the little sum of money my father left has been nearly all spent on my
+education, and that he himself can't do anything for me. I'd like to go
+and take a proper training for something--kindergarten, or horticulture,
+or domestic economy. But how can I when there's nothing to do it on? I
+suppose it'll end in my going out as a nursery governess."
+
+"Oh, Loveday!"
+
+"Well, what else can I do? I daresay I'd love the children, and be quite
+happy in a way, but the worst of it is, it's such a blind alley, and
+leads to nothing. It's all very well to be a nursery governess when
+you're eighteen, but I'd like to be something better at thirty-six. If
+you want to get anything decent in the way of a post you have to train."
+
+Diana, to whom all these ideas were fresh and bewildering, was trying to
+adjust her brains to the new problems. She wrenched her mind from the
+near present, and took a mental review of Loveday's far future.
+
+"But aren't you going to get married?" was the result of her
+cogitations.
+
+Loveday, busy plying her hair-brush, shook her long flaxen mane
+dolefully.
+
+"I don't say I wouldn't _like_ to. But I don't think it's at all likely.
+I'm not an attractive kind of girl; I know that well enough. I'm so shy.
+I never know what to say to people when they begin to talk to me. They
+must think me a silly goose. You should see my cousin Dorothy; she's
+always the very life and soul of a party. If I were like _that_ now! I
+don't suppose anybody'll ever trouble to look at me twice. I'm sure
+Auntie thinks so. No; I expect I've just got to make up my mind to be a
+nursery governess for the rest of my days."
+
+Diana, still in a state of mental bewilderment, looked at pretty Loveday
+sitting on the bed brushing out her silky fair hair, and her memory
+switched itself back suddenly to the last evening of their motor trip.
+She had been sitting in the lounge of the hotel, and through the open
+door could see Giles standing in the hall. Loveday had come running
+downstairs. Diana would never forget the look that for an instant
+flashed across Giles's face. It contained something that she had not yet
+altogether grasped or realized.
+
+"I wouldn't make up my mind too soon if I were you," she said slowly.
+"You might change it some day."
+
+Whatever the future might hold in store, the present was the most
+immediate concern. Loveday wished to take back a good report to her
+uncle and aunt, and studied hard so as to obtain a fair place in the
+examination lists. She had just a faint hope that if they thought she
+showed any intellectual promise they might consider it worth while to
+have her trained. They had never made much of her attainments, but if
+she could come out third or fourth in the school she felt they would be
+pleased. It would be impossible to overstep Geraldine or Hilary, but her
+work was tolerably on a level with Ida's and Stuart's, and certainly
+above Nesta's.
+
+It was just at this crisis that Miss Todd offered a prize for the best
+essay on "The Reconstruction of England after the Great War, and its
+Special Application to Women's Labour and Social Problems".
+
+It was rather an ambitious topic for girls to tackle, but the seniors
+attacked it with the crude courage of seventeen. It is often easier at
+that age to state our opinions than later, when our minds wobble with
+first-hand experience of the world. At any rate, it gives a force and
+style to an essay to be absolutely sure that what you write in it is the
+final thing to be said on the subject. The girls scribbled away, tore up
+many sheets, showed bits to admiring friends, and felt themselves
+budding authoresses. Public opinion, surging round the school, had
+already fixed the laurel wreath on the head of Hilary. Hilary exhibited
+decided literary ability; she had quite a clever knack of writing, and
+had composed several short stories. When she read these aloud--in
+bed--her thrilled listeners decided that they were worthy of appearing
+in print.
+
+"Why don't you send them to a magazine?" urged Peggy, who slept in
+Dormitory 4.
+
+"Perhaps I may some day--but please don't tell anybody a word about it,"
+said Hilary, putting the cherished stories away again inside her
+dispatch-case.
+
+In the ivy room Loveday also wrote and burnt, and wrote and tore up, and
+wrote again. Composition was her strong point, and though she knew she
+could never rival Hilary in mathematics or languages, she might possibly
+match her in the matter of an essay. In imagination Loveday took home
+the prize and showed it to her uncle and aunt, who were so overcome with
+amazement that they at once decided to send her to college on the
+strength of it.
+
+On Wednesday afternoon the school had planned a mountain walk; but the
+weather, with its usual northern perversity, turned on the water-tap,
+and sent down deluges of rain. July can be quite as wet as February, and
+through the steaming window-panes the disappointed girls watched little
+rivers racing down the walks, and black clouds driving over the fells.
+The pent-up energy that wanted to spend itself in walking must find some
+other vent. The seniors, with one accord, retired to their form-room to
+copy out their essays. Miss Chadwick charitably conducted the juniors,
+clad in mackintoshes and goloshes down to the stable, and let them climb
+the ladder on to the hay in the loft, where she sat and told them
+stories. She did not invite the intermediates, so they were left to
+their own devices.
+
+Diana, suffering from a cold, annoyed with the weather, and cross that
+she was not allowed to go out into the rain, raged up and down the room,
+and finally, for lack of any other form of physical exercise, organized
+a jumping competition.
+
+The girls scrambled over the desks and took leaps on to the floor. They
+squealed as they did so, and every now and then broke into hallos or
+bursts of song. It was certainly not a quiet occupation. In the midst of
+the riot the door opened, and Hilary, in a towering temper, made her
+appearance.
+
+"I never heard such a disgraceful noise in my life!" she stormed. "It
+sounds like a menagerie or an infants' tea-party. Great girls of your
+age to be jumping about like babies. You ought to be ashamed of
+yourselves! Here are we all trying to copy our essays; and how d'you
+think we're going to write with that racket going on over our heads? If
+you don't stop I shall fetch Miss Todd. She'll hear it for herself very
+soon, if you don't take care, and then there'll be squalls. She's
+working in her study."
+
+There was truth in Hilary's remarks. Though they would not acknowledge
+there was anything derogatory to the dignity of intermediates in
+indulging in the pastime of jumping, they knew full well that should the
+noise penetrate to the precincts of the study Miss Todd would issue
+forth like a dragon. But Diana was cross, and not disposed to take
+reproof lightly. She pulled one of her most impossible faces, and
+stormed back at Hilary.
+
+"You seniors want to have the school all to yourselves! It's a holiday
+afternoon; and why shouldn't we do as we like? We've just as good a
+right to amuse ourselves in our own way as you have. I don't see why you
+should tyrannize over us. You're always interfering! What business is it
+of yours what we do?"
+
+"Very much my business, Diana Hewlitt, considering I'm prefect," said
+Hilary grimly. "If I've any more cheek from you you'll march down and
+report yourself in the study. This noise must stop. I give you warning
+that if it begins again I shall go straight to Miss Todd."
+
+"You'll be a sneak then," retorted Diana. "I've a great many scores to
+settle with _you_, Hilary. You'll have a very unpleasant surprise before
+long, so look out!"
+
+Hilary did not deign to answer, but stalked away in majestic silence,
+leaving gloom behind her. The girls knew perfectly well that even for a
+holiday afternoon they had exceeded the noise limit. Visions of a
+surprise visit from Miss Todd kept them silent. Tattie brought out her
+sewing, and Peggy her painting. Sadie went down to the library for a
+book. Wendy and Jess began a game of halma. Even Diana, after staring
+disconsolately out of the window, settled to read _Ivanhoe_. Downstairs
+the seniors, in peace and quiet, finished copying out their essays.
+
+"They look so neat now they're done," rejoiced Geraldine. "Shall you
+keep your old copy?"
+
+"What's the use?" said Hilary. "Mine's all alterations and corrections.
+I shall just tear it up."
+
+"Well, so shall I."
+
+Most of the others followed suit, and made a bonfire in the empty grate
+with the originals of their essays. The fair copies they placed inside
+their desks. Hilary put hers away with the short stories she had
+written, and, happening to be in a rather communicative mood, she
+confided the secret of these literary efforts to Stuart. Stuart was much
+impressed.
+
+"Why don't you try to publish them?" she asked.
+
+"Well, I would if I could," admitted Hilary.
+
+"I saw a little bit in the end of the _Blue Magazine_ saying that the
+editor would be glad to consider contributions."
+
+"Oh, did you? Where is it?"
+
+"I'll find it for you."
+
+Stuart hunted up the magazine, found the paragraph in question, and
+tendered good advice.
+
+"I'd certainly send them if I were you. Why shouldn't you try as well as
+anybody else? They might be accepted. Just think of having a story in a
+magazine! I'd die of swelled head if it were mine."
+
+"I suppose there's no harm in trying," fluttered Hilary. "It would be a
+joke to see one's own story in print."
+
+"Send some of them off to-day."
+
+"Shall I?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I don't know which to choose."
+
+"Oh, any of them!"
+
+Thus urged, Hilary drew three of her manuscripts at a venture, put them
+inside a long envelope, wrote a short note offering them to the editor,
+enclosed it, fastened, addressed, and stamped her letter, and placed it
+in the post-box in the hall.
+
+"What fun if you have some luck!" said Stuart.
+
+"I drew a tiny little swastika inside the envelope, and I made three
+crosses over it with my right forefinger," confessed Hilary, "but I
+don't suppose it's any use; they'll probably come packing back."
+
+"Well, if they do you must send them to some other magazine," said
+Stuart hopefully.
+
+Diana felt a little cheered up after reading three chapters of
+_Ivanhoe_, but she was still angry with Hilary. She felt that she would
+like to play a trick upon her. It would really serve her right for being
+so generally disagreeable. There was no need at all for prefects to take
+advantage of their office and ride roughshod over the intermediates. How
+could she possibly pay her out and settle the score between them? She
+pondered for a while, then had a sudden brain-wave and chuckled. First,
+she ascertained that the senior room was empty, then she paid a
+surreptitious visit to the pantry and purloined a pepper-pot. Hiding
+this for safety in her pocket she went back to the senior room, opened
+Hilary's desk, and put a plentiful sprinkling of pepper inside.
+
+"It'll make Hilary just sneeze her head off to-morrow!" triumphed Diana.
+"She'll think she's got a touch of 'flu', and she'll be in _such_ a
+scare! I'd give worlds to see the fun. Only, of course, I daren't show
+myself, or she'll find out. No, that would never do."
+
+Putting the pepper-pot back in her pocket, she was in the act of leaving
+the room, when in the dusk she collided with Geraldine. The astonishment
+was mutual.
+
+"What are you doing here, Diana?" asked the head prefect sharply.
+
+"Oh, nothing in particular. I was just taking a roam round the school,
+that's all."
+
+"You've no business to roam into the senior room. Keep to your own
+quarters. We can't have juniors coming in here!"
+
+"I'm not a junior!"
+
+"Well, intermediates are quite as bad, if not worse!"
+
+Diana beat a retreat, for the supper-bell was ringing. She marched into
+the dining-room with a defiant twinkle in her eyes, and meeting Wendy,
+could not refrain from whispering:
+
+"Done 'em brown for once! Hilary'll get the surprise of her life
+to-morrow."
+
+"Sh! Sh!" warned Wendy too late.
+
+Geraldine, who was exactly behind, and who had evidently overheard,
+glared at the couple, but forbore to speak. Indeed there was not time
+for her to do so, for the girls were taking their seats, and Miss Todd
+was waiting to say grace. It is undignified for a head prefect to take
+too much notice of the chance remarks of intermediates, so Geraldine let
+the matter pass, and, whatever her private thoughts might be, did not
+revive the subject after supper.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A Tangled Plot
+
+
+Loveday and Diana went to bed that evening just as usual. They performed
+their customary hair-brush drill, twisted Diana's light-brown locks in
+curl-rags, and plaited Loveday's flaxen mane in two long braids, folded
+their clothes neatly, read their Bible portions, said their prayers, and
+blew out the candle. Then they lay chatting quietly till Miss Beverley
+came on her nightly round of dormitory inspection.
+
+"Only a few weeks more and we shall be saying good-bye to the ivy room,"
+said Loveday. "I shall be back in Liverpool; and where will you be,
+Diana?"
+
+"Crossing the Atlantic, I hope. Dad's had our names down for passages
+for ever so long, and they told him our turn might come early in August.
+We're crazy to get home again."
+
+"I don't wonder! But _how_ I'll miss you! I shall want heaps of
+letters."
+
+"Rather! And so shall I. I'll want to know what you're doing."
+
+"Answering advertisements about posts as nursery governess," said
+Loveday bitterly. "No luck ever comes to me. I had a sort of wild idea
+that if I won the prize for that essay Uncle Fred might think it worth
+while sending me somewhere to train; but I _know_ I shan't get it now.
+Hilary read us bits out of hers, and it's just splendid--far better than
+mine. I'm not in the innings."
+
+"Oh, Loveday, what a shame! The prize means so much more to you than to
+Hilary."
+
+"I know it does. She'll win the maths prize too, and the Latin one."
+
+"It doesn't seem fair she should get everything. I wonder if she'd hold
+back her essay so as to give you a chance?"
+
+"Not she!"
+
+"But if----"
+
+At that identical moment Miss Beverley opened the door, and, candle in
+hand, looked round the room to see that all was left tidy. Her
+inspection was swift; she said "Good night, girls!" shut the door, and
+went downstairs to drink cocoa in Miss Todd's study. After her evening
+round the silence rule was a point of honour in the dormitories. Loveday
+and Diana turned over and went to sleep.
+
+Some time in the middle of the night Diana woke with a start, just in
+time to see Loveday in a blue dressing-gown, with their bedroom candle
+in her hand, disappearing through the door. Where could Loveday be
+going? Had she heard burglars? Was she ill? Why had she not roused her
+room-mate? Could she by any chance be walking in her sleep?
+
+All these questions raced through Diana's brain, and, as the quickest
+way to solve them, she jumped up, fumbled in the dark for her bedroom
+slippers and dressing-gown, and hurried after Loveday. She could see by
+the glimmer of light that the candle was going downstairs. She followed,
+flopping along in her woollen slippers, for she had not had time to draw
+them on properly. She nearly lost one on the landing, and had to stop.
+When she reached the hall the light had gone into the seniors' room.
+Diana walked softly, and peeped cautiously in. She had rather an idea of
+saying "Boo!" suddenly, and giving Loveday a scare, but she wanted to
+reconnoitre first. Her friend's back was turned towards her; she was
+bending over a desk, not her own desk, but Hilary's. She quickly drew
+out a roll of manuscript, tore it across and across, carried it to the
+fire-place, put it inside the grate, and applied the candle. Diana,
+standing in the dark outside the doorway, watched her in utter
+amazement. So many questions began to rush into her mind that the hall
+did not seem the best place to answer them. She fled upstairs again,
+jumped into bed, and lay thinking. In a minute or two Loveday came
+quietly back, blew out the candle at the door, and, treading softly,
+also went to bed. Diana did not speak, or betray by any movement that
+she was awake. It was an hour, however, before sleep came to her. She
+was on the early practising list, so she went downstairs next morning
+before her room-mate was stirring.
+
+Breakfast passed over as usual; the post-bag came in; Miss Todd sorted
+and distributed the contents, and the girls retired to read their
+letters. At ten minutes to nine something happened. Hilary, with wide
+open eyes and flushed cheeks, came running along the hall.
+
+"Somebody's gone and taken my essay out of my desk!" she declared
+excitedly.
+
+Her fellow-seniors wrenched their thoughts from home news.
+
+"Impossible!" said Geraldine.
+
+"You've misplaced it!" said Stuart.
+
+"No, I haven't! I know just where I put it yesterday."
+
+"Go and look again!"
+
+"I've turned the whole desk out, I tell you, and it simply isn't there!"
+
+"Where is it, then?"
+
+"That's what I want to know!"
+
+"Has anyone taken it for a joke?"
+
+"I expect so, but I'll reckon with whoever has!"
+
+"It's probably one of those intermediates," suggested Stuart.
+
+"Anybody who's got it must just turn it up at once!" said Geraldine
+grimly. "We can't allow this sort of thing to happen. I'll ask who's
+taken it."
+
+The head prefect made an instant tour of the school, proclaiming the
+loss, and demanding instant restoration. The school, as one girl,
+utterly denied the accusation.
+
+"But look here!" persisted Geraldine. "_Some__body_ must have taken it.
+It couldn't walk out of Hilary's desk by itself! She _knows_ she left it
+there yesterday. If anybody's hiding it for a joke, please give it back
+at once. If it's not brought back by nine o'clock I shall tell Miss
+Todd. Yes, I'm in earnest! Dead earnest!"
+
+Seniors, intermediates, and juniors, very much astonished, retired to
+their form rooms and talked the matter over; but nobody produced the
+missing manuscript. During the course of the morning Miss Todd entered
+the intermediate room.
+
+"A disagreeable thing has happened, girls," she said. "Somebody has
+taken Hilary's essay from her desk. If it was done as a joke, I consider
+it a very sorry joke! Does anyone in this room know anything about the
+matter? If so, she must speak out at once and tell me."
+
+Miss Todd looked searchingly at the faces before her, and waited for an
+answer; but nobody spoke. There was a flush of annoyance on her cheeks,
+and that firm set about the mouth which generally indicated a danger
+signal.
+
+"I intend to get to the bottom of it. It can't possibly be overlooked,"
+she remarked, as she left the room to go and catechize the juniors.
+
+For the rest of the morning lessons went on as usual. Immediately after
+dinner, however, Diana received a message to report herself in the
+study. She went slowly. She was still thinking; she had been doing
+nothing else but think since that midnight excursion down the stairs. It
+was rather a white-faced, anxious-eyed little Diana who entered the
+study. Miss Todd was sitting at her desk, and Hilary and Geraldine stood
+near her. They looked half resentful and half nervous.
+
+"Diana," began Miss Todd, "I've sent for you because I believe you're
+the only girl who can throw any light on this most distressing business.
+I'm going to ask you a straight question. Have you taken Hilary's
+manuscript? I expect a straight answer."
+
+"No," breathed Diana, looking down on the floor.
+
+"Look me in the face, Diana. Do you know where it is? Or anything at all
+about it?"
+
+Diana's eyes raised themselves to the level of the Principal's knee, and
+then fell to the floor. She did not answer.
+
+"Geraldine tells me that she saw you at Hilary's desk yesterday
+evening."
+
+No answer.
+
+"You are known to have threatened to play a trick on Hilary!"
+
+Still no answer.
+
+"Very well, Diana. Until you condescend to explain, I can't allow you to
+mix with the rest of the school. We have rules here, and I intend they
+shall be obeyed. I make no exception for any pupil. You're inclined to
+think you have licence to do as you like, and play any pranks you choose
+here. I'm going to teach you a lesson for once. You'll stay in the attic
+until you choose to answer my question. I've dealt with obstinate girls
+before. Come along with me!"
+
+Miss Todd rose, and, taking a key from her desk, led the way to the
+attic at the top of the little narrow staircase. The room was very
+simply furnished, and was always kept in readiness as a hospital in case
+any girl should be suddenly taken ill. It was not a particularly
+cheerful apartment; it had a skylight window, there were no pictures on
+the walls, and the floor was of scrubbed boards. It looked, as it was
+intended to be, arranged with the main object of being easily
+disinfected if necessary. Miss Todd ushered in Diana, and pointed to a
+chair.
+
+"You may sit there and think it over," she remarked. Then she shut the
+door, and locked it on the outside.
+
+Left alone, Diana took a seat on one of the small iron bedsteads. Her
+face was a mixture of bewilderment and consternation.
+
+"Diana Hewlitt, it seems to me you've got yourself into _some_ fix," she
+said to herself. "What's puzzling me is that I can't believe the
+evidence of my own eyes. Did I _dream_ I saw Loveday go downstairs and
+take a roll of papers out of Hilary's desk? Goodness, I was only too
+horribly awake! The queerness of the thing bothers me. It doesn't fit
+in, somehow. Loveday! Loveday's the last person in the world, as I
+should have thought, to do a trick like that. I can't understand it.
+It's the sort of stupid thing that girls do in books. I never believed
+they did it in real life. Well, one thing's certain. I'm not going to
+tell about her--not if Miss Todd keeps me shut up here till I'm a
+hundred. Loveday shielded me when I ran away to say good-bye to Lenox,
+and I vowed I'd do the same for her if ever I got the chance. Well, I've
+got it now, and no mistake. Only--Loveday! Loveday! I don't understand!
+You've toppled down somehow off a pedestal. I feel as if something I
+liked had got broken."
+
+It was anything but a cheerful afternoon for Diana. The only literature
+in the room was a catalogue of the Stores and some reports of charitable
+institutions. She read the cost of tins of sardines, pots of jam, table
+linen, household china and hardware, and tried to take some faint
+interest in the annual statements of the "District Nursing Association"
+and "The Society for Providing Surgical Appliances for the Sick Poor".
+To amuse herself she was reduced to choosing a word at random and seeing
+how many other words she could make out of it, but as she had no pencil
+in her pocket to write them down, it was rather difficult to keep count,
+and the occupation soon palled. Shortly after four o'clock she heard a
+scrimmage on the little landing outside the door. A deep-toned voice,
+that sounded like Miss Beverley's, said, "Come away this minute!" and a
+high-pitched, excited voice--undoubtedly Loveday's--protested, "If you'd
+_only_ let me speak to her, I'm certain----"
+
+Then a sound followed like somebody sliding down three steps at once,
+and Loveday's voice, with words indistinguishable, but tone still highly
+indignant, grew fainter and farther away till it ceased altogether.
+Diana smiled rather bitterly.
+
+"It's not much use her coming and talking to me," she thought. "If she
+wants to tell anybody, she can tell Miss Todd. She needn't think I'll
+give her away. Don't suppose she knows, though, what I saw last night.
+It's a queer world! I'll be glad when I'm back in America. If Dad gets
+those passages he'll come and cart me off, Miss Todd or no Miss Todd.
+I'd like to see his face if he found me locked up in an attic."
+
+Diana's tea was brought to her at five o'clock, and an hour later she
+was visited by the Principal, who again urged confession.
+
+"What's the use of keeping this up?" asked the mistress impatiently.
+"You'll have to make a clean breast of it some time, so you may just as
+well do it at once. It's perfectly evident that you know where the essay
+is. You don't even deny that. What have you done with it?"
+
+And again Diana stood with the same unyielding look on her face, and
+stared at the floor, and did not answer a word.
+
+There is nothing so irritating as a person who utterly refuses to speak.
+Miss Todd glared at her, then turned towards the door.
+
+"Very well; you may spend the night here. I'm not going to waste any
+more time on you now. Perhaps by to-morrow morning you'll be in a
+different frame of mind. I intend to know the truth of this; so it's
+merely a matter of waiting. You can leave here the moment you decide to
+confess; so you're punishing yourself by staying."
+
+Once more the key turned in the lock, and Diana was a prisoner. At eight
+o'clock Miss Beverley, in strict silence, brought in a tray with supper,
+placed it on the table, departed, and secured the defences. After that
+nobody else even came up the stairs.
+
+"They might some of them have managed to push a note under the door,"
+sighed Diana. "I guess I'd have got a message in somehow if it had been
+Wendy shut up here. What a set of thick-heads they are! There isn't one
+of them ever has a decent brain-wave. Wonder how long I'll have to stick
+in this attic? I've not lost my bounce yet. But I guess, all the same,
+I'll go to bed now."
+
+Miss Beverley, with the supper tray, had also brought Diana's night-gear
+in a small bundle. As there was no candle in the attic, it seemed wise
+to disrobe while there was still light enough to see by. The little bed
+was rather hard, the pillow was a lumpy one, and the spring mattress
+squeaked when she moved. Diana watched the room grow gradually darker
+and darker till stars appeared through the skylight. It was a very long
+time before she slept. The early sunshine, however, woke her in the
+small hours of the morning. There was no blind to the window, and the
+room faced east. Diana sat up in bed. Her eyes fell on the pictureless
+walls. Perhaps the very fact of their bareness made her look at them
+more particularly. She did not admire the pattern of the paper. In
+places it had been badly fitted together, especially in that corner.
+Why, the magenta roses actually overlapped! They did it in a sort of
+curve, almost as if they were outlining the top of a door. _Was_ it by
+any chance a door?
+
+At this stage of her inspection she sprang out of bed, went over to the
+corner, and ran her hand along the portion in question. It certainly
+felt as if the edge of a door were beneath. She rapped, and there was a
+hollow sound, very different from that given forth from the wall when
+she tried it a few yards farther on.
+
+"I'm going to solve the problem for myself," she decided.
+
+There was a knife left on the supper-tray. She thrust it through the
+paper, and began to cut round the seeming door. And most undoubtedly it
+was a door, though only a small one, with a curved top that came to the
+height of her shoulder.
+
+"It must lead somewhere!" she thought excitedly. "Suppose I could get
+out on to the leads, climb down the ivy, and go off to Petteridge.
+Cousin Coralie wouldn't let me be brought back here to be shut up in an
+attic, I know!"
+
+She worked away laboriously, tearing at the paper to free the door. It
+flashed across her mind that Miss Todd might have something to say
+about the disfigurement of the wall, but as she had gone so far, that
+did not deter her.
+
+"Might as well finish it now," she smiled.
+
+More hacking and tearing, then a gigantic shove, and the door suddenly
+opened inwards. She was looking into another attic, a larger and much
+darker room, lighted only by a tiny little skylight in the corner. It
+seemed full of furniture--chairs and tables piled together, and
+something that looked like a small grand piano. They were so thickly
+coated with dust that it was difficult in the dim light to distinguish
+more than upturned legs and general outlines. There did not appear to be
+the least possibility of escape in this direction. The skylight was more
+inaccessible than the one in her own attic. She sighed, went back,
+washed her dusty hands, and got into bed again.
+
+"I guess there'll be a fine old shindy when Miss Todd sees what I've
+done," she soliloquized.
+
+Miss Todd, who was thoroughly out of patience with Diana, did not hurry
+to send her breakfast up early that morning. She decided that the
+prisoner might very well wait until the school had finished its meal.
+She even distributed the post first, and began to read her own letters.
+She intended to carry the tray upstairs herself, and have another talk
+with Diana. It was an unpleasant duty, and could be deferred for a few
+minutes. Meantime the school also read its letters. There were two for
+Hilary. One in the well-known home writing, and the other a long
+envelope addressed in a strange hand. She opened this first. It
+contained three manuscripts, and a printed notice to the effect that the
+editor of the _Blue Magazine_ much regretted his inability, owing to
+lack of space, to make use of the enclosed, for the kind offer of which
+he was much obliged.
+
+"My stories packed back by return of post. How disgusting!" groused
+Hilary. "He might have taken one of them. Are they all here, by the by?
+Yes; 'The Flower of the Forest', 'The Airman's Vengeance', and--Good
+Heavens! What's this? Why--why, it's actually my essay on
+'Reconstruction'!"
+
+Hilary was so utterly dismayed that at first she could only stare aghast
+at her recovered manuscript; then she tore straight off to Miss Todd.
+
+"I must have put it in in mistake for my other story," she explained. "I
+can't imagine how I could; but evidently I _did_! I'm too sorry for
+words. _Poor_ Diana!"
+
+Everybody said "Poor Diana!" when the news--as news will--spread like
+wildfire over the school. Miss Todd ordered some fresh tea to be made,
+and an egg boiled for the breakfast-tray. She was a just woman, and
+ready to make damages good. She even asked Miss Hampson to get out the
+last jar of blackberry jelly; there was still one left in the
+store-room. Diana, in the attic, having dressed hours ago, sat hungrily
+by the table, listening for footsteps, and wondering if starvation were
+to be part of her punishment. She glanced guiltily at the torn
+wall-paper as the key turned in the lock. Miss Todd, however, was so
+full of the good news that she hardly looked at the attic wall.
+
+"Why did you say, Diana, that you knew something about the essay?" she
+asked.
+
+"I never said anything at all," replied Diana, which, of course, was
+literally true.
+
+It was nice to eat a dainty breakfast at leisure and not hurry down to
+lessons. She felt herself the heroine of the school that morning as she
+strolled into the French class just when the disagreeable grammar part
+of the lesson was over. Later on in the day there were confidences in
+the ivy room.
+
+"I knew you hadn't done it, darling!" declared Loveday. "It wasn't like
+you one little bit. I had a regular squabble with Miss Beverley. I tried
+to come and talk to you through the door, and she came and dragged me
+away. Why didn't you tell Miss Todd you'd never even seen the wretched
+essay?"
+
+"Sissie," whispered Diana, "will _you_ tell _me_ what you were doing at
+Hilary's desk in the middle of the night?"
+
+"Why--why, surely you never thought----"
+
+"Yes, I did; and that's why I held my tongue," said Diana, burying her
+hot face on Loveday's shoulder. "Forgive me, please, for having thought
+it."
+
+"It never struck me that anybody should think that," said Loveday, still
+amazed at the idea. "And how did you know about it? Did you follow me?
+Well, I'll tell you what I was doing. We seniors have a secret--not a
+very desperate one; it's only a little literary society. We make up
+stories for it, and fasten them together into a sort of magazine.
+Geraldine is president, and Hilary is the secretary. It was the night
+for giving in the stories, and I put mine with the others inside
+Hilary's desk. Geraldine and I haven't been quite hitting it lately; so
+I'd made a girl in my story exactly like her, only nastier, and written
+a lot of very sarcastic things. I thought they were awfully clever. Then
+when I got into bed I was sorry. It seemed a mean sort of thing to do. I
+made up my mind I'd go down first thing in the morning and tear up the
+story. But I'm such a sleepy-head in the mornings, and you know how
+early Geraldine generally gets up. I was afraid she'd come down first,
+and probably rummage the stories out of Hilary's desk and read mine. The
+more I thought about it the more ashamed I was of what I'd written. I
+couldn't go to sleep. I felt I shouldn't be easy till it was burnt; so
+at last I got up, and lighted the candle, and went downstairs and did
+the deed. That's how you saw me at Hilary's desk. By the by, Geraldine
+said she caught _you_ there before supper. What were _you_ doing?"
+
+"Putting pepper among her books to pay her out and make her sneeze,"
+confessed Diana.
+
+"Why, she did say her desk smelled somehow of pepper!" exclaimed
+Loveday. "We were all so excited, though, about the essay being missing
+that we didn't take much notice of it. The whole affair's been a sort of
+'Comedy of Errors'."
+
+One substantial result remained from Diana's confinement to the attic,
+and that was the discovery of the door into the room beyond. Miss Todd
+explored, and carried some of the dusty chairs out into the light of
+day. She was enough of a connoisseur to see at a glance that they were
+Chippendale, and extremely valuable. She had the rest of the furniture
+moved out and cleaned, then sent for a dealer in antiques to ask his
+opinion about it. He said it made his mouth water.
+
+"A set of ten Chippendale singles with two armchairs will fetch almost
+anything you like nowadays," he added.
+
+"The question is, to whom do they legally belong?" said Miss Todd. "I'm
+only the tenant here. I must tell my landlord."
+
+The owner of the Abbey, who had bought the property many years before
+from Mr. Seton, was a man with a fine sense of honour. Though, legally,
+the furniture in the forgotten attic might have been transferred to him
+with the house, he did not consider himself morally entitled to it.
+
+"It certainly belongs to the heirs-at-law of the late Mr. Seton," he
+declared.
+
+There was only one heir, or rather heiress-at-law, and that was Loveday.
+It was decided, therefore, to sell the furniture for her benefit. The
+collection included objects of great rarity, among them a genuine
+spinet and a beautifully inlaid bureau. At the present boom for antiques
+they would realize a very substantial sum, quite a windfall, indeed, for
+Loveday.
+
+"Will it be enough to send me to a horticultural college?" she asked
+Miss Todd.
+
+"Ample, my dear. It ought to bring you sufficient for a thoroughly good
+training in any career you want to take up."
+
+This was news indeed--so splendid that it seemed almost too good to be
+true. Hilary's essay, which, as everybody expected, easily won the
+prize, had indirectly made Loveday's fortune after all.
+
+"I bless the day when I was a prisoner in the attic," rejoiced Diana.
+"If I hadn't knocked that door in, the furniture might still have been
+lying there in the dust."
+
+"I wonder if _this_ was the discovery that gentleman wanted to tell
+Father about," surmised Loveday.
+
+Surprise came on surprise, for the very morning after this happy
+solution of Loveday's future, Diana received a telegram from Paris. Mr.
+Hewlitt had succeeded in getting three passages (thrown up at the last
+by a family who were taken ill with "flu" and unable to travel); he and
+Mrs. Hewlitt were crossing the channel post-haste, and Diana must start
+from school and meet them in Liverpool. Loveday helped her to pack her
+boxes. It was an excited, fluttered, tearful little Diana who clung to
+her at the last.
+
+"Sissie! I can't say 'Good-bye!' It's not 'good-bye' to _you_--only 'au
+revoir'."
+
+"We'll meet again some day, darling!"
+
+"We'll just jolly well have to, or I'll know the reason why! If you
+don't come out to see us in America I shall come over here and fetch
+you. Write very often, and let me know how the baby goes on, and if it
+has been taken into the Home. I haven't quite finished its frock. Will
+you do it? Oh, thanks! I'm leaving the Abbey in as big a hurry as I came
+here. Dad always uses his 'lightning methods'. But I shan't forget any
+of you, ever--not you, Wendy, or Jess, or Vi. Write to me, won't you? As
+for you, Loveday mine, I haven't words left. Let me give you one more
+good hug! Yes, Miss Todd, I'm really coming. No, I don't want to miss my
+train. Good-bye, everybody and everything! Good-bye! Good-bye!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A harum-scarum schoolgirl, by Angela Brazil
+
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