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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Patriotic 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 Patriotic Schoolgirl
+
+Author: Angela Brazil
+
+Illustrator: Balliol Salmon
+
+Release Date: April 23, 2008 [EBook #25145]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PATRIOTIC SCHOOLGIRL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A Patriotic Schoolgirl
+
+
+
+
+    BLACKIE & SON LIMITED
+    50 Old Bailey, LONDON
+    17 Stanhope Street, GLASGOW
+
+    BLACKIE & SON (INDIA) LIMITED
+    Warwick House, Fort Street, BOMBAY
+
+    BLACKIE & SON (CANADA) LIMITED
+    1118 Bay Street, TORONTO
+
+
+
+
+    A Patriotic Schoolgirl
+
+    BY
+
+    ANGELA BRAZIL
+
+    Author of "Schoolgirl Kitty"
+    "The Luckiest Girl in the School"
+    "Monitress Merle"
+    &c. &c.
+
+    _Illustrated by Balliol Salmon_
+
+    BLACKIE & SON LIMITED
+    LONDON AND GLASGOW
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+    CHAP.                                                   Page
+
+        I. OFF TO BOARDING-SCHOOL                          9
+
+       II. BRACKENFIELD COLLEGE                           23
+
+      III. THE TALENTS TOURNAMENT                         32
+
+       IV. EXEATS                                         45
+
+        V. AUTOGRAPHS                                     58
+
+       VI. TROUBLE                                        67
+
+      VII. DORMITORY NO. 9                                79
+
+     VIII. A SENSATION                                    91
+
+       IX. ST. ETHELBERTA'S                               98
+
+        X. THE RED CROSS HOSPITAL                        106
+
+       XI. A STOLEN MEETING                              119
+
+      XII. THE SCHOOL UNION                              129
+
+     XIII. THE SPRING TERM                               140
+
+      XIV. THE SECRET SOCIETY OF PATRIOTS                151
+
+       XV. THE EMPRESS                                   163
+
+      XVI. THE OBSERVATORY WINDOW                        175
+
+     XVII. THE DANCE OF THE NATIONS                      183
+
+    XVIII. ENCHANTED GROUND                              195
+
+      XIX. A POTATO WALK                                 208
+
+       XX. PATRIOTIC GARDENING                           222
+
+      XXI. THE ROLL OF HONOUR                            231
+
+     XXII. THE MAGIC LANTERN                             244
+
+    XXIII. ON LEAVE                                      255
+
+     XXIV. THE ROYAL GEORGE                              264
+
+      XXV. CHARADES                                      276
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+
+                                                       Facing
+                                                        Page
+
+    "IF YOU WANT THE EUSTON EXPRESS, YOU'LL HAVE
+    TO MAKE A RUN FOR IT"         _Frontispiece_
+
+    THEY WERE HUDDLED TOGETHER, WATCHING HER WITH
+    AWESTRUCK FACES                                       96
+
+    THEN SOMEHOW MARJORIE FOUND HERSELF BLURTING
+    OUT THE ENTIRE STORY                                 168
+
+    SHE STARED AT IT IN CONSTERNATION                    280
+
+
+
+
+A Patriotic Schoolgirl
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Off to Boarding-school
+
+
+"Dona, are you awake? Donakins! I say, old sport, do stir yourself and
+blink an eye! What a dormouse you are! D'you want shaking? Rouse up, you
+old bluebottle, can't you?"
+
+"I've been awake since five o'clock, and it's no use thumping me in the
+back," grunted an injured voice from the next bed. "It's too early yet
+to get up, and I wish you'd leave me alone."
+
+The huskiness and general chokiness of the tone were unmistakable.
+Marjorie leaned over and took a keen survey of that portion of her
+sister's face which was not buried in the pillow.
+
+"Oh! the atmosphere's damp, is it?" she remarked. "Dona, you're
+ostriching! For goodness' sake brace up, child, and turn off the
+water-works! I thought you'd more pluck. If you're going to arrive at
+Brackenfield with a red nose and your eyes all bunged up, I'll disown
+you, or lose you on the way. Crystal clear, I will! I'll not let you
+start in a new school nicknamed 'Niobe', so there! Have a caramel?"
+
+Dona sat up in bed, and arrested her tears sufficiently to accept the
+creature comfort offered her. As its consistency was decidedly of a
+stick-jaw nature, the mingled sucking and sobbing which followed
+produced a queer combination.
+
+"You sound like a seal at the Zoo," Marjorie assured her airily. "Cheer
+oh! I call it a stunt to be going to Brackenfield. I mean to have a
+top-hole time there, and no mistake!"
+
+"It's all very well for you!" sighed Dona dolefully. "You've been at a
+boarding-school before, and I haven't; and you are not shy, and you
+always get on with people. You know I'm a mum mouse, and I hate
+strangers. I shall just endure till the holidays come. It's no use
+telling me to brace up, for there's nothing to brace about."
+
+In the bedroom where the two girls lay talking every preparation had
+been made for a journey. Two new trunks, painted respectively with the
+initials "M. D. A." and "D. E. A.", stood side by side with the lids
+open, filled to the brim, except for sponge-bags and a few other items,
+which must be put in at the last. Weeks of concentrated thought and
+practical work on the part of Mother, two aunts, and a dressmaker had
+preceded the packing of those boxes, for the requirements of
+Brackenfield seemed numerous, and the list of essential garments
+resembled a trousseau. There were school skirts and blouses, gymnasium
+costumes, Sunday dresses, evening wear and party frocks, to say nothing
+of underclothes, and such details as gloves, shoes, ties, ribbons, and
+handkerchiefs, writing-cases, work-baskets, books, photos, and
+knick-knacks. Two hand-bags, each containing necessaries for the first
+night, stood by the trunks, and two umbrellas, with two hockey-sticks,
+were already strapped up with mackintoshes and winter coats.
+
+For both the girls this morning would make a new and very important
+chapter in the story of their lives. Marjorie had, indeed, already been
+at boarding-school, but it was a comparatively small establishment, not
+to be named in the same breath with a place so important as
+Brackenfield, and giving only a foretaste of those experiences which she
+expected to encounter in a wider circle. She had been tolerably popular
+at Hilton House, but she had made several mistakes which she was
+determined not to repeat, and meant to be careful as to the first
+impressions which she produced upon her new schoolfellows. Marjorie, at
+fifteen and a half, was a somewhat problematical character. In her
+childhood she had been aptly described as "a little madam", and it was
+owing to the very turbulent effect of her presence in the family that
+she had been packed off early to school, "to find her level among other
+girls, and leave a little peace at home", as Aunt Vera expressed it.
+"Finding one's level" is generally rather a stormy process; so, after
+four years of give-and-take at Hilton House, Marjorie was, on the whole,
+not at all sorry to leave, and transfer her energies to another sphere.
+She meant well, but she was always cock-sure that she was right, and
+though this line of action may serve with weaker characters, it is
+liable to cause friction when practised upon equals or elders whose
+views are also self-opinionated. As regards looks, Marjorie could score.
+Her clear-cut features, fresh complexion, and frank, grey eyes were
+decidedly prepossessing, and her pigtail had been the longest and
+thickest and glossiest in the whole crocodile of Hilton House. She was
+clever, if she chose to work, though apt to argue with her teachers; and
+keen at games, if she could win, but showed an unsporting tendency to
+lose her temper if the odds were against her. Such was Marjorie--crude,
+impetuous, and full of overflowing spirits, with many good qualities and
+certain disagreeable traits, eager to loose anchor and sail away from
+the harbour of home and the narrow waters of Hilton House into the big,
+untried sea of Brackenfield College.
+
+Two sisters surely never presented a greater contrast than the Anderson
+girls. Dona, at thirteen, was a shy, retiring, amiable little person,
+with an unashamed weakness for golliwogs and Teddy bears, specimens of
+which, in various sizes, decorated the mantelpiece of her bedroom. She
+was accustomed to give way, under plaintive protest, to Marjorie's
+masterful disposition, and, as a rule, played second fiddle with a good
+grace. She was not at all clever or imaginative, but very affectionate,
+and had been the pet of the family at home. She was a neat, pretty
+little thing, with big blue eyes and arched eyebrows and silky curls,
+exactly like a Sir Joshua Reynolds portrait, and she had a pathetic way
+of saying, "Oh, Marjorie!" when snubbed by her elder sister. According
+to Aunt Vera, if Marjorie needed to "find her level", Dona required to
+be "well shaken up". She was dreamy and unobservant, slow in her ways,
+and not much interested in any special subject. Marjorie's cherished
+ambitions were unknown to Dona, who liked to plod along in an easy
+fashion, without taking very much trouble. Her daily governess had found
+it difficult to rouse any enthusiasm in her for her work. She frankly
+hated lessons.
+
+It was a subject of congratulation to Mrs. Anderson that the two girls
+would not be in the same house at Brackenfield. She considered that
+Dona's character had no chance for development under the shadow of
+Marjorie's overbearing ways, and that among companions of her own age
+she might perhaps find a few congenial friends who would help her to
+realize that she had entered her teens, and would interest her in
+girlish matters. Poor Dona by no means shared her mother's satisfaction
+at the arrangements for her future. She would have preferred to be with
+Marjorie, and was appalled at the idea of being obliged to face a
+houseful of strangers. She met with little sympathy from her own family
+in this respect.
+
+"Do you all the good in the world, old sport!" preached Peter, an
+authority of eleven, with three years of preparatory-school experience
+behind him. "I felt a bit queer myself, you know, when I first went to
+The Grange, but one soon gets over that. You'll shake down."
+
+"I don't want to shake down," bleated Dona. "It's a shame I should have
+to go at all! You can't any of you understand how I feel. You're all
+beasts!"
+
+"They'll allow you a bucket to weep into for the first day or two, poor
+old Bunting!" said Larry consolingly. "It won't be so much kindness on
+their part as a desire to save the carpets--salt water takes the colour
+out of things so. But I fancy they'll limit you to a week's wailing, and
+if you don't turn off the tap after that, they'll send for a doctor,
+who'll prescribe Turkey rhubarb and senna mixed with quinine. It's a
+stock school prescription for shirking; harmless, you know, but
+particularly nasty; you'd have the taste in your mouth for days. Oh,
+cheer up, for goodness' sake! Look here: if I'm really sent to the camp
+at Denley, I'll come and look you up, and take you out to tea somewhere.
+How would that suit your ladyship?"
+
+"Would you really? Will you promise?"
+
+"Honest Injun, I will!"
+
+"Then I don't mind quite so much as I did, though I still hate the
+thought of school," conceded Dona.
+
+The Andersons generally described themselves as "a large and rambling
+family, guaranteed sound, and quiet in harness, but capable of taking
+fences if required". Nora, the eldest, had been married a year ago,
+Bevis was in the Navy, Leonard was serving "somewhere in France"; Larry,
+who had just left school, had been called up, and was going into
+training, and after Marjorie and Dona followed Peter, Cyril, and Joan.
+Marjorie and Dona always declared that if they could have been consulted
+in the matter of precedence, they would not have chosen to arrive in the
+exact centre of a big family. Nora, as eldest, and Joan, as youngest,
+occupied definite and recognized positions, but middle girls rarely
+receive as much attention. Dona, indeed, had claimed a certain share of
+petting, but Marjorie considered herself badly treated by the Fates.
+
+"I wish I were the only one!" she assured the others. "Think how I'd be
+appreciated then!"
+
+"We'll swop you with pleasure, madam, if you wish," returned Larry
+ironically. "I should suggest an advertisement such as this: 'Wanted
+situation as only daughter in eligible family, eight brothers and
+sisters given in exchange. A month's approval.' No! Better not put that
+in, or they'd send you packing back at the end of the first week."
+
+"Brothers are beasts!" pouted Marjorie, throwing a cushion at Larry to
+express her indignation. "What I'd like would be for Mother to take me
+away for a year, or let me study Art, or Music, or something, just with
+her. Mamie Page's mother went with her to Paris, and they'd a gorgeous
+time. That's my ambition."
+
+"And mine's just to be allowed to stop at home," added Dona plaintively.
+
+Neither Marjorie's nor Dona's wishes, however, were considered at
+head-quarters. The powers that be had decided that they were to be
+educated at Brackenfield College, their boxes were ready packed, and
+their train was to leave at nine o'clock by railway time. Mother saw
+them off at the station.
+
+"I wish I could have taken you," she said rather anxiously. "But I think
+you'll manage the journey all right. You're both together, and
+Marjorie's a big girl now, and used to travelling. You've only to cross
+the platform at Rosebury to get the London train, and a teacher is to
+meet you at Euston. You'll know her by the Brackenfield badge, and be
+sure you don't speak to anyone else. Call out of the window for a porter
+when you reach Rosebury. You've plenty of time to change. Well,
+good-bye, chicks! Be good girls. Don't forget to send me that telegram
+from Euston. Write as soon as you can. Don't lean against the door of
+the carriage. You're just off now! Good-bye! Good-bye!"
+
+As the train steamed out of the station, Dona sank into her place with
+the air of a martyr starting for the stake, and mopped her eyes with her
+already damp pocket-handkerchief. Marjorie, case-hardened after many
+similar partings, settled herself in the next seat, and, pulling out an
+illustrated paper from her bag, began to read. The train was very full,
+and the girls had with difficulty found room. Soldiers on leave were
+returning to the front, and filled the corridor. Dona and Marjorie were
+crammed in between a stout woman, who nursed a basket containing a
+mewing kitten, and a wizened little man with an irritating cough.
+Opposite sat three Tommies, and an elderly lady with a long thin nose
+and prominent teeth, who entered into conversation with the soldiers,
+and proffered them much good advice, with an epitome of her ideas on the
+conduct of the war. The distance from Silverwood to Rosebury was only
+thirty miles, and the train was due to arrive at the junction with
+twenty-five minutes to spare for the London express. On all ordinary
+occasions it jogged along in a commonplace fashion, and turned up up to
+time. To-day, however, it behaved with unusual eccentricity, and,
+instead of passing the signals at Meriton, it slowed up and whistled,
+and finally stood still upon the bridge.
+
+"Must be something blocking the line," observed one of the Tommies,
+looking out of the window.
+
+"I do hope it's not an accident. The Company is so terribly understaffed
+at present, and the signal-men work far too long hours, and are ready to
+drop with fatigue at their posts," began the thin lady nervously. "I've
+always had a horror of railway accidents. I wish I'd taken an insurance
+ticket before I started. Can you see anything on the line, my good man?
+Is there any danger?"
+
+The Tommy drew in his head and smiled. It was a particularly
+good-looking head, with twinkling brown eyes, and a very humorous smile.
+
+"Not so long as the train is standing still," he replied. "I think
+they'll get us back to the front this time. We'll probably have to wait
+till something passes us. It's just a matter of patience."
+
+His words were justified, for in about ten minutes an express roared
+by, after which event their train once more started, and jogged along to
+Rosebury.
+
+"We're horribly late!" whispered Marjorie to Dona, consulting her watch.
+"I hope to goodness there'll be no more stops. It's running the thing
+very fine, I can tell you. I'm glad we've only to cross the platform.
+I'll get a porter as fast as I can."
+
+But, when they reached Rosebury, the stout woman and the basket with the
+kitten got in the way, and the elderly lady jammed up the door with her
+hold-all, so that, by the time Dona and Marjorie managed to get
+themselves and their belongings out of the carriage, the very few
+porters available had already been commandeered by other people. The
+girls ran to the van at the back of the train, where the guard was
+turning out the luggage. Their boxes were on the platform amid a pile of
+suit-cases, bags, and portmanteaux; their extreme newness made them
+easily recognizable, even without the conspicuous initials.
+
+"What are we to do?" cried Marjorie. "We'll miss the London train! I
+know we shall! Here, Dona, let's take them ourselves!"
+
+She seized one of the boxes by the handle, and tried to drag it along
+the platform, but its weight was prohibitive. After a couple of yards
+she stopped exhausted.
+
+"Better leave your luggage and let it follow you," said a voice at her
+elbow. "If you want the Euston express, you'll have to make a run for
+it."
+
+Marjorie turned round quickly. The speaker was the young Tommy who had
+leaned out of the carriage window when the line was blocked. His dark
+eyes were still twinkling.
+
+"The train's over there, and they're shutting the doors," he urged.
+"Here, I'll take this for you, if you like. Best hurry up!"
+
+He had his heavy kit-bag to carry, but he shouldered the girls' pile of
+wraps, umbrellas, and hockey-sticks, in addition to his own burden, and
+set off post-haste along the platform, while Marjorie and Dona, much
+encumbered with their bags and a few odd parcels, followed in his wake.
+It was a difficult progress, for everybody seemed to get into their way,
+and just as they neared the express the guard waved his green flag.
+
+"Stand back! Stand back!" shouted an official, as the girls made a last
+wild spurt, the whistle sounded, the guard jumped into the van, and,
+with a loud clanging of coupling-chains, the train started. They had
+missed it by exactly five seconds.
+
+"Hard luck!" said the Tommy, depositing the wraps upon the platform.
+"You'll have to wait two hours for the next. You'll get your luggage, at
+any rate. Oh, it's all right!" as Marjorie murmured thanks, "I'm only
+sorry you've missed it," and he hailed a companion and was gone.
+
+"It was awfully kind of him," commented Dona, still panting from her
+run.
+
+"Kind! He's a gentleman--there was no mistaking that!" replied Marjorie.
+
+The two girls had now to face the very unpleasant fact that they had
+missed the connection, and that the teacher who was to meet them at
+Euston would look for them in vain. They wondered whether she would wait
+for the next train, and, if she did not, how they were going to get
+across London to the Great Western railway station. Marjorie felt very
+doubtful as to whether her experience of travelling would be equal to
+the emergency. She hid her fears, however, from Dona, whose countenance
+was quite sufficiently woebegone already.
+
+"We'll get chocolates out of the automatic machine, and buy something to
+read at the bookstall," she suggested. "Two hours won't last for ever!"
+
+Dona cheered up a little at the sight of magazines, and picked out a
+periodical with a soldier upon the cover. Marjorie, whose taste in
+literature inclined to the sensational, reviewed the books, and chose
+one with a startling picture depicting a phantom in the act of
+disturbing a dinner-party. She was too agitated to read more than a few
+pages of it, but she thought it seemed interesting. The two hours were
+over at last, and the girls and their luggage were safely installed in
+the London train by a porter. It was a long journey to Euston. After
+their early start and the excitement at Rosebury both felt tired, and
+even Marjorie looked decidedly sober when they reached their
+destination. Each was wearing the brown-white-and-blue Brackenfield
+badge, which had been forwarded to them from the school, and by which
+the mistress was to identify them. As they left the carriage, they
+glanced anxiously at the coat of each lady who passed them on the
+platform, to descry a similar rosette. All in vain. Everybody was in a
+hurry, and nobody sported the Brackenfield colours.
+
+"We shall have to get a taxi and manage as best we can," sighed
+Marjorie. "I wish the porters weren't so stupid! I can't make them
+listen to me. The taxis will all be taken up if we're not quick! Oh, I
+say, there's that Tommy again! I wonder if he'd hail us one. I declare
+I'll ask him."
+
+"Hail you a taxi? With pleasure!" replied the young soldier, as Marjorie
+impulsively stopped him and urged her request. "Have you got your
+luggage this time?"
+
+"Yes, yes, it's all here, and we've found a porter, only he's so slow,
+and----"
+
+"Are you Marjorie and Dona Anderson?" interrupted a sharp voice. "I've
+been looking for you everywhere. Who is this you're speaking to? _You
+don't know?_ Then come along with me immediately. No, certainly not!
+I'll get a taxi myself. Where is your luggage?"
+
+The speaker was tall and fair, with light-grey eyes and pince-nez. She
+wore the unmistakable Brackenfield badge, so her words carried
+authority. She bustled the girls off in a tremendous hurry, and their
+good Samaritan of a soldier melted away amongst the crowd.
+
+"I've been waiting hours for you. How did you miss your train?" asked
+the mistress. "Why didn't you go and stand under the clock, as you were
+told in the Head Mistress's letter? And don't you know that you must
+_never_ address strangers?"
+
+"She's angry with you for speaking to the Tommy," whispered Dona to
+Marjorie, as the pair followed their new guardian.
+
+"I can't help it. He would have got us a taxi, and now they're all gone,
+and we must put up with a four-wheeler. I couldn't see any clock, and no
+wonder we missed her in such a crowd. I think she's hateful, and I'm not
+going to like her a scrap."
+
+"No more am I," returned Dona.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Brackenfield College
+
+
+Brackenfield College stood on the hills, about a mile from the
+seaside town of Whitecliffe. It had been built for a school, and
+was large and modern and entirely up-to-date. It had a gymnasium,
+a library, a studio, a chemical laboratory, a carpentering-shop,
+a kitchen for cooking-classes, a special block for music and
+practising-rooms, and a large assembly hall. Outside there were
+many acres of lawns and playing-fields, a large vegetable garden,
+and a little wood with a stream running through it. The girls lived
+in three hostels--for Seniors, Intermediates, and Juniors--known
+respectively as St. Githa's, St. Elgiva's, and St. Ethelberta's.
+They met in school and in the playgrounds, but, with a few exceptions,
+they were not allowed to visit each other's houses.
+
+Marjorie and Dona had been separated on their arrival, the former being
+entered at St. Elgiva's and the latter at St. Ethelberta's, and it was
+not until the afternoon of the day following that they had an
+opportunity of meeting and comparing notes. To both life had seemed a
+breathless and confusing whirl of classes, meals, and calisthenic
+exercises, with a continual ringing of bells and marching from one room
+to another. It was a comfort at last to have half an hour when they
+might be allowed to wander about and do as they pleased.
+
+"Let's scoot into that little wood," said Marjorie, seizing Dona by the
+arm. "It looks quiet, and we can sit down and talk. Well, how are you
+getting on? D'you like it so far?"
+
+Dona flung herself down under a larch tree and shook her head
+tragically.
+
+"I hate it! But then, you know, I never expected to like it. You should
+see my room-mates!"
+
+"You should just see mine!"
+
+"They can't be as bad as mine."
+
+"I'll guarantee they're worse. But go on and tell about yours."
+
+"There's Mona Kenworthy," sighed Dona. "She looked over all my clothes
+as I put them away in my drawers, and said they weren't as nice as hers,
+and that she'd never dream of wearing a camisole unless it was trimmed
+with real lace. She twists her hair in Hinde's wavers every night, and
+keeps a pot of complexion cream on her dressing-table. She always uses
+stephanotis scent that she gets from one special place in London, and it
+costs four and sixpence a bottle. She hates bacon for breakfast, and she
+has seventeen relations at the front. She's thin and brown, and her nose
+wiggles like a rabbit's when she talks."
+
+"I shouldn't mind her if she'd keep to her own cubicle," commented
+Marjorie. "Sylvia Page will overflow into mine, and I find her things
+dumped down on my bed. She's nicer than Irene Andrews, though; we had a
+squabble last night over the window. Betty Moore brought a whole box of
+chocolates with her, and she ate them in bed and never offered a single
+one to anybody else. We could hear her crunching for ages. I don't like
+Irene, but I agreed with her that Betty is mean!"
+
+"Nellie Mason sleeps in the next cubicle to me," continued Dona, bent on
+retailing her own woes. "She snores dreadfully, and it kept me awake,
+though she's not so bad otherwise. Beatrice Elliot is detestable. She
+found that little Teddy bear I brought with me, and she sniggered and
+asked if I came from a kindergarten. I've calculated there are
+seventy-four days in this term. I don't know how I'm going to live
+through them until the holidays."
+
+"Hallo!" said a cheerful voice. "Sitting weeping under the willows, are
+you? New girls always grouse. Miss Broadway's sent me to hunt you up and
+do the honours of the premises. I'm Mollie Simpson. Come along with me
+and I'll show you round."
+
+The speaker was a jolly-looking girl of about sixteen, with particularly
+merry blue eyes and a whimsical expression. Her dark curly hair was
+plaited and tied with broad ribbons.
+
+"We've been round, thanks very much," returned Marjorie to the
+new-comer.
+
+"Oh, but that doesn't count if you've only gone by yourselves! You
+wouldn't notice the points. Every new girl has got to be personally
+conducted by an old one and told the traditions of the place. It's a
+sort of initiation, you know. We've a regular freemasons' code here of
+things you may do or mustn't. Quick march! I've no time to waste. Tea is
+at four prompt."
+
+Thus urged, Marjorie and Dona got up, shook the pine needles from their
+dresses, and followed their cicerone, who seemed determined to perform
+her office of guide in as efficient a fashion as possible.
+
+"This is the Quad," she informed them. "That's the Assembly Hall and the
+Head's private house, and those are the three hostels. What's it like in
+St. Githa's? I can't tell you, because I've never been there. It's for
+Seniors, and no Intermediate or Junior may pop her impertinent nose
+inside, or so much as go and peep through the windows without getting
+into trouble. They've carpets on the stairs instead of linoleum, and
+they may make cocoa in their bedrooms and fill their own hot-water bags,
+and other privileges that aren't allowed to us luckless individuals.
+They may come and see us, by special permission, but we mayn't return
+the visits. By the by, you'd oblige me greatly if you'd tilt your
+chapeau a little farther forward. Like this, see!"
+
+"Why?" questioned Marjorie, greatly astonished, as she made the required
+alteration to the angle of her hat.
+
+"Because only Seniors may wear their sailors on the backs of their
+heads. It's a strict point of school etiquette. You may jam on your
+hockey cap as you like, but not your sailor."
+
+"Are there any other rules?" asked Dona.
+
+"Heaps. Intermediates mayn't wear bracelets, and Juniors mayn't wear
+lockets, they're limited to brooches. I advise you to strip those
+trinkets off at once and stick them in your pockets. Don't go in to tea
+with them on any account."
+
+"How silly!" objected Dona, unclasping her locket, with Father's photo
+in it, most unwillingly.
+
+"Now, look here, young 'un, let me give you a word of good advice at the
+beginning. Don't you go saying anything here is silly. The rules have
+been made by the Seniors, and Juniors have got to put up with them and
+keep civil tongues in their heads. If you want to get on you'll have to
+accommodate yourself to the ways of the place. Any girl who doesn't has
+a rough time, I warn you. For goodness' sake don't begin to blub!"
+
+"Don't be a cry-baby, Dona," said Marjorie impatiently. "She's not been
+to school before," she explained to Mollie, "so she's still feeling
+rather home-sick."
+
+Mollie nodded sympathetically.
+
+"I understand. She'll soon get over it. She's a decent kid. I'm going to
+like her. That's why I'm giving her all these tips, so that she won't
+make mistakes and begin wrong. She'll get on all right at St.
+Ethelberta's. Miss Jones is a stunt, as jinky as you like. Wish we had
+her at our house."
+
+"Who is the Head of St. Elgiva's?"
+
+"Miss Norton, worse luck for us!"
+
+"Not the tall fair one who met us in London yesterday?"
+
+"The same."
+
+"Oh, thunder! I shall never get on with her, I know."
+
+"The Acid Drop's a rather unsweetened morsel, certainly. You'll have to
+mind your p's and q's. She can be decent to those she likes, but she
+doesn't take to everybody."
+
+"She hasn't taken to me--I could see it in her eye at Euston."
+
+"Then I'm sorry for you. It isn't particularly pleasant to be in Norty's
+bad books. If you missed your train and kept her waiting she'll never
+forgive you. Look out for squalls!"
+
+"What's the Head like?"
+
+"Mrs. Morrison? Well, of course, she's nice, but we stand very much in
+awe of her. It's a terrible thing to be sent down to her study. We
+generally see her on the platform. We call her 'The Empress', because
+she's so like the pictures of the Empress Eugenie, and she's so
+dignified and above everybody else. Hallo, there's the first bell! We
+must scoot and wash our hands. If you're late for a meal you put a penny
+in the missionary box."
+
+Marjorie walked into the large dining-hall with Mollie Simpson. She felt
+she had made, if not yet a friend, at least an acquaintance, and in this
+wilderness of fresh faces it was a boon to be able to speak to somebody.
+She hoped Mollie would not desert her and sit among her own chums (the
+girls took any places they liked for tea); but no, her new comrade led
+the way to a table at the lower end of the hall, and, motioning her to
+pass first, took the next chair. Each table held about twenty girls, and
+a mistress sat at either end. Conversation went on, but in subdued
+tones, and any unduly lifted voices met with instant reproof.
+
+"I always try to sit in the middle, unless I can get near a mistress I
+like," volunteered Mollie. "That one with the ripply hair is Miss
+Duckworth. She's rather sweet, isn't she? We call her Ducky for short.
+The other's Miss Carter, the botany teacher. Oh, I say, here's the Acid
+Drop coming to the next table! I didn't bargain to have her so near."
+
+Marjorie turned to look, and in so doing her sleeve most unfortunately
+caught the edge of her cup, with the result that a stream of tea emptied
+itself over the clean table-cloth. Miss Norton, who was just passing to
+her place, noticed the accident and murmured: "How careless!" then
+paused, as if remembering something, and said:
+
+"Marjorie Anderson, you are to report yourself in my study at 4.30."
+
+Very subdued and crestfallen Marjorie handed her cup to be refilled.
+Miss Duckworth made no remark, but the girls in her vicinity glared at
+the mess on the cloth. Mollie pulled an expressive face.
+
+"Now you're in for it!" she remarked. "The Acid Drop's going to treat
+you to some jaw-wag. What have you been doing?"
+
+"Spilling my tea, I suppose," grunted Marjorie.
+
+"That's not Norty's business, for it didn't happen at her table. You
+wouldn't have to report yourself for that. It must be something else."
+
+"Then I'm sure I don't know." Marjorie's tone was defiant.
+
+"And you don't care? Oh, that's all very well! Wait till you've had five
+minutes with the Acid Drop, and you'll sing a different song."
+
+Although Marjorie might affect nonchalance before her schoolfellows, her
+heart thumped in a very unpleasant fashion as she tapped at the door of
+Miss Norton's study. The teacher sat at a bureau writing, she looked up
+and readjusted her pince-nez as her pupil entered.
+
+"Marjorie Anderson," she began, "I inspected your cubicle this afternoon
+and found this book inside one of your drawers. Are you aware that you
+have broken one of the strictest rules of the school? You may borrow
+books from the library, but you are not allowed to have any private
+books at all in your possession with the exception of a Bible and a
+Prayer Book."
+
+Miss Norton held in her hand the sensational novel which Marjorie had
+bought while waiting for the train at Rosebury. The girl jumped guiltily
+at the sight of it. She had only read a few pages of it and had
+completely forgotten its existence. She remembered now that among the
+rules sent by the Head Mistress, and read to her by her mother, the
+bringing back of fiction to school had been strictly prohibited. As she
+had no excuse to offer she merely looked uncomfortable and said
+nothing. Miss Norton eyed her keenly.
+
+"You will find the rules at Brackenfield are intended to be kept," she
+remarked. "As this is a first offence I'll allow it to pass, but girls
+have been expelled from this school for bringing in unsuitable
+literature. You had better be careful, Marjorie Anderson!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Talents Tournament
+
+
+By the time Marjorie had been a fortnight at Brackenfield she had
+already caught the atmosphere of the place, and considered herself a
+well-established member of the community. In the brief space of two
+weeks she had learnt many things; first and foremost, that Hilton House
+had been a mere kindergarten in comparison with the big busy world in
+which she now moved, and that all her standards required readjusting.
+Instead of being an elder pupil, with a considerable voice in the
+arrangement of affairs, she was now only an Intermediate, under the
+absolute authority of Seniors, a unit in a large army of girls, and,
+except from her own point of view, of no very great importance. If she
+wished to make any reputation for herself her claims must rest upon
+whether or not she could prove herself an asset to the school, either by
+obtaining a high place in her form, or winning distinction in the
+playing-fields, or among the various guilds and societies. Marjorie was
+decidedly ambitious. She felt that she would like to gain honours and to
+have her name recorded in the school magazine. Dazzling dreams danced
+before her of tennis or cricket colours, of solos in concerts, or
+leading parts in dramatic recitals, of heading examination lists,
+and--who knew?--of a possible prefectship some time in the far future.
+Meanwhile, if she wished to attain to any of these desirable objects,
+Work, with a capital W, must be her motto. She had been placed in IVa,
+and, though most of the subjects were within her powers, it needed all
+the concentration of which she was capable to keep even a moderate
+position in the weekly lists. Miss Duckworth, her form mistress, had no
+tolerance for slackers. She was a breezy, cheery, interesting
+personality, an inspiring teacher, and excellent at games, taking a
+prominent part in all matches or tournaments "Mistresses versus Pupils".
+Miss Duckworth was immensely popular amongst her girls. It was the
+fashion to admire her.
+
+"I think the shape of her nose is just perfect!" declared Francie
+Sheppard. "And I like that Rossetti mouth, although some people might
+say it's too big. I wish I had auburn hair!"
+
+"I wonder if it ripples naturally, or if she does it up in wavers?"
+speculated Elsie Bartlett. "It must be ever so long when it's down.
+Annie Turner saw her once in her dressing-gown, and said that her hair
+reached to her knees."
+
+"But Annie always exaggerates," put in Sylvia Page. "You may take half a
+yard off Annie's statements any day."
+
+"I think Duckie's a sport!" agreed Laura Norris.
+
+The girls were lounging in various attitudes of comfort round the fire
+in their sitting-room at St. Elgiva's, in that blissful interval between
+preparation and supper, when nothing very intellectual was expected from
+them, and they might amuse themselves as they wished. Irene, squatting
+on the rug, was armed with the tongs, and kept poking down the miniature
+volcanoes that arose in the coal; Elsie luxuriated in the rocking-chair
+all to herself; while Francie and Sylvia--a tight fit--shared the big
+basket-chair. In a corner three chums were coaching each other in the
+speeches for a play, and a group collected round the piano were trying
+the chorus of a new popular song.
+
+"Go it, Patricia!" called Irene to the girl who was playing the
+accompaniment. "You did that no end! St. Elgiva's ought to have a chance
+for the sight-reading competition. Trot out that song to-morrow night by
+all means. It'll take the house by storm!"
+
+"What's going to happen to-morrow night?" enquired Marjorie, who, having
+changed her dress for supper, now came into the room and joined the
+circle by the fire.
+
+"A very important event, my good child," vouchsafed Francie
+Sheppard--"an event upon which you might almost say all the rest of the
+school year hangs. We call it the Talents Tournament."
+
+"The what?"
+
+"I wish you wouldn't ask so many questions. I was just going to explain,
+if you'll give me time. The whole school meets in the Assembly Hall,
+and anybody who feels she can do anything may give us a specimen of her
+talents, and if she passes muster she's allowed to join one of the
+societies--the Dramatic, or the Part Singing, or the Orchestra, or the
+French Conversational; or she may exhibit specimens if she wants to
+enter the Natural History or Scientific, or show some of her drawings if
+she's artistic."
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"I? Nothing at all. I hate showing off!"
+
+"I've no 'parlour tricks' either," yawned Laura. "I shall help to form
+the audience and do the clapping; that's the role I'm best at."
+
+"Old Mollie'll put you up to tips if you're yearning to go on the
+platform," suggested Elsie. "She's A 1 at recitations, reels them off no
+end, I can tell you. You needn't hang your head, Mollums, like a modest
+violet; it's a solid fact. You're the ornament of St. Elgiva's when it
+comes to saying pieces. Have you got anything fresh, by the way, for
+to-morrow night?"
+
+"Well, I did learn something new during the holidays," confessed Mollie.
+"I hope you'll like it--it's rather funny. I hear there's to be a new
+society this term. Meg Hutchinson was telling me about it."
+
+"Oh, I know, the 'Charades'!" interrupted Francie; "and a jolly good
+idea too. It isn't everybody who has time to swat at learning parts for
+the Dramatic. Besides, some girls can do rehearsed acting well, and are
+no good at impromptu things, and vice versa. They want sorting out."
+
+"I don't understand," said Marjorie.
+
+"Oh, bother you! You're always wanting explanations. Well, of course you
+know we have a Dramatic Society that gets up quite elaborate plays; the
+members spend ages practising their speeches and studying their
+attitudes before the looking-glass, and they have gorgeous costumes made
+for them, and scenery and all the rest of it--a really first-rate
+business. Some of the prefects thought that it was rather too formal an
+affair, and suggested another society for impromptu acting. Nothing is
+to be prepared beforehand. Mrs. Morrison is to give a word for a
+charade, and the members are allowed two minutes to talk it over, and
+must act it right away with any costumes they can fling on out of the
+'property box'. They'll be arranged in teams, and may each have five
+minutes for a performance. I expect it will be a scream."
+
+"Are you fond of acting, Marjorie?" asked Mollie.
+
+"I just love it!"
+
+"Then put down your name for the Charades Tournament. We haven't got a
+great number of volunteers from St. Elgiva's yet. Most of the girls seem
+to funk it. Elsie, aren't you going to try?"
+
+Elsie shook her curls regretfully.
+
+"I'd like to, but I know every idea I have would desert me directly I
+faced an audience. I'm all right with a definite part that I've got into
+my head, but I can't make up as I go along, and it's no use asking me.
+I'd only bungle and stammer, and make an utter goose of myself, and
+spoil the whole thing. Hallo! There's the supper bell. Come along!"
+
+Marjorie followed the others in to supper with a feeling of
+exhilaration. She was immensely attracted by the idea of the Talents
+Tournament. So far, as a new girl, she had been little noticed, and had
+had no opportunity of showing what she could do. She had received a hint
+from Mollie, on her first day, that new girls who pushed themselves
+forward would probably be met with snubs, so she had not tried the piano
+in the sitting-room, or given any exhibition of her capabilities
+unasked. This, however, would be a legitimate occasion, and nobody could
+accuse her of trying to show off by merely entering her name in the
+Charades competition.
+
+"I wish Dona would play her violin and have a shy for the school
+Orchestra," she thought. "I'll speak to her if I can catch her after
+supper."
+
+It was difficult for the sisters to find any time for private talk, but
+by dodging about the passage Marjorie managed to waylay Dona before the
+latter disappeared into St. Ethelberta's, and propounded her suggestion.
+
+"Oh, I couldn't!" replied Dona in horror. "Go on the platform and play a
+piece? I'd die! Please don't ask me to do anything so dreadful. I don't
+want to join the Orchestra. Oh, well, yes--I'll go in for the drawing
+competition if you like, but I'm not keen. I don't care about all these
+societies; my lessons are quite bad enough. I've made friends with Ailsa
+Donald, and we have lovely times all to ourselves. We're making scrap
+albums for the hospital. Miss Jones has given us all her old Christmas
+cards. She's adorable! I say, I must go, or I shall be late for our call
+over. Ta-ta!"
+
+The "Talents Tournament" was really a very important event in the school
+year, for upon its results would depend the placing of the various
+competitors in certain coveted offices. It was esteemed a great
+privilege to be asked to join the Orchestra, and to be included in the
+committee of the "Dramatic" marked a girl's name with a lucky star.
+
+On the Saturday evening in question the whole school, in second-best
+party dresses, met in the big Assembly Hall. It was a conventional
+occasion, and they were received by Mrs. Morrison and the teachers, and
+responded with an elaborate politeness that was the cult of the College.
+For the space of three hours an extremely high-toned atmosphere
+prevailed, not a word of slang offended the ear, and everybody behaved
+with the dignity and courtesy demanded by such a stately ceremony. Mrs.
+Morrison, in black silk and old lace, her white hair dressed high, was
+an imposing figure, and set a standard of cultured deportment that was
+copied by every girl in the room. The Brackenfielders prided themselves
+upon their manners, and, though they might relapse in the playground or
+dormitory, no Court etiquette could be stricter than their code for
+public occasions. The hall was quite _en fete_; it had been charmingly
+decorated by the Seniors with autumn leaves and bunches of
+chrysanthemums and Michaelmas daisies. A grand piano and pots of palms
+stood on the platform, and the best school banner ornamented the wall.
+It all looked so festive that Marjorie, who had been rather dreading the
+gathering, cheered up, and began to anticipate a pleasant evening. She
+shook hands composedly with the Empress, and ran the gauntlet of
+greetings with the other mistresses with equal credit, not an altogether
+easy ordeal under the watching eyes of her companions. This preliminary
+ceremony being finished, she thankfully slipped into a seat, and waited
+for the business part of the tournament to begin.
+
+The reception of the whole school lasted some time, and the Empress's
+hand must have ached. Her mental notes as to the quality of the
+handshakes she received would be publicly recorded next day from the
+platform, with special condemnation for the limp, fishy, or
+three-fingered variety on the one side, or the agonizing ring-squeezer
+on the other. Miss Thomas, one of the music mistresses, seated herself
+at the piano, and the proceedings opened with a violin-solo competition.
+Ten girls, in more or less acute stages of nervousness, each in turn
+played a one-page study, their points for which were carefully recorded
+by the judges, marks being given for tone, bowing, time, tune, and
+artistic rendering. As they retired to put away their instruments, their
+places were taken by vocal candidates. In order to shorten the
+programme, each was allowed to sing only one verse of a song, and their
+merits or faults were similarly recorded. Several of the Intermediates
+had entered for the competition. Rose Butler trilled forth a
+sentimental little ditty in a rather quavering mezzo; Annie Turner,
+whose compass was contralto, poured out a sea ballad--a trifle flat;
+Nora Cleary raised a storm of applause by a funny Irish song, and
+received marks for style, though her voice was poor in quality; and
+Elsie Bartlett scored for St. Elgiva's by reaching high B with the
+utmost clearness and ease. The Intermediates grinned at one another with
+satisfaction. Even Gladys Woodham, the acknowledged prima donna of St.
+Githa's, had never soared in public beyond A sharp. They felt that they
+had beaten the Seniors by half a tone.
+
+Piano solos were next on the list, limited to two pages, on account of
+the too speedy passage of time. Here again the St. Elgiva's girls
+expected a triumph, for Patricia Lennox was to play a waltz especially
+composed in her honour by a musical friend. It was called "Under the
+Stars", and bore a coloured picture of a dark-blue sky, water and trees,
+and a stone balustrade, and it bore printed upon it the magic words
+"Dedicated to Patricia", and underneath, written in a firm, manly hand,
+"With kindest remembrances from E. H.".
+
+The whole of Elgiva's had thrilled when allowed to view the copy
+exhibited by its owner with many becoming blushes, but with steadfast
+refusals to record tender particulars; and though Patricia's enemies
+were unkind enough to say that there was no evidence that the "Patricia"
+mentioned on the cover was identical with herself, or that the "E. H."
+stood for Edwin Herbert, the composer, it was felt that they merely
+objected out of envy, and would have been only too delighted to have
+such luck themselves.
+
+They all listened entranced as Patricia dashed off her piece. She had a
+showy execution, and it really sounded very well. The whole school knew
+about the dedication and the inscription; the Intermediates had taken
+care of that. As their champion descended from the platform, they felt
+that she had invested St. Elgiva's with an element of mystery and
+romance. But alas! one story is good until another is told, and St.
+Githa's had been reserving a trump card for the occasion. Winifrede
+Mason had herself composed a piece. She called it "The Brackenfield
+March", and had written it out in manuscript, and drawn a picture of the
+school in bold black-and-white upon a brown paper cover. It was quite a
+jolly, catchy tune, with plenty of swing and go about it, and the fact
+that it was undoubtedly her own production caused poor Patricia's waltz
+to pale before it. The clapping was tremendous. Every girl in school,
+with the exception of nine who had not studied the piano, was determined
+to copy the march and learn it for herself, and Winifrede was
+immediately besieged with applications for the loan of the manuscript.
+She bore her honours calmly.
+
+"Oh, it wasn't difficult! I just knocked it off, you know. I've heaps of
+tunes in my head; it's only a matter of getting them written down,
+really. When I've time I'll try to make up another. Oh, I don't know
+about publishing it--that can wait."
+
+To live in the same school with a girl who composed pieces was
+something! Everybody anticipated the publication of the march, and felt
+that the reputation of Brackenfield would be thoroughly established in
+the musical world.
+
+The next item on the programme was an interval for refreshments, during
+which time various exhibits of drawings and of scientific and natural
+history specimens were on view, and were judged according to merit by
+Miss Carter and Miss Hughlins.
+
+The second part of the evening was to be dramatic. A good many names had
+been given in for the Charades competition, and these were arranged in
+groups of four. Each company was given one syllable of a charade to act,
+with a strict time limit. A large assortment of clothes and some useful
+articles of furniture were placed in the dressing-room behind the
+platform, and the actresses were allowed only two minutes to arrange
+their stage, don costumes, and discuss their piece.
+
+Marjorie found herself drawn with Annie Turner, Belle Miller, and Violet
+Nelson, two of the Juniors. The syllable to be acted was "Age", and the
+four girls withdrew to the dressing-room for a hasty conference.
+
+"What can we do? I haven't an idea in my head," sighed Annie. "Two
+minutes is not enough to think."
+
+The Juniors said nothing, but giggled nervously. Marjorie's ready wits,
+however, rose to the emergency.
+
+"We'll have a Red Cross Hospital," she decided. "You, Annie, are the
+Commandant, and we three are prospective V.A.D.'s coming to be
+interviewed. You've got to ask us our names and ages, and a heap of
+other questions. Put on that Red Cross apron, quick, and we'll put on
+hats and coats and pretend we've had a long journey. Belle, take in a
+table and a chair for the Commandant. She ought to be sitting writing."
+
+Annie, Belle, and Violet seized on the idea with enthusiasm, and robed
+themselves immediately. When the bell rang the performers marched on to
+the platform without any delay (which secured ten marks for
+promptitude). Annie, in her Red Cross apron, rapped the table in an
+authoritative fashion and demanded the business of her callers. Then the
+fun began. Marjorie, posing as a wild Irish girl, put on a capital
+imitation of the brogue, and urged her own merits with zeal. She evaded
+the question of her right age, and offered a whole catalogue of things
+she could do, from dressing a wound to mixing a pudding and scrubbing
+the passages. She was so racy and humorous, and threw in such amusing
+asides, that the audience shrieked with laughter, and were quite
+disappointed when the five minutes' bell put a sudden and speedy end to
+the interesting performance. As Marjorie walked back to her seat she
+became well aware that she had scored. Her fellow Intermediates looked
+at her with a new interest, for she had brought credit to St. Elgiva's.
+
+"Isn't she a scream?" she overheard Rose Butler say to Francie Sheppard,
+and Francie replied "Rather! I call her topping!" which, of course, was
+slang, and not fit for such an occasion; but then the girls were
+beginning to forget the elaborate ceremony of the opening of the
+evening.
+
+Next day, after morning school was over, Jean Everard, one of the
+prefects, tapped Marjorie on the shoulder.
+
+"We've put your name down for the Charades Society," she said briefly.
+"I suppose you want to join?"
+
+"Rather!" replied Marjorie, flushing to the roots of her hair with
+delight at the honour offered her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Exeats
+
+
+Marjorie and Dona possessed one immense advantage in their choice of a
+school. Their aunt, Mrs. Trafford, lived within a mile of Brackenfield,
+and had arranged with Mrs. Morrison that the two girls should spend
+every alternate Wednesday afternoon at her house. Wednesday was the most
+general day for exeats; it was the leisurely half-holiday of the week,
+when the girls might carry out their own little plans, Saturday
+afternoons being reserved for hockey practice and matches, at which all
+were expected to attend. The rules were strict at Brackenfield, and
+enacted that the girls must be escorted from school to their destination
+and sent back under proper chaperonage, but during the hours spent at
+their aunt's they were considered to be under her charge and might go
+where she allowed.
+
+To the sisters these fortnightly outings marked the term with white
+stones. They looked forward to them immensely. Both chafed a little at
+the strict discipline and confinement of Brackenfield. It was Dona's
+first experience of school, and Marjorie had been accustomed to a much
+easier regime at Hilton House. It was nice, also, to have a few hours
+in which they could be together and talk over their own affairs. There
+were home letters to be discussed, news of Bevis on board H.M.S.
+_Relentless_, of Leonard in the trenches, and Larry in the
+training-camp, hurried scrawls from Father, looking after commissariat
+business "somewhere in France", accounts of Nora's new housekeeping,
+picture post cards from Peter and Cyril, brief, laborious, round-hand
+epistles from Joan, and delightful chatty notes from Mother, who sent a
+kind of family chronicle round to the absent members of her flock.
+
+One Wednesday afternoon about the middle of October found Marjorie and
+Dona walking along the road in the direction of Whitecliffe. They were
+policed by Miss Norton, who was taking a detachment of exeat-holders
+into the town, so that at present the company walked in a crocodile,
+which, however, would soon split up and distribute its various members.
+It was a lovely, fresh autumn day, and the girls stepped along briskly.
+They wore their school hats, and badges with the brown, white, and blue
+ribbons, and the regulation "exeat" uniform, brown Harris tweed skirts
+and knitted heather-mixture sports coats.
+
+"Nobody could mistake us for any other school," said Marjorie. "I feel
+I'm as much labelled 'Brackenfield' as a Dartmoor prisoner is known by
+his black arrows! It makes one rather conspicuous."
+
+"Trust the Empress for that!" laughed Mollie Simpson, who was one of the
+party. "You see, there are other schools at Whitecliffe, and other
+girls go into the town too. Sometimes they're rather giggly and silly,
+and we certainly don't want to get the credit for their escapades.
+Everybody knows a 'Brackenfielder' at a glance, so there's no risk of
+false reports. The Empress prides herself on our clear record. We've the
+reputation of behaving beautifully!"
+
+"We haven't much chance of doing anything else," said Marjorie, looking
+rather ruefully in the direction of Miss Norton, who brought up the
+rear.
+
+At the cross-roads the Andersons found their cousin, Elaine, waiting for
+them, and were handed over into her charge by their teacher, with strict
+injunctions that they were to be escorted back to their respective
+hostels by 6.30.
+
+Marjorie waved good-bye to Mollie, and the school crocodile passed along
+the road in the direction of Whitecliffe. When the last hat had bobbed
+round the corner, and the shadow of Miss Norton's presence was really
+removed for the space of four whole hours, the two girls each seized
+Elaine by one of her hands and twirled her round in a wild jig of
+triumph. Elaine was nearly twenty, old enough to just pass muster as an
+escort in the eyes of Miss Norton, but young enough to be still almost a
+schoolgirl at heart, and to thoroughly enjoy the afternoons of her
+cousins' visits. She worked as a V.A.D. at the Red Cross Hospital, but
+she was generally off duty by two o'clock and able to devote herself to
+their amusement. She had come now straight from the hospital and was in
+uniform.
+
+"You promised to take us to see the Tommies," said Marjorie, as Elaine
+turned down the side road and led the way towards home.
+
+"The Commandant didn't want me to bring visitors to-day. There's a
+little whitewashing and papering going on, and the place is in rather a
+mess. You shall come another time, when we're all decorated and in
+apple-pie order. Besides, we haven't many soldiers this week. We sent
+away a batch of convalescents last Thursday, and we're expecting a fresh
+contingent in any day. That's why we're taking the opportunity to have a
+special cleaning."
+
+"I wish I were old enough to be a V.A.D.!" sighed Marjorie. "I'd love it
+better than anything else I can think of. It's my dream at present."
+
+"I enjoy it thoroughly," said Elaine; "though, of course, there's plenty
+to do, and sometimes the Commandant gets ratty over just nothing at all.
+Have you St. John's Ambulance classes at school?"
+
+"They're going to start next month, and I mean to join. I've put my name
+down."
+
+"And Dona too?"
+
+"They're not for Juniors. We have a First Aid Instruction class of our
+own," explained Dona; "but I hate it, because they always make me be the
+patient, as I'm a new girl, and I don't like being bandaged, and walked
+about after poisons, and restored from drowning, and all the rest of
+it. It's rather a painful process to have your tongue pulled out and
+your arms jerked up and down!"
+
+"Poor old girl! Perhaps another victim will arrive at half-term and take
+your place, then you'll have the satisfaction of performing all those
+operations upon her. I've been through the same mill myself once upon a
+time."
+
+The Traffords' house, "The Tamarisks", stood on Cliff Walks, a pleasant
+residential quarter somewhat away from the visitors' portion of the
+town, with its promenade and lodging-houses. There was a beautiful view
+over the sea, where to-day little white caps were breaking, and small
+vessels bobbing about in a manner calculated to test the good seamanship
+of any tourists who had ventured forth in them. Aunt Ellinor was in the
+town at a Food Control Committee meeting, so Elaine for the present was
+sole hostess.
+
+"What shall we do?" she asked. "You may choose anything you like. The
+cinema and tea at a cafe afterwards? Or a last game of tennis (the lawn
+will just stand it)? Or shall we go for a scramble on the cliffs? Votes,
+please."
+
+Without any hesitation Dona and Marjorie plumped for the cliffs. They
+loved walking, and, as their own home was inland, the seaside held
+attractions. Elaine hastily changed into tweed skirt and sports coat,
+found a favourite stick, and declared herself ready, and the three, in
+very cheerful spirits, set out along the hillside.
+
+It was one of those beautiful sunny October days when autumn seems to
+have borrowed from summer, and the air is as warm and balmy as June.
+Great flocks of sea-gulls wheeled screaming round the cliffs, their
+wings flashing in the sunshine; red admiral and tortoise-shell
+butterflies still fluttered over late specimens of flowers, and the
+bracken was brown and golden underfoot. The girls were wild with the
+delight of a few hours' emancipation from school rules, and flew about
+gathering belated harebells, and running to the top of any little
+eminence to get the view. After about a mile on the hills, they dipped
+down a steep sandy path that led to the shore. They found themselves in
+a delightful cove, with rugged rocks on either side and a belt of hard
+firm sand. The tide was fairly well out, so they followed the retreating
+waves to the water's edge. A recent stormy day had flung up great masses
+of seaweed and hundreds of star-fish. Dona, whose tastes had just begun
+to awaken in the direction of natural history, poked about with great
+enjoyment collecting specimens. There were shells to be had on the sand,
+and mermaids' purses, and bunches of whelks' eggs, and lovely little
+stones that looked capable of being polished on the lapidary wheel which
+Miss Jones had set up in the carpentering-room. For lack of a basket
+Dona filled her own handkerchief and commandeered Marjorie's for the
+same purpose. For the first time since she had left home she looked
+perfectly happy. Dona's tastes were always quiet. She did not like
+hockey practices or any very energetic games. She did not care about
+mixing with the common herd of her schoolfellows, and much preferred
+the society of one, or at most two friends. To live in the depths of the
+country was her ideal.
+
+Marjorie, on the contrary, liked the bustle of life. While Dona
+investigated the clumps of seaweed, she plied Elaine with questions
+about the hospital. Marjorie was intensely patriotic. She followed every
+event of the war keenly, and was thrilled by the experiences of her
+soldier father and brothers. She was burning to do something to help--to
+nurse the wounded, drive a transport wagon, act as secretary to a
+staff-officer, or even be telephone operator over in France--anything
+that would be of service to her country and allow her to feel that she
+had played her part, however small, in the conduct of the Great War. As
+she watched the sea, she thought not so much of its natural history
+treasures as of submarines and floating mines, and her heart went out to
+Bevis, somewhere on deep waters keeping watchful guard against the
+enemy.
+
+It was so delightful in the cove that the girls were loath to go. They
+climbed with reluctance up the steep sandy little path to the cliff. As
+they neared the top they could hear voices in altercation--a
+high-pitched, protesting, childish wail, and a blunt, uncompromising,
+scolding retort. On the road above stood an invalid carriage, piled up
+with innumerable parcels, and containing also a small boy. He was a
+charmingly pretty little fellow, with a very pale, delicately oval face,
+beautiful pathetic brown eyes, and rich golden hair that fell in curls
+over his shoulders like a girl's. He was peering out from amidst the
+host of packages and trying to look back along the road, and evidently
+arguing some point with the utmost persistence. The untidy servant girl
+who wheeled the carriage had stopped, and gave a heated reply.
+
+"It's no use, I tell you! Goodness knows where you may have dropped it,
+and if you think I'm going to traipse back you're much mistaken. We're
+late as it is, and a pretty to-do there'll be when I get in. It's your
+own fault for not taking better care of it."
+
+"Have you lost anything?" enquired Elaine, as the girls entered the road
+in the midst of the quarrel.
+
+"It's his book," answered the servant. "He's dropped it out of the pram
+somewhere on the way from Whitecliffe; but I can't go back for it, it's
+too far, and we've got to be getting home."
+
+"What kind of a book was it?" asked Marjorie.
+
+"Fairy tales. Have you found it?" said the child eagerly. "All about
+Rumpelstiltzkin and 'The Goose Girl' and 'The Seven Princesses'."
+
+"We haven't found it, but we'll look for it on our way back. Have you
+any idea where you dropped it?"
+
+The little boy shook his head.
+
+"I was reading it in the town while Lizzie went inside the shops. Then I
+forgot about it till just now. Oh, I _must_ know what happened when the
+Prince went to see the old witch!"
+
+His brown eyes were full of tears and the corners of the pretty mouth
+twitched.
+
+"He's such a child for reading! At it all day long!" explained the
+servant. "He thinks as much of an old book as some of us would of golden
+sovereigns. Well, we must be getting on, Eric. I can't stop."
+
+"Look here!" said Dona. "We'll hunt for the book on our way back to
+Whitecliffe. If we find it we'll meet you here to-day fortnight at the
+same time and give it to you."
+
+"And suppose you don't find it?" quavered the little boy anxiously.
+
+"I think the fairies will bring it to us somehow. You come here to-day
+fortnight and see. Cheer oh! Don't cry!"
+
+"He wants his tea," said the servant. "Hold on to those parcels, Eric,
+or we shall be dropping something else."
+
+The little boy put his arms round several lightly-balanced packages, and
+tried to wave a good-bye to the girls as his attendant wheeled him away.
+
+"Poor wee chap! I wonder what's the matter with him?" said Elaine, when
+the long perambulator had turned the corner. "And I wonder where he can
+possibly be going? There are no houses that way--only a wretched little
+village with a few cottages."
+
+"I can't place him at all," replied Marjorie. "He's not a poor person's
+child, and he's not exactly a gentleman's. The carriage was very shabby,
+with such an old rug; and the girl wasn't tidy enough for a nurse, she
+looked like a general slavey. Dona, I don't believe you'll find that
+book."
+
+"I don't suppose I shall," returned Dona; "but I have _Grimm's Fairy
+Tales_ at home, and I thought I'd write to Mother and ask her to send it
+to Auntie's for me, then I could take it to him next exeat."
+
+"Oh, good! What a splendid idea!"
+
+Though the girls kept a careful look-out along the road they came across
+no fairy-tale volume. Either someone else had picked it up, or it had
+perhaps been dropped in the street at Whitecliffe. Dona wrote home
+accordingly, and received the reply that her mother would post the book
+to "The Tamarisks" in the course of a few days. The sisters watched the
+weather anxiously when their fortnightly exeat came round. They were
+fascinated with little Eric, and wanted to see him again. They could not
+forget his pale, wistful face among the parcels in the long
+perambulator. Luckily their holiday afternoon was fine, so they were
+allowed to go to their aunt's under the escort of two prefects. They
+found Elaine ready to start, and much interested in the errand.
+
+"The book came a week ago," she informed Dona. "I expect your young man
+will be waiting at the tryst."
+
+"He's not due till half-past four--if he keeps the appointment exactly,"
+laughed Dona; "but I've brought a basket to-day, so let's go now to the
+cove and get specimens while we're waiting."
+
+If the girls were early at the meeting-place the little boy was earlier
+still. The long perambulator was standing by the roadside when they
+reached the path to the cove. Lizzie, the servant girl, greeted them
+with enthusiasm.
+
+"Why, here you are!" she cried. "I never expected you'd come, and I told
+Eric so. I said it wasn't in reason you'd remember, and he'd only be
+disappointed. But he's thought of nothing else all this fortnight. He's
+been ill again, and he shouldn't really be out to-day, because the pram
+jolts him; but I've got to go to Whitecliffe, and he worried so to come
+that his ma said: 'Best put on his things and take him; he'll cry
+himself sick if he's left'."
+
+The little pale face was whiter even than before, there were large dark
+rings round the brown eyes, and the golden hair curled limply to-day.
+Eric did not speak, but he looked with a world of wistfulness at the
+parcel in Dona's hand.
+
+"I couldn't find your book, but I've brought you mine instead, and I
+expect it's just the same," explained Dona, untying the string.
+
+A flush of rose pink spread over Eric's cheeks, the frail little hands
+trembled as he fingered his treasure.
+
+"It's nicer than mine! It's got coloured pictures!" he gasped.
+
+"If it jolts him to be wheeled about to-day," said Elaine to the servant
+girl, "would you like to leave him here with us while you go into
+Whitecliffe? We'd take the greatest care of him."
+
+"Why, I'd be only too glad. I can tell you it's no joke wheeling that
+pram up the hills. Will you stay here, Eric, with the young ladies till
+I come back?"
+
+Eric nodded gravely. He was busy examining the illustrations in his new
+book. The girls wheeled him to a sheltered place out of the wind, and
+set to work to entertain him. He was perfectly willing to make friends.
+
+"I've got names for you all," he said shyly. "I made them up while I was
+in bed. You," pointing to Elaine, "are Princess Goldilocks; and you,"
+with a finger at Marjorie and Dona, "are two fairies, Bluebell and
+Silverstar. No, I don't want to know your real names; I like make-up
+ones better. We always play fairies when Titania comes to see me."
+
+"Who's Titania?"
+
+"She's my auntie. She's the very loveliest person in all the world.
+There's no one like her. We have such fun, and I forget my leg hurts.
+Shall we play fairies now?"
+
+"If you'll show us how," said the girls.
+
+It was a very long time before Lizzie, well laden with parcels, returned
+from Whitecliffe, and the self-constituted nurses had plenty of time to
+make Eric's acquaintance. They found him a charming little fellow, full
+of quaint fancies and a delicate humour. His chatter amused them
+immensely, yet there was an element of pathos through it all; he looked
+so frail and delicate, like a fairy changeling, or some being of another
+world. They wondered if he would ever be able to run about like other
+children.
+
+"Good-bye!" he said, when Lizzie, full of apologies and thanks, resumed
+her charge. "Come again some time and play with me! I'm going home now
+in my Cinderella coach to my Enchanted Palace. Take care of giants on
+your way back. And don't talk to witches. I won't forget you."
+
+"He's hugging his book," said Marjorie, as the girls stood waving a
+farewell. "Isn't he just too precious for words?"
+
+"Sweetest thing I've ever seen!" agreed Dona.
+
+"Poor little chap! I wonder if he'll ever grow up," said Elaine
+thoughtfully. "I wish we'd asked where he lives, and we might have sent
+him some picture post cards."
+
+"I'm afraid 'The Enchanted Palace' wouldn't find him," laughed Marjorie.
+"We must try to come here another Wednesday."
+
+But the next fortnightly half-holiday was wet, and after that the days
+began to grow dark early, and Aunt Ellinor suggested other amusements
+than walks on the cliffs, so for that term at any rate the girls did not
+see Eric again. He seemed to have made his appearance suddenly, like a
+pixy child, and to have vanished back into Fairyland. There was a link
+between them, however, and some time Fate would pull the chain and bring
+their lives into touch once more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Autographs
+
+
+The Brackenfielders, like most other girls, were given to fads. The
+collecting mania, in a variety of forms, raged hot and strong. There
+were the Natural History enthusiasts, who went in select parties,
+personally conducted by a mistress, to the shore at low tide, to grub
+blissfully among the rocks for corallines and zoophytes and spider crabs
+and madrepores and anemones, to be placed carefully in jam jars and
+brought back to the school aquarium. "The Gnats", as the members of the
+Natural History Society were named, sometimes pursued their
+investigations with more zeal than discretion, and they generally
+returned from their rambles with skirts much the worse for green slime
+and sea water, and boots coated with sand and mud, but brimming over
+with the importance of their "finds", and confounding non-members by the
+ease with which they rapped out long scientific names. Those who had
+caught butterflies and moths during the summer spent some of their
+leisure now in relaxing and setting them, and pinning them into cases.
+It was considered etiquette to offer the best specimens to the school
+museum, but the girls also made private collections, and vied with one
+another in the possession of rare varieties.
+
+The Photographic Society enjoyed a run of great popularity. There was an
+excellent dark room, with every facility for developing and washing, and
+this term the members had subscribed for an enlarging apparatus, with
+which they hoped to do great things. As well as these recognized school
+pursuits, the girls had all kinds of minor waves of fashion in the way
+of hobbies. Sometimes they liked trifling things, such as scraps,
+transfers, coloured beads, pictures taken from book catalogues or
+illustrated periodicals, newspaper cuttings or attractive
+advertisements, or they would soar to the more serious collecting of
+stamps, crests, badges, and picture post cards. In Marjorie's dormitory
+the taste was for celebrities. Sylvia Page, who was musical, adorned her
+cubicle with charming photogravures of the great composers. Irene
+Andrews, whose ambition was to "come out" if there was anybody left to
+dance with after the war, pinned up the portraits of Society beauties;
+Betty Moore, of sporting tendencies, kept the illustrations of prize
+dogs and their owners, from _The Queen_ and other ladies' papers.
+Marjorie, not to be outdone by the others, covered her fourth share of
+the wall with "heroes". Whenever she saw that some member of His
+Majesty's forces had been awarded the V.C., she would cut out his
+portrait and add it to her gallery of honour. She wrote to her mother
+and her sister Nora to help her in this hobby, with the consequence that
+every letter which arrived for her contained enclosures. Her room-mates
+were on the whole good-natured, and in return for some contributions she
+had given to their collections they also wrote home for any V.C.
+portraits which could be procured. As the girls were putting away their
+clean clothes on "laundry return" day, Irene fumbled in her pocket and
+drew out a letter, from which she produced some cuttings. She handed
+them to Marjorie.
+
+"Mother sent me five to-day," she said. "I hope you haven't got them
+already. Two are rather nice and clear, because they're out of _The
+Onlooker_, and are printed on better paper than most. The others are
+just ordinary."
+
+"All's fish that comes to my net," replied Marjorie. "I think they're
+topping. No, I haven't got any of these. Thanks most awfully!"
+
+"Don't mench! I'll try to beg some more. They've always heaps of papers
+and magazines at home, and Mother looks through them to find my
+pictures. No, you're not taking the 'heroes' away from me. I like them,
+but I don't want to collect them. My cube won't hold everything."
+
+Marjorie sat down on her bed and turned over the new additions to her
+gallery. Three of them were the usual rather blurred newspaper prints,
+but, as Irene had said, two were on superior paper and very clear. One
+of these represented an officer with a moustache, the other was a
+private and clean shaven. Marjorie looked at them at first rather
+casually, then examined the latter with interest. She had seen that face
+before--the shape of the forehead, the twinkling dark eyes, and the
+humorous smile all seemed familiar. Instantly there rose to her memory a
+vision of the crowded railway carriage from Silverwood, of the run along
+the platform at Rosebury, and of the search for a taxi at Euston.
+
+"I verily believe it's that nice Tommy who helped us!" she gasped to
+herself.
+
+She looked at the inscription underneath, which set forth that Private
+H. T. Preston, West Yorks Regiment, had been awarded the V.C. for pluck
+in removing a "fired" Stokes shell.
+
+"Why, that's the same regiment that Leonard is in! How frightfully
+interesting!" she thought. "So his name is Preston. I wonder what H. T.
+stands for--Harry, or Herbert, or Hugh, or Horace? He was most
+unmistakably a gentleman. He's going to have the best place among my
+heroes. If the picture were only smaller, I'd wear it in a locket. I
+wonder whether I could get it reduced if I joined the Photographic
+Society? I believe I'll give in my name on the chance. I must show it to
+Dona. She'll be thrilled."
+
+The portrait of Private H. T. Preston was accordingly placed in a bijou
+frame, and hung up on the wall by the side of Marjorie's bed, in select
+company with Kitchener, Sir Douglas Haig, the Prince of Wales, and His
+Majesty the King. She looked at it every morning when she woke up. The
+whimsical brown eyes had quite a friendly expression.
+
+"Where is he fighting now--and shall I ever meet him again?" she
+wondered. "I'm glad, at least, that I have his picture."
+
+Marjorie lived for news of the war. She devoured the sheets of
+closely-written foreign paper sent home by Father, Bevis, and Leonard.
+She followed all the experiences they described, and tried to imagine
+them in their dug-outs, on the march, sleeping in rat-ridden barns, or
+cruising the Channel to sweep mines. When she awoke in the night and
+heard the rain falling, she would picture the wet trenches, and she
+often looked at the calm still moon, and thought how it shone alike on
+peaceful white cliffs and on stained battle-fields in Flanders. The
+aeroplanes that guarded the coast were a source of immense interest at
+Brackenfield. The girls would look up to see them whizzing overhead.
+There was a poster at the school depicting hostile aircraft, and they
+often gazed into the sky with an apprehension that one of the Hun
+pattern might make its sudden appearance. Annie Turner came back after
+the half-term holiday with the signatures of two Field-Marshals, a
+General, a Member of Parliament, three authors, an inventor, and a
+composer, and straightway set the fashion at St. Elgiva's for
+autographs. Nearly every girl in the house sent to the Stores at
+Whitecliffe for an album. At present, of course, specimens of caligraphy
+could only be had from mistresses and prefects, except by those lucky
+ones whose home people enclosed for them little slips of writing-paper
+with signatures, which could be pasted into the books.
+
+Nobody took up the hobby more hotly than Marjorie. Her album was bound
+in blue morocco with gilt edges, and had coloured pages. The portion of
+it reserved for Brackenfield was soon filled by the Empress, mistresses,
+and prefects, who were long-suffering, though they must have grown very
+weary of signing their names in such a large number of books. Outside
+the school Marjorie so far had no luck. Her people did not seem to have
+any very noteworthy acquaintances, or, at any rate, would not trouble
+them for their autographs. She had thought it would be quite easy for
+Father to secure the signatures of generals and diplomats, but in his
+next letter he did not even refer to her request. Elaine secured for her
+the name of the Commandant of the Red Cross Hospital, and of a lady who
+sometimes wrote verses to be set to music, but these could not compete
+with the treasures some other girls had to show. Marjorie began to get a
+little downhearted about the new fad, and had serious thoughts of
+utilizing the album as a book of quotations.
+
+Then, one day, something happened. Sixteen girls were taken by Miss
+Franklin for a parade walk into Whitecliffe, and Marjorie was chosen
+among the number. Every week a small contingent, under charge of a
+mistress, was allowed to go into the town to do some shopping. The
+chance only fell once in a term to each individual, so it was a
+cherished privilege.
+
+They first visited the Stores, where a long halt was allowed in the
+confectionery department for the purchase of sweets. The investment in
+these was considerable, for each girl not only bought her own, but
+executed commissions for numerous friends. There was a school limit of a
+quarter of a pound per head, but Miss Franklin was not over strict, and
+the rule was certainly exceeded. The book and magazine counter also
+received a visit, and the stationery department, for there was at
+present a fashion for fancy paper and envelopes, with sealing-wax or
+picture wafers to match, and the toilet counter had its customers for
+scent and cold cream and practical articles such as sponges and tooth
+paste. There was a sensation when Enid Young was discovered
+surreptitiously buying pink Papier Poudre, though she assured them that
+it was not for herself, but for one of the Seniors, whose name she had
+promised not to divulge, under pain of direst extremities. Poor Miss
+Franklin had an agitating hour escorting her flock from one department
+to another of the Stores and keeping them all as much as possible
+together. She breathed a sigh of relief when they were once more in the
+street, and walking two and two in a neat, well-conducted crocodile.
+They marched down Sandy Walks to the Market Place, and turned along the
+promenade to go back by the Cliff Road. In this autumn season there were
+generally very few people along the sea front, but to-day quite a crowd
+had collected on the sands. They were all standing gazing up into the
+sky, where an aeroplane was flitting about like a big dragon-fly. Now
+when a crowd exhibits agitation, bystanders naturally become curious as
+to what is the cause of the excitement. Miss Franklin, though a teacher,
+was human; moreover, she always suspected every aeroplane of being
+German in its origin. She called a halt, therefore, and enquired from
+one of the sky-gazers what was the matter.
+
+"It's Captain Devereux, the great French airman," was the reply. "He's
+just flown over from Paris, and he's been looping the loop. There! He's
+going to do it again!"
+
+Immensely thrilled, the girls stared cloudwards as the aeroplane, after
+describing several circles, turned a neat somersault. They clapped as if
+the performance had been specially given for their benefit.
+
+"He's coming down!" "He's going to descend!" "He'll land on the beach!"
+came in excited ejaculations from the crowd, as the aeroplane began
+gently to drop in a slanting direction towards the sands. Like the wings
+of some enormous bird the great planes whizzed by, and in another moment
+the machine was resting on a firm piece of shingle close to the
+promenade. Its near vicinity was quite too much for the girls; without
+waiting for permission they broke ranks and rushed down the steps to
+obtain a nearer view. Captain Devereux had alighted, and was now
+standing bowing with elaborate French politeness to the various
+strangers who addressed him, and answering their questions as to the
+length of time it had taken him to fly from Paris. He looked so
+courteous and good-tempered that a sudden idea flashed into Marjorie's
+head, and, without waiting to ask leave from Miss Franklin, she rushed
+up to the distinguished aviator and panted out impulsively:
+
+"Oh, I do think it was splendid! Will you please give me your
+autograph?"
+
+The Frenchman smiled.
+
+"With pleasure, Mademoiselle!" he replied gallantly, and, taking a
+notebook and fountain pen from his pocket, he wrote in a neat foreign
+hand:
+
+    "HENRI RAOUL DEVEREUX",
+
+and handed the slip to the delighted Marjorie.
+
+"Oh, write one for me, please!" "And for me!" exclaimed the other girls,
+anxious to have their share if autographs were being given away. The
+airman was good-natured, perhaps a little flattered at receiving so much
+attention from a bevy of young ladies. He rapidly scribbled his
+signature, tearing out sheet after sheet from his notebook. So excited
+were the girls that they would take no notice of Miss Franklin, who
+called them to order. It was not until the sixteenth damsel had received
+her coveted scrap of paper that discipline was restored, and the
+crocodile once more formed and marched off in the direction of
+Brackenfield.
+
+Miss Franklin's eyes were flashing, and her mouth was set. She did not
+speak on the way back, but at the gate her indignation found words.
+
+"I never was so ashamed in my life!" she burst forth. "I shall at once
+report your unladylike conduct to Mrs. Morrison. You're a disgrace to
+the school!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Trouble
+
+
+Marjorie and her fellow autograph collectors from St. Elgiva's entered
+the sitting-room in a state of much exhilaration, to boast of their
+achievement.
+
+"You didn't!" exclaimed Betty Moore. "You mean to say you ran up and
+asked him under Frankie's very nose? Marjorie, you are the limit!"
+
+"He was as nice as anything about it. I think he's a perfect dear. He
+didn't seem to mind at all, rather liked it, in fact! Here's his neat
+little signature. Do you want to look?"
+
+"Well, you have luck, though you needn't cock-a-doodle so dreadfully
+over it. How did Frankie take it?"
+
+"Oh, she was rather ratty, of course; but who cares? We've got our
+autographs, and that's the main thing. One has to risk something."
+
+"We'll get something, too, in my opinion," said Patricia Lennox, one of
+the sinners. "Frankie was worse than ratty, she was absolutely savage. I
+could see it in her eye."
+
+"Well, we can't help it if we do receive a few order marks. It was well
+worth it, in my opinion," chuckled Marjorie shamelessly.
+
+She bluffed things off before the other girls, but secretly she felt
+rather uneasy. Miss Franklin's threat to report the matter to Mrs.
+Morrison recurred to her memory. At Brackenfield to carry any question
+to the Principal was an extreme measure. The Empress liked her teachers
+to be able to manage their girls on their own authority, and, knowing
+this, they generally conducted their struggles without appeal to
+head-quarters. Any very flagrant breach of discipline, however, was
+expected to be reported, so that the case could be dealt with as it
+deserved.
+
+Marjorie went into the dining-hall for tea with a thrill akin to that
+which she usually suffered when visiting the dentist. To judge from
+their heightened colour and conspicuously callous manner, Rose Butler,
+Patricia Lennox, Phyllis Bingham, Laura Norris, Gertrude Holmes, and
+Evelyn Pickard were experiencing the same sensations. They fully
+expected to receive three order marks apiece, which would mean bed
+immediately after supper, instead of going to the needlework union. To
+their surprise Miss Franklin took no notice of them. She was sitting
+amongst the Juniors, and did not even look in their direction. They took
+care not to do anything which should attract attention to themselves,
+and the meal passed over in safety. Preparation followed immediately.
+Marjorie found the image of the aviator and Miss Franklin's outraged
+expression kept obtruding themselves through her studies, causing sad
+confusion amongst French irregular verbs, and driving the principal
+battles of the Civil Wars into the sidewalks of her memory. She made a
+valiant effort to pull herself together, and, looking up, caught Rose
+Butler's eye. Rose held up for a moment a piece of paper, upon which she
+had executed a fancy sketch of Captain Devereux and his aeroplane
+surrounded by schoolgirls, and Miss Franklin in the background raising
+hands of horror. It was too much for Marjorie's sense of humour, and she
+chuckled audibly. Miss Norton promptly glared in her direction, and gave
+her an order mark, which sobered her considerably.
+
+When preparation was over the girls changed their dresses and came down
+for supper, and again Miss Franklin took no notice of the sinners of the
+afternoon. They began to breathe more freely.
+
+"Perhaps she's going to overlook it," whispered Rose.
+
+"After all, I can't see that we did anything so very wrong," maintained
+Phyllis.
+
+"Frankie's jealous because she didn't get an autograph for herself,"
+chuckled Laura.
+
+"I don't believe we shall hear another word about it," asserted Evelyn.
+
+The interval between supper and prayers was spent by the girls in their
+own hostels. At present each house was busy with a needlework union.
+They were making articles for a small bazaar, that was to be held at the
+school in the spring in aid of the Red Cross Society. They sat and sewed
+while a mistress read a book aloud to them. Marjorie was embroidering a
+nightdress case in ribbon-work. She used a frame, and enjoyed pulling
+her ribbons through into semblance of little pink roses and blue
+forget-me-nots. In contrast with French verbs and the Civil Wars the
+occupation was soothing. Ever afterwards it was associated in her mind
+with the story of _Cranford_, which was being read aloud, and the very
+sight of ribbon-work would recall Miss Matty or the other quaint
+inhabitants of the old-world village.
+
+At ten minutes to nine a bell rang, sewing-baskets were put away, and
+the girls trooped into the big hall for prayers.
+
+If by that time any remembrance of her afternoon's misdeeds entered
+Marjorie's mind, it was to congratulate herself that the trouble had
+blown over successfully. She was certainly not prepared for what was to
+happen.
+
+Mrs. Morrison mounted the platform as usual, and read prayers, and the
+customary hymn followed. At its close, instead of dismissing the girls
+to their hostels, the Principal made a signal for them to resume their
+seats.
+
+"I have something to say to you this evening," she began gravely.
+"Something which I feel demands the presence of the whole school. It is
+with the very greatest regret I bring this matter before you.
+Brackenfield, as you are aware, will soon celebrate its tenth birthday.
+During all these years of its existence it has always prided itself upon
+the extremely high reputation in respect of manners and conduct which
+its pupils have maintained in the neighbourhood. So far, at
+Whitecliffe, the name of a Brackenfield girl has been synonymous with
+perfectly and absolutely ladylike behaviour. There are other schools in
+the town, and it is possible that there may be among them some spirit of
+rivalry towards Brackenfield. The inhabitants or visitors at Whitecliffe
+will naturally notice any party of girls who are proceeding in line
+through the town, they will note their school hats, observe their
+conduct, and judge accordingly the establishment from which they come.
+Every girl when on parade has the reputation of Brackenfield in her
+keeping. So strong has been the spirit not only of loyalty to the
+school, but of innate good breeding, that up to this day our traditions
+have never yet been broken. I say sorrowfully up till to-day, for this
+very afternoon an event has occurred which, in the estimation of myself
+and my colleagues, has trailed our Brackenfield standards in the dust.
+Sixteen girls, who under privilege of a parade exeat visited
+Whitecliffe, have behaved in a manner which fills me with astonishment
+and disgust. That they could so far forget themselves as to break line,
+rush on to the shore, crowd round and address a perfect stranger, passes
+my comprehension, and this under the eyes of two other schools who were
+walking along the promenade, and who must have been justly amazed and
+shocked. The girls who this afternoon were on exeat parade will kindly
+stand up."
+
+Sixteen conscience-stricken miserable sinners rose to their feet, and,
+feeling themselves the centre for more than two hundred pairs of eyes,
+yearned for the earth to yawn and swallow them up. Mrs. Morrison
+regarded them for a moment or two in silence.
+
+"Each of you will now go to her own house and fetch the autograph she
+secured," continued the mistress grimly. "I give you three minutes."
+
+There was a hurried exit, and the school sat and waited until the
+luckless sixteen returned.
+
+"Bring them to me!" commanded Mrs. Morrison, and in turn each girl
+handed over her slip of paper with the magic signature "Henri Raoul
+Devereux". The Principal placed them together, then, her eyes flashing,
+tore them into shreds.
+
+"Girls who have deliberately broken rules, defied the authority of my
+colleague, which is equivalent to defying me, and have lowered the
+prestige of the school in the eyes of the world, deserve the contempt of
+their comrades, who, I hope, will show their opinion of such conduct. I
+feel that any imposition I can give them is inadequate, and that their
+own sense of shame should be sufficient punishment; yet, in order to
+enforce the lesson, I shall expect each to recite ten lines of poetry to
+her House Mistress every morning before breakfast until the end of the
+term; and Marjorie Anderson, who, I understand, was the instigator of
+the whole affair, will spend Saturday afternoon indoors until she has
+copied out the whole of Bacon's essay on 'Empire'. You may go now."
+
+Marjorie slunk off to St. Elgiva's in an utterly wretched frame of mind.
+It was bad enough to be reproved in company with fifteen others, but to
+be singled out for special condemnation and held up to obloquy before
+all the school was terrible. In spite of herself hot tears were in her
+eyes. She tried to blink them back, for crying was scouted at
+Brackenfield, but just at that moment she came across Rose, Phyllis,
+Laura, and Gertrude weeping openly in a corner.
+
+"I'll never hold up my head again!" gulped Phyllis. "Oh, the Empress was
+cross! And I'm sure it was all because those wretched girls from 'Hope
+Hall' and 'The Birches' were walking along the promenade and saw us. If
+they'd had any sense they'd have rushed down and asked for autographs
+for themselves."
+
+"It was mean of the Empress to tear ours up!" moaned Gertrude. "I call
+that a piece of temper on her part!"
+
+"And after all, I don't see that we did anything so very dreadful!"
+choked Rose. "Mrs. Morrison was awfully down on us!"
+
+"I hate learning poetry before breakfast!" wailed Laura.
+
+"I'm the worst off," sighed Marjorie. "I've got to spend Saturday
+afternoon pen-driving, and it's the match with Holcombe. I'm just the
+unluckiest girl in the whole school. Strafe it all! It's a grizzly
+nuisance. I should like to slay myself!"
+
+To Marjorie no punishment was greater than being forced to stay indoors.
+She was essentially an open-air girl, and after a long morning in the
+schoolroom her whole soul craved for the playing-fields. She had taken
+up hockey with the utmost enthusiasm. She keenly enjoyed the practices,
+and was deeply interested in the matches played by the school team. The
+event on Saturday afternoon was considered to be of special importance,
+for Brackenfield was to play the First Eleven of the Holcombe Ladies'
+Club. They had rather a good reputation, and the game would probably be
+a stiff tussle. Every Brackenfielder considered it her duty to be
+present to watch the match and encourage the School Eleven.
+
+Marjorie would have given worlds to evade her punishment task that
+Saturday, but Mrs. Morrison's orders were as the laws of the Medes and
+Persians that cannot be altered, so she was policed to the St. Elgiva's
+sitting-room by Miss Norton, and provided with sheets of exercise paper
+and a copy of Bacon's _Essays_.
+
+"I shall expect it to be finished by tea-time," said the mistress
+briefly. "If not, you will have to stay in again on Monday."
+
+Marjorie frowned at the threat of further confinement, and settled
+herself with rather aggressive slowness. She was in a pixy mood, and did
+not mean to show any special haste in beginning her unwelcome work. Miss
+Norton glared at her, but made no further remark, and with a glance at
+the clock left the room. All the girls had already gone to the
+hockey-field, and Marjorie had St. Elgiva's to herself. She opened the
+book languidly, found Essay XIX, "Of Empire", and groaned.
+
+"It'll take me the whole afternoon, strafe it all!" she muttered. "I
+wish Francis Bacon had never existed! I wonder the Empress didn't tell
+me to write an essay on Aeroplanes. If I drew them all round the edges
+of the pages, I wonder what would happen? I'd love to do it, and put
+Captain Devereux's picture at the end! I expect I'd get expelled if I
+did. Oh dear! It's a weary world! I wish I were old enough to leave
+school and drive a transport wagon. Have I got to stop here till I'm
+eighteen? Another two years and a half, nearly! It gives me spasms to
+think of it!"
+
+She dipped her pen in the ink and copied:
+
+"It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire, and many
+things to fear."
+
+"I agree with old Bacon," she commented. "Only I've got great heaps of
+things to desire, and the one I want most at present is to go to the
+hockey match. I wish his shade would come and help me! They didn't play
+hockey in his days, so it would be a new experience for him. Francis
+Bacon, I command you to give me a hand with your wretched essay, and
+I'll take you to the match in return!"
+
+A smart rap-tap on the window behind her made Marjorie start and turn
+round in a hurry. Her invocation, however, had not called up the ghostly
+countenance of the defunct Sir Francis to face her; it was Dona's
+roguish-looking eyes which twinkled at her from the other side of the
+pane.
+
+"Open the window!" ordered that damsel.
+
+Marjorie obeyed in much amazement. Dona was standing at the top of a
+ladder which just reached to the window-sill.
+
+"Old Williams has been clipping the ivy," she explained, "so I've
+commandeered his ladder. I haven't broken any rules. I've never been
+told that I mustn't get up a ladder."
+
+The girls' sitting-room at St. Elgiva's was on the upper floor, and
+members of other houses were strictly forbidden to mount the stairs.
+Marjorie laughed at Dona's evasion of the edict.
+
+"Give me a hand and I'll toddle in," continued the latter. "Steady oh!
+Don't pull too hard. Here I am!"
+
+"Glad to see you, but you'll get into a jinky little row if the Acid
+Drop catches you!"
+
+"Right oh, chucky! The Acid Drop is at this moment watching the team for
+all she's worth. She's awfully keen on hockey."
+
+"I know. And so am I," said Marjorie aggrievedly. "It's the limit to
+miss this match."
+
+"You're not going to miss it altogether. I've come to help you. Here,
+give me a pen, and I'll copy some of the stuff out for you. Our
+writing's so alike no one will guess--and you'll get out at half-time."
+
+"You mascot! But you're missing the match yourself!"
+
+"I don't care twopence. I'm not keen on hockey like you are. Give me a
+pen, I tell you!"
+
+"But how are we to manage?" objected Marjorie. "If we do alternate pages
+we shan't each know where to begin, and we can't leave spaces, or the
+Acid Drop would twig."
+
+"Marjorie Anderson, I always thought you'd more brains than I have, but
+you're not clever to-day! You must write small, so as to get each line
+of print exactly into a line of exercise paper. There are twenty blue
+lines on each sheet--very well then, you copy the first twenty of old
+Bacon, and I'll copy the second twenty, and there we are, alternate
+pages, as neat as you please!"
+
+"Dona, you've a touch of genius about you!" purred Marjorie.
+
+The plan answered admirably. By writing small, it was quite possible to
+bring each line of print into correspondence with the manuscript. There
+were a hundred and twenty lines altogether in the essay, which worked
+out at six pages of exercise paper. Each counted out her own portion,
+then scribbled away as fast as was consistent with keeping the size of
+her caligraphy within due bounds. Thirty-five minutes' hard work brought
+them to the last word. Marjorie breathed a sigh of rapture, fastened the
+pages together with a clip, and took them downstairs to Miss Norton's
+study.
+
+"You're an absolute trump, old girl!" she said to Dona.
+
+The latter, meantime, had run downstairs and removed the ladder back to
+where she had found it, so that no trace of her little adventure should
+be left behind. The two girls hurried off to the playing-field, but took
+care not to approach together, in case of awakening suspicions.
+
+Everybody's attention was so concentrated on the match that Marjorie
+slipped into a crowd of Intermediates unnoticed by mistresses. She was
+in time for part of the game, and keenly enjoyed watching a brilliant
+run by Daisy Edwards, and a terrific tussle on the back line resulting
+in a splendid shot by Hilda Alworthy. When the whistle blew for time the
+score stood six goals to three, Brackenfield leading, and Marjorie
+joined with enthusiasm in the cheers. She loitered a little in the
+field, and came back among the last. Miss Norton, who was standing in
+the hall, looked at her keenly as she entered St. Elgiva's, but the
+teacher had just found the essay "Of Empire" laid on her desk, and,
+turning it over, had marked it correct. If she had any suspicions she
+did not voice them, but allowed the matter to pass.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Dormitory No. 9
+
+
+After the sad fiasco recorded in the last chapter, Marjorie's interest
+in autographs languished. She took up photography instead, and bartered
+a quite nice little collection of foreign stamps with one of the Seniors
+in exchange for a second-hand Kodak. Of course, it was much too late in
+the year for snapshots, but she managed to get a few time exposures on
+bright days, and enjoyed herself afterwards in the developing-room. She
+wanted to make a series of views of the school and send them to her
+father and to her brothers, for she knew how much they appreciated such
+things at the front. In his last letter to her, Daddy had said: "I am
+glad you and Dona are happy at Brackenfield, and wish I could picture
+you there. I expect it is something like a boys' school. Tell me about
+your doings. I love to have your letters, even though I may not have
+time to answer them."
+
+Daddy's letters were generally of the round-robin description, and were
+handed on from one member to another of the family, but this had been
+specially written to Marjorie and addressed to Brackenfield, so it was a
+great treasure. She determined to do her best to satisfy the demands for
+photos.
+
+"You darling!" she said, kissing his portrait. "I think you're a
+thousand times nicer-looking than any of the other girls' fathers! I do
+wonder when you'll get leave and come home. If it's not in the holidays
+I declare I'll run away and see you!"
+
+In her form Marjorie was making fair progress. She liked Miss Duckworth,
+her teacher, and on the whole did not find the work too hard; her brains
+were bright when she chose to use them, and at present the thought of
+the Christmas report, which would be sent out for Daddy to look at,
+spurred on her efforts. So far Marjorie had not made any very great
+chums at school. She inclined to Mollie Simpson, but Mollie, like
+herself, was of a rather masterful disposition, and squabbles almost
+invariably ensued before the two had been long together. With the three
+girls who shared her dormitory she was on quite friendly, though not
+warm, terms. They had at first considered Marjorie inclined to "boss",
+and had made her thoroughly understand that, as a new girl, such an
+attitude could not be tolerated in her. So long as she was content to
+manage her own cubicle and not theirs they were pleasant enough, but
+they united in a firm triumvirate of resistance whenever symptoms of
+swelled head began to arise in their room-mate.
+
+One evening about the end of November the four girls were dressing for
+supper in their dormitory.
+
+"It's a grizzly nuisance having to change one's frock!" groused Betty
+Moore. "It seems so silly to array oneself in white just to eat supper
+and do a little sewing afterwards. I hate the bother."
+
+"Do you?" exclaimed Irene Andrews. "Now I like it. I think it would be
+perfectly piggy to wear the same serge dress from breakfast to bedtime.
+Brackenfield scores over some schools in that. They certainly make
+things nice for us in the evenings."
+
+"Um--yes, tolerably," put in Sylvia Page. "We don't get enough music, in
+my opinion."
+
+"We have a concert every Saturday night, and charades on Wednesdays for
+those who care to act."
+
+"I'd like gym practice every evening," said Betty. "Then I needn't
+change my frock. When I leave school I mean to go on a farm, and wear
+corduroy knickers and leggings and thick boots all the time. It'll be
+gorgeous. I love anything to do with horses, so perhaps they'll let me
+plough. What shall you do, Marjorie?"
+
+"Something to help the war, if it isn't over. I'll nurse, or drive a
+wagon, or ride a motor-bike with dispatches."
+
+"I'd rather ride a horse than a bike any day," said Betty. "I used to
+hunt before the war. You needn't smile. I was twelve when the war began,
+and I'd been hunting since I was seven, and got my first pony. It was a
+darling little brown Shetland named Sheila. I cried oceans when it died.
+My next was a grey one named Charlie, and Tom, our coachman, taught me
+to take fences. He put up some little hurdles in a field, and kept
+making them higher and higher till I could get Charlie over quite well.
+Oh, it was sport! I wish I'd a pony here."
+
+"There used to be riding lessons before the war," sighed Irene. "Mother
+had promised me I should learn. But now, of course, there are no horses
+to be had, and the riding-master, Mr. Hall, has gone to the front. I
+wonder if things will ever be the same again? If I don't learn to ride
+properly while I'm young I'll never have a decent seat afterwards, I
+suppose."
+
+"You certainly won't," Betty assured her. "You ought to have begun when
+you were seven."
+
+"Oh dear! And I shall be sixteen on Wednesday!"
+
+"Is it your birthday next Wednesday?"
+
+"Yes, but it won't be much fun. We're not allowed to do anything
+particular, worse luck."
+
+It was one of the Brackenfield rules that no notice must be taken of
+birthdays. Girls might receive presents from home, but they were not to
+claim any special privileges or exemptions, to ask for exeats, or to
+bring cakes into the dining-hall. In a school of more than two hundred
+pupils it would have been difficult continually to make allowances first
+to one girl and then to another, and though in a sense all recognized
+the necessity of the rule, those whose birthdays fell during term-time
+bemoaned their hard fate.
+
+It struck Marjorie as a very cheerless proceeding. She found an
+opportunity, when Irene was out of the way, to talk to her room-mates on
+the subject.
+
+"Look here," she began. "It's Renie's birthday on Wednesday. I do think
+it's the limit that we're not supposed to take any notice of it. I vote
+we get up a little blow-out on our own for her. Let's have a beano after
+we're in bed."
+
+"What a blossomy idea! Good for you, Marjorie! I'm your man if there's
+any fun on foot," agreed Betty enthusiastically.
+
+"It'll be lovely; but how are we going to manage the catering
+department?" enquired Sylvia.
+
+"Some of the Juniors will be going on parade to Whitecliffe on
+Wednesday. I'll ask Dona to ask them to get a few things for us. We must
+have a cake, and some candles, and some cocoa, and some condensed milk,
+and anything else they can smuggle. Are you game?"
+
+"Rather! If you'll undertake to be general of the commissariat
+department."
+
+"All serene! Don't say a word about it to anyone else at St. Elgiva's.
+I'll swear Dona to secrecy, and the St. Ethelberta kids aren't likely to
+tell. They do the same themselves sometimes. And don't on any account
+let Renie have wind of it. It's to be a surprise."
+
+On Wednesday evening, before supper, Marjorie met Dona by special
+appointment in the gymnasium, and the latter hastily thrust a parcel
+into her arms.
+
+"You wouldn't believe what difficulty I had to get it," she whispered.
+"Mona and Peachy weren't at all willing. They said they didn't see why
+they should take risks for St. Elgiva's, and you might run your own
+beano. I had to bribe them with ever so many of my best crests before I
+could make them promise. They say Miss Jones has got suspicious now
+about bulgy coats, and actually feels them. They have to sling bags
+under their skirts and it's so uncomfy walking home. However, they did
+their best for you. There's a cake, and three boxes of Christmas-tree
+candles, and a tin of condensed milk. They couldn't get the cocoa,
+because just as they were going to buy it Miss Jones came up.
+Everything's dearer, and you didn't give them enough. Mona paid, and you
+owe her fivepence halfpenny extra."
+
+"I'll give it you to-morrow at lunch-time. Thank them both most awfully.
+I think they're regular trumps. I'll give them some of my crests if they
+like--I'm not really collecting and don't want them. Think of us about
+midnight if you happen to wake. I wish you could join us."
+
+"So do I. But that's quite out of the question. Never mind; we have bits
+of fun ourselves sometimes."
+
+Marjorie managed to convey her parcel unnoticed to No. 9 Dormitory.
+According to arrangement, Betty and Sylvia were waiting there for her.
+Irene, still oblivious of the treat in store for her, had not yet come
+upstairs. The three confederates undid their package, and gloated over
+its contents. The cake was quite a respectable one for war-time, to
+judge from appearances it had cherries in it, and there was a piece of
+candied peel on the top. The little boxes of Christmas-tree candles held
+half a dozen apiece, assorted colours. They took sixteen of them,
+sharpened the ends, and stuck them down into the cake.
+
+"When it's lighted it will look A 1," purred Betty.
+
+"How are we going to open the tin of condensed milk?" asked Sylvia.
+
+"It's one of those tins you prise up," said Marjorie jauntily. "Give it
+to me. A penny's the best weapon. Here you are! Quite easy."
+
+"Yes, but there's another lid underneath. You're not at the milk yet."
+
+Marjorie's feathers began to fall. She was not quite as clever as she
+had thought.
+
+"Here, I'll do it," said Betty, snatching the tin. "Take down a picture
+and pull the nail out of the wall, and give me a boot to hammer with.
+You've to go through this arrow point and then the thing prises up.
+Steady! Here we are!"
+
+"Cave! Renie's coming. Stick the things away!"
+
+Marjorie hastily seized the feast, and bestowed it inside her wardrobe.
+Thanks to the drawn curtains of her cubicle Irene had not obtained even
+a glimpse.
+
+"What are you three doing inside there?" she asked curiously, but no one
+would tell. The secret was not to be given away too soon.
+
+The conspirators had decided that it would be wiser not to ask any other
+girls to join the party, but to keep the affair entirely to their own
+dormitory.
+
+"They'll make such a noise if we have them in, and it will wake the Acid
+Drop and bring her down upon us," said Sylvia.
+
+"Besides which, it's only a small cake and wouldn't go round," stated
+Betty practically.
+
+Irene went to bed in a fit of the blues. Only half her presents had
+turned up, and two of her aunts had not written to her.
+
+"It's been a rotten birthday," she groaned. "I knew it would be hateful
+having it at school. Why wasn't I born in the holidays? There ought to
+be a law regulating births to certain times of the year. If I were head
+of a school I'd let every girl go home for her birthday. Don't speak to
+me! I feel scratchy!"
+
+Her room-mates chuckled, and for the present left her alone. Sylvia
+began to sing a song about tears turning to smiles and sorrow to joy,
+until Irene begged her to stop.
+
+"It's the limit to-night! When I'm blue the one thing I can't stand is
+anybody trying to cheer me up. It gets on my nerves!"
+
+"Sleep it off, old sport!" laughed Marjorie. "I don't mind betting that
+when you wake up you'll feel in a very different frame of mind."
+
+At which remark the others spluttered.
+
+"You'll find illumination, in fact," hinnied Betty.
+
+"I think you're all most unkind!" quavered Irene.
+
+The confederates had decided to wait until the magic hour of midnight
+before they began their beano. They felt it was wiser to give Miss
+Norton plenty of time to go to bed and fall asleep. She often sat up
+late in the study reading, and they did not care to risk a visit from
+her. A bracket clock on the stairs sounded the quarters, and Marjorie,
+as the lightest sleeper, undertook to keep awake and listen to its
+chimes. It was rather difficult not to doze when the room was dark and
+her companions were breathing quietly and regularly in the other beds.
+The time between the quarters seemed interminable. At eleven o'clock she
+heard Miss Norton walk along the corridor and go into her bedroom. After
+that no other sound disturbed the establishment, and Marjorie repeated
+poetry and even dates and French verbs to keep herself awake.
+
+At last the clock chimed its full range and struck twelve times. She sat
+up and felt for the matches.
+
+Betty and Sylvia, who had gone to sleep prepared, woke with the light,
+but it was a more difficult matter to rouse Irene. She turned over in
+bed and grunted, and they were obliged to haul her into a sitting
+position before she would open her eyes.
+
+"What's the matter? Zepps?" she asked drowsily.
+
+"No, no; it's your birthday party. Look!" beamed the others.
+
+On a chair by her bedside stood the cake, resplendent with its sixteen
+little lighted candles, and also the tin of condensed milk. Irene
+blinked at them in amazement.
+
+"Jubilate! What a frolicsome joke!" she exclaimed. "I say, this is
+awfully decent of you!"
+
+"We told you you'd wake up in better spirits, old sport!" purred
+Marjorie. "I flatter myself those candles look rather pretty. You can
+tell your fortune by blowing them out."
+
+"It's a shame to touch them," objected Irene.
+
+"But we want some cake," announced Betty and Sylvia.
+
+"Go on, give a good puff!" prompted Marjorie. "Then we can count how
+many you've blown out. Five! This year, next year, some time, never!
+This year! Goody! You'll have to be quick about it. It's almost time to
+be putting up the banns. Now again. Tinker, tailor, soldier! Lucky you!
+My plum stones generally give me beggar-man or thief. Silk, satin,
+muslin, rags; silk, satin! You've got all the luck to-night. Coach,
+carriage! You're not blowing fair, Renie! You did that on purpose so
+that it shouldn't come wheelbarrow! Only one candle left--let's leave it
+lighted while we cut the rest."
+
+Everybody agreed that the cake was delicious. They felt they had never
+tasted a better in their lives, although it was a specimen of war-time
+cookery.
+
+"I wish we could have got some cocoa," sighed Betty. "I tried to borrow
+a little and a spirit lamp from Meg Hutchinson, but she says they can't
+get any methylated spirit now."
+
+"Condensed milk is delicious by itself," suggested Sylvia.
+
+"Sorry we haven't a spoon," apologized Marjorie.
+
+For lack of other means of getting at their sweet delicacy the girls
+dipped lead-pencils into the condensed milk and took what they could.
+
+"It's rather like white honey," decided Betty after a critical taste.
+"Yes--I certainly think it's quite topping. It makes me think of Russian
+toffee."
+
+"Don't speak of toffee. We haven't made any since sugar went short.
+Jemima! I shall eat heaps when the war's over!"
+
+"You greedy pig! You ought to leave it for the soldiers."
+
+"But there won't be any soldiers then."
+
+"Yes, there'll be some for years and years afterwards. They'll take some
+time, you know, to get well in the hospitals."
+
+"Then there's a chance for me to nurse," exclaimed Marjorie. "I'm always
+so afraid the war will all be over before I've left school, and----"
+
+"I say, what's that noise?" interrupted Irene anxiously. "If the Acid
+Drop drops on us she'll be very acid indeed."
+
+For reply, Marjorie popped the condensed milk tin into her wardrobe,
+blew out the candle, and hopped into bed post-haste, an example which
+was followed by the others with equal dispatch. They were only just in
+time, for a moment later the door opened, and Miss Norton, clad in a
+blue dressing-gown, flashed her torchlight into the room. Seeing the
+girls all in bed, and apparently fast asleep, she did not enter, but
+closed the door softly, and they heard her footsteps walking away down
+the corridor.
+
+"A near shave!" murmured Marjorie.
+
+"Sh! sh! Don't let's talk. She may come back and listen outside,"
+whispered Sylvia, with a keen distrust for Miss Norton's notions of
+vigilance.
+
+Next morning the girls in No. 8 Dormitory mentioned that they had heard
+a noise during the night.
+
+"Somebody walked down the passage," proclaimed Lennie Jackson. "Enid
+thought it was a ghost."
+
+"I thought it was somebody walking in her sleep," maintained Daisy Shaw.
+
+"Oh, how horrid!" shivered Barbara Wright. "I'd be scared to death of
+anyone sleep-walking. I'd rather meet a ghost any day."
+
+"Did you see somebody?" enquired Betty casually.
+
+"No, it was only what we heard--stealthy footsteps, you know, that moved
+softly along, just as they're described in a horrible book I read in the
+holidays--_The Somnambulist_ it was called--about a man who was always
+going about in the night with fixed, stony eyes, and appearing on the
+tops of roofs and all sorts of spooky places. It gives me the creeps to
+think of it. Ugh!"
+
+"When people walk in their sleep it's fearfully dangerous to awaken
+them," commented Daisy.
+
+"Is it? Why?"
+
+"Oh, it gives them such a terrible shock, they often don't get over it
+for ages! You ought to take them gently by the hand and lead them back
+to bed."
+
+"And suppose they won't go?"
+
+"Ask me a harder! I say, there's the second bell. Scootons nous vite! Do
+you want to get an order mark?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A Sensation
+
+
+"Look here," said Betty to her room-mates that evening, "those poor
+girls in No. 8 are just yearning for a sensation. Don't you think we
+ought to be philanthropic and supply it for them?"
+
+"Yearning for a what?" asked Marjorie, pausing with a sponge in her hand
+and reaching for the towel.
+
+"Yearning for a sensation," repeated Betty. "Life at an ordinary
+boarding-school is extremely dull. 'The daily round, the common task',
+is apt to pall. What we all crave for is change, and especially change
+of a spicy, unexpected sort that makes you jump."
+
+"I don't want to jump, thanks."
+
+"Perhaps you don't, but those girls in No. 8 do. They're longing for
+absolute creeps--only a ghost, or a burglar, or an air raid, or
+something really stirring, would content them."
+
+"I'm afraid they'll have to go discontented then."
+
+"Certainly not. As I remarked before, we ought to be philanthropic and
+provide a little entertainment to cheer them up. I have a plan."
+
+"Proceed, O Queen, and disclose it then."
+
+"Barbara Wright suggested it to me--not intentionally, of course. We'll
+play a rag on them. One of us must pretend to sleep-walk and go into
+their room. It ought to give them spasms. Do you catch on?"
+
+"Rather!" replied the others.
+
+"But who's going to do the sleep-walking business?" asked Irene.
+
+"Marjorie's the best actress. We'll leave it to her. Give us a specimen
+now, old sport, and show us how you'll do it. Oh, that's ripping! It'll
+take them in no end. I should like to see Barbara's face."
+
+Marjorie was always perfectly ready for anything in the way of a
+practical joke, especially if it were a new variety. The girls had grown
+rather tired of apple-pie beds or sewn-up nightdress sleeves, but nobody
+had yet thought of somnambulism.
+
+"I'm not going to stop awake again, though, until twelve," she objected.
+"I had enough of it last night. It's somebody else's turn."
+
+"Whoever happens to wake must call the others," suggested Irene.
+
+"We'll leave it at that," they agreed.
+
+For two successive nights, however, all four girls slept soundly until
+the seven-o'clock bell rang. They were generally tired, and none of them
+suffered from insomnia. On the third night Betty heard the clock strike
+two, and, going into Marjorie's cubicle, tickled her awake.
+
+"Get up! You've got to act Lady Macbeth!" she urged. "Best opportunity
+for a star performance you've ever had in your life. You'll take the
+house."
+
+"I'm so sleepy," yawned Marjorie. "And," putting one foot out of bed,
+"it's so beastly cold!"
+
+"Never mind, the fun will be worth it. We're going to wait about to hear
+them squeal. It'll be precious. No, you musn't put on your dressing-gown
+and bedroom slippers--sleep-walkers never do--you must go as you are."
+
+"Play up, Marjorie!" decreed the others, who were also awake.
+
+Thus encouraged, Marjorie rose to the occasion and began to act her
+part. There was one difficulty to be overcome. At night a lamp was left
+burning in the corridor, but the bedrooms were in darkness. How were the
+occupants of No. 8 going to see her? They must be decoyed somehow from
+their beds. She decided to open the door of their room so as to let in a
+little light, then enter, walk round their cubicles, and go out again on
+to the landing, where she hoped they would follow her. Softly she
+entered the door of No. 8, and advanced in a dramatic attitude with
+outstretched hands, in imitation of a picture she had once seen of Lady
+Macbeth. The light from the corridor, though dim, was quite sufficient
+to render objects distinct. At the first stealthy steps Daisy Shaw awoke
+promptly. Her shuddering little squeal aroused the others, and they
+gazed spellbound at the white-robed figure parading in ghostly fashion
+round their room. Avoiding the furniture, Marjorie, with arms still
+outstretched, tacked back into the corridor. Exactly as she had
+anticipated, the girls rose and followed her. They were huddled together
+at the door of their dormitory, watching her with awestruck faces, when
+an awful thing happened. Another door opened, and Miss Norton, blue
+dressing-gown and bedroom slippers and all, appeared on the scene.
+
+"What's the matter?" she asked sharply.
+
+"Marjorie Anderson's walking in her sleep!" whispered the girls.
+
+Now in this horrible emergency Marjorie had to act promptly or not at
+all. She decided that her best course was to go on shamming
+somnambulism. She walked down the corridor, therefore, with a rapid,
+stealthy step.
+
+Miss Norton turned on the frightened girls, and, whispering: "Don't
+disturb her on any account!" followed in the wake of her pupil.
+
+Then began a most exciting promenade. Marjorie, with eyes set in a stony
+glare, marched downstairs into the hall. She stood for a moment by the
+front door, as if speculating whether to unlock it or not. She could
+hear Miss Norton breathing just behind her, and was almost tempted to
+try the experiment of shooting back at least one bolt, but decided it
+was wiser not to run the risk. Instead she walked into the house
+mistress's study, turned over a few papers in an abstracted fashion,
+threw them back on to the table, and went towards the window. Here again
+Miss Norton shadowed her closely, evidently suspecting that she had
+designs of opening it and climbing out. She turned round, however, and,
+with apparently unseeing eyes, stared in the teacher's face, and stole
+stealthily back up the stairs. At her own bedroom door she paused, in
+seeming uncertainty as to whether to enter or not. Miss Norton laid a
+gentle hand on her arm, and guided her quietly into her room and towards
+her bed. Marjorie decided to take the hint. Wandering about in a
+nightdress, with bare feet, was a very cold performance, and it was all
+she could do to prevent herself from palpably shivering. Keeping up her
+part, she gave a gentle little sigh, got into bed, laid her head on her
+pillow, and closed her eyes. She could feel Miss Norton pulling the
+clothes over her, and, with another quivering sigh, she sank apparently
+into deepest slumber. The teacher stayed a few minutes watching her,
+then, as she never moved, went very quietly away and closed the door
+after her.
+
+Nothing was said at head-quarters next morning about the night's
+adventures, but Miss Norton looked rather carefully at Marjorie, asked
+her if she felt well, and told her she was to go to Nurse Hall every day
+at eleven in the Ambulance Room for a dose of tonic. Marjorie, who had
+not intended her practical joke to run to such lengths, felt rather
+ashamed of herself, but dared not confess.
+
+"There'd be a terrific scene if Norty knew," she said to Betty, and
+Betty agreed with her.
+
+In the afternoon, when Marjorie ran up to her cubicle for a
+pocket-handkerchief, to her surprise she found Mrs. Morrison there
+superintending a man who was measuring the window. She wondered why, for
+nothing, apparently, was wrong with it; but nobody dared ask questions
+of the Empress, so she took her clean handkerchief and fled. Later on
+that day she learned the reason.
+
+"We're to have brass bars across our window," Sylvia informed her. "I
+heard the Empress and the Acid Drop talking about it. They're fearfully
+expensive in war-time, but the Empress said: 'Well, the expense cannot
+be helped; I daren't risk letting the poor child jump through the
+window. Her door must certainly be locked every night.' And Norty said:
+'Yes, it's a very dangerous thing.'"
+
+"Are they putting the bars up for me?" exclaimed Marjorie.
+
+"Of course. Don't you see, they think you walk in your sleep and might
+kill yourself unless you're protected. Nice thing it'll be to have bars
+across our window and our door locked at night. It will feel like
+prison. I wish to goodness you'd never played such a trick!"
+
+"Well, I'm sure you all wanted me to. It wasn't my idea to begin with,"
+retorted Marjorie.
+
+Great was the indignation in No. 9 at the prospect of this defacement of
+their pretty window. The girls talked the matter over.
+
+"Something's got to be done!" said Betty decidedly.
+
+[Illustration: THEY WERE HUDDLED TOGETHER, WATCHING HER WITH AWESTRUCK
+FACES]
+
+"Yes," groaned Marjorie, "I shall have to own up. There's nothing else
+for it. But I'm not going to tell the Acid Drop. I'm going straight to
+the Empress herself. She'll be the more decent of the two."
+
+"I believe you're right," agreed Betty. "Look here, it was my idea, so
+I'm going with you."
+
+"And I was in it too," said Irene.
+
+"And so was I," said Sylvia.
+
+"Then we'll all four go in a body," decided Betty. "Come along, let's
+beard the lioness in her den and get it over."
+
+Mrs. Morrison was extremely surprised at the tale the girls had to tell.
+She frowned, but looked considerably relieved.
+
+"As you have told me yourselves I will let it pass," she commented, "but
+you must each give me your word of honour that there shall be no more of
+these silly practical jokes. I don't consider it at all clever to try to
+frighten your companions. Jokes such as these sometimes have very
+serious results. Will you each promise?"
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Morrison, on my honour," replied four meek voices in chorus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+St. Ethelberta's
+
+
+The immediate result to Marjorie of her mock somnambulistic adventure
+was that she got a very bad cold in her head, due no doubt to walking
+about the passages with bare feet and only her nightdress on. It was
+highly aggravating, because she was considered an invalid, and her
+Wednesday exeat was cancelled. She had to watch from the infirmary
+window when Dona, escorted by Miss Jones, started off for The Tamarisks.
+Dona waved a sympathetic good-bye as she passed. She was a kind-hearted
+little soul, and genuinely sorry for Marjorie, though it was rather a
+treat for her to have Elaine quite to herself for the afternoon. Mrs.
+Anderson had been justified in her satisfaction that the sisters had not
+been placed in the same hostel. In Marjorie's presence Dona was nothing
+but an echo or a shadow, with no personality of her own. At St.
+Ethelberta's, however, she had begun in her quiet way to make a place
+for herself. She was already quite a favourite among her house-mates.
+They teased her a little, but in quite a good-tempered fashion, and
+Dona, accustomed to the continual banter of a large family, took all
+chaffing with the utmost calm. She was happier at school than she had
+expected to be. Miss Jones, the hostel mistress, was genial and
+warm-hearted, and kept well in touch with her girls. She talked to them
+about their various hobbies, and was herself interested in so many
+different things that she could give valuable hints on photography,
+bookbinding, raffia-plaiting, poker-work, chip-carving, stencilling,
+pen-painting, or any other of the handicrafts in which the Juniors
+dabbled. She was artistic, and had done quite a nice pastel portrait of
+Belle Miller, whose Burne-Jones profile and auburn hair made her an
+excellent model. Miss Jones had no lack of sitters when she felt
+disposed to paint, for every girl in the house would have been only too
+flattered to be asked.
+
+Dona was a greater success in her hostel than in the schoolroom. After
+her easy lessons with a daily governess she found the standard of her
+form extremely high. She was not fond of exerting her brains, and her
+exercises were generally full of "howlers". Miss Clark, her form
+mistress, was apt to wax eloquent over her mistakes, but she took the
+teacher's sarcasms with the same stolidity as the girls' teasings. It
+was a saying in the class that nothing could knock sparks out of Dona.
+Yet she possessed a certain reserve of shrewd common sense which was
+sometimes apt to astonish people. If she took the trouble to evolve a
+plan she generally succeeded in carrying it out.
+
+Now on this particular afternoon when she went alone to The Tamarisks
+she had a very special scheme in her head. She had struck up an
+immensely hot friendship with a Scottish girl named Ailsa Donald, whose
+tastes resembled her own. Dona was in No. 2 Dormitory and Ailsa in No.
+5, and it was the ambition of both to be placed together in adjoining
+cubicles. Miss Jones sometimes allowed changes to be made, but, as it
+happened, nobody in No. 2 was willing to give up her bed to Ailsa or in
+No. 5 to yield place to Dona, so the chums must perforce remain apart.
+They spent every available moment of the day together, but after the
+9.15 bell they separated.
+
+Dona had asked each of her room-mates to consider whether No. 5 was not
+really a more sunny, airy, and comfortable bedroom than No. 2.
+
+"The dressing-tables are bigger," she urged to Mona Kenworthy. "You'd
+have far more room to spread out your bottles of scent and hairwash and
+cremolia and things."
+
+"Thanks, I've plenty of room where I am, and my things are all nicely
+settled. I'm not going to move for anybody, and that's flat," returned
+Mona.
+
+Dona next tackled Nellie Mason, and suggested warily that No. 5, being
+farther away from Miss Jones's bedroom, afforded greater opportunities
+for laughter and jokes without so much danger of being pounced upon. Her
+fish, however, refused to swallow the tempting bait, and Beatrice
+Elliot, whom she also sounded on the subject, was equally inflexible.
+
+Most girls would have accepted the inevitable, but Dona was not to be
+vanquished. She had a dark plan at the bottom of her mind, and consulted
+Elaine about it that afternoon. Elaine laughed, waxed enthusiastic, and
+suggested a visit to a bird-fancier's shop down in the town. It was a
+queer little place, with cages full of canaries in the window, and an
+aquarium, and some delightful fox-terrier puppies and Persian kittens on
+sale, also a squirrel which was running round and round in a kind of
+revolving wheel.
+
+Elaine and Dona entered, and asked for white mice.
+
+"Mice?" said the old man in charge. "I've got a pair here that will just
+suit you. They're real beauties, they are. Tame? They'll eat off your
+hand. Look here!"
+
+He fumbled under the counter, and brought out a cage, from which he
+produced two fine and plump specimens of the mouse tribe. They justified
+his eulogy, for they allowed Dona to handle them and stroke them without
+exhibiting any signs of fear or displeasure.
+
+"Suppose I were to let them run about the room," she enquired, "could I
+get them back into their cage again?"
+
+"Easy as anything, missie. All you've got to do is to put a bit of
+cheese inside. They'll smell it directly, and come running home, and
+then you shut the door on them. They'll do anything for cheese. Give
+them plenty of sawdust to burrow in, and some cotton-wool to make a
+nest, and they're perfectly happy. Shall I wrap the cage up in brown
+paper for you?"
+
+Dona issued from the shop carrying her parcel, and with a bland smile
+upon her face.
+
+"If these don't clear Mona out of No. 2 I don't know what will," she
+chuckled.
+
+"How are you going to smuggle them in to Brackenfield?" enquired Elaine.
+"I think all parcels that you take in are examined. You can't put a cage
+of mice in your pocket or under your skirt."
+
+"I've thought of that," returned Dona. "You and Auntie are going to take
+me back to-night. I shall pop the parcel under a laurel bush as we go up
+the drive, then before supper I'll manage to dash out and get it, and
+take it upstairs to my room. See?"
+
+"I think you're a thoroughly naughty, schemeing girl," laughed Elaine,
+"and that I oughtn't to be conniving at such shameful tricks."
+
+Shakespeare tells us that
+
+    "Some cannot abide a gaping pig,
+     Nor some the harmless necessary cat".
+
+Many people have their pet dislikes, and as to Mona Kenworthy, the very
+mention of mice sent a series of cold shivers down her back.
+
+"Suppose one were to run up my skirt, I'd have a fit. I really should
+die!" she would declare dramatically. "The thought of them makes me
+absolutely creep. I shouldn't mind them so much if they didn't scuttle
+so hard. Black beetles? Oh, I'd rather have cockroaches any day than
+mice!"
+
+It was with the knowledge of this aversion on the part of Mona that Dona
+laid her plans. She left the cage under the laurel bush in the drive,
+and by great good luck succeeded in fetching it unobserved and conveying
+it to her dormitory, where she unwrapped it and stowed it away in her
+wardrobe. When she had undressed that evening, and just before the
+lights were turned out, she placed the cage under her bed. She waited
+until Miss Clark had made her usual tour of inspection, and the door of
+the room was shut for the night, then, leaning over, she opened the cage
+and allowed its occupants to escape. They made full use of their
+liberty, and at once began to scamper about, investigate the premises,
+and enjoy themselves.
+
+"What's that?" said Mona, sitting up in bed.
+
+Dona did not reply. She pretended to be asleep already.
+
+"It sounds like a mouse," volunteered Nellie Mason.
+
+"Oh, good gracious! I hope it's not in the room."
+
+The old saying, "as quiet as a mouse", is not always justified in solid
+fact. On this occasion the two small intruders made as much noise as
+tigers. They began to gnaw the skirting board, and the sound of their
+sharp little teeth echoed through the room. Mona waxed quite hysterical.
+
+"If it runs over my bed I shall shriek," she declared.
+
+"Perhaps it's not really in the room, it's probably in the wainscot,"
+suggested Beatrice Elliot.
+
+"I tell you I heard it run across the floor. Oh, I say, there it is
+again!"
+
+The frolicsome pair continued their revels for some time, and kept the
+girls wide awake. When Mona fell asleep at last it was with her head
+buried under the bed-clothes. Very early in the morning Dona got up,
+tempted her pets back with some cheese which she had brought from The
+Tamarisks, and put the cage into her wardrobe again.
+
+Directly after breakfast Mona went to Miss Jones, and on the plea that
+her bed was so near the window that she constantly took cold and
+suffered from toothache, begged leave to exchange quarters with Ailsa
+Donald, who had a liking for draughts, and was willing to move out of
+No. 2 into No. 5. Miss Jones was accommodating enough to grant
+permission, and the two girls transferred their belongings without
+delay.
+
+"I wouldn't sleep another night in that dormitory for anything you could
+offer me," confided Mona to her particular chum Kathleen Drummond. "I
+simply can't tell you what I suffered. I'm very sensitive about mice. I
+get it from my mother--neither of us can bear them."
+
+"You might have set a trap," suggested Kathleen.
+
+"But think of hearing it go off and catch the mouse! No, I never could
+feel happy in No. 5 again. Miss Jones is an absolute darling to let me
+change."
+
+Dona's share in the matter was not suspected by anybody. Her plot had
+succeeded admirably. Her only anxiety was what to do with the mice, for
+she could not keep them as permanent tenants of her wardrobe. The risk
+of discovery was great. Fortunately she managed to secure the good
+offices of a friendly housemaid, who carried away the cage, and promised
+to present the mice to her young brother when she went for her night out
+to Whitecliffe. To nobody but Ailsa did Dona confide the trick she had
+played, and Ailsa, being of Scottish birth, could keep a secret.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Red Cross Hospital
+
+
+There was just one more exeat for Marjorie and Dona before the holidays.
+Christmas was near now, and they were looking forward immensely to
+returning home. They had, on the whole, enjoyed the term, but the time
+had seemed long, and to Dona especially the last weeks dragged
+interminably.
+
+"I'm counting every day, and crossing it off in my calendar," she said
+to Marjorie, as the two stepped along towards The Tamarisks. "I'm
+getting so fearfully excited. Just think of seeing Mother and Peter and
+Cyril and Joan again! And there's always the hope that Daddy might get
+leave and come home. Oh, it would be splendiferous if he did! I suppose
+there's no chance for any of the boys?"
+
+"They didn't seem to think it likely," returned Marjorie. "Bevis
+certainly said he'd have no leave till the spring, and Leonard doesn't
+expect his either. Larry may have a few days, but you know he said we
+mustn't count upon it."
+
+"Oh dear, I suppose not! I should have liked Larry to be home for
+Christmas. I wish they'd send him to the camp near Whitecliffe. He
+promised he'd come and take me out, and give me tea at a cafe. It would
+be such fun. I want to go to that new cafe that's just been opened in
+King Street, it looks so nice."
+
+"Perhaps we can coax Elaine to take us there this afternoon," suggested
+Marjorie.
+
+But when the girls reached The Tamarisks, their cousin had quite a
+different plan for their entertainment.
+
+"We're going to the Red Cross Hospital," she announced. "I've always
+promised to show you over, only it was never convenient before. To-day's
+a great day. The men are to have their Christmas tree."
+
+"Before Christmas!" exclaimed Dona.
+
+"Why, yes, it doesn't much matter. The reason is that some very grand
+people can come over to-day to be present, so of course our commandant
+seized the opportunity. It's Lord and Lady Greystones, and Admiral
+Webster. There'll be speeches, you know, and all that kind of thing.
+It'll please the Tommies. Oh, here's Grace! she's going with me. She's
+one of our V.A.D.'s. Grace, may I introduce my two cousins, Marjorie and
+Dona Anderson? This is Miss Chalmers."
+
+Both Elaine and her friend were dressed in their neat V.A.D. uniforms.
+Marjorie scanned them with admiring and envious eyes as the four girls
+set off together for the hospital.
+
+"I'd just love to be a V.A.D.," she sighed. "Oh, I wish I were old
+enough to leave school! It must be a ripping life."
+
+Grace Chalmers laughed.
+
+"One doesn't always think so early in the morning. Sometimes I'd give
+everything in the world not to have to get up and turn out."
+
+"So would I," agreed Elaine.
+
+"What exactly has a V.A.D. to do?" asked Marjorie. "Do tell me."
+
+"Well, it depends entirely on the hospital, and what she has undertaken.
+If she has signed under Government, then she's a full-time nurse, and is
+sent to one of the big hospitals. Elaine and I are only half-timers. We
+go in the mornings, from eight till one, and do odd jobs. I took night
+duty during the summer while some of the staff had their holidays."
+
+"Wasn't it hard to keep awake?"
+
+"Not in the least. Don't imagine for a moment that night duty consists
+in sitting in a ward and trying not to go to sleep. I was busy all the
+time. I had to get the trays ready for breakfast, and cut the bread and
+butter. Have you ever cut bread and butter for fifty hungry people?"
+
+"I've helped to get ready for a Sunday-school tea-party," said Marjorie.
+
+"Well, this is like a tea-party every day. One night I had to clean
+fifty herrings. They were sent as a present in a little barrel, and the
+Commandant said the men should have them for breakfast. They hadn't been
+cleaned, so Violet Linwood and I set to work upon them. It was a most
+horrible job. My hands smelt of fish for days afterwards. I didn't
+mind, though, as it was for the Tommies. They enjoyed their fried
+herrings immensely. What else did I have to do in the night? When the
+breakfast trays were ready, I used to disinfect my hands and sterilize
+the scissors, and then make swabs for next day's dressings. Some of the
+men don't sleep well, and I often had to look after them, and do things
+for them. Then early in the morning we woke our patients and washed
+them, and gave them their breakfasts, and made their beds and tidied
+their lockers, and by that time the day-shift had arrived, and we went
+off duty."
+
+"Tell her how you paddled," chuckled Elaine.
+
+"Shall I? Isn't it rather naughty?"
+
+"Oh, please!" implored Marjorie and Dona, who were both deeply
+interested.
+
+"Well, you see, there's generally rather a slack time between four and
+half-past, and one morning it was quite light and most deliciously warm,
+and Sister was on duty in the ward, and Violet and I were only waiting
+about downstairs, so we stole out and rushed down to the beach and
+paddled. It was gorgeous; the sea looked so lovely in that early morning
+light, and it was so cool and refreshing to go in the water; and of
+course there wasn't a soul about--we had the beach all to ourselves. We
+were back again long before Sister wanted us."
+
+"What do you do in the day-shifts?" asked Marjorie.
+
+"I'm in the kitchen mostly, helping to prepare dinner. I peel potatoes
+and cut up carrots and stir the milk puddings. Elaine is on ward duty
+now. She'll tell you what she does."
+
+"Help to take temperatures and chart them," said Elaine. "Then there are
+instruments to sterilize and lotions to mix. And somebody has to get the
+day's orders from the dispensary and operating-theatre and
+sterilizing-ward. If you forget anything there's a row! Dressings are
+going on practically all the morning. Sometimes there are operations,
+and we have to clean up afterwards. I like being on ward duty better
+than kitchen. It's far more interesting."
+
+"It's a business when there's a new convoy in," remarked Grace.
+
+"Rather!" agreed Elaine. "The ambulances arrive, and life's unbearable
+till all the men are settled. They have to be entered in the books, with
+every detail, down to their diets. They're so glad when they get to
+their quarters, poor fellows! The journey's an awful trial to some of
+them. Here we are! Now you'll be able to see everything for yourselves."
+
+The Red Cross Hospital was a large fine house in a breezy situation on
+the cliffs. It had been lent for the purpose by its owner since the
+beginning of the war, and had been adapted with very little alteration.
+Dining-room, drawing-room, and billiard-rooms had been turned into
+wards, the library was an office, and the best bedroom an
+operating-theatre. A wooden hut had been erected in the garden as a
+recreation-room for convalescents. In summer-time the grounds were full
+of deck-chairs, where the men could sit and enjoy the beautiful view
+over the sea.
+
+To-day everybody was collected in Queen Mary Ward. About sixteen
+patients were in bed, others had been brought in wheeled chairs, and a
+large number, who were fairly convalescent, sat on benches. The room
+looked very bright and cheerful. There were pots of ferns and flowers on
+the tables, and the walls had been decorated for the occasion with flags
+and evergreens and patriotic mottoes. In a large tub in the centre stood
+the Christmas tree, ornamented with coloured glass balls and tiny flags.
+Some of the parcels, tied up with scarlet ribbons, were hanging from the
+branches, but the greater number were piled underneath.
+
+Marjorie looked round with tremendous interest. She had never before
+been inside a hospital of any kind, and a military one particularly
+appealed to her. Each of the patients had fought at the front, and had
+been wounded for his King and his Country. England owed them a debt of
+gratitude, and nothing that could be done seemed too much to repay it.
+Her thoughts flew to Bevis, Leonard, and Larry. Would they ever be
+brought to a place like this and nursed by strangers?
+
+"You'd like to go round and see some of the Tommies, wouldn't you?"
+asked Elaine.
+
+Marjorie agreed with enthusiasm, and Dona less cordially. The
+latter--silly little goose!--was always scared at the idea of wounds and
+hospitals, and she was feeling somewhat sick and faint at the sight of
+so many invalids, though she did not dare to confess such foolishness
+for fear of being laughed at. She allowed Marjorie to go first, and
+followed with rather white cheeks. She was so accustomed to play second
+fiddle that nobody noticed.
+
+The patients were looking very cheerful, and smiled broadly on their
+visitors. They were evidently accustomed to being shown off by their
+nurses. Some were shy and would say nothing but "Yes", "No", or "Thank
+you"; and others were conversational. Elaine introduced them like a
+proud little mother.
+
+"This is Peters; he keeps us all alive in this ward. He's lost his right
+leg, but he's going on very well, and takes it sporting, don't you,
+Peters?"
+
+"Rather, Nurse," replied Peters, a freckled, sandy-haired young fellow
+of about twenty-five. "Only I wish it had been the other leg. You see,"
+he explained to the visitors, "my right leg was fractured at the
+beginning of the war, and I was eighteen months in hospital with it at
+Harpenden, and they were very proud of making me walk again. Then, soon
+after I got back to the front, it was blown off, and I felt they'd
+wasted their time over it at Harpenden!"
+
+"It was too bad," sympathized Marjorie.
+
+"Jackson has lost his right leg too," said Elaine, passing on to the
+next bed. "He was wounded on sentry duty. He'd been out since the
+beginning of the war, and had not had a scratch till then. And he'd
+been promised his leave the very next day. Hard luck, wasn't it?"
+
+"The only thing that troubles me," remarked Jackson, "is that I'd paid a
+quid out in Egypt to have my leg tattooed by one of those black fellows.
+He'd put a camel on it, and a bird and a monkey, and my initials and a
+heart. It was something to look at was that leg. And I've left it over
+in France. Wish I could get my money back!"
+
+The next patient, Rawlins, was very shy and would not speak, though he
+smiled a little at the visitors.
+
+"He's going on nicely," explained Elaine, "but I'm afraid he still
+suffers a good deal. He's awfully plucky about it. He doesn't care to
+talk. He likes just to lie and watch what's going on in the ward. This
+boy in the next bed is most amusing. He sends everyone into fits. He's
+only eighteen, poor lad! Webster, here are two young ladies come to see
+you. Do you know, he can imitate animals absolutely perfectly. Give us a
+specimen, Webster, before Lord and Lady Greystones arrive."
+
+"I'm a bashful sort of a chap----" began the boy humorously.
+
+"No, no, you're not," put in Elaine. "I want my cousins to hear the pig
+squeak. Please do."
+
+"Well, to oblige you, Nurse."
+
+He raised himself a little on his elbow, then, to the girls' surprise, a
+whole farm-yard seemed to have entered the ward. They could hear a sheep
+bleating, a duck quacking, a dog barking, hens clucking, a cock crowing,
+and a pig uttering a series of agonized squeals. It was a most comical
+imitation, and really very clever.
+
+Even Dona laughed heartily, and the colour crept back to her cheeks. She
+was beginning to get over her terror of wounded soldiers.
+
+"They seem to be able to enjoy themselves," she remarked.
+
+"Oh yes, they've all sorts of amusement!" replied Elaine, drawing her
+cousins aside. "It's wonderful how cheery they keep, not to say noisy
+sometimes. In 'Kitchener' Ward the men have mouth organs and tin
+whistles and combs, and play till you're nearly deafened. We don't like
+to check them if it keeps up their spirits, poor fellows! You see,
+there's always such a pathetic side to it. Some of them will be cripples
+to the end of their days, and they're still so young. It seems dreadful.
+Think of Peters and Jackson. A man with one leg can't do very much for a
+living unless he's a clerk, and neither of them is educated enough for
+that. Their pensions won't be very much. I suppose they'll be taught
+some kind of handicraft. I hope so, at any rate."
+
+"Are they all ordinary Tommies here?" asked Marjorie.
+
+"We've no officers. They, of course, are always in a separate hospital.
+But some of the Tommies are gentlemen, and have been to public schools.
+There are two over there. We'll go down the other side of the ward and
+you'll see them. There's just time before our grand visitors arrive. We
+must stop and say a word at each bed, or the men will feel left out. We
+try not to show any favouritism to the gentlemen Tommies. This is
+Wilkinson--he reads the newspaper through every day and tells us all
+about it. It's very convenient when we haven't time to read it for
+ourselves. This is Davis; he comes from Bangor, and can speak Welsh,
+which is more than I can. This is Harper; he's to get up next week if he
+goes on all right."
+
+"Who is this in the next bed?" asked Marjorie suddenly.
+
+"Seventeen? That's one of the gentlemen Tommies," whispered Elaine. "An
+old Rugby boy--he knew Wilfred there. Yes, Sister, I'm coming!"
+
+In response to a word from the ward sister, Elaine hurried away
+immediately, leaving her cousins to take care of themselves.
+
+Marjorie looked again at the patient in No. 17. The twinkling brown eyes
+seemed most familiar. She glanced at the board on the bed-head and saw:
+"Hilton Tamworthy Preston". The humorous mouth was smiling at her in
+evident recognition. She smiled too.
+
+"Didn't we travel together from Silverwood?" she stammered.
+
+"Of course we did. I knew you at once when you were going down the other
+side of the ward," he replied. "Did you get to Brackenfield all right
+that day?"
+
+"Yes, thanks. But how did you know that we were going to Brackenfield?"
+
+"Why, you were wearing your badges. My sisters used to be there, so I
+twigged at once that you were Brackenfielders. Your teacher wore a badge
+too. I hope she found a taxi all right?"
+
+"No, she didn't. It was a wretched four-wheeler, but we were glad to get
+anything in the way of a cab."
+
+"How do you like school?"
+
+"Oh, pretty well! I like it better than Dona does. We're going home next
+Tuesday for the holidays."
+
+"My sisters were very happy there, and Kathleen was a prefect. I used to
+hear all about it. Do you still call Mrs. Morrison 'The Empress'? I
+expect there are plenty of new girls now that Joyce and Kathleen
+wouldn't remember."
+
+"Have you been wounded?" asked Dona shyly.
+
+"Yes, but I'm getting on splendidly. I hope to be up quite soon. The
+Doctor promised to have me back at the front before long."
+
+"We have a brother at the front, and one on the _Relentless_, and
+another in training," volunteered Marjorie, "besides Father, who's at
+Havre."
+
+"And I'm one of five brothers, who are all fighting."
+
+"Didn't you get the V.C.?"
+
+"Oh yes, but I don't think I did anything very particular! Any of our
+men would have done the same."
+
+"Have you got it here in your locker?"
+
+"No, my mother has it at home."
+
+"I'd have loved to see it."
+
+"I wish I could have shown it to you. I thought it would be safer at
+home. Hallo! Here come the bigwigs! The show is going to begin."
+
+All eyes turned towards the door, where the Commandant was ushering in
+the guests of the afternoon. Lord Greystones was elderly, with a white
+moustache and a bald head; Lady Greystones, twenty years younger, was
+pretty, and handsomely dressed in velvet and furs. Admiral Webster, like
+Nelson, had lost an arm, and his empty sleeve was tucked into the coat
+front of his uniform. The patients saluted as the visitors entered, and
+those who were able stood up, but the majority had perforce to remain
+seated. Escorted by the Commandant, the august visitors first made a
+tour of inspection round the ward, nodding or saying a few words to the
+patients in bed. Speeches followed from Lord Greystones and the Admiral,
+and from one of the Governors of the hospital. They were stirring,
+patriotic speeches, and Marjorie listened with a little thrill, and
+wished more than ever that she were old enough to take some real part in
+the war, and bear a share of the nation's burden. It was wonderful, as
+the Admiral said, to think that we are living in history, and that the
+deeds done at this present time will go down through all the years while
+the British Empire lasts.
+
+Then came the important business of stripping the tree. Lord Greystones
+and the Admiral cut off the parcels, and Lady Greystones distributed
+them to the men, with a pleasant word and a smile for each. The presents
+consisted mostly of tobacco, or little writing-cases with notepaper and
+envelopes.
+
+"It's so fearfully hard to know what to choose for them," said Elaine,
+who had found her way back to her cousins. "It's no use giving them
+things they can't take away with them. A few of them like books, but
+very few. Oh, here come the tea-trays! You can help me to take them
+round, if you like. The convalescents are to have tea in the
+dining-room. They've a simply enormous cake; you must go and look at it.
+It'll disappear to the last crumb. Here's Mother! She'll take you with
+her and see you back to Brackenfield. I must say ta-ta now, as I've to
+be on duty."
+
+Marjorie lingered a moment, and turned again to Bed 17.
+
+"Good-bye!" she said hurriedly. "I hope you'll be better soon."
+
+"Thanks very much," returned Private Preston. "I'm 'marked out' for a
+convalescent home, and shall be leaving here as soon as I can get up. I
+hope you'll enjoy the holidays. Don't miss your train this time.
+Good-bye!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A Stolen Meeting
+
+
+At the very first available moment Marjorie went to the library and
+consulted the latest number of the _Brackenfield School Magazine_. She
+turned to the directory of past girls at the end and sought the letter
+P. Here she found:
+
+    1912-1915. PRESTON, Kathleen Hilary }    The Manor,
+    1913-1916. PRESTON, Joyce Benson    } Wildeswood, Yorks.
+
+"Each here for three years," she soliloquized. "I wonder what they're
+doing now? I'll look them up in the 'News of Friends'. This is
+it:--'Kathleen Preston has been doing canteen work in France under the
+Croix Rouge Francaise at a military station. This canteen is run by
+English women for French soldiers, and is a specially busy one, the
+hours being from 6 a.m. to 12, and again from 2 to 7 p.m. A recreation
+hut is in connection with it. Owing to her health, Kathleen returned to
+England on leave, but is now in the north of France driving an ambulance
+wagon.'
+
+"'Joyce Preston is at Chadley College learning gardening and
+bee-keeping. She says: 'If any Brackenfield girls want to go in for
+gardening, do send them here. I am sure they would love it.' Joyce was
+able to get up a very excellent concert for the soldiers in the Red
+Cross Hospital at Chadley, the evening being an immense success.'
+
+"Enterprising girls," thought Marjorie. "Those are just the sort of
+things I want to do when I leave school. I'd like Kathleen best, because
+she drives an ambulance wagon. I wish I knew them! I'd write to them and
+tell them I've seen their brother in hospital, only they'd think it
+cheek. They must feel proud of him getting the V.C. I know how I should
+cock-a-doodle if one of our brothers won it! Oh dear, we haven't seen
+Leonard or Bevis for nine months! It's hard to have one's brothers out
+at the war. I wonder what convalescent home Private Preston will be sent
+to? I must ask Elaine."
+
+Next morning, when Marjorie met Dona at the eleven o'clock "break", she
+found the latter in a state of much excitement.
+
+"I had a line from Mother, enclosing a letter from Larry," she
+announced. "This is what he says:
+
+    "'DEAR OLD BUNTING,
+
+    "'I hope you're getting on all serene at school, and haven't
+    spoilt the carpets with salt tears. I'm ordered to the Camp at
+    Denley, and shall be going there to-morrow. I promised if I went
+    I'd look you up and take you out to tea somewhere. If I can get
+    leave I'll call on Saturday afternoon at Brackenfield for you
+    and Squibs, so be on the look-out for me. The Mater will square
+    your Head. Love to Squibs and your little self.
+
+    "'Your affectionate
+        "'LARRY.'"
+
+"Oh, I say, what gorgeous fun!" exclaimed Marjorie. "So he's sent to the
+Denley Camp after all. It's just on the other side of Whitecliffe. How
+absolutely topping to go out to tea with Larry! I hope he'll get leave."
+
+The girls confided their exciting news to their room-mates and their
+most intimate friends, with the result that on Saturday afternoon at
+least sixteen heads were peeping out of windows on the qui vive to see
+the interesting visitor arrive.
+
+When a figure in khaki strode up the drive and rang the front-door bell
+the event was signalled from one hostel to another. Now Mrs. Morrison
+was very faithful to her duties as Principal, and during term-time
+rarely allowed herself a holiday; but it happened on this particular
+Saturday that she went for the day to visit friends, and appointed Miss
+Norton deputy in her absence.
+
+Larry Anderson was shown by the parlour-maid into the drawing-room where
+parents were generally received, and left there to wait while his
+presence was announced. After an interval of about ten minutes, during
+which he studied the photographs of the school teams that ornamented the
+mantelpiece, the door opened, and a tall fair lady with light-grey eyes
+and pince-nez entered.
+
+"Mrs. Morrison, I presume?" he enquired courteously.
+
+"I am Miss Norton," was the reply. "Mrs. Morrison is away to-day, and
+has left me in charge. Can I do anything for you?"
+
+"I've come to see my sisters, Marjorie and Dona Anderson, and to ask if
+I may take them in to Whitecliffe for an hour or so."
+
+"I'm sorry," freezingly, "but that is quite impossible. It is against
+the rules of the school."
+
+"Yes, of course I know they're not usually allowed out, but the Mater--I
+mean my mother--wrote to Mrs. Morrison to ask her to let the girls go."
+
+"Mrs. Morrison left me no instructions on the subject."
+
+"But didn't she give you my mother's letter?"
+
+"She did not."
+
+"Or leave it on her desk or something? Can't you find out?"
+
+"I certainly cannot search my Principal's correspondence," returned Miss
+Norton very stiffly. "It is one of the rules of Brackenfield that no
+pupil is allowed out without a special exeat, and in the circumstances I
+have no power to grant this."
+
+"But--oh, I say! The girls will be so awfully disappointed!"
+
+"I am sorry, but it cannot be helped."
+
+"Well, I suppose I may see them here for half an hour?"
+
+"That also is out of the question. Our rule is: 'No visitors except
+parents, unless by special permission'."
+
+"But the permission is in my mother's letter."
+
+"Neither letter nor permission was handed to me by Mrs. Morrison."
+
+"Excuse me, when I've come all this way, surely I may see my sisters?"
+
+"I have said already that it is impossible," replied Miss Norton,
+rising. "I am in charge of the school to-day, and must do my duty. Your
+sisters will be returning home next Tuesday, after which you can make
+your own arrangements for meeting them. While they are under my care I
+do not allow visitors."
+
+Miss Norton was a martinet where school rules were concerned, and the
+Brackenfield code was strict. She knew that Mrs. Morrison would at least
+have allowed Marjorie and Dona to see their brother in the drawing-room,
+but in the absence of instructions to that effect she chose to keep to
+the letter of the law and refuse all male visitors.
+
+Larry, with an effort, kept his temper. He was extremely annoyed and
+disappointed, but he did not forget that he was a gentleman.
+
+"Then I will not trouble you further, and must apologize for
+interrupting you," he said stiffly but courteously. "I am afraid I have
+trespassed upon your time."
+
+"Please do not mention it," answered Miss Norton with equal politeness.
+
+They parted on terms of icy civility. Larry, however, was not to be
+entirely defeated. He had only left Haileybury six months before, and
+there was still much of the schoolboy in him. He was determined to find
+a way to see his sisters. He paused a moment on the steps after the maid
+had shown him out, and, taking a notebook from his pocket, hastily
+scribbled a few lines, then, noticing some girls with hockey sticks
+crossing the quadrangle, he went up to them, and, handing the note to
+the one whose looks he considered the most encouraging, said:
+
+"May I ask you to be so kind as to give this to my sister, Dona
+Anderson? It's very important."
+
+Then he walked away down the drive.
+
+Meantime Marjorie and Dona had been waiting in momentary expectation of
+a call to the drawing-room. They could hardly believe the bad news when
+scouts informed them that their brother had left without seeing them.
+
+"Gone away!" echoed Dona, almost in tears.
+
+"But why? Who sent him away?" demanded Marjorie indignantly.
+
+At this crisis Mena Matthews hurried in with the note. Dona read it,
+with Marjorie looking over her shoulder. It ran:
+
+    "DEAR OLD BUNTING,
+
+    "Your schoolmistress guards you like nuns, but I must see you
+    and Squibs somehow. Can you manage to peep over the wall,
+    right-hand side of gate? I'll walk up and down the road for half
+    an hour, on the chance. Yours,
+
+    "LARRY."
+
+There was a hockey match that afternoon between the second and third
+teams, and all the school was making its way in the direction of the
+playing-fields. Within the next minute, however, Marjorie and Dona, with
+a select escort of friends to act as scouts, had reached the garden
+wall, and were climbing up with an agility that would have delighted
+their gymnasium mistress, could she have witnessed the performance.
+Larry, in the road below, grinned as the two familiar heads appeared
+above the coping.
+
+"It isn't safe to talk here," called Marjorie. "Go down that side lane
+till you come to some wooden palings. We'll cut across the plantation,
+and meet you there."
+
+"All serene!" laughed Larry, hugely enjoying the joke.
+
+The school grounds were large, covering many acres, and a private road
+led down the side towards the kitchen garden. Larry found his sisters
+already ensconced on the palings, looking out for him.
+
+"I say, this is rather the limit, isn't it?" he greeted them. "The Mater
+wrote and said I might take you to Whitecliffe, and that icicle in the
+drawing-room wouldn't even so much as let me have a glimpse of you. Is
+this place you've got to a convent? Are you both required to take the
+veil, please?"
+
+"Not just yet. But what happened?" asked Marjorie. "Mena says the
+Empress is out this afternoon. Whom did you see?"
+
+"A grim, fair-haired Gorgon in glasses, who withered me with a look."
+
+"The Acid Drop, surely."
+
+"Probably. She certainly wasn't sweet."
+
+"And she wouldn't let us go?" wailed Dona.
+
+"No, poor old Baby Bunting. It's a rotten business, isn't it? No dragon
+in a fairy tale could have guarded the princess more closely. If I'd
+stayed any longer she'd have thrust talons into me."
+
+"Oh, it's too bad! And you'd promised to take me to have tea at a cafe."
+
+"So I did. I meant to give you a regular blow-out, so far as the
+rationing order would allow us. Look here, old sport, I'm ever so sorry.
+If I'd only foreseen this I'd have brought some cakes and sweets for
+you. I'm afraid I've nothing in my pockets except cigarettes and a cough
+lozenge. Cheer oh! It's Christmas holidays next week, and you'll be
+tucking into turkey before long."
+
+"How do you like the camp, Larry?" asked Marjorie.
+
+"First-rate. We have a wooden hut to sleep in. There are thirty of us;
+we each have three planks on trestles for a bed, and a palliasse to put
+on it at night, and a straw pillow. We get four blankets apiece. I make
+my own bed every night--double one blanket underneath, and roll the
+others round me, and have my greatcoat on top if I'm cold. Aunt Ellinor
+has lent me an air-cushion, and it's a great boon, because the straw
+pillow is as hard as a brick. We do route marches and trench-digging,
+and yesterday I was on scout duty, and three of us captured a sentry. If
+we'd been at the front, instead of only training, he'd have shot me
+certain."
+
+"Do you have to learn to be a soldier?" asked Dona.
+
+"Why, of course, you little innocent. That's what the training-camp is
+for--to teach us how to scout, and dig trenches, and all the rest of
+it."
+
+"Oh! I thought you just went to the front and fought."
+
+"It would be a queer war if we did."
+
+"Are you coming home for Christmas?"
+
+"No, I can't get leave; I only wish I could."
+
+"Cave!" called Ailsa Donald, the nearest in the line of girls who had
+undertaken to keep guard. "Miss Robinson is coming across the field this
+way."
+
+"We must go, or we shall be caught," said Marjorie. "It's too bad to
+have to see you like this."
+
+"But it's better than nothing," added Dona. "You can send me those
+sweets you talked about for Christmas, if you like."
+
+"All right, old Bunting! I won't back out of my promise."
+
+The girls dropped from the palings, and dived into the plantation just
+before Miss Robinson, on her way to the kitchen garden, passed the spot.
+If she had looked through a crack in the boards she would have seen
+Larry walking away, but happily her suspicions were not aroused.
+Marjorie and Dona strolled leisurely towards the hockey field. The
+latter was aggrieved, the former highly indignant.
+
+"It's absurd," groused Marjorie, "if one can't see one's own brother,
+especially when Mother had written to say we might. We had to see him
+somehow, and I think it's a great deal worse to be obliged to go like
+this and talk over palings than to meet him in the drawing-room. It's
+just like Norty's nonsense. She's full of red-tape notions, and a
+Jack-in-office to-day because the Empress has left her in charge. I feel
+raggy."
+
+"So do I, especially to miss the cafe. I hope Larry won't forget to send
+those sweets."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The School Union
+
+
+The last few days of the term were passing quickly. The examinations
+were over, though the lists were not yet out. To both Marjorie and Dona
+they had been somewhat of an ordeal, for the Brackenfield standard was
+high. When confronted with sets of questions the girls felt previous
+slackness in work become painfully evident. It was horrible to have to
+sit and look at a problem without the least idea of how to solve it; or
+to find that the dates and facts which ought to have been at their
+finger-ends had departed to distant and un-get-at-able realms of their
+memory.
+
+"I can think of the wretched things afterwards," mourned Dona, "but at
+the time I'm so flustered, everything I want to remember goes utterly
+out of my head. I really knew the boundaries of Germany, only I drew
+them wrong on the map; and in the Literature paper I mixed up Pope and
+Dryden, and I put that Sheridan wrote _She Stoops to Conquer_, instead
+of Goldsmith."
+
+"I'm sure I failed in Chemistry," groused Marjorie. "And the Latin was
+the most awful paper I've ever seen in my life. It would take a B.A. to
+do that piece of unseen translation. As for the General Knowledge paper,
+I got utterly stumped. How should I know what are the duties of a High
+Sheriff and an Archdeacon, or how many men must be on a jury? Even
+Mollie Simpson said it was stiff, and she's good at all that kind of
+information. I wonder they didn't ask us how many currants there are in
+a Christmas pudding!"
+
+"There won't be many this year," laughed Dona. "Auntie was saying
+currants and raisins are very scarce. Probably we shan't get any mince
+pies. But I don't care. It'll be lovely to be at home again, even if the
+Germans sink every food ship and only leave us porridge for Christmas."
+
+The last day of the term was somewhat in the nature of a ceremony at
+Brackenfield. Lessons proceeded as usual until twelve, when the whole
+school assembled for the reading of the examination lists. Marjorie
+quaked when it came to the turn of IVa. As she expected, she had failed
+in Chemistry, though she had just scraped through in Latin, Mathematics,
+and General Knowledge. Her record could only be considered fair, and to
+an ambitious girl like Marjorie it was humiliating to find herself lower
+on the lists than others who were younger than herself.
+
+"I'll brace up next term and do better," she thought, as Mrs. Morrison
+congratulated Mollie Simpson, Laura Norris, and Enid Young on their
+excellent work, and deplored the low standard of at least half of the
+form.
+
+Dona, greatly to her surprise, had done less badly than she expected,
+and instead of finding herself the very last, was sixth from the bottom,
+and actually above Mona Kenworthy--a circumstance which made her
+literally gasp with surprise.
+
+The afternoon was devoted to packing. Each girl found her box in her own
+cubicle, and started to the joyful task of turning out her drawers. It
+was a jolly, merry proceeding, even though Miss Norton and several other
+teachers were hovering about to keep order and ensure that the girls
+were really filling their trunks, instead of racing in and out of the
+dormitories and talking, as would certainly have been the case if they
+had been left to their own devices. By dint of good generalship on the
+part of the House Mistress and her staff, St. Elgiva's completed its
+arrangements twenty minutes before the other hostels, and had therefore
+the credit of being visited first by the janitor and the gardener, whose
+duty it was to carry down the luggage. The large boxes were taken away
+that evening in carts to the station, and duly dispatched, each girl
+keeping her necessaries for the night, which she would take home with
+her in a hand-bag.
+
+"No prep. after tea to-day, thank goodness!" said Betty Moore,
+collecting her books and stowing them away in her locker. "I don't want
+to see this wretched old history again for a month. I'm sick of
+improving my mind. I'm not going to read a single line during the
+holidays, not even stories. I'll go out riding every day, even if it's
+wet. Mother says my pony's quite well again, and wants exercising. He'll
+get it, bless him, while I'm at home."
+
+"What do we do this evening instead of prep.?" asked Marjorie. "Games, I
+suppose, or dancing?"
+
+"Why, no, child, it's the School Union," returned Betty, slamming the
+door of her locker.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Great Minerva! don't you know? You're painfully new even yet, Marjorie
+Anderson. There, don't get raggy; I'll tell you. On the last evening of
+every term the whole school meets in the big hall--just the girls,
+without any of the teachers. The prefects sit on the platform, and the
+head girl reads a kind of report about all that's happened during the
+term--the games and that sort of thing, and what she and the prefects
+have noticed, and what the Societies have done, and news of old girls,
+and all the rest of it. Then anybody who likes can make comments, or
+suggestions for next term, or air grievances. It's a kind of School
+Council meeting, and things are often put to the vote. It gets quite
+exciting. We don't have supper till 8.30, so as to give us plenty of
+time. We all eat an extra big tea, so as to carry us on."
+
+"I'm glad you warned me," laughed Marjorie. "Do they bring in more
+bread-and-butter?"
+
+"Yes, loads more, and potted meat, and honey and jam. We have a good
+tuck-out, and then only cocoa and buns later on. It's not formal supper.
+You see, we've packed our white dresses, and can't change this evening.
+We've only our serges left here. The meeting's rather a stunt. We have a
+jinky time as a rule."
+
+By five o'clock every girl in the school had assembled in the big hall.
+Though no mistresses were present, the proceedings were nevertheless
+perfectly orderly, and good discipline prevailed. On the platform sat
+the prefects, the chair being taken by Winifrede Mason, the head girl.
+Winifrede was a striking personality at Brackenfield, and filled her
+post with dignity. She was eighteen and a half, tall, and finely built,
+with brown eyes and smooth, dark hair. She had a firm, clever face, and
+a quiet, authoritative manner that carried weight in the school, and
+crushed any symptoms of incipient turbulence amongst Juniors. Many of
+the girls would almost rather have got into trouble with Mrs. Morrison
+than incur the displeasure of Winifrede, and a word of praise from her
+lips was esteemed a high favour. She did not believe in what she termed
+"making herself too cheap", and did not encourage the prefects to mix at
+all freely with Intermediates or Juniors, so that to most of the girls
+she seemed on a kind of pedestal--a member of the school, indeed, and
+yet raised above the others. She was just, however, and on the whole a
+great favourite, for, though she kept her dignity, she never lost touch
+with the school, and always voiced the general sentiments. She stood up
+now on the platform and began what might be termed a presidential
+speech.
+
+"Girls, we've come to the end of the first term in another school year.
+Some of you, like myself, are old Brackenfielders, and others have
+joined us lately, and are only just beginning to shake down into our
+ways. It's for the sake of these that I want just briefly to
+recapitulate some of the standards of this school. We've always held
+very lofty ideals here, and we who are prefects want to make sure that
+during our time they are kept, and that we hand them on unsullied to
+those who come after us. What is the great object that we set ourselves
+to aim at? Perhaps some of you will say, 'To do well at our lessons', or
+'To win at games'. Well, that's all a part of it. The main thing that
+we're really striving for is the formation of character. There's nothing
+finer in all the world. And character can only be formed by overcoming
+difficulties. Every hard lesson you master, or every game you win, helps
+you to win it. There are plenty of difficulties at school. Nobody finds
+it plain sailing. When you're cooped up with so many other girls you
+soon find you can't have all your own way, and it must be a
+give-and-take system if you're to live peaceably with your fellows. When
+this great war broke out, people had begun to say that our young men of
+Britain had grown soft and ease-loving, and thought of nothing except
+pleasure. Yet at the nation's call they flung up all they had and
+flocked to enlist, and proved by their magnificent courage the grit that
+was in them after all. Our women, too--Society women who had been,
+perhaps justly, branded as 'mere butterflies'--put their shoulders to
+the wheel, and have shown how they, too, could face dangers and
+difficulties and privations. As nurses, ambulance drivers, canteen
+workers, telephone operators, some have played their part in the field
+of war; and their sisters at home have worked with equal courage to
+make munitions, and supply the places left vacant by the men. Now, I
+don't suppose there is a girl in this room who does not call herself
+patriotic. Let her stop for a moment to consider what she means. It
+isn't only waving the Union Jack, and singing 'God Save the King', and
+knitting socks for soldiers. That's the mere outside of it. There's a
+far deeper part than that. We're only schoolgirls now, but in a few
+years we shall become a part of the women of the nation. In the future
+Britain will have to depend largely on her women. Let them see that they
+fit themselves for the burden! We used to be told that the Battle of
+Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of our great public schools.
+Well, I believe that many future struggles are being decided by the life
+in our girls' schools of to-day. Though we mayn't realize it, we're all
+playing our part in history, and though our names may never go down to
+posterity, our influence will. The watchwords of all patriotic women at
+present are 'Service and Sacrifice'. In the few years that we are here
+at school let us try to prepare ourselves to be an asset to the nation
+afterwards. Aim for the highest--in work, games, and character. As the
+old American said: 'Hitch your wagon to a star', because it's better to
+attempt big things, even if you fail, than to be satisfied with a low
+ideal.
+
+"It is encouraging for us Brackenfielders to know what good work some of
+our old girls are doing to help their country. I'm going to read you the
+latest news about them.
+
+"Mary Walker has been nursing for fifteen months at a hospital in Cairo,
+and is now at the Halton Military Hospital, hoping to be sent out to
+France after six months' further training. She enjoyed her work in
+Egypt, and found many opportunities for interesting expeditions in her
+off-duty time. She went for camel rides to visit the tombs in the
+desert, had moonlight journeys to the Pyramids, and sailed up the Nile.
+
+"Emily Roberts is assistant cook at the Brendon Hospital, which has two
+hundred beds. She says they make daily about twelve gallons of milk
+pudding, soup, porridge, &c., and about five gallons of sauce. The hours
+are 6.30 to 1.30, then either 1.30 to 5, or 5 till 9 p.m. She has lost
+her brother at the front. He obtained very urgent and important
+information, and conveyed it safely back. While telephoning it he was
+hit by a sniper's bullet, but before he passed away he managed to give
+the most important part of the message.
+
+"Gladys Mellor has just had a well-earned holiday after very strenuous
+work at the Admiralty. She not only does difficult translation work, but
+has learnt typewriting for important special work.
+
+"Alison Heatley (nee Robson) is in Oxford with her two tiny boys. She
+lost her husband in the summer. At the time he was hit he was commanding
+a company; they had advanced six miles, and were fighting in a German
+trench, when he was shot through the lungs and in the back. He was taken
+to hospital and at first improved, but then had a relapse. Alison was
+with him when he died. He is buried in a lovely spot overlooking the
+sea, with a pine wood at the back. He had been mentioned in dispatches
+twice and had won the Military Cross.
+
+"Evelyn Scott has been transferred from Leabury Red Cross Hospital to
+King's Hospital, London. She says she spends the whole of her time in
+the ward kitchen, except for bed-making and washing patients. Everything
+is of white enamel, and she has to scrub an endless supply of this and
+help to cook countless meals. Evelyn has just lost her fiance. He was
+killed by a German shell while on sentry duty. He warned the rest of his
+comrades of the danger, and they were unhurt, but he was killed
+instantly.
+
+"Hester Strong and Doris Hartley were sent to a kindergarten summer
+school in Herefordshire, each in charge of three children, to whose
+physical comfort and education they had to attend. They lived in little
+cottages, and Hester taught geography and botany, and Doris farm study,
+and they took the children for botanical expeditions.
+
+"Lilian Roy has finished her motoring course at a training-school for
+the R.A.C. driving certificate, and is gaining her six months' general
+practice by driving for a Hendy's Stores. She had her van in the City
+during the last raid, and took refuge in a cellar. She hopes soon to be
+ready for ambulance work.
+
+"Annie Barclay is acting quartermaster for their Red Cross Hospital. She
+is always on duty, and has charge of the kit, linen, and stores.
+
+"You see," continued Winifrede, "what splendid work our old
+Brackenfielders are doing in the world. Now I want to turn to some of
+our own activities, and I will call upon our games captain and the
+secretaries of the various societies to read their reports."
+
+Stella Pearson, the games captain, at once rose.
+
+"I think we're getting on fairly well at hockey," she announced. "All
+three teams are satisfactory. The match with Silverton was played in
+glorious weather. The game was hard and very fast, but there was a great
+deal of fouling on both sides. We scored three goals during the first
+half, and though our forwards pressed hard, our fourth and last goal was
+not gained till just before the end. We should probably have scored more
+had not the forwards been 'offside' so often. At the beginning of the
+second half Silverton pressed our defence hard, and, getting away with
+the ball, shot two goals, one after another. Both sides played hard, and
+the game was well contested. It was only spoilt by the fouling. When the
+whistle went for 'time', the score was 4-2 in our favour, and we found
+that the unexpected had happened and that we had actually beaten
+Silverton.
+
+"The match with Penley Club, as you know, we lost, and the match with
+Siddercombe was a draw, so we may consider ourselves to be just about
+even this term. Next term we must brace up and show we can do better. We
+mustn't be satisfied till Brackenfield has beaten her record."
+
+Reports followed next from the various societies, showing what work had
+been done in "The General Reading Competition", "The Photographic
+Society", "The Natural History Association", "The Art Union" and "The
+Handicrafts Club". Specimens of the work of these various activities had
+been laid out on tables, and as soon as the reports had been read the
+girls were asked to walk round and look at them. Marjorie, in company
+with Mollie Simpson, made a tour of inspection. The show was really very
+good. The enlarging apparatus, lately acquired by the Photographic
+Society, had proved a great success, and several girls exhibited
+beautiful views of the school. Moths, butterflies, fossils, shells, and
+seaweeds formed an interesting group for the Natural History
+Association, and the Handicrafts Club had turned out a wonderful
+selection of toys that were to be sent to the Soldiers' and Sailors'
+Orphanage. "The Golden Rule Society" had quite a respectable pile of
+socks ready to be forwarded to the front.
+
+Marjorie said very little as she went the round of the tables, but she
+thought much. She had not realized until that evening all that
+Brackenfield stood for. She began to feel that it was worth while to be
+a member of such a community. She meant to try really hard next term,
+and some day--who knew?--perhaps her name might be read out as that of
+one who, in doing useful service to her country, was carrying out the
+traditions of the school.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+The Spring Term
+
+
+Both Marjorie and Dona described their holidays as "absolutely topping".
+To begin with, Father had nearly a week's leave. He could not arrive for
+Christmas, but he was with them for New Year's Day, and by the greatest
+good luck met Bevis, who was home on a thirty-six-hours leave. To have
+two of their dear fighting heroes back at once was quite an unexpected
+treat, and though there were still two vacant places in the circle, the
+family party was a very merry one. They were joined by a new member, for
+Nora and her husband came over, bringing their ten-weeks-old baby boy,
+and Marjorie, Dona, and Joan felt suddenly quite grown-up in their new
+capacity of "Auntie". Dona in especial was delighted with her wee
+nephew.
+
+"I've found out what I'm going to do when I leave school," she told
+Marjorie rather shyly. "I shall go to help at a creche. When Winifrede
+was reading out that 'News of Old Girls' I felt utterly miserable,
+because I knew I could never do any of those things; a hospital makes me
+sick, and I'd be scared to death to drive a motor ambulance. I thought
+Winifrede would call me an utter slacker. But I could look after babies
+in a creche while their mothers work at munitions. I should simply love
+it. And it would be doing something for the war in a way, especially if
+they were soldiers' children. I'm ever so much happier now I've thought
+of it. I'm going to ask to take 'Hygiene' next term, because Gertie
+Temple told me they learnt how to mix a baby's bottle."
+
+"And I'm going to ask to take 'First Aid'," replied Marjorie, with equal
+enthusiasm. "You have to pass your St. John's Ambulance before you can
+be a V.A.D. I'll just love practising bandaging."
+
+The girls went back to school with less reluctance than their mother had
+expected. It was, of course, a wrench to leave home, and for Dona, at
+any rate, the atmosphere was at first a little damp, but once installed
+in their old quarters at Brackenfield they were caught in the train of
+bustling young life, and cheered up. It is not easy to sit on your bed
+and weep when your room-mates are telling you their holiday adventures,
+singing comic songs, and passing round jokes. Also, tears were
+unfashionable at Brackenfield, and any girl found shedding them was
+liable to be branded as "Early Victorian", or, worse still, as a
+"sentimental silly".
+
+Marjorie happened to be the first arrival in Dormitory No. 9. She drew
+the curtains of her cubicle and began to unpack, feeling rather glad to
+have the place to herself for a while. When the next convoy of girls
+arrived from the station, Miss Norton entered the room, escorting a
+stranger.
+
+"This is your cubicle," she explained hurriedly. "Your box will be
+brought up presently, and then you can unpack, and put your clothes in
+this wardrobe and these drawers. The bath-rooms are at the end of the
+passage. Come downstairs when you hear the gong."
+
+The house mistress, whose duties on the first day of term were onerous,
+departed like a whirlwind, leaving the stranger standing by her bed.
+Marjorie drew aside her curtains and introduced herself.
+
+"Hallo! I suppose you're a new girl? You've got Irene's cubicle. I
+wonder where she's to go. I'm Marjorie Anderson. What's your name?"
+
+"Chrissie Lang. I don't know who Irene is, but I hope we shan't fight
+for the cubicle. The bed doesn't look big enough for two, unless she's
+as thin as a lath. There's a good deal of me!"
+
+Marjorie laughed, for the new-comer sounded humorous. She was a tall,
+stoutly-built girl with a fair complexion, flaxen hair, and blue eyes,
+the pupils of which were unusually large. Though not absolutely pretty,
+she was decidedly attractive-looking. She put her hand-bag on the bed,
+and began to take out a few possessions, opened her drawers, and
+inspected the capacities of her wardrobe.
+
+"Not too much room here!" she commented. "It reminds me of a cabin on
+board ship. I wonder they don't rig up berths. I hope they won't be long
+bringing up my box. Oh, here it is!"
+
+Not only did the trunk arrive, but Betty and Sylvia also put in an
+appearance, both very lively and talkative, and full of news.
+
+"Hallo, Marjorie! Do you know Renie's been moved to No. 5? She wants to
+be with Mavie Chapman. They asked Norty before the holidays, and never
+told us a word. Wasn't it mean?"
+
+"And Lucy's in the same dormitory!"
+
+"Molly's brought a younger sister--Nancy, her name is. We travelled
+together from Euston. She's in St. Ethelberta's, of course--rather a
+jolly kid."
+
+"Annie Grey has twisted her ankle, and won't be able to come back for a
+week. Luck for her!"
+
+"Valerie Hall's brother has been wounded, and Magsie Picton's brother
+has been mentioned in dispatches, and Miss Duckworth has lost her
+nephew."
+
+"Miss Pollard's wearing an engagement ring, but she won't tell anybody
+anything about it; and Miss Gordon was married in the holidays--a war
+wedding. Oh yes! she has come back to school, but we've got to call her
+Mrs. Greenbank now. Won't it be funny? The Empress has two little nieces
+staying with her--they're five and seven, such sweet little kiddies,
+with curly hair. Their father's at the front."
+
+The new girl listened with apparent interest as Betty and Sylvia rattled
+on, but she did not interrupt, and waited until she was questioned
+before she gave an account of herself.
+
+"I live up north, in Cumberland. Yes, I've been to school before. I've
+one brother. No, he's not at the front. I haven't unpacked his photo. I
+can't tell whether I like Brackenfield yet; I've only been here half an
+hour."
+
+As she still seemed at the shy stage, Betty and Sylvia stopped
+catechizing her and concerned themselves with their own affairs. The
+new-comer went on quietly with her unpacking, taking no notice of her
+room-mates, but when the gong sounded for tea she allowed Betty and
+Sylvia to pass, then looked half-appealingly, half-whimsically at
+Marjorie.
+
+"May I go down with you?" she asked. "I don't know my way about yet.
+Sorry to be a nuisance. You can drop me if you like when you've landed
+me in the dining-room. I don't want to tag on."
+
+At the end of a week opinions in Dormitory No. 9 were divided on the
+subject of Chrissie Lang. Betty and Sylvia frankly regretted Irene, and
+were not disposed to extend too hearty a welcome to her substitute. It
+was really in the first instance because Betty and Sylvia were
+disagreeable to Chrissie that Marjorie took her up. It was more in a
+spirit of opposition to her room-mates than of philanthropy towards the
+new-comer. Betty and Sylvia were inclined to have fun together and leave
+Marjorie out of their calculations, a state of affairs which she hotly
+resented. During the whole of last term she had not found a chum. She
+was rather friendly with Mollie Simpson, but Mollie was in another
+dormitory, and this term had been moved into IV Upper A, so that they
+were no longer working together in form. It was perhaps only natural
+that she adopted Chrissie; she certainly found her an amusing companion,
+if nothing more. Chrissie was humorous, and always inclined for fun.
+She kept up a constant fire of little jokes. She would draw absurd
+pictures of girls or mistresses on the edge of her blotting-paper, or
+write parodies on popular poems. She was evidently much attracted to
+Marjorie, yet she was one of those people with whom one never grows
+really intimate. One may know them for years without ever getting beyond
+the outside crust, and the heart of them always remains a sealed book.
+There is a certain magnetism in friendship. It is perhaps only once or
+twice in a lifetime that we meet the one with whom our spirit can really
+fuse, the kindred soul who seems always able to understand and
+sympathize. In the hurry and bustle of school life, however, it is
+something to have a congenial comrade, if it is only a girl who will sit
+next you at meals, walk to church with you in crocodile, and take your
+side in arguments with your room-mates.
+
+The spring term at Brackenfield proved bitterly cold. In February the
+snow fell thickly, and one morning the school woke to find a white
+world. In Dormitory 9 matters were serious, for the snow had drifted in
+through the open window and covered everything like a winding-sheet. It
+was a new experience for the girls to see dressing-tables and
+wash-stands shrouded in white, and a drift in the middle of the floor.
+They set to work after breakfast with shovels and toiled away till
+nearly school-time before they had made a clearance.
+
+"I feel like an Alpine traveller," declared Chrissie. "If things go on
+at this rate the school will have to provide St. Bernard dogs to rescue
+us in the mornings."
+
+"The newspapers say it's the worst frost since 1895," remarked Sylvia.
+
+"I think it's the limit," groused Betty. "Give me good open hunting
+weather. I hate snow."
+
+"Hockey'll be off," said Marjorie. "It's a grizzly nuisance about the
+match on Saturday."
+
+Though the usual outdoor games were perforce suspended, the school
+nevertheless found an outlet for its energies. There was a little hill
+at the bottom of the big playing-field, and down this the girls managed
+to get some tobogganing. They had no sleds, but requisitioned tea-trays
+and drawing-boards, often with rather amusing results, though
+fortunately the snow was soft to fall in. Another diversion was a mock
+battle. The combatants threw up trenches of snow, and, arming themselves
+with a supply of snowballs, kept up a brisk fire until ammunition was
+exhausted. It was a splendid way of keeping up the circulation, and the
+girls would run in after this exercise with crimson cheeks. At night,
+however, they suffered very much from the cold. Open bedroom windows
+were a cardinal rule, and, with the thermometer many degrees below zero,
+the less hardy found it almost impossible to keep warm. Marjorie, who
+was rather a chilly subject, lay awake night after night and shivered.
+It was true that hot bricks were allowed, but with so many beds to look
+after, the maids did not always bring them up at standard heat, and
+Marjorie's half-frozen toes often found only lukewarm comfort. After
+enduring the misery for three nights, she boldly went to Mrs. Morrison
+and begged permission to be taken to Whitecliffe to buy an india-rubber
+hot-water bag, which she could herself fill in the bath-room. Part of
+the Empress's success as a Principal was due to the fact that she was
+always ready to listen to any reasonable demands. Hers was no red-tape
+rule, but a system based on sensible methods. She smiled as Marjorie
+rather bashfully uttered her request.
+
+"Fifteen other girls have asked me the same thing," she replied. "You
+may all go into Whitecliffe this afternoon with Miss Duckworth, and see
+what you can find at the Stores."
+
+Rejoicing in this little expedition, the favoured sixteen set off at two
+o'clock, escorted by the mistress. There had been great drifts on the
+high road, and the snow was dug out and piled on either side in
+glistening heaps. The white cliffs and hills and the grey sky and sea
+gave an unusual aspect to the landscape. A flock of sea-gulls whirled
+round on the beach, but of other birds there were very few. Even the
+clumps of seaweed on the shore looked frozen. Nature was at her
+dreariest, and anyone who had seen the place in the summer glory of
+heather, bracken, and blue sea could hardly have believed it to be the
+same. The promenade was deserted, the pier shut up, and those people
+whose business took them into the streets hurried along as if they were
+anxious to get home again.
+
+The girls found it was not such an easy matter as they had imagined to
+procure sixteen hot-water bags. Owing to the war, rubber was scarce, and
+customers had already made many demands upon the supply. The Stores
+could only produce nine bags.
+
+"I have some on order, and expect them in any day," said the assistant.
+"Shall I send some out for you when they come?"
+
+Knowing by experience that goods thus ordered might take weeks to
+arrive, the girls declined, and set out to visit the various chemists'
+shops in the town, with the result that by buying a few at each, they in
+the end made up their numbers. The sizes and prices of the bags varied
+considerably, but the girls were so glad to get any at all, that they
+would have cheerfully paid double if it had been necessary.
+
+Feeling thoroughly satisfied with their shopping expedition, they turned
+their steps again towards Brackenfield, up the steep path past the
+church, over the bridge that spanned the railway, and along the cliff
+walk that led from the town on to the moor. As they passed the end of
+the bare beech avenue, they met a party of wounded soldiers from the Red
+Cross Hospital, in the blue convalescent uniform of His Majesty's
+forces. One limped on crutches, and one was in a Bath chair, wheeled by
+a companion; most of the rest wore bandages either on their arms or
+heads. Marjorie looked at them attentively, hoping to recognize some of
+the patients she had seen at the Christmas-tree entertainment, but these
+were all strangers, and she reflected that the other set must have been
+passed on by now to convalescent homes. She was walking at the end of
+the line, and Miss Duckworth did not happen to be looking. A sudden
+spirit of mischief seized her, and hastily stooping and catching up a
+handful of snow, she kneaded it quickly, and threw it at Mollie Simpson
+to attract her attention. It was done on the spur of the moment, in
+sheer fun. But, alas for Marjorie! her aim was not true, and instead of
+hitting Mollie her missile struck one of the soldiers. He chuckled with
+delight, and promptly responded. In a moment his companions were
+kneading snowballs and pelting the school. Now wounded Tommies are
+regarded as very privileged persons, and the girls, instantly catching
+the spirit of the encounter, broke line and began to throw back
+snowballs.
+
+"Girls, girls!" cried Miss Duckworth's shocked and agitated voice; "come
+along at once! Don't look at those soldiers. Attention! Form line
+immediately! Quick march!"
+
+Rather flushed and flurried, her flock controlled themselves, conscious
+that they had overstepped the mark, and under the keen eye of their
+mistress, who now brought up the rear instead of leading, they filed off
+in their former crocodile. Every one of the sixteen knew that there was
+trouble in store for her. They discussed it uneasily on the way home.
+Nor were they mistaken. At tea-time Miss Rogers, after ringing the
+silence bell, announced that those girls who had been to Whitecliffe
+that afternoon must report themselves in Mrs. Morrison's study at 5.15.
+
+It is one thing to indulge in a moment's fun, and quite another to pay
+the price afterwards. Sixteen very rueful faces were assembled in the
+passage outside the study by 5.15. Nobody would have had the courage to
+knock, but the Principal herself opened the door, and bade them enter.
+They filed in like a row of prisoners. Mrs. Morrison marshalled them
+into a double line opposite her desk, then, standing so as to command
+the eyes of all, she opened the vials of her wrath. She reproached them
+for unladylike conduct, loss of dignity, and lack of discipline.
+
+"Where are the traditions of Brackenfield," she asked, "if you can so
+far forget yourselves as to descend to such behaviour? One would imagine
+you were poor ignorant girls who had never been taught better; indeed,
+many a Sunday-school class would have had more self-respect. Whoever
+began it"--here she looked hard at Marjorie--"is directly responsible
+for lowering the tone of the school. Think what disgrace it brings on
+the name of Brackenfield for such an act to be remembered against her
+pupils! Knit and sew for the soldiers, get up concerts for them, and
+speak kindly to them in the hospitals, but never for a moment forget in
+your conduct what is due both to yourself and to them. This afternoon's
+occurrence has grieved me more than I can express. I had believed that I
+could trust you, but I find to my sorrow that I was mistaken."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Secret Society of Patriots
+
+
+Marjorie's friendship for Chrissie Lang at present flamed at red heat.
+Marjorie was prone to violent attachments, her temperament was
+excitable, and she was easily swayed by her emotions. She would take up
+new people with enthusiasm, though she was apt to drop them afterwards.
+Since her babyhood "Marjorie's latest idol" had been a byword in the
+family. She had worshipped by turns her kindergarten teacher, a little
+curly-headed boy whom she met at dancing-class, her gymnasium mistress,
+at least ten separate form-mates, the Girl Guides' captain, and a friend
+of Nora's. Her affection varied according to the responsiveness of the
+object, though in some cases she had even been ready to love without
+return. Chrissie, however, seemed ready to meet her half-way. She was
+enthusiastic and demonstrative and rather sentimental. To be sure, she
+gave Marjorie very little of her confidence; but the latter, who liked
+to talk herself and pour out her own ideas, did not trouble on that
+score, and was quite content to have found a sympathetic listener. The
+two girls were inseparable. They walked round the quadrangle arm in
+arm; they sat side by side in any class where liberty to choose places
+was allowed. They exchanged picture post cards, foreign stamps, and
+crests; they gave each other presents, and wrote sentimental little
+notes which they hid under one another's pillows.
+
+The general opinion of the form was that Marjorie had "got it badly".
+
+"Can't imagine what she sees in Chrissie Lang myself," sniffed Annie
+Turner. "She's not particularly interesting. Her nose is too big, and
+she can't say her r's properly."
+
+"She's mean, too," added Francie Sheppard. "I'm collecting for the
+Seamen's Mission, and she wouldn't even give me a penny."
+
+"She tried to truckle to Norty, too," put in Patricia Lennox. "She
+bought violets in Whitecliffe, and laid them on the desk in Norty's
+study, with a piece of cardboard tied to them with white ribbon, and
+'With love from your devoted pupil Chrissie' written on it. Norty gave
+them back to her, though, and said she'd made it a rule to accept
+nothing from any girl, not even flowers."
+
+"Good for Norty!"
+
+"Oh, trust the Acid Drop not to lapse into anything sentimental! She's
+as hard as nails. The devoted-pupil dodge doesn't go down with her."
+
+Marjorie had to run a considerable gauntlet of chaff from her
+schoolmates, but that did not trouble her in the least. A little
+opposition, indeed, added spice to the friendship. Her home letters were
+full of praise of her new idol.
+
+"Chrissie is the most adorable girl you can imagine," she wrote to her
+mother. "We do everything together now. I can't tell you how glad I am
+she has come to school. I tell her all about Bevis and Leonard and
+Larry, and she is so interested and wants to know just where they are
+and what they are doing. She says it is because they are my brothers.
+Dona does not care for her very much, but that is because she is such
+great friends with Ailsa Donald. I took a snapshot of Chris yesterday,
+and she took one of me. I'll send them both to you as soon as we have
+developed and printed them. We don't get much time to do photography,
+because we're keen on acting this term, and I'm in the Charade Society.
+Chrissie has made me a handkerchief in open-hem stitch, and embroidered
+my name most beautifully on it. I wish I could sew as well as she does.
+I lost it in the hockey field, and did not find it for three days, and I
+dared not tell Chrissie all that time, for fear she might be offended.
+She's dreadfully sensitive. She says she has a highly nervous organism,
+and I think it's true."
+
+It was about this time that it was rumoured in St. Elgiva's that Irene
+Andrews had started a secret society. What its name or object might be
+nobody knew, but its votaries posed considerably for the benefit of the
+rest of the hostel. They preserved an air of aloofness and dignity, as
+if concerned with weighty matters. It was evident that they had a
+password and a code of signals, and that they met in Irene's dormitory,
+with closed door and a scout to keep off intruders. When pressed to
+give at least a hint as to the nature of their proceedings, they replied
+that they would cheerfully face torture or the stake before consenting
+to reveal a single word. Now Dormitory No. 9 had never quite forgiven
+Irene for deserting in favour of No. 5 and Mavie Chapman. Its occupants
+discussed the matter as they went to bed.
+
+"Renie's so fearfully important," complained Betty. "I asked her
+something this morning, and she said: 'Don't interrupt me, child,' as if
+she were the King busy on State affairs."
+
+"She'll hardly look at us nowadays," agreed Sylvia plaintively.
+
+"I'll tell you what," suggested Marjorie. "Let's get up a secret society
+of our own. It would take the wind out of Renie's sails tremendously to
+find that we had passwords and signals and all the rest of it. She'd be
+most fearfully annoyed."
+
+"It's a good idea," assented Sylvia, "but what could we have a secret
+society about?"
+
+"Well, why not have it a sort of patriotic one, to do all we can to help
+the war, knit socks for the soldiers, and that kind of thing?"
+
+"We knit socks already," objected Betty.
+
+"That doesn't matter, we must knit more, that's all. There must be heaps
+of things we can do for the war. Besides, it's the spirit of the thing
+that counts. We pledge ourselves to give our last drop of blood for our
+country. We've all of us got fathers and brothers who are fighting."
+
+"Chrissie hasn't anybody at the front," demurred Betty, rather
+spitefully.
+
+"That's not Chrissie's fault. We're not all born with brothers. Because
+you're lucky enough to have an uncle who's an admiral, you needn't quite
+squash other people!"
+
+"How you fly out! I was only mentioning a fact."
+
+"Anybody with tact wouldn't have mentioned it."
+
+"What shall we call the society?" asked Sylvia, bringing the disputants
+back to the original subject of the discussion.
+
+"How would 'The Secret Society of Patriots' do?" suggested Chrissie.
+
+"The very thing!" assented Marjorie warmly. "Trust Chrissie to hit on
+the right name. We'll let just a few into it--Patricia, perhaps, and
+Enid and Mollie, but nobody else. We must take an oath, and regard it as
+absolutely binding."
+
+"Like the Freemasons," agreed Sylvia. "I believe they kill anybody who
+betrays them."
+
+"We'll have an initiation ceremony," purred Marjorie, highly delighted
+with the new venture. "And of course we'll arrange a password and
+signals, and I don't see why we shouldn't have a cryptogram, and write
+each other notes. It would be ever so baffling for the rest to find
+letters lying about that they couldn't read. They'd be most indignant."
+
+"Right you are! It'll be priceless! We'll do Irene this time!"
+
+The new society at once established itself upon lines of utmost secrecy.
+Its initiates found large satisfaction in playing it off against their
+rivals. Though they preserved its objects in a halo of mystery, they
+allowed just the initials of its name to leak out, so as to convince the
+hostel of its reality. Unfortunately they had not noticed that S.S.O.P.
+spells "sop", but the outside public eagerly seized at such an
+opportunity, and nicknamed them "the Milksops" on the spot. As they had
+expected, Irene and her satellites were highly affronted at an
+opposition society being started, and flung scorn at its members.
+
+"We mustn't mind them," urged Marjorie patiently. "It's really a
+compliment to us that they're so annoyed. We'll just go on our own way
+and take no notice. I've invented a beautiful cryptogram. They'll never
+guess it without the key, if they try for a year."
+
+The code of signals was easily mastered by the society, but they jibbed
+at the cryptogram.
+
+"It's too difficult, and I really haven't the brains to learn it," said
+Betty decidedly.
+
+"It's as bad as lessons," wailed Sylvia.
+
+Even Chrissie objected to being obliged to translate notes written in
+cipher.
+
+"It takes such a long time," she demurred.
+
+"I thought _you'd_ have done it," said Marjorie reproachfully. "I'm
+afraid you don't care for me as much as you did."
+
+The main difficulty of the society was to find sufficient outlets for
+its activities. At present, knitting socks seemed the only form of aid
+which it was possible to render the soldiers. The members decided that
+they must work harder at this occupation and produce more pairs. Some of
+them smuggled their knitting into Preparation, with the result that
+their form work suffered. They bore loss of marks and Miss Duckworth's
+reproaches with the heroism of martyrs to a cause.
+
+"We couldn't tell her we were fulfilling vows," sighed Marjorie, "though
+I was rather tempted to ask her which was more important--my Euclid or
+the feet of some soldier at the front?"
+
+"She wouldn't have understood."
+
+"Well, no, I suppose not, unless we'd explained."
+
+"Could we ask Norty to let us save our jam and send it to the soldiers?"
+
+Marjorie shook her head.
+
+"We couldn't get it out to the front, and they've heaps of it at the Red
+Cross Hospital--at least, Elaine says so, and she helps in the pantry at
+present."
+
+"We might sell our hair for the benefit of the Belgians," remarked
+Betty, gazing thoughtfully at Marjorie's long plait and Sylvia's silken
+curls.
+
+"Oh, I dare say, when your own's short!" responded Sylvia indignantly.
+"I might as well suggest selling our ponies, because you've got one and
+I haven't."
+
+"If I wrote a patriotic poem, I wonder how much it would cost to get it
+printed?" asked Enid. "I'd make all the girls in our form buy copies."
+
+"We might get up a concert."
+
+"But wouldn't that give away our secret?"
+
+With the enthusiasm of the newly-formed society still hot upon her,
+Marjorie started for her fortnightly exeat at her aunt's. She felt that
+the atmosphere of The Tamarisks would be stimulating. Everybody
+connected with that establishment was doing something for the war. Uncle
+Andrew was on a military tribunal, Aunt Ellinor presided over numerous
+committees to send parcels to prisoners, or to aid soldiers' orphans.
+Elaine's life centred round the Red Cross Hospital, and Norman and
+Wilfred were at the front. She found her aunt, with the table spread
+over with papers, busily scribbling letters.
+
+"I'm on a new committee," she explained, after greeting her niece. "I
+have to find people who'll undertake to write to lonely soldiers. Some
+of our poor fellows never have a letter, and the chaplains say it's most
+pathetic to see how wistful they look when the mails come in and there's
+nothing for them. I think it's just too touching for words. Suppose
+Norman and Wilfred were never remembered. Did you say, Elaine, that Mrs.
+Wilkins has promised to take Private Dudley? That's right! And Mrs.
+Hopwood will take Private Roberts? It's very kind of her, when she's so
+busy already. We haven't anybody yet for Private Hargreaves. I must find
+him a correspondent somehow. What is it, Dona dear? You want me to look
+at your photos? Most certainly!"
+
+Aunt Ellinor--kind, busy, and impulsive, and always anxious to
+entertain the girls when they came for their fortnightly visit--pushed
+aside her papers and immediately gave her whole attention to the
+snapshots which Dona showed her.
+
+"I took them with the camera you gave me at Christmas," explained her
+niece. "Miss Jones says it must be a very good lens, because they've
+come out so well. Isn't this one of Marjorie topping?"
+
+"It's nice, only it makes her look too old," commented Elaine. "You
+can't see her plait, and she might be quite grown-up. Have you a book to
+paste your photos in?"
+
+"Not yet. I must put that down in my birthday list."
+
+"I believe I have one upstairs that I can give you. It's somewhere in my
+cupboard. I'll go and look for it."
+
+"Oh, let me come with you!" chirruped Dona, running after her cousin.
+
+Marjorie stayed in the dining-room, because Aunt Ellinor had just handed
+her Norman's last letter, and she wanted to read it. She was only
+half-way through the first page when a maid announced a visitor, and her
+aunt rose and went to the drawing-room. Norman's news from the front was
+very interesting. She devoured it eagerly. As a P.S. he added: "Write as
+often as you can. You don't know what letters mean to us out here."
+
+Marjorie folded the thin foreign sheets and put them back in their
+envelope. If Norman, who was kept well supplied with home news, longed
+for letters, what must be the case of those lonely soldiers who had not
+a friend to use pen and paper on their behalf? Surely it would be a kind
+and patriotic act to write to one of them? Marjorie's impulsive
+temperament snatched eagerly at the idea.
+
+"The very sort of thing I've been yearning to do," she decided. "Why,
+that's what our S.S.O.P. membership is for. Auntie said she hadn't found
+a correspondent for Private Hargreaves. I'll send him a letter myself.
+It's dreadful to think of him out in the trenches without a soul to take
+an interest in him, poor fellow!"
+
+Without waiting to consult anybody, Marjorie borrowed her aunt's pen,
+took a sheet of foreign paper from the rack that stood on the table, and
+quite on the spur of the moment scribbled off the following epistle:--
+
+    "BRACKENFIELD COLLEGE,
+        "WHITECLIFFE.
+
+    "DEAR PRIVATE HARGREAVES,
+
+    "I am so sorry to think of you being lonely in the trenches and
+    having no letters, and I want to write and say we English girls
+    think of all the brave men who are fighting to defend our
+    country, and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts. I know
+    how terrible it is for you, because I have a brother in France,
+    and one on a battleship, and one in training-camp, and five
+    cousins at the front, and my father at Havre, so I hear all
+    about the hard life you have to lead. I have been to the Red
+    Cross Hospital and seen the wounded soldiers. I knit socks to
+    send to the troops, and we want to get up a concert to raise
+    some money for the Y.M.C.A. huts.
+
+    "I hope you will not feel so lonely now you know that somebody
+    is thinking about you.
+
+    "Believe me,
+        "Your sincere friend,
+            "MARJORIE ANDERSON."
+
+It exactly filled up a sheet, and Marjorie folded it, put it in an
+envelope, and copied the address from the list which her aunt had left
+lying on the table. Seeing Dona's photos also spread out, she took the
+little snapshot of herself and enclosed it in the letter. She had a
+stamp of her own in her purse, which she affixed, then slipped the
+envelope in her pocket. She did not mention the matter to Aunt Ellinor
+or Elaine, because to do so would almost seem like betraying the
+S.S.O.P., whose patriotic principles were vowed to strictest secrecy.
+She considered it was a case of "doing good by stealth", and plumed
+herself on how she would score over the other girls when she reported
+such a very practical application of the aims of the society.
+
+Her cousin returned with Dona in the course of a few minutes, and
+suggested taking the girls into Whitecliffe, where she wished to do some
+shopping. They all three started off at once. As they passed the
+pillar-box in the High Street, Marjorie managed to drop in her letter
+unobserved. It was an exhilarating feeling to know that it was really
+gone. They went to a cafe for tea, and as they sat looking at the
+Allies' flags, which draped the walls, and listening to the military
+marches played by a ladies' orchestra in khaki uniforms, patriotism
+seemed uppermost.
+
+"It's grand to do anything for one's country!" sighed Marjorie.
+
+"So it is," answered Elaine, pulling her knitting from her pocket and
+rapidly going on with a sock. "Those poor fellows in the trenches
+deserve everything we can send out to them--socks, toffee, cakes,
+cigarettes, scented soap, and other comforts."
+
+"And letters," added Marjorie under her breath, to herself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+The Empress
+
+
+The S.S.O.P. was duly, thrilled when Marjorie reported her act of
+patriotism. Its members, however, reproached her that she had not
+copied down the names and addresses of other lonely soldiers on her
+aunt's list, so that they also might have had an opportunity of
+"doing their bit".
+
+"There wasn't time," Marjorie apologized. "Elaine came back into the
+room almost immediately, and I daren't let her and Dona know, because it
+would have broken my vow."
+
+Her friends admitted the excuse, but it was plain that they were
+disappointed, and considered that with a little more promptitude she
+might have succeeded.
+
+"Did you tell him about our society?" asked Betty.
+
+"No, of course not."
+
+"Well, I didn't mean betraying the secret, exactly, only I think you
+might have mentioned that there are several of us who want to do things
+for the soldiers. And there was a beautiful snapshot that Patricia took
+of us all--you might have put that in."
+
+"But I hadn't got it with me."
+
+"You needn't have been in such a hurry to send off the letter. You could
+have waited till you'd seen us."
+
+"How could I post it from school? It was by sheer luck I slipped it into
+the pillar-box at Whitecliffe. I got my chance to write that letter, and
+I had to take it at once or leave it."
+
+"Perhaps our turns may come another time," suggested Patricia
+consolingly.
+
+Though it was Marjorie who had done the actual writing, the whole of the
+S.S.O.P. felt responsible for the letter, and considered that they had
+adopted the lonely soldier. In imagination they pictured Private
+Hargreaves sitting disconsolately in a dug-out, gazing with wistful eyes
+while his comrades read and re-read their home letters, then an orderly
+entering and presenting him with Marjorie's document, his incredulity,
+surprise, and delight at finding it actually addressed to himself, and
+the eagerness with which he would tear open the envelope. Opinions
+differed as to what would happen when he had read it. Sylvia inclined to
+think that tears would steal down his rugged cheek. Betty was certain
+that, however bad he might have been formerly, he would at once turn
+over a new leaf and begin to reform. Patricia suggested that he would
+write on the envelope that he wished it to be buried with him. Schemes
+for sending him pressed violets, poems, and photographs floated on the
+horizon of the society. He should not feel lonely any more if the
+S.S.O.P. could help it. They decided that each would contribute
+twopence a week towards buying him cigarettes. They went about the
+school quite jauntily in the consciousness of their secret. The rival
+secret society, noticing their elation, openly jeered, but that no doubt
+was envy.
+
+A fortnight passed by, and the girls were beginning to forget about it a
+little. The snow had melted, and hockey practice was uppermost in their
+minds, for the match between St. Githa's and St. Elgiva's would soon be
+due, and they were anxious for the credit of their own hostel. Just at
+present the playing-fields loomed larger than the trenches. St. Elgiva's
+team was not yet decided, and each hoped in her innermost heart that she
+might be chosen among the favoured eleven. Marjorie had lately improved
+very much at hockey, and had won words of approval from Stella Pearson,
+the games captain, together with helpful criticism. It was well known
+that Stella did not waste trouble on unpromising subjects, so it was
+highly encouraging to Marjorie to find her play noticed. Golden visions
+of winning goals for her hostel swam before her dazzled eyes. She dreamt
+one night that she was captain of the team. She almost quarrelled with
+Chrissie because the latter, who was a slack player, did not share her
+enthusiasm.
+
+One Monday morning Marjorie woke up with a curious sense of impending
+trouble. She occasionally had a fit of the blues on Mondays. Sunday was
+a quiet day at Brackenfield, and in the evening the girls wrote their
+home letters. The effect was often an intense longing for the holidays.
+On this particular Monday she tried to shake off the wretched dismal
+feeling, but did not succeed. It lasted throughout breakfast in spite of
+Chrissie's humorous rallyings.
+
+"You're as glum as an owl!" remarked her chum at last.
+
+"I can't help it. I feel as if something horrible is going to happen."
+
+Marjorie's premonition turned out to be justified, for, as she was
+leaving the dining-hall after breakfast, Miss Norton tapped her on the
+shoulder, and told her to report herself at once to Mrs. Morrison.
+
+Wondering for what particular transgression she was to be called to
+account, Marjorie obeyed, and presented herself at the study. The
+Principal was seated at her desk writing. She allowed her pupil to stand
+and wait while she finished making her list for the housekeeper and
+blotted it. Then, taking an envelope from one of her pigeonholes, she
+turned to the expectant girl.
+
+"Marjorie Anderson," she began sternly, "this letter, addressed to you,
+arrived this morning. Miss Norton very properly brought it to me, and I
+have opened and read it. Will you kindly explain its contents?"
+
+The rule at Brackenfield, as at most schools, was that pupils might only
+receive letters addressed by their parents or guardians, and that any
+other correspondence directed to them was opened and perused by the head
+mistress. Letters from brothers, sisters, cousins, or friends were of
+course allowed if forwarded under cover by a parent, but must not be
+sent separately to the school by the writer.
+
+Marjorie, in some amazement, opened the letter which Mrs. Morrison gave
+her. It was written on Y.M.C.A. paper in an ill-educated hand, and ran
+thus:--
+
+    "DEAR MISS,
+
+    "This comes hoping you are as well as it leaves me at present. I
+    was very glad to get your letter, and hear you are thinking
+    about me. I like your photo, and when I get back to blighty
+    should like to keep company with you if you are agreeable to
+    same. Before I joined up I was in the engine-room at my works,
+    and getting my L2 a week. I am very glad to have some one to
+    write to me. Well, no more at present from
+
+    "Yours truly
+       "JIM HARGREAVES."
+
+Marjorie flushed scarlet. Without doubt the letter was a reply from the
+lonely soldier. It came as a tremendous shock. Somehow it had never
+occurred to her that he would write back. To herself and the other
+members of the S.S.O.P. he had been a mere picturesque abstraction, a
+romantic figure, as remote as fiction, whose loneliness had appealed to
+their sentimental instincts. They had judged all soldiers by the
+experience of their own brothers and cousins, and had a vague idea that
+the army consisted mostly of public-school boys. To find that her
+protege was an uneducated working man, who had entirely misconstrued the
+nature of her interest in him, and evidently imagined that she had
+written him a love-letter, made poor Marjorie turn hot and cold. She was
+essentially a thorough little lady, and was horror-stricken at the false
+position in which her impulsive act had placed her.
+
+Mrs. Morrison watched her face narrowly, and drew her own conclusion
+from the tell-tale blushes.
+
+"Do I understand that this letter is in reply to one written by you?"
+she asked.
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Morrison," gasped Marjorie, turning suddenly white.
+
+The Principal drew a long breath, as if trying to retain her
+self-command. Her grey eyes flashed ominously, and her hands trembled.
+
+"Do you understand that you have not only broken one of our principal
+rules, but have transgressed against the spirit of the school? Every
+pupil here is at least supposed to be a gentlewoman, and that a
+Brackenfielder could so demean herself as to enter into a vulgar
+correspondence with an unknown soldier fills me with disgust and
+contempt. I cannot keep such a girl in the school. You will go for the
+present to the isolation room, and remain there until I can make
+arrangements to send you home."
+
+[Illustration: THEN SOMEHOW MARJORIE FOUND HERSELF BLURTING OUT THE
+ENTIRE STORY _page 172_]
+
+Mrs. Morrison spoke quietly, but very firmly. She pointed to the door,
+and Marjorie, without a word, withdrew. She had been given no chance
+to explain matters or defend herself. By acknowledging that she had
+written to Private Hargreaves Mrs. Morrison considered that she had
+pleaded guilty, and had condemned her without further hearing. As if
+walking in a bad dream, Marjorie crossed the quadrangle, and went down
+the path to the Isolation Hospital. This was a small bungalow in a
+remote part of the grounds. It was kept always in readiness in case any
+girl should develop an infectious complaint. Marjorie had been there for
+a few days last term with a cold which Miss Norton suspected might be
+influenza. She had enjoyed herself then. How different it was now to go
+there in utter disgrace and under threat of expulsion! She sat down in
+one of the cosy wicker chairs and buried her face in her hands. To be
+expelled, to leave Brackenfield and all its interests, and to go home
+with a stigma attached to her name! Her imagination painted all it would
+mean--her father's displeasure, her mother's annoyance, the surprise of
+friends at home to see her back before mid-term, the entire humiliation
+of everybody knowing that she had been sent away from school.
+
+"I shall never be able to hold up my head again," she thought. "And it
+will spoil Dona's career here too. They won't be able to send Joan to
+Brackenfield either; she'll have to go to some other school. Oh, why was
+I such an absolute lunatic? I might have known the Empress would take it
+this way!"
+
+Sister Johnstone, one of the school nurses, now came bustling in. She
+glanced at Marjorie, but made no remark, and set to work to light the
+fire and dust the room. Presently, however, she came and laid her hand
+on the girl's shoulder.
+
+"I don't quite understand yet what it's all about, Marjorie," she said
+kindly; "but my advice is, if you've done anything wrong, make a clean
+breast of it and perhaps Mrs. Morrison may forgive you."
+
+"She's expelled me!" groaned Marjorie.
+
+"That's bad. Aren't there any extenuating circumstances?"
+
+But Marjorie, utterly crushed and miserable, only shook her head.
+
+The Principal was sincerely concerned and grieved by the occurrence. It
+is always a blot on a school to be obliged to expel a pupil. She talked
+the matter over carefully with some of the teachers. Marjorie's record
+at Brackenfield had unfortunately been already marred by several
+incidents which prejudiced her in the eyes of the mistresses. They had
+been done innocently and in sheer thoughtlessness, but they gave a wrong
+impression of her character. Miss Norton related that when she first met
+Marjorie at Euston station she had found her speaking to a soldier, with
+whom she had acknowledged that she had no acquaintance, and that she had
+brought a novel to her dormitory in defiance of rules. Mrs. Morrison
+remembered only too plainly that it was Marjorie who had asked the
+aviator for his autograph on the beach at Whitecliffe, and had started
+the ill-timed episode of snowballing the soldiers. Judging by these
+signposts she considered her tendencies to be "fast".
+
+"I can't have the atmosphere of the school spoilt," said Mrs. Morrison.
+"Such an attitude is only too catching. Best to check it before it
+spreads further."
+
+"But I have always found Marjorie such a nice girl," urged Miss
+Duckworth. "From my personal experience of her I could not have believed
+her capable of unladylike conduct. She has always seemed to me very
+unsophisticated and childish--certainly not 'fast'. Can there possibly
+be any explanation of the matter?"
+
+"I fear not--the case seems only too plain," sighed Mrs. Morrison. "I am
+very loath to expel any girl, but----"
+
+"May I speak to her before you take any active steps?" begged Miss
+Duckworth. "I have a feeling that the matter may possibly admit of being
+cleared up. It's worth trying."
+
+No principal is ever anxious for the unpleasant task of writing to a
+parent to request her to remove her daughter. Mrs. Morrison had nerved
+herself to the unwelcome duty, but she was quite willing to defer it
+until Miss Duckworth had instituted enquiries. She had an excellent
+opinion of her mistress's sound common sense.
+
+Marjorie spent a wretched day in the isolation ward. Sister Johnstone
+plied her with magazines, but she had not the heart to read them, and
+sat looking listlessly out of the window at the belt of laurels that
+separated the field from the kitchen garden. She wondered when she was
+to leave Brackenfield, if her mother would come to fetch her, or if she
+would have to travel home by herself. It was after tea-time that Miss
+Duckworth entered.
+
+"I've come to relieve Sister for a little while," she announced, seating
+herself by the fire.
+
+Sister Johnstone took the hint, and, saying she would be very glad to go
+out for half an hour, went away, leaving Miss Duckworth and Marjorie
+alone in the bungalow.
+
+"Come to the fire, Marjorie," said the mistress. "It's damp and chilly
+this afternoon, and you look cold sitting by the window."
+
+Marjorie obeyed almost mechanically. She knelt on the rug and spread out
+her hands to the blaze. She had reached a point of misery when she
+hardly cared what happened next to her. Two big tears splashed into the
+fender. Miss Duckworth suddenly put an arm round her.
+
+"I'm sorry you're in trouble, Marjorie. Can't you tell me why you did
+such a thing? It's so unlike you that I don't understand."
+
+Then somehow Marjorie found herself blurting out the entire story to her
+form mistress. How she had found the soldier's address at her aunt's,
+and had written to him in a spirit of sheer patriotism.
+
+Incidentally, and in reply to questioning, the aims and objects of the
+S.S.O.P. were divulged.
+
+Miss Duckworth could hardly forbear a smile; the real circumstances were
+so utterly different from what they appeared in the Principal's eyes.
+
+"You've been a very silly child," she said; "so silly that I think you
+richly deserved to get yourself into a scrape. I'll explain the matter
+to Mrs. Morrison."
+
+"I'd like her to know, even though I'm to be expelled," groaned
+Marjorie.
+
+On hearing Miss Duckworth's version of the story, however, Mrs. Morrison
+reconsidered her decision, sent for the culprit, lectured her, and
+solemnly forgave her. She further summoned all the members of the
+S.S.O.P. to present themselves in her study. In view of the recent
+occurrence they came trembling, and stood in a downcast line while she
+addressed them.
+
+"I hear from Miss Duckworth," she said, "that you have founded a secret
+society among yourselves for the purpose of encouraging patriotism. I do
+not in general approve of secret societies, but I sympathize with your
+object. It is the duty of every citizen of our Empire to be patriotic.
+There are various ways, however, in which we can show our love for our
+country. Let us be sure that they are wise and discreet ways before we
+adopt them. Some forms of kindness may be excellent when administered by
+grown-up and experienced women, but are not suitable for schoolgirls. If
+you want to help the soldiers you may sew bed-jackets. I have just
+received a new consignment of flannel, and will ask Sister Johnstone to
+cut some out for you to-morrow."
+
+The S.S.O.P. retired somewhat crestfallen.
+
+"I hate sewing!" mourned Betty.
+
+"So do I," confessed Sylvia. "But we'll all just have to slave away at
+those bed-jackets if we want to square the Empress. It must come out of
+our spare time, too, worse luck!"
+
+Marjorie entered St. Elgiva's in a half-dazed condition. A hurricane
+seemed to have descended that morning, whirled her almost to
+destruction, then blown itself away, and left her decidedly battered by
+the storm. Up in her own cubicle she indulged in the luxury of a
+thorough good cry. The S.S.O.P. in a body rose up to comfort her, but,
+like Jacob of old, she refused comfort.
+
+"I'm not to be t-t-trusted to have my own postage stamps," she sobbed.
+"I've to take even my home letters to the Empress to be looked at, and
+she'll stamp them. I'm to miss my next exeat, and Aunt Ellinor's to be
+told the reason, and I'm not to play hockey for a month."
+
+"Oh, Marjorie! Then there isn't the remotest chance of your getting into
+the Eleven for St. Elgiva's. What a shame!"
+
+"I know. It's spoilt everything."
+
+"And the whole school knows now about the S.S.O.P. It's leaked out
+somehow, and the secret's gone. It'll be no more fun."
+
+"I wish to goodness I'd never thought of it," choked Marjorie. "I've got
+to sit and copy out beastly poetry while somebody else gets into the
+Eleven."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+The Observatory Window
+
+
+Though Mrs. Morrison might be satisfied that Marjorie's letter to
+Private Hargreaves had been written in an excess of patriotism, she made
+her feel the ban of her displeasure. She received her coldly when she
+brought her home letters to be stamped, stopped her exeat, and did not
+remit a fraction of her imposition. She considered she had gauged
+Marjorie's character--that thoughtless impulsiveness was one of her
+gravest faults, and that it would be well to teach her a lesson which
+she would remember for some time. Marjorie's hot spirits chafed against
+her punishment. It was terribly hard to be kept from hockey practice.
+She missed the physical exercise as well as the excitement of the game.
+On three golden afternoons she had watched the others run across the
+shrubbery towards the playing-fields, and, taking her dejected way to
+her classroom, had spent the time writing at her desk. The fourth hockey
+afternoon was one of those lovely spring days when nature seems to
+beckon one out of doors into the sunshine. Sparrows were tweeting in the
+ivy, and a thrush on the top branch of the almond tree trilled in
+rivalry with the blackbird that was building in the holly bush. For
+half an hour Marjorie toiled away. Copying poetry is monotonous, though
+perhaps not very exacting work; she hated writing, and her head ached.
+After a morning spent at Latin, algebra, and chemistry, it seemed
+intolerable to be obliged to remain in the schoolroom. She threw down
+her pen and stretched her arms wearily, then strolled to the open window
+and looked out.
+
+A belt of trees hid the playing-fields, so it was impossible to catch
+even a glimpse of the hockey. There was nothing to be seen but grass and
+bushes and a few clumps of daffodils, which stood out like golden stars
+against a background of green. Stop! what was that? Marjorie looked more
+intently, and could distinguish a figure in hockey jersey and
+tam-o'-shanter coming along behind the bushes. As it crossed a space
+between two rhododendrons she recognized it in a moment.
+
+"Why, that's Chrissie!" she said to herself. "What in the name of
+thunder is she doing slinking behind the shrubs? Oh, I know! Good old
+girl! She's coming to cheer me up, and, of course, doesn't want Norty or
+anyone to catch her. What a sport she is!"
+
+Chrissie had disappeared, probably into the vestibule door, but Marjorie
+judged that she would be coming upstairs directly, and in a spirit of
+fun crouched down in a corner and hid behind the desks. As she had
+expected, the door opened a moment later, and her chum peeped inside,
+took a hasty glance round the room, and went away. That she should go
+without searching for and finding her friend was not at all what
+Marjorie had calculated upon. She sprang up hastily and followed, but by
+the time she had reached the door Chrissie had disappeared. Marjorie
+walked a little way along the corridor. She was disappointed, and felt
+decidedly bored with life. She longed for something--anything--to break
+the monotony of copying out poetry. Her eyes fell upon a staircase at
+her left.
+
+Now on the school plan these stairs were marked "out of bounds", and to
+mount them was a breach of rules. They led to a glass observatory, which
+formed a kind of tower over the main building of the College. A number
+of theatrical properties were stored here--screens, and drop scenes, and
+boxes full of costumes. By special leave the prefects came up to fetch
+anything that was needed for acting, but to the ordinary school it was
+forbidden ground. Marjorie stopped and thought. She had always longed to
+explore the theatrical boxes. Everybody was out at hockey, and there was
+not a soul to see her and report her. The temptation was too great; she
+succumbed, and next moment was running up the stairs, all agog with the
+spirit of adventure. The door of the Observatory was open. It was not a
+remarkably large room, and was fairly well filled with the various stage
+properties. Large windows occupied the four sides, and the roof was a
+glass dome. Marjorie peeped about, opened some of the boxes and examined
+the dresses, and inspected a variety of odd objects, such as pasteboard
+crowns, fairies' wings, sceptres, wands, and swords. She was just about
+to try on a green-velvet Rumanian bodice when she turned in alarm. Steps
+were heard coming up the staircase towards the Observatory. In an
+instant Marjorie shut the box and slipped behind one of the screens. She
+was only just in time, for the next moment Miss Norton entered the room.
+Through a small rent in the oilcloth which covered the screen Marjorie
+could see her plainly. She went to the window which faced the sea and
+gazed out long and earnestly. Then she opened one of the theatrical
+boxes, put something inside, and shut it again. One more look through
+the window and she left the room. The sound of her retreating footsteps
+died down the stairs.
+
+Marjorie had remained still, and scarcely daring to breathe. She waited
+a moment or two, lest the teacher should return, then descended with
+extreme caution, scuttled back into the schoolroom, and started once
+more to copy poetry.
+
+"It was a near squeak!" she thought. "The Acid Drop would have made a
+fearful row if she'd caught me. It makes one feel rocky even to think of
+it. Oh dear! I must brace up if I'm to get all the rest of this done
+before tea."
+
+She wrote away wearily until the dressing-bell rang, then washed her
+hands and went into the hall. The one topic of conversation at the
+tables was hockey. The points of the various members of the teams were
+criticized freely. It appeared to have been an exciting afternoon. A
+sense of ill usage filled Marjorie that she had not been present.
+
+"I think the Empress was awfully hard on me," she groused. "I believe
+she'd have let me off more lightly if Norty hadn't given her such a list
+of my crimes. I wish I could catch Norty tripping! But teachers never do
+trip."
+
+"Why, no, of course not. They wouldn't be teachers if they did," laughed
+Betty. "The Empress would soon pack them off."
+
+"I wonder if they ever get into trouble and the Empress reprimands them
+in private," surmised Chrissie.
+
+"Oh, that's likely enough, but of course we don't hear about it."
+
+"Miss Gordon and Miss Hulton had a quarrel last year," said Sylvia.
+
+"Yes, and Miss Hulton left. Everybody said she was obliged to go because
+Mrs. Morrison took Miss Gordon's part."
+
+That evening an unprecedented and extraordinary thing happened.
+Brackenfield College stood in a dip of the hills not very far away from
+the sea. As at most coast places, the rules in the neighbourhood of
+Whitecliffe were exceedingly strict. Not the least little chink of a
+light must be visible after dusk, and blinds and curtains were drawn
+most carefully over the windows. Being on the west coast, they had so
+far been immune from air raids, but in war-time nobody knew from what
+quarter danger might come, or whether a stray Zeppelin might some night
+float overhead, or a cruiser begin shelling the town. On the whole, the
+College was considered as safe a place as any in England, and parents
+had not scrupled to send their daughters back to school there. On this
+particular evening one of the housemaids had been into Whitecliffe, and,
+instead of returning by the high road and up the drive, took a short cut
+by the side lane and the kitchen garden. To her amazement, she noticed
+that in one of the windows of the Observatory a bright light was
+shining. It was on the side away from the high road, but facing the sea,
+and could probably be discerned at a great distance. She hurried indoors
+and informed Mrs. Morrison, who at once visited the Observatory, and
+found there a lighted bicycle lamp, which had been placed on the window
+sill.
+
+So sinister an incident was a matter for immediate enquiry. The
+Principal was horror-stricken. Girls, teachers, and servants were
+questioned, but nobody admitted anything. The lamp, indeed, proved to be
+one which Miss Duckworth had missed from her bicycle several days
+before. It was known that she had been lamenting its loss. Whether the
+light had been put as a signal or as a practical joke it was impossible
+to say, but if it had been noticed by a special constable it would have
+placed Brackenfield in danger of an exceedingly heavy fine.
+
+Everybody was extremely indignant. It was felt that such an unpleasant
+episode cast a reflection upon the school. It was naturally the one
+subject of conversation.
+
+"Have we a spy in our midst?" asked Winifrede Mason darkly. "If it
+really was a practical joke, then whoever did it needs hounding out of
+the place."
+
+"She'll meet with scant mercy when she's found!" agreed Meg Hutchinson.
+
+Marjorie said nothing at all. Her brain was in a whirl. The events of
+the afternoon rose up like a spectre and haunted her. She felt she
+needed a confidante. At the earliest possible moment she sought Chrissie
+alone, and told her how she had run up into the Observatory and seen
+Miss Norton there.
+
+"Do you think it's possible Norty could have lighted that lamp?" she
+asked.
+
+Chrissie whistled.
+
+"It looks rather black against her certainly. What was she doing up in
+the Observatory?"
+
+"She put something inside a box."
+
+"Did you see what it was?"
+
+"No."
+
+"It might have been a bicycle lamp?"
+
+"It might have been anything as far as I can tell."
+
+"Did she strike a match as if lighting a lamp?"
+
+"No, but of course she might have put the lamp inside the box and then
+come up at dusk to light it."
+
+Chrissie shook her head and whistled again softly. She appeared to be
+thinking.
+
+"Ought I to tell the Empress?" ventured Marjorie.
+
+"Not unless you want to get yourself into the very biggest row you've
+ever had in your life!"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why? Don't you see, you silly child, that Norty would deny everything
+and throw all the blame upon you? Naturally the Empress would ask: 'What
+were you doing in the Observatory?' Even if she didn't suspect you of
+putting the light there yourself--which it is quite possible she
+might--she'd punish you for breaking bounds; and when you've only just
+been in trouble already----"
+
+"It's not to be thought of," interrupted Marjorie quickly. "You're quite
+right, Chrissie. The Empress would be sure to side with Norty and blame
+me. I'd thought of going and telling her, and I even walked as far as
+the study door, but I was too frightened to knock. I'm glad I asked you
+about it first."
+
+"Of course the whole business may be a rag. It's the kind of wild thing
+some of those silly Juniors would do."
+
+"It may; but, on the other hand, the light may have been a signal. It
+seems very mysterious."
+
+"Don't tell anybody else what you've told me."
+
+"Rather not. It's a secret to be kept even from the S.S.O.P. I shan't
+breathe a word to a single soul."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+The Dance of the Nations
+
+
+Though Mrs. Morrison made the most rigid enquiries she could get no
+information as to who had placed the lamp in the window. She locked the
+door of the Observatory, and caused the old gardener to patrol the
+grounds at intervals after dark to watch for further signals, but
+nothing more occurred. After weeks of vigilance and suspicion she came
+to the conclusion that it must have been a practical joke on the part of
+one of the girls. Chrissie in her private talks with her chum upheld
+that view of the matter, but Marjorie had her own opinions. She often
+looked at Miss Norton and wondered what secrets were hidden under that
+calm exterior. To all outward appearance the house mistress was
+scholastic, cold, and entirely occupied with her duties. She was
+essentially a disciplinarian, and kept St. Elgiva's under a strict
+regime. Her girls often wished she were less conscientious in her
+superintendence of their doings.
+
+The possession of a mutual secret shared by themselves alone seemed to
+draw Chrissie and Marjorie closer together than ever. Not that Chrissie
+gave her chum any more of her real confidence, for she was the kind of
+girl who never reveals her heart, but she seemed to become more and
+more interested in Marjorie's affairs. She enjoyed the latter's home
+news, and especially letters from the front.
+
+"I envy you, with three brothers in the army!" she admitted one day with
+a wistful sigh.
+
+"Yes, it's something to know our family is doing its bit," returned
+Marjorie proudly. "Haven't you any relations at the front?" she added.
+
+Chrissie shook her head.
+
+"My father is dead, and my only brother is delicate."
+
+Marjorie forbore to press the question further. She could see it was a
+tender subject.
+
+"Probably the brother is a shirker or a conscientious objector," she
+thought, "and to such a patriotic girl as Chrissie it must be a dreadful
+trial. If Bevis or Leonard or Larry seemed to hang back I'd die of
+shame."
+
+Judging from the photo of Chrissie's brother which stood on her
+dressing-table, he did not look an engaging or interesting youth. The
+dormitory, keenly critical of each other's relatives, had privately
+decided in his disfavour. That Chrissie was fond of him Marjorie was
+sure, though she never talked about him and his doings, as other girls
+did of their brothers. The suspicion that her chum was hiding a secret
+humiliation on this score made warm-hearted Marjorie doubly kind, and
+Chrissie, though no more expansive than formerly, seemed to understand.
+She was evidently intensely grateful for Marjorie's friendship, and as
+entirely devoted to her as her reserved disposition allowed. She would
+send to Whitecliffe for violets, and place the little bunch on her
+chum's dressing-table, flushing hotly when she was thanked. She
+presented innumerable small gifts which she managed to make in her spare
+time. She was a quick and exquisite needlewoman, and dainty collars in
+broderie anglaise, embroidered pocket-handkerchiefs, pin-cushions,
+dressing-table mats, and other pretty trifles seemed to grow like magic
+under her nimble fingers. Any return present from Marjorie she seemed to
+value exceedingly. She put the latter's photo inside a locket, and wore
+it constantly. She was clever at her lessons, and would help her chum
+with her work out of school hours. St. Elgiva's smiled tolerantly, and
+named the pair "the Turtle Doves". Though the atmosphere of the hostel
+was not sentimental, violent friendships were not unknown there.
+Sometimes they were of enduring quality, and sometimes they ended in a
+quarrel. Miss Norton did not encourage demonstrative affection among her
+flock, but it was known that Mrs. Morrison considered schoolgirl
+friendships highly important and likely to last for life. She beamed
+rather than frowned on those who walked arm in arm.
+
+Marjorie's second term at Brackenfield was fast wearing itself away. In
+spite of many disagreeable happenings she felt that she had taken her
+place in the life of the school, and that she was a definite figure at
+St. Elgiva's. There was a little rivalry between the hostels, and each
+would try to outdo the other in such matters as collecting for
+charities, knitting for the soldiers, or providing items for concerts.
+At the end of term each hostel put up in the hall a list of its various
+achievements, and great was the triumph of that house which could record
+the largest number of socks or shillings. There was an old and
+well-established custom that on the last three evenings of term the
+three hostels in turn might take possession of the assembly hall, and
+give some form of entertainment to which they could invite the rest of
+the school. St. Elgiva's held a committee meeting to discuss possible
+projects.
+
+"There doesn't seem anything new," mourned Mollie. "Of course concerts
+and plays and charades are very well in their way, but they're done
+every time."
+
+"We all like them," admitted Phyllis.
+
+"Oh yes, we like them; but it would be so nice to have a change."
+
+"Can't anybody make a suggestion?" urged Francie.
+
+"The things we really want to do are just the things we can't," sighed
+Betty. "If I could choose, I'd vote for a bonfire and fireworks."
+
+"Or a torchlight picnic," prompted Sylvia. "It would make a nice
+excitement for the special constables to come and arrest us, as they
+most certainly would. What a heading it would make for the newspaper--'A
+Ladies' School in Prison. No Bail Allowed'! Would they set us to pick
+oakum?"
+
+"But seriously, do think of something practical. Have your brains all
+gone rusty?"
+
+"There are progressive games," ventured Patricia.
+
+"St. Githa's are giving them. I know it for a fact. They sent to
+Whitecliffe for marbles and boxes of pins and shoe-buttons to make
+'fish-ponds'. They get first innings, so it would be too stale if our
+evening were to be just a repetition of theirs."
+
+It was Chrissie who at last made the original suggestion.
+
+"Couldn't we have a dance? I don't mean an ordinary dance, but something
+special. Suppose we were all to dress up to represent different nations.
+We could have all the Allies."
+
+"Ripping! But how could we manage enough costumes?"
+
+"We'd make them up with coloured paper and ribbons. It shouldn't be very
+difficult."
+
+"It's a jolly good idea," said Mollie reflectively.
+
+The more the committee considered the matter the more they felt disposed
+to decide in favour of the dance. They consulted Miss Norton on the
+subject, and she proved unusually genial and encouraging, and offered to
+take two delegates with her to Whitecliffe to buy requisites. The girls
+drew lots for the honour, and the luck fell to Mollie and Phyllis. They
+had an exciting afternoon at the Stores, and came back laden with
+brown-paper parcels.
+
+"Miss Norton says the fairest plan will be to have the things on sale,"
+they announced. "We're going to turn the sitting-room into a shop, and
+you may each come in one by one and spend a shilling, but no more."
+
+"All serene! When will you be at the receipt of custom?"
+
+"This evening after supper."
+
+That day there had been in the library a tremendous run upon any books
+which gave illustrations of European costumes. The girls considered that
+either allegorical or native peasant dresses would be suitable. They
+took drawings and wrote down details.
+
+"What I'd like would be to write to London to a firm of theatrical
+providers, and tell them to send us down a consignment of costumes,"
+announced Patricia.
+
+"Oh, I dare say! A nice little bill we should have! I've hired costumes
+before, and they charge a terrific amount for them," commented Francie.
+
+"It's rather fun to make our own, especially when we're all limited the
+same as to material," maintained Nora.
+
+The girls usually did needlework after supper, but this evening the
+sitting-room was to be devoted to the sale. Mollie and Phyllis were wise
+in their generation, and, anticipating a stampede, they picked out
+Gertrude Holmes and Laura Norris as being the most stalwart and
+brawny-armed among the damsels of St. Elgiva's, and set them to keep the
+door, admitting only two at a time. Even with this precaution a rather
+wild scene ensued. Instead of keeping in an orderly queue, the girls
+pushed for places, and there were several excited struggles in the
+vicinity of the stairs. As each girl came out, proudly exhibiting what
+she had purchased, the anxiety of those who had not yet entered the
+sitting-room increased. They were afraid everything might be sold before
+it came to their turns, and had it not been for the well-developed
+muscles of Gertrude and Laura, the fort might have been stormed and the
+stores raided.
+
+Mollie and Phyllis had invested their capital with skill, and showed an
+assortment of white and coloured crinkled papers, cheap remnants of
+sateen, lengths of gay butter muslin, and yards of ribbon. For the
+occasion they assumed the manners of shop assistants, and greeted their
+visitors with the orthodox: "What can I show you, madam?" But their
+elaborate politeness soon melted away when the customer showed signs of
+demanding more than her portion, and the "Oh, certainly!" or "Here's a
+sweet thing, madam!" uttered in honeyed tones, turned to a blunt "Don't
+be greedy!" "Can't give you more than your shilling's worth, not if you
+ask ever so." "There won't be enough to go round, so you must just make
+what you've got do. Not a single inch more! If you don't go this minute
+we'll take your parcels back. We're in a hurry."
+
+By using the greatest dispatch Mollie and Phyllis just managed to
+distribute their goods before the bell rang for prayers. The ribbon and
+sateen were all bought up, and the crinkled paper which was left over
+they put aside to make decorations for the hall.
+
+Next day St. Elgiva's was given up to the fabrication of costumes. The
+girls retired to their dormitories, strewed their beds with materials,
+and worked feverishly. In No. 9 the excitement was intense. Sylvia, who
+intended to represent the United States, was seccotining stars and
+stripes, cut out of coloured paper, on to her best white petticoat.
+Betty was stitching red stripes down the sides of her gymnasium
+knickers, being determined to appear in the nearest approach to a Zouave
+uniform that she could muster, though a little doubtful of Miss Norton's
+approval of male attire. Chrissie, with a brown-paper hat, a red tie,
+and belt strapped over her shoulder, meant to figure as Young Australia.
+Marjorie alone, the most enthusiastic of all for the scheme, sat limply
+on her bed with idle scissors.
+
+"I'd meant to be Rumania," she confessed, "and I find Patricia's bagged
+the exact thing I sketched."
+
+"Can't there be several Rumanias?"
+
+"Yes, there will be, because Rose and Enid have set their hearts on the
+same. I'd rather have something original, though."
+
+"I don't think Rumania would suit you; you're too tall and fair," said
+Sylvia. "It's better for dark girls, with curly hair if possible."
+
+"Couldn't you have a Breton peasant costume?" suggested Chrissie. "I've
+a picture post card here in my album that we could copy. Look, it's just
+the thing! The big cap and the white sleeves would do beautifully in
+crinkled paper, and I'll lend you that velvet bodice I wore when I was
+'Fadette'."
+
+"How about the apron?"
+
+"Stitch two handkerchiefs together, pick the lace off your best
+petticoat and sew it round, and you'll have the jinkiest little Breton
+apron you ever saw."
+
+"Christina Lang, you're a genius!" exclaimed Marjorie, pulling out the
+best petticoat from under a pile of blouses in her drawer, and setting
+to work with Sylvia's embroidery scissors to detach the trimming.
+
+"You'll want a necklace and some earrings," decided Chrissie. "Oh, we'll
+easily make you ear-rings--break up a string of beads, thread a few of
+them, and tie them on to your ears. I'll guarantee to turn you out a
+first-class peasant if you'll put yourself in my hands."
+
+"I suppose I'll be expected to talk Breton," chuckled Marjorie.
+
+The Seniors' entertainment came first, and on the following evening
+Intermediates and Juniors assembled in the big hall as the guests of St.
+Githa's. Progressive games had been provided, and the company spent a
+hilarious hour fishing up boot-buttons with bent pins, picking up
+marbles with two pencils, or securing potatoes with egg-spoons. A number
+of pretty prizes were given, and the hostesses had the satisfaction of
+feeling perfectly sure that their visitors, to judge by their behaviour,
+had absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. St. Githa's had
+undoubtedly covered itself with glory, and St. Elgiva's must not be
+outdone. The Intermediates worked feverishly to finish their costumes.
+Such an amount of borrowing and lending went on that it would be quite a
+problem to sort out possessions afterwards. It was a point of etiquette
+that anyone who had anything that would be useful to a neighbour's
+get-up was bound in honour to offer the loan of it. Only the hostesses
+were to be in costume; the guests were to appear in ordinary evening
+dresses.
+
+Marjorie, before the mirror in her bedroom, gazed critically at her own
+reflection. Chrissie's clever fingers had pulled and twisted the
+crinkled paper into the most becoming of peasant caps, the large bead
+ear-rings, tied on with silk, jangled on to her neck, her paper sleeves
+stood out like lawn, the lace-edged apron was a triumph of daintiness,
+she wore Patricia's scarlet-kid dancing-slippers with Betty's black silk
+stockings.
+
+"Do you think I'll do?" she queried.
+
+The Zouave officer threw herself on one knee in an attitude of ecstatic
+admiration, and laid a hand upon her heart.
+
+"Do? You're ravishing! I'm going to make love to you all the evening,
+just for the sport of seeing the Acid Drop's face. Play up and flirt,
+won't you?"
+
+"You look a regular Don Juan!" chuckled Marjorie.
+
+"That's my role this evening. I'm going to break hearts by the dozen. I
+don't mind telling you that I mean to dance with Norty herself."
+
+St. Elgiva's might certainly congratulate itself upon the success of its
+efforts. The fancy costumes produced a sensation. All the Allies were
+represented, as well as allegorical figures, such as Britannia, Justice,
+Peace, and Plenty. It was marvellous how much had been accomplished with
+the very scanty materials that the girls had had to work upon. The ball
+was soon in full swing; mistresses and prefects joined in the fun, and
+found themselves being whirled round by Neapolitan contadini or
+picturesque Japs. The room, decorated with flags and big rosettes of
+coloured paper, looked delightfully festive. Even Miss Norton, usually
+the climax of dignity, thawed for the occasion, and accepted Betty's
+invitation to a fox-trot without expressing any disapproval of the
+Zouave uniform. Marjorie, after a vigorous half-hour of exercise, paused
+panting near the platform, and refused further partners.
+
+"I want a rest," she proclaimed. "You wouldn't believe it, but this
+costume's very hot, and my ear-rings keep smacking me in the face."
+
+"If you not want to dance, Marjorie, you shall play, and I take a turn,"
+suggested the French mistress, vacating the piano stool.
+
+"By all means, mademoiselle. Do go and dance. There's Elsie wanting a
+partner. I'll enjoy playing for a while. What pieces have you got here?
+Oh, I know most of them."
+
+Marjorie good-naturedly settled herself to the piano. She was an
+excellent reader, so could manage even the pieces with which she was not
+already acquainted. She was playing a two-step, and turning her head to
+watch the dancers as they whirled by, when suddenly she heard a shout,
+and Chrissie, who was passing, scrambled on to the platform, dragged her
+from the piano, threw her on the floor, and sat upon her head. Dazed by
+the suddenness of her chum's extraordinary conduct, Marjorie was too
+much amazed even to scream. When Chrissie released her she realized what
+had happened. She had put the corner of her large Breton cap into the
+flame of the candle, and it had flared up. Only her friend's prompt
+action could have saved her from being horribly burnt. As it was, her
+hair was slightly singed, but her face was unscathed. The girls,
+thoroughly alarmed, came crowding on to the platform, and Miss Norton,
+after blowing out the piano candles, examined her carefully to see the
+extent of the damage.
+
+"More frightened than hurt!" was her verdict. "But another second might
+have been too late. I must congratulate you, Chrissie, on your presence
+of mind."
+
+Chrissie flushed crimson. It was not often that Miss Norton
+congratulated anybody. Praise from her was praise indeed.
+
+"Please go on dancing," begged Marjorie. "I'm all right, only I think
+I'll sit still and watch. It's made my legs feel shaky. I never thought
+of the candle and the size of my cap."
+
+"It's spoilt your costume," said Sylvia commiseratingly. "And yours was
+the best in all the room--everybody's been saying so. I wanted to get a
+snapshot of you in it to-morrow."
+
+"Take Betty instead. She's the limit in that Zouave get-up. And if you
+wouldn't mind using an extra film, I'd like one of Chrissie.
+Chrissie"--Marjorie caught her breath in a little gasp--"has saved my
+life to-night!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+Enchanted Ground
+
+
+Marjorie and Dona spent the larger part of the Easter holidays with an
+aunt in the north. They had a few days at home, mostly devoted to visits
+to the dentist and the dressmaker, and then boxes were once more packed,
+and they started off on the now familiar journey back to Brackenfield.
+Joan watched the preparations wistfully.
+
+"Do you think the Empress would take a girl of eight?" she enquired in
+all seriousness.
+
+"Not unless you could be used as a mascot or a school monkey," returned
+Marjorie. "You might come in handy at the nursing lectures, when we get
+to the chapter on 'How to Wash and Dress a Baby', or you'd do to
+practise bandaging on. Otherwise you'd be considerably in the way."
+
+"Don't be horrid!" pouted Joan. "I'm to go to Brackenfield some time.
+Mother said so."
+
+"You'll have to wait five years yet, my hearty. Why, do you know, even
+Dona is called a kiddie at Brackenfield?"
+
+"Dona!" Joan's eyes were big.
+
+"Yes, some of the girls look almost as old as Nora, and they've turned
+up their hair. It's a fact. You needn't stare."
+
+"You'll go all in good time, poor old Baba," said Dona. "You wouldn't
+like to be in a form all by yourself, without any other little girls,
+and there's no room for a preparatory unless they build, and that's not
+possible in war-time. You must peg on for a while with Miss Hazelwood,
+and then perhaps Mother'll send you to a day school. After all, you
+know, it's something to be the youngest in the family. You score over
+that."
+
+Both Marjorie and Dona were looking forward to the summer term. Those of
+their chums who were old Brackenfielders had dwelt strongly on its
+advantages compared with the autumn or spring terms. It was the season
+for cricket and tennis, for country walks, picnics, and natural history
+excursions. Most of the activities were arranged for out of doors, and a
+larger amount of liberty was allowed the girls than had been possible
+during the period of short days.
+
+Armed each with a cricket bat and a tennis racket, not to mention
+cameras, butterfly nets, collecting-boxes, and botanical cases, they
+arrived at their respective hostels and unpacked their possessions.
+Marjorie was the last comer in No. 9, and found Chrissie with her
+cubicle already neatly arranged, Sylvia with her head buried in her
+bottom drawer, and Betty struggling with straps. The two latter were
+pouring out details of their holiday adventures.
+
+"I rode in to town every day, and did Mother's shopping for her; and we
+went to a sale and bought the jolliest little governess car and
+harness."
+
+"We were going to Brighton, only Mother was so afraid of bombs on the
+south coast, so Daddy said it was safer to stop at home; and I was glad,
+because we'd spent last Christmas at Grannie's, so I really hadn't seen
+very much of home."
+
+"Dick got a week's leave, and we'd an absolutely gorgeous time!"
+
+"James and Vincent brought two school friends home with them--such
+ripping boys!"
+
+"We went out boating on the lake."
+
+"And we went to the cinema nearly every day."
+
+"What have you been doing, Marjorie?" asked Chrissie.
+
+"Heaps of things. We were staying at Redferne, and Uncle showed us all
+over the munition works. They're so strict they won't let anybody go
+through now; but Uncle's the head, so of course he could take Dona and
+me. And we saw a Belgian town for the Belgian workers there. It's built
+quite separately, and has barbed-wire entanglements round. There are a
+thousand houses, and six hundred hostels, and ever so many huts as well,
+and shops, and a post office, and a hall of justice. You can't go in
+through the gate without a pass, but Uncle knew the manager, so it was
+all right."
+
+"I don't call that as much fun as boating," said Betty.
+
+"Or the cinema," added Sylvia.
+
+"It was nicer, because it was patriotic," retorted Marjorie. "I like to
+see what the country is doing for the war. You two think of nothing but
+silly jokes."
+
+"Don't show temper, my child," observed Betty blandly. "Sylvia, I'm
+going down at once to put my name on the cricket list. I'll finish my
+unpacking afterwards."
+
+"I'll come with you," said Sylvia. "We shan't get an innings to-morrow
+unless we sign on straight away."
+
+"They're a couple of rattle-pates!" laughed Chrissie as their room-mates
+made their exit, executing a fox-trot _en route_. "I don't believe they
+ever think seriously about anything. Never mind, old sport! I'm
+interested in what you do in the holidays. Tell me some more about the
+munition works and the Belgian town. I like to hear all you've seen. I
+wish I could go to Redferne myself."
+
+"You wouldn't see anything if you did, because only Uncle can take
+people round the works. Oh, it was wonderful! We went into the danger
+zone. And we saw girls with their faces all yellow. I haven't time to
+tell you half now, but I will afterwards. I wouldn't have missed it for
+the world."
+
+"It does one good to know what's going on," commented Chrissie.
+
+The Daylight Saving Act was now in operation, so the school had an extra
+hour available for outdoor exercise. Whenever the weather was fine
+enough they were encouraged to spend every available moment in the fresh
+air. A certain amount of cricket practice was compulsory; but for the
+rest of the time those who liked might play tennis or basket ball, or
+could stroll about the grounds. Select parties, under the leadership of
+a mistress, were taken botanizing, or to hunt for specimens on the
+beach. There was keen competition for these rambles, and as eligibility
+depended upon marks in the Science classes, it considerably raised the
+standard of work.
+
+Dona, who was rather dull at ordinary lessons, shone in Natural History.
+It was her one subject. She wrote her notes neatly, and would make
+beautiful little drawings to illustrate the various points. She had
+sharp eyes, and when out on a ramble would spy birds' nests or other
+treasures which nobody else had noticed, and knew all the likeliest
+places in which to look for caterpillars. She was a great favourite with
+Miss Carter, the Science mistress, and her name was almost always down
+on the excursion list. One day, in company with eleven other ardent
+naturalists and the mistress, she came toiling up from the beach on to
+the road that led to Whitecliffe. Her basket, filled with spoils from
+the rocks and pools, was rather a dripping object, her shoes were full
+of sand, and she was tired, but cheery. She had hurried on and reached
+the summit first, quite some way in advance of her companions. As she
+stood waiting for them she heard the sound of voices and footsteps, and
+round the corner came a girl, wheeling a long perambulator with a child
+in it. There was no mistaking the couple, they were the nursemaid and
+the little boy whom Dona and Marjorie had met on the cliffs last
+autumn. Lizzie looked just the same--rosy, good-natured, and untidy as
+ever--but it was a very etherealized Eric who lay in the perambulator.
+The lovely little face looked white and transparent as alabaster, the
+brown eyes seemed bigger and more wistful, the golden curls had grown,
+and framed the pale cheeks like a saint's halo, the small hands folded
+on the shabby rug were thin and colourless. The child was wasted almost
+to a shadow, and the blue veins on his forehead showed prominently. He
+recognized Dona at once, and for a moment a beautiful rosy flush flooded
+his pathetic little face.
+
+"Oh, Lizzie, it's my fairy lady!" he cried excitedly.
+
+The nurse girl stopped in amazement.
+
+"Well, now! Who'd have thought of seeing you?" she said to Dona. "Eric's
+been talking about you all the winter. He's been awful bad, he has. This
+is the first time I've had him out for months. He's still got that book
+you gave him. I should think he knows every story in it off by heart."
+
+Dona was bending over the carriage holding the frail little hand that
+Eric offered.
+
+"You're Silverstar!" he said, gazing up at her with keen satisfaction.
+"Where are Bluebell and Princess Goldilocks?"
+
+"They're not here to-day."
+
+"Oh, I do so want to see them!"
+
+"They'll be sorry to miss you."
+
+"He'll talk of nothing else now," observed Lizzie. "You wouldn't believe
+what a fancy he's taken to you three; and he's a queer child--he
+doesn't like everybody."
+
+"I want to see the others!" repeated Eric, with the suspicion of a wail
+in his voice.
+
+"Look here," said Dona hastily, "to-morrow's our exeat day. Can you
+bring him to that place on the cliffs where we met before? We'll be
+there at four o'clock--all of us. You can leave him with us if you want
+to go shopping. Now I must fly, for my teacher's calling me."
+
+"We'll be there," smiled Eric, waving a good-bye.
+
+"That's if your ma says you're well enough," added Lizzie cautiously.
+
+Before Preparation Dona sought out Marjorie, and told her of the meeting
+with the little boy.
+
+"We've just got to be on the cliff to-morrow," she said. "I wouldn't
+disappoint that child for a thousand pounds!"
+
+"Auntie would send Hodson with us, I'm sure, if Elaine can't go. I'm so
+glad you happened to see him. We'd often wondered what had become of
+him, poor little chap! By the by, couldn't we take him something?"
+
+"I'd thought of that. We'll fly down to Whitecliffe to-morrow, first
+thing after we get to Auntie's, and buy him a book at the Stores."
+
+"I hope to goodness it'll be a fine day, or perhaps they won't let him
+come."
+
+"I believe he'll cry his eyes out if they don't. He's tremendously set
+on it."
+
+Very fortunately the weather on Wednesday was all that could be
+desired. Marjorie and Dona rushed into The Tamarisks in quite a state of
+excitement, and both together poured out their information. Elaine was
+as interested as they to meet Eric again, and readily agreed to the
+proposed expedition.
+
+"We'll take some cake and milk with us, and have a little picnic," she
+suggested. "Let us tear down to Whitecliffe at once and buy him a
+present."
+
+Shortly before four o'clock the three girls, carrying a tea-basket and
+several parcels, were walking along the cliffs above the cove. The long
+perambulator was already waiting at the trysting-place, and Eric,
+propped up with pillows, smiled a welcome. Elaine was shocked to see how
+ill the child looked. He had been frail enough in the autumn, but now
+the poor little body seemed only a transparent garment through which the
+soul shone plainly. She greeted him brightly, but with an ache in her
+heart.
+
+"My Princess!" he said. "So you've come back to me at last! And Fairy
+Bluebell too! Oh, I've wanted you all! It's been a weary winter. The
+gnomes kept me shut up in their hill all the time. They wouldn't let me
+out."
+
+"Perhaps they were afraid the witches might catch you," answered
+Marjorie.
+
+"Yes, I expect that was partly it, but the gnomes are jealous, and like
+to guard me. I don't know what I should have done without Titania."
+
+"Did she come to see you?"
+
+"Sometimes. She can't come often, because she's so busy. She's got
+crowds of young fairies to look after and keep in order, and sometimes
+they're naughty. You wouldn't believe fairies could be naughty, could
+you?"
+
+"I suppose there are good and bad ones," laughed Dona.
+
+"He's just silly over fairies!" broke in Lizzie. "Talks of nothing else,
+and makes out we're all witches or pixies or what not. Well, Eric, I've
+got to go and buy some butter. Will you be good if I leave you here till
+I come back? I shan't be above half an hour or so," she added to the
+girls.
+
+"Don't hurry," replied Elaine. "We can stay until half-past five. We've
+brought our tea, if Eric may have some with us. May he eat cake?"
+
+"Oh yes! He'll tell you what he may eat, won't you, Eric?"
+
+The little fellow nodded. His eyes were shining.
+
+"I didn't know it was to be a fairy feast!" he murmured softly, half to
+himself.
+
+The girls were busy unpacking their parcels. They had brought several
+presents which they thought would amuse the child during the long hours
+he probably spent in bed, a jig-saw puzzle, a drawing-slate, a box of
+coloured chalks, a painting-book, and a lovely volume of new fairy
+tales. His delight was pathetic. He looked at each separately, and
+touched it with a finger, as if it were a great treasure. The fairy
+book, with its coloured pictures of gnomes and pixies, he clasped
+tightly in his arms.
+
+"It's as good as having a birthday!" he sighed. "I had mine a while
+ago. Titania couldn't come to see me, because the young fairies had to
+be looked after, but she sent me a paint box. I wish you knew Titania."
+
+"I wish we did. What's she like?"
+
+"She's the beautifullest person in all the world. Nobody else can play
+fairies as well as she can. And she can tell a new story every time.
+You'd just fall straight in love with her if you saw her. I know you
+would! It's a pity fairies have to be so busy, isn't it? Some day when
+I'm better, and she has time, she's going to take me away for a holiday.
+Think of going away with Titania! The doctor says I must drink my
+medicine if I want to get well."
+
+"Don't you like medicine?"
+
+Eric pulled an eloquent face.
+
+"It's the nastiest stuff! But I promised Titania I'd take it. I
+sometimes have a chocolate after it."
+
+"Will you have one now? We're just going to unpack our basket to get
+tea. Will it hurt you if we wheel you over there on to the grass?
+There's such a lovely place where we could sit."
+
+The spot that the girls had chosen for their picnic was ideal. It was a
+patch of short fine grass near the edge of the cliff, with a bank for a
+seat. The ground was blue with the beautiful little flowers of the
+vernal squill, and clumps of sea-pinks, white bladder campion, and
+golden lady's fingers bloomed in such profusion that the place was like
+a wild garden. The air was soft and warm, for it was one of those
+beautiful afternoons in early May when Nature seems predominant, and
+one can almost spy nymphs among the trees. Below them the sea rippled
+calm and shining, merging at the horizon into the tender blue of the
+sky. Gulls and puffins wheeled and screamed over the rocks. Eric looked
+round with a far-away expression on his quaint little face, and gravely
+accepted the flowers that Dona picked for him.
+
+"It's enchanted ground!" he said in his oldfashioned way. "Every flower
+hides the heart of a tiny fairy. I know, because I've been here in my
+dreams. I have funny dreams sometimes. They're more real than being
+awake. One night I was floating in the air, just like that bird over the
+sea. I lay on my back, and I could see the blue sky above me, and look
+down at the green cliffs far below. I wasn't frightened, because I knew
+I couldn't fall. I felt quite strong and well, and my leg didn't hurt me
+at all. Sometimes I dream I can go through the air. It isn't exactly
+either flying or floating or running--it's more like shooting. I get to
+the tops of mountains, and see the wonderfullest places. And another
+night I was riding on the waves. There was a great storm, and I came
+sweeping in with the tide into the bay. I wish I could always dream like
+that!"
+
+"You shall have tea with the elves to-day," said Elaine, bringing the
+little fellow back, if not to absolute reality, at least to a less
+visionary world than the dream-country he was picturing. "Look! I've
+brought a mug with a robin on it for your milk. May you eat bread and
+honey? Honey is fairy food, you know. Here's a paper serviette with
+violets round it, instead of a plate."
+
+Eric's appetite was apparently that of a sparrow. He ate a very little
+of the bread and honey, and a tiny piece of cake, but drank the milk
+feverishly. He seemed tired, and lay back for a while on his pillows
+without speaking, just gazing at the flowers and the sea and the sky. He
+fondled his book now and then with a long sigh of content. Elaine
+motioned to Marjorie and Dona not to disturb him. Her knowledge of
+nursing told her that the child must not be over-excited or wearied. She
+felt it a responsibility to have charge of him, and was rather relieved
+when Lizzie's creaking boots came back along the road.
+
+Eric brightened up to say good-bye.
+
+"I shall tell Titania all about you," he vouchsafed. "Perhaps she'll
+come and see me soon now. I love her best, of course, but I love you
+next best. I shall pretend every day that I'm playing with you here."
+
+"I hope he's not too tired," whispered Elaine to Lizzie.
+
+"No, but I'd best get him home now, or his ma'll be anxious. He'd one of
+his attacks last night. Oh, it'll have done him good coming out this
+afternoon! He was set on seeing you."
+
+The girls stood watching as Lizzie trundled the long perambulator away,
+then packed their basket and set off towards Brackenfield, for it was
+time for Marjorie and Dona to return to school.
+
+"How stupid of us!" ejaculated Elaine. "We never asked his surname or
+where he lives, and I particularly intended to, this time."
+
+"So did I, but I quite forgot," echoed Marjorie.
+
+"I'm not sure if I want to know," said Dona. "He's just Eric to me--like
+someone out of a book. I've never met such a sweet, dear, precious thing
+in all my life before. Of course, if I don't know his name I can't send
+him things, but I've got an idea. We'll leave a little parcel for him
+with the girl who looks after the refreshment kiosk on the Whitecliffe
+Road, and ask her to give it to him next time he passes. She couldn't
+mistake the long perambulator."
+
+"And write 'From the fairies' on it. Good!" agreed Marjorie. "It's
+exactly the sort of thing that Eric will like."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+A Potato Walk
+
+
+Dona's suggestion was adopted, and she and Marjorie began a little
+system of correspondence with Eric. At their request Elaine bought a
+small present and left the parcel with the attendant at the refreshment
+kiosk, who promised to give it to him.
+
+"I know the child quite well by sight," she said. "A delicate little
+fellow in an invalid carriage. They used to pass here two or three times
+a week last summer, and sometimes they'd stop at the kiosk and the girl
+would buy him an orange or some sweets. I hadn't seen him for months
+till he went by a few days ago. Yes, I'll be sure to stop him when he
+passes."
+
+That the girl kept her word was evident, for a week afterwards she
+handed Elaine a letter addressed to "The Fairy Ladies". Elaine
+forwarded it to Marjorie and Dona. It was written in a round,
+childish hand, and ran:
+
+    "DARLING BLUEBELL AND SILVERSTAR,
+
+    "I like the puzzle you sent me. I often think about you. I love
+    you very much. I hope I shall see you again. I played fairies
+    all yesterday and pretended you were here.
+
+    "With love from
+        "ERIC."
+
+"Dear little man!" said Marjorie. "I expect it's taken him a long time
+to write this. We'll buy him a blotter and some fancy paper and
+envelopes and leave them at the kiosk for him."
+
+"I wish we could go to the cove and see him again," said Dona.
+
+It happened that for the next two exeats Aunt Ellinor had arranged a
+tennis party or some other engagement for her nieces, so that it was not
+possible to take a walk on the cliffs. They left a supply of little
+presents, however, at the kiosk, so that something could be given to
+Eric every time he passed. The assistant was almost as interested as
+Marjorie and Dona.
+
+"He looks out for those parcels now," she assured them. "You should just
+see his face when I run out and give them to him. I believe he'd be ever
+so disappointed if there was nothing. The girl that wheels him left a
+message for you. His mother thanks you for your kindness; and will you
+please excuse his writing, because it isn't very good for him and takes
+him such a long time. He's never been able to go to school."
+
+"Poor little chap!" laughed Dona. "I expect someone has to sit by him
+and tell him how to spell every word. Never mind, he can draw fairies
+on the notepaper we sent him. We'll get him a red-and-blue chalk
+pencil."
+
+"I dare say he'd like a post-card album and some cards to put in it,"
+suggested Marjorie.
+
+"Oh yes! I saw some of flower fairies at the Stores. We'll ask Elaine to
+get them."
+
+"And those funny ones of cats and dogs. I've no doubt it's anything to
+amuse him when he has to lie still all the day long."
+
+As the summer wore on, and submarines sank many of our merchant vessels
+on the seas, the food question began to be an important problem at
+Brackenfield. Everyone was intensely patriotic and ready to do all in
+her power to help on the war. Mrs. Morrison believed in keeping the
+girls well abreast of the important topics of the moment. She considered
+the oldfashioned schools of fifty years ago, where the pupils never saw
+a newspaper, and were utterly out of touch with the world, did not
+conduce to the making of good citizens. She liked her girls to think out
+questions for themselves. She had several enthusiastic spirits among the
+prefects, and found that by giving them a few general hints to work upon
+she could trust them to lead the others. Winifrede in particular
+realized the gravity of the situation. Armed with a supply of leaflets
+from the local Food Control Bureau, she convened a meeting of the entire
+school in the Assembly Hall.
+
+Winifrede was a girl whose intense love of her country and ready power
+of fluent speech would probably lead her some day to a public platform.
+Meantime she could always sway a Brackenfield audience. She was dramatic
+in her methods, and when the girls entered the hall they were greeted by
+large hand-printed posters announcing:
+
+      "THE GERMANS ARE TRYING TO STARVE US.
+    GERMAN SUBMARINES ARE REDUCING SUPPLIES.
+        YOU MUST ECONOMIZE AT HOME."
+
+There were no teachers present on this occasion, and the platform was
+occupied by the prefects. Winifrede, with an eager face and fully
+convinced of the burning necessity of rationing, stood up and began her
+speech.
+
+"Girls! I think I needn't tell you that we're fighting in the most
+terrible war the world has ever seen. We're matched against a foe whose
+force and cunning will need every atom of strength of which we're
+capable. They are not only shooting our soldiers at the front, and
+bombing our towns, but by their submarine warfare they are deliberately
+trying to reduce us by starvation. There is already a food crisis in our
+country. There is a serious shortage of wheat, of potatoes, of sugar,
+and of other food-stuffs. Perhaps you think that so long as you have
+money you will be able to buy food. That is not so. As long as there is
+plenty of food, money is a convenience to buy it with, but no more.
+Money is not value. If the food is not there, money will not make it,
+and money becomes useless. Food gives money its value. We can do without
+money; but we cannot do without food. People see the bakers' shops full
+of bread, the butchers' shops full of meat, the grocers' shops full of
+provisions, and they believe there is plenty of food. This is merely
+food on the surface. The stock of food from which the shops draw the
+food is low, seriously low, already. Unless we ration ourselves at once,
+and carefully, there will come days when there may be no bread at all at
+the baker's. There is a shortage of wheat all over the world, not only
+in Europe, but also in North and South America. Millions of the men who
+grew the wheat we eat are fighting, hundreds of thousands of them will
+never go back to the fields they ploughed. If the present waste of bread
+and wheat flour continues, there will be hardly enough to go round till
+next harvest time. Great Britain only produces one-fifth of the bread it
+eats. Four-fifths of the wheat comes from abroad. Hundreds of the ships
+that brought it are now engaged in other work. They are carrying food
+and munitions to France, Italy, and Russia. The ships that brought us
+food are fewer by those hundreds.
+
+"It is the women of the country who must see to this. By careful
+rationing we can make our supplies hold out until after the harvest. Our
+men are out at the front, fighting a grim battle, but, unless we do our
+part of the business at home, they may fight a losing battle. It is for
+us to see that our noble dead have not died in vain. With martyred
+Belgium for an object lesson, it is the duty of every British girl to
+make every possible sacrifice to keep those unspeakable Huns out of our
+islands. I appeal to you all to use the utmost economy and abstinence,
+and voluntarily to give up some of the things that you like. Remember
+you will be helping to win the war. There is a rationing pledge on the
+table near the door, and I ask every girl to sign it and to wear the
+violet ribbon that will be given her. It is the badge of the new
+temperance cause. The freedom of the world depends at the present time
+on the food thrift and self-restraint of our civilians, no less than on
+the courage of our soldiers. Please take some of the leaflets which you
+will find on the table, and read them. They have been sent here for us
+by the Food Control Bureau."
+
+After Winifrede's speech every girl felt in honour bound to comply with
+her request, and turn by turn they signed their pledges and sported
+their violet ribbons.
+
+"It'll mean knocking off buns, I suppose," sighed Sylvia mournfully.
+
+"Certainly.
+
+    'Save a bun,
+     And do the Hun!'"
+
+improvised Marjorie.
+
+"Look here!" said Betty, studying a pamphlet; "it says: 'If a man is
+working hard he needs a great deal more food than when he is resting.
+There are no exceptions to this rule. It follows that workers save
+energy by resting as much as they can in their spare time.' If that's
+true, the less work we do the smaller our appetites will be. I vote we
+petition the Empress, in the interests of patriotism, to shorten our
+time-table by half."
+
+"She'd probably suggest knocking off cricket and tennis instead, my
+Betty."
+
+"Well, at any rate, it says: 'large people need more food than small',
+and I'm taller than you, so I ought to have half of your dinner bread,
+old sport!"
+
+"Ah, but look, it also says: 'people who are well covered need much less
+food than thin people', so I score there, and ought to have half of your
+dinner bread instead."
+
+"We'll each stick to our own allowances, thanks!"
+
+Mrs. Morrison, who was on the committee of the Whitecliffe Food Control
+Campaign, was glad to have secured the co-operation of her girls in the
+alterations which she was now obliged to make in their dietary. On the
+whole, they rather liked some of the substitutes for wheat flour, and
+quite enjoyed the barley-meal bread, and the oatcakes and maize-meal
+biscuits that figured on the tables at tea-time.
+
+"They're dry, but you feel so patriotic when you eat them," declared
+Marjorie.
+
+"I believe you'd chump sawdust buns if you thought you were helping on
+the war," laughed Chrissie.
+
+"I would, with pleasure."
+
+It was just at this time that potatoes ran short. So far Brackenfield
+had not suffered in that respect, but now the supply from the large
+kitchen garden had given out, and the Whitecliffe greengrocers were
+quite unable to meet the demands of the school. For a fortnight the
+girls ate swedes instead, and tried to like them. Then Mrs. Morrison
+received a message from a farmer that he had plenty of potatoes in his
+fields, but lacked the labour to cart them. He would, however, be
+prepared to dispose of a certain quantity on condition that they could
+be fetched. Here was news indeed! The potatoes were there, and only
+needed to be carried away. The Principal at once organized parties of
+girls to go with baskets to the farm. Instead of sending Seniors,
+Intermediates, and Juniors separately, Mrs. Morrison ordered
+representatives from the three hostels to form each detachment. She
+considered that lately the elder girls had been keeping too much aloof
+from the younger ones, and that the spirit of unity in the school might
+suffer in consequence. The expedition would be an excellent opportunity
+for meeting together, and she gave a hint to the prefects that she had
+noticed and deprecated their tendency to exclusiveness.
+
+As a direct result of her suggestions, Marjorie one afternoon found
+herself walking to the farm in the select company of Winifrede Mason. It
+was such an overwhelming honour to be thus favoured by the head girl
+that Marjorie's powers of conversation were at first rather damped, and
+she replied in monosyllables to Winifrede's remarks; but the latter, who
+was determined (as she had informed her fellow prefects) to "do her duty
+by those Intermediates", persevered in her attempts to be pleasant,
+till Marjorie, who was naturally talkative, thawed at length and found
+her tongue.
+
+There was no doubt that Winifrede, when she stepped down from her
+pedestal, was a most winning companion. She had a charming, humorous,
+racy, whimsical way of commenting on things, and a whole fund of amusing
+stories. Marjorie, astonished and fascinated, responded eagerly to her
+advances, and by the time they reached the farm had formed quite a
+different estimation of the head girl. The walk in itself was
+delightful. Their way lay along a road that led over the moors. On
+either side stretched an expanse of gorse and whinberry bushes,
+interspersed with patches of grass, where sheep were feeding. Dykes
+filled with water edged the road, and in these were growing rushes, and
+sedges, and crowfoot, and a few forget-me-nots and other water-loving
+flowers. Larks were singing gloriously overhead, and the plovers flitted
+about with their plaintive "pee-wit, pee-wit". Sometimes a stonechat or
+a wheatear would pause for a moment on a gorse stump, flirting its brown
+tail before it flew out of sight, or young rabbits would peep from the
+whinberry bushes and whisk away into cover. Far off in the distance lay
+the hazy outline of the sea. There was a great sense of space and
+openness. The fresh pure air blew down from the hills, cooler and more
+invigorating even than the sea breeze. Except for the sheep, and an
+occasional collie dog and shepherd, they had the world to themselves.
+Winifrede took long sighing breaths of air. Her eyes were shining with
+enjoyment.
+
+"I like the quiet of it all," she told Marjorie. "I can understand the
+feeling that made the mediaeval hermits build their lonely little cells
+in peaceful, beautiful spots. Some of the Hindoos do the same to-day,
+and go and live in the forests to have time to meditate. When I'm
+getting old I'd like to come and take a cottage on this moor--not
+before, I think, because there's so very much I want to do in the world
+first, but when I feel I'm growing past my work, then will be the time
+to arrange my thoughts and slip into the spirit of the peace up here."
+
+"What kind of work do you want to do?" asked Marjorie.
+
+"I'm not sure yet. I'm leaving school, of course, at the end of this
+term, and I can't quite decide whether to go on to College or to begin
+something to help the war. Mrs. Morrison advises College. She says I
+could be far more help afterwards if I were properly qualified, and I
+dare say she's right, only I don't want to wait."
+
+"I'm just yearning to leave school and be a V.A.D., or drive an
+ambulance wagon," sympathized Marjorie.
+
+"My sister is out in France at canteen work," confided Winifrede. "It
+makes me fearfully envious when I have her letters and think what she's
+doing for the Tommies. I've three brothers at the front, and five
+cousins, and two more cousins were killed a year ago. My eldest brother
+has been wounded twice, and the youngest is in hospital now. I simply
+live for news of them all."
+
+The girls had now reached the farm, a little low-built, whitewashed
+house almost on the summit of a hill. Though the principal occupation of
+its owner lay among sheep, he had a clearing of fields, where he grew
+swedes, potatoes, and a little barley. In a sheltered place behind his
+stable-yard he had a stock of last year's potatoes still left; they were
+piled into a long heap, covered with straw and then with earth as a
+protection. He took the girls round here, measured the potatoes in a
+bushel bin, and then filled the baskets.
+
+"They won't keep much longer," he informed Miss Norton. "I'd have carted
+them down to Whitecliffe, only I've no horse now, and it's difficult to
+borrow one; and I can't spare the time from the sheep either. Labour's
+so scarce now. My two sons are fighting, and I've only a grandson of
+fourteen and a daughter to help me."
+
+"Everybody is feeling the same pinch," replied Miss Norton. "We're only
+too glad to come and fetch the potatoes ourselves. It's a nice walk for
+us."
+
+The girls, who overheard the conversation, felt they cordially agreed.
+It was fun wandering round the little farm-yard, looking at the ducks,
+and chickens, and calves, or peeping inside the barns and stables.
+Several of them began to register vows to work on the land when
+school-days were over.
+
+"They've got a new German camp over there," volunteered the farmer. "I
+suppose their first contingent of prisoners arrived yesterday. Hadn't
+you heard about it? Oh, they've been busy for weeks putting up barbed
+wire! It can't be so far from your place either. You'd pass it if you
+crossed the stile there and went back over the moor instead of round by
+the road."
+
+At the news of a German camp a kind of electric thrill passed round the
+company. The girls were wild with curiosity to see it, and pressed Miss
+Norton to allow them to return to Brackenfield by the moorland path. The
+mistress herself seemed interested, and consented quite readily. It was
+a much quicker way back to the school, and would save time; she was
+grateful to Mr. Briggs for having pointed out so short a cut.
+
+The camp lay on the side of a hill about half-way between the farm and
+Brackenfield, near enough to distinguish the latter building quite
+plainly in the distance. It was surrounded by an entanglement of barbed
+wire, and there were sentries on duty. Within the circle of wire were
+tents, and the girls could see washing hanging out, and a few figures
+lying on the ground and apparently smoking. They would have liked to
+linger and look, but Miss Norton marched them briskly past, and
+discipline forbade an undue exhibition of curiosity. They had gone
+perhaps only a few hundred yards when they heard the regular tramp-tramp
+of footsteps, and up from the dell below came a further batch of
+prisoners under an escort of soldiers. Miss Norton hastily marshalled
+her flock, and made them stand aside to allow the contingent room to
+pass. They were a tall, fine-looking set of men, stouter, and apparently
+better fed, than their guards. They had no appearance of hard usage or
+ill treatment, and were marching quite cheerily towards the camp,
+probably anticipating a meal. The girls, drawn up in double line,
+thrilled with excitement as they passed.
+
+"If one tried to run away would they shoot him?" asked Betty in an awed
+voice.
+
+"Yes, the guards have their rifles all ready," replied Marjorie; "if one
+tried to escape he'd have a bullet through his back in a second--and
+quite right too! What's the matter, Chrissie?"
+
+"Nothing--only it makes me feel queer."
+
+"I feel queer when I remember how many of our own men are prisoners in
+Germany," declared Winifrede.
+
+"Quietly, girls! And don't stare!" said Miss Norton. "We ought to pity
+these poor men. It is a terrible thing to be a prisoner of war."
+
+"I don't pity them," grumbled Marjorie fiercely under her breath.
+"Perhaps they're the very ones who've been fighting Leonard's regiment."
+
+"Yes, when one thinks of one's brothers, it doesn't make one love the
+Germans," whispered Winifrede.
+
+"Love them!" flared Marjorie. "I wouldn't consciously speak to a German
+for ten thousand pounds, and if I happened by mistake to shake hands
+with one--well, I'd have to go and disinfect my hand afterwards!"
+
+"Miss Norton's welcome to them if she pities them," said Betty from
+behind.
+
+"Go on, girls, now!" came the teacher's voice, as the contingent tramped
+away into the camp.
+
+"I'm disgusted with Miss Norton!" groused Marjorie. "Come along,
+Chrissie! What's the matter with you, old sport? Anybody'd think you'd
+seen a ghost instead of a batch of Germans. Why, you've gone quite
+pale!"
+
+"I'm only tired," snapped Chrissie rather crossly. "You're always making
+remarks about something. I'm going to walk with Patricia."
+
+"Oh, all right! Just as you please. I don't press myself on anybody.
+I'll walk with Winifrede again if she'll have me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+Patriotic Gardening
+
+
+The direct result of the potato walk to Mr. Briggs's farm was that a
+friendship sprang up between Winifrede and Marjorie. It was, of course,
+rather an exceptional friendship, involving condescension on the part of
+the head girl and frantic devotion on Marjorie's part. Six months ago it
+would not have been possible, for Winifrede's creed of exclusiveness had
+discouraged any familiarity with her juniors, and it was only in
+accordance with Mrs. Morrison's wishes that she had broken her barrier
+of reserve. She had, however, taken rather a fancy to Marjorie, and
+sometimes invited her into her study. To go and sit in Winifrede's tiny
+sanctum, to see her books, photographs, post cards, and other treasures,
+and to be regaled with cocoa and biscuits, was a privilege that raised
+Marjorie to the seventh heaven of bliss. Her impulsive, warm-hearted
+disposition made her apt to take up hot friendships, and for the present
+she worshipped Winifrede. To be singled out for favour by the head girl
+was in itself a distinction; but, apart from that, Marjorie keenly
+appreciated her society. She would wait about to do any little errand
+for her, would wash her brushes after the oil-painting lesson, sharpen
+her pencils, set butterflies for her, mount pressed flowers, or print
+out photographs. Winifrede was fond of entomology, and Marjorie,
+beforetime a lukewarm naturalist, now waxed enthusiastic in the
+collection of specimens. She was running one day in pursuit of a
+gorgeous dragon-fly through the little wood that skirted the
+playing-fields, and, with her eyes fixed on her elusive quarry, she
+almost tumbled over Chrissie, who was sitting by the side of the stream.
+
+"Hallo!" said Marjorie, drawing herself up suddenly. "I didn't see you.
+As a matter of fact I wasn't looking where I was going."
+
+"What are you doing here?" asked Chrissie.
+
+Marjorie pointed to her butterfly-net.
+
+"What are you doing here?" she returned.
+
+"Reading."
+
+Chrissie's eyes were red, and she blinked rapidly.
+
+"You've been crying," said Marjorie tactlessly.
+
+Her chum flushed crimson.
+
+"I've not! I wish you'd just let me alone."
+
+"Cheer oh! Don't get raggy, old sport!"
+
+Chrissie turned away, and, opening her book, began to read.
+
+"Will you come round the field with me?" asked Marjorie.
+
+"No, thanks; I'd rather stay where I am."
+
+"Oh, very well! I'm off. Ta-ta!"
+
+This was not the first little tiff that had taken place between the two
+girls. Chrissie seemed to have changed lately. She was moody and
+self-absorbed, and ready to fire up on very slight provocation. Her
+devotion to Marjorie seemed to have somewhat waned. She scarcely ever
+made her presents now or wrote her notes. She was chatty enough in the
+dormitory, but saw little of her in recreation hours. Marjorie set this
+down to jealousy of her friendship with Winifrede. In her absorption in
+her head girl she had certainly not given Chrissie so much of her time
+as formerly. She walked along the field now rather soberly. She disliked
+quarrelling, but her own temper was hot as well as her chum's.
+
+"I can't help it," she groused. "Chrissie's always taking offence.
+Everything I do seems to rub her the wrong way. She needn't think I'm
+going to give up Winifrede! I wish she'd be more sensible. Well, I don't
+care; I shall just take no notice and leave her to herself, and then
+she'll probably come round."
+
+Marjorie's surmises proved correct, for Chrissie placed a dainty little
+bottle of scent and an enthusiastic note on her dressing-table that
+evening, the clouds blew over, and for a time, at any rate, matters were
+quite pleasant again. Constant little quarrels, however, wear holes in a
+friendship, and it was evident to St. Elgiva's that some cleavage had
+taken place.
+
+"Chrissie and Marjorie seem a little off with the David and Jonathan
+business," commented Francie.
+
+"Too hot to last, I fancy," returned Patricia. "Marjorie's got a new
+idol now."
+
+One reason for the separation between the two girls was that, while
+Chrissie cared chiefly for tennis, Marjorie was a devotee of cricket,
+and was spending most of her spare time under the coaching of Stella
+Pearson, the games captain. She showed much promise in bowling, and was
+not without hopes of being put into her house eleven. To play for St.
+Elgiva's was an honour worth working for. It would be a great triumph to
+be able to write the news to her brothers.
+
+Dona had not taken violently either to cricket or tennis, and beyond the
+compulsory practice never touched bat or ball, giving herself up
+entirely to Natural History study and Photography. She was not so
+energetic as her sister, and did not much care for running about. At
+half term, however, a new interest claimed her. The head gardener was
+taken ill, and Sister Johnstone assumed the responsibility for his work.
+She asked for helpers, and a number of girls volunteered their services,
+and occupied themselves busily about the grounds. They rolled and marked
+the tennis-courts, earthed up potatoes, put sticks for the peas, planted
+out cabbages, and weeded the drive.
+
+It was the kind of work that appealed to Dona, and her satisfaction was
+complete when Mrs. Morrison excused her cricket practices for the
+purpose.
+
+"I like gardening much better than games," she confided to Marjorie.
+"There's more to show for it. What have you got at the end of a whole
+term's cricket, I should like to know?"
+
+"Honour, my child!" said Marjorie.
+
+"Well, I shall have six rows of cauliflowers, and that's more to the
+point, especially in these hard times," twinkled Dona. "I consider it's
+I who am the patriotic one now. You're not helping the war by bowling
+with Stella, and every cauliflower of mine will go to feed a soldier."
+
+"I thought the school was to eat them."
+
+"They won't be ready till the holidays, so Sister Johnstone says they'll
+have to be sent to the Red Cross Hospital. We're going to gather the
+first crop of peas, though, to-night. You'll eat them at dinner
+to-morrow."
+
+Two of the prefects, Meg Hutchinson and Gladys Butler, had joined the
+band of gardeners, and carried on operations with enthusiasm.
+
+"I mean to go on the land as soon as I leave school," declared Meg. "My
+sister Molly's working at a farm in Herefordshire. She gets up at six
+every morning to feed the pigs and cows, breakfast is at eight, and then
+she goes round to look after the cattle in the fields. Dinner is at
+twelve, and after that she cleans harness, or takes the horses to be
+shod, and feeds the pigs and calves again. She loves it, and she's won
+her green armlet from the Government."
+
+"My cousin's working at a market garden," said Gladys. "She bicycles
+over every morning from home. It's three miles away, so she has to start
+ever so early. She's got to know all about managing the tomato houses
+now. Once she'd a very funny experience. They sent her out for a day to
+tidy somebody's garden. She took a little can full of coffee with her,
+and some lunch in a basket. An old gentleman and lady came out to
+superintend the gardening, and they seemed most staggered to find that
+she was a lady, and couldn't understand it at all; but they were very
+kind and sent her some tea into the greenhouse. Evidently they had
+debated whether to invite her into the drawing-room or not, but had
+turned tail at the thought of her thick boots on the best carpet. Nellie
+was so amused. She said she felt far too dirty after digging up borders
+to go indoors, and was most relieved that they didn't invite her. She
+had a tray full of all sorts of things in the greenhouse--cakes and jam
+and potted meat. The old lady asked her ever so many questions, and it
+turned out that they knew some mutual friends. Wasn't it funny?"
+
+Mrs. Morrison was very pleased with the results of the girls' work in
+the garden. She declared that the tennis-courts had never looked better,
+and that the crop of vegetables was unusually fine.
+
+"I can't give you armlets," she said, "though you thoroughly deserve
+them. I should like to have your photos taken in a group, to keep as a
+remembrance. I shall call you my 'Back to the Land Girls'."
+
+At Brackenfield any wish expressed by the Empress was carried out if
+possible, so Muriel Adams, who possessed the best and biggest camera,
+was requisitioned to take the gardeners. They grouped themselves
+picturesquely round a wheelbarrow, some holding spades, rakes, or
+watering-cans, and others displaying their best specimens of carrots or
+cabbages. Sister Johnstone, in the middle, smiled benignly. The plate
+was duly developed, and a good print taken and handed round for
+inspection. Each girl, of course, declared that her own portrait was
+atrocious, but those of the others excellent, and it was unanimously
+decided to have a copy framed for presentation to Mrs. Morrison.
+
+There was one advantage in belonging to the "Back to the Land Girls",
+they might visit the kitchen garden at any time they wished. It was
+forbidden ground to the rest of the school, so it was rather nice to be
+able to wander at will between the long lines of gooseberry bushes or
+rows of peas. Dona loved the fresh smell of it all, especially after
+rain. She spent every available moment there, for it was an excellent
+place for pursuing natural history study. She had many opportunities of
+observing birds or of catching moths and butterflies, and generally had
+a net handy. With a magnifying glass she often watched the movements of
+small insects. She had come in one afternoon for this purpose, and
+wandered down to a rather wild spot at the bottom of the garden. It was
+a small piece of rough ground surrounded by a high hedge, on the farther
+side of which the land sloped in a sharp decline. As Dona hunted about
+among the docks for caterpillars or other specimens, greatly to her
+surprise she saw a figure come pushing through the hedge. It wore a gym.
+costume and a St. Elgiva's hat, and, as the leaves parted, they revealed
+the face of Chrissie Lang. Her astonishment was evidently equal to
+Dona's. For a moment she flushed crimson, then turned the matter off
+airily.
+
+"I've often thought I should like to see what was on the other side of
+that hedge," she remarked. "You get a nice view across the country."
+
+"You'll lose three conduct marks if you're caught in the kitchen
+garden," remarked Dona drily. She was not remarkably fond of Chrissie,
+and did not see why anyone else should enjoy the privileges accorded to
+those who were working in the garden. "Meg Hutchinson's weeding cabbages
+up by the cucumber frames," she added.
+
+"Thanks for telling me. I'll go out the other way. I've no particular
+wish to be pounced upon."
+
+"What's that in your hand?" asked Dona. "A looking-glass, I declare!
+Well, Chrissie Lang, of all conceited people you really are the limit!
+Did you bring it out to admire your beauty?"
+
+"I want to try a new way of doing my hair, and there's no peace in the
+dormitory."
+
+"Can't you draw the curtains of your cubicle?"
+
+"They'd peep round and laugh at me."
+
+"Well, anyone would laugh at you more for bringing out a looking-glass
+into the garden. I think you're the silliest idiot I've ever met!"
+
+"Thanks for the compliment!"
+
+Chrissie strolled away, whistling jauntily to herself, and picking a
+gooseberry or two from the bushes as she passed. Dona frowned as she
+watched her--it was a point of honour with the Back to the Land Girls
+never to touch any of the fruit. By a heroic effort she refrained from
+running after Chrissie and giving a further unvarnished opinion of her.
+Instead, however, she walked back up the other path. She found Meg
+Hutchinson and Gladys Butler sitting on the cucumber frame. It was in a
+high part of the garden, and commanded a good view over the country.
+Gladys had a pair of field-glasses, and with their aid could plainly
+make out the German camp on the hill opposite. She was quite excited.
+
+"I can see the barbed wire," she declared, "and the tents, and I believe
+I can make out some things that look like figures. The focus of these
+glasses isn't very good. I wish we had a telescope."
+
+"If they've field-glasses I expect they can see the school," said Meg.
+
+"Oh, but they wouldn't let them have any, you may be sure!"
+
+"Are they kept very strictly?" asked Dona.
+
+"Of course. They're under military discipline," explained Meg.
+
+"Would you like to take a peep?" said Gladys, offering the glasses. "You
+must screw this part round till it focuses right for your eyes. Can you
+see now?"
+
+"Yes, beautifully. What are they doing?"
+
+"Just lounging about I expect. I believe they have to do a certain
+amount of camp work, keep their tents tidy, and clean the pans and peel
+potatoes and that kind of thing, and they may play games."
+
+"It's a pity we can't set them to work on the land," said Meg.
+
+"They do in some places. I'm afraid it couldn't be managed here. So near
+the sea it would be far too easy for them to escape."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+The Roll of Honour
+
+
+Letters arrived at Brackenfield by an early post. They were inspected
+first by the house mistresses, and delivered immediately after breakfast
+to the girls, who generally flew out into the quadrangle or the grounds
+to devour them. Mrs. Anderson made it a rule to write to Marjorie and
+Dona alternately, and they would hand over their news to each other. On
+Tuesday morning Marjorie received the usual letter in her mother's
+handwriting, but to her surprise noticed that the postmark was "London"
+instead of "Silverwood". With a sudden misgiving she tore it open. It
+contained bad tidings. Larry, who had lately been sent to the front, had
+been wounded in action, and was in a military hospital in London. His
+mother had hurried up to town to see him, and had found him very ill. He
+was to undergo an operation on the following day.
+
+"I shall remain here till the operation is over," wrote Mrs. Anderson.
+"I feel I must be near him while he is in such a dangerous condition. I
+will send you another bulletin to-morrow."
+
+Marjorie went to find Dona, and in defiance of school etiquette walked
+boldly into Ethelberta's. She knew that on such an occasion she would
+not be reprimanded. Miss Jones, who happened to come into the room,
+comforted the two girls as best she could.
+
+"While there is life there is hope," she said. "Many of our soldiers go
+through the most terrible operations and make wonderful recoveries.
+Surgeons nowadays are marvellously clever. My own brother was
+dangerously wounded last autumn, and is back in the trenches now."
+
+"I shall think of Larry all day," sobbed Dona.
+
+"Are they ever out of our thoughts?" said Miss Jones. "I believe we all
+do the whole of our work with the trenches always in the background of
+our minds. Most of us at Brackenfield simply live for news from the
+front."
+
+There was great feeling for Marjorie in Dormitory No. 9. Betty had had a
+brother wounded earlier in the war, and Sylvia had lost a cousin, so
+they could understand her anxiety. Chrissie also offered sympathy.
+
+"I know how wretched you must be," she said.
+
+"Thanks," answered Marjorie. "It certainly makes one jumpy to have one's
+relations in the army."
+
+"Isn't your brother fighting, Chrissie?" asked Betty.
+
+"No," replied Chrissie briefly.
+
+"But he must surely be of military age?"
+
+"He's not very well at present."
+
+Betty and Sylvia looked at each other. There was something mysterious
+about Chrissie's brother. She seldom alluded to him, and she had lately
+removed his photograph from her dressing-table. The girls always
+surmised that he must be a conscientious objector. They felt that it
+would be a terrible disgrace to own a relative who refused to defend his
+country. They were sorry for Chrissie, but it did not make them disposed
+to be any more friendly towards her.
+
+To Marjorie the news about Larry came as a shock. It was the first
+casualty in the family. She now realized the grim horror of the war in a
+way that she had not done before. All that day she went about with the
+sense of a dark shadow haunting her. Next morning, however, the bulletin
+was better. The operation had been entirely successful, and the patient,
+though weak, was likely to recover.
+
+"The doctor gives me very good hopes," wrote Mrs. Anderson. "Larry is
+having the best of skilled nursing, so we feel that everything possible
+is being done for him."
+
+With a great weight off her mind, Marjorie handed the letter to Dona,
+and hurried off to look for Winifrede to tell her the good news. As she
+was not in the quadrangle, Marjorie went into the library on the chance
+of finding her there. The room was empty, though Miss Duckworth had just
+been in to put up fresh notices. Almost automatically Marjorie strolled
+up, and began to read them. A Roll of Honour was kept at Brackenfield,
+where the names of relations of past and present girls were recorded. It
+was rewritten every week, so as to keep it up to date. She knew that
+Larry would be mentioned in this last list. Thank God that it was only
+among the wounded. The "killed" came first.
+
+    ADAMS, Captain N. H., 4th Staffordshires (fiance of Dorothy
+    Craig).
+
+    HUNT, Captain J. C., Welsh Borderers (brother of Sophy Hunt).
+
+    JACKSON, Lieut. P., 3rd Lancashires (husband of Mabel Irving).
+
+    KEARY, Private P. L., Irish Brigade (brother of Eileen Keary).
+
+    PRESTON, Private H., West Yorks (brother of Kathleen and Joyce
+    Preston).
+
+Marjorie stopped suddenly. Private Preston--the humorous dark-eyed young
+soldier whose acquaintance she had made in the train, and renewed in the
+Red Cross Hospital. Surely it could not be he! Alas! it was only too
+plain. She knew he was the brother of Kathleen and Joyce Preston, for he
+had himself mentioned that his sisters used to be at Brackenfield. Also
+he was certainly in the West Yorkshire regiment. This bright, strong,
+clever, capable young life sacrificed! Marjorie felt as if she had
+received a personal blow. Oh, the war was cruel--cruel! Death was
+picking England's fairest flowers indeed. A certain chapter in her life,
+which had seemed to promise many very sweet hopes, was now for ever
+closed.
+
+"They might have put his V.C. on the list," she said to herself. "I wish
+I knew where he's buried. I shall never forget him--though I only saw
+him twice. He was quite different from anyone else I've ever met."
+
+Somehow Marjorie did not feel capable of mentioning Private Preston to
+anybody, even to Dona. She had kept the little newspaper photograph of
+him which had been cut out of the _Onlooker_, when he won his V.C. She
+enclosed it in an envelope and put it within the leaves of her Bible.
+That seemed the most appropriate place for it. She could not leave it
+amongst the portraits of her other war heroes, for fear her room-mates
+might refer to it. To discuss him now with Betty or Sylvia would be a
+desecration. His death was a wound that would not bear handling. For
+some days afterwards she was unusually quiet. The girls thought she was
+fretting about her brother, and tried to cheer her up, for Larry's
+bulletins were excellent, and he seemed to be making a wonderful
+recovery.
+
+"He is to leave the military hospital in a fortnight," wrote Mrs.
+Anderson, "and be transferred to a Red Cross hospital. We are using all
+our influence to get him sent to Whitecliffe, where Aunt Ellinor and
+Elaine could specially look after him."
+
+To have Larry at Whitecliffe would indeed be a cause for rejoicing.
+Marjorie could picture the spoiling he would receive at the Red Cross
+Hospital. She wondered if he would have the same bed that had been
+occupied by Private Preston. It was No. 17, she remembered. "One shall
+be taken, and the other left," she thought. For Larry there was the glad
+welcome and the nursing back to life and health, and for that other
+brave boy a grave in a foreign land. Some lines from a little volume of
+verses flashed to her memory. They had struck her attention only a week
+before, and she had learnt them by heart.
+
+          "For us--
+    The parting and the sorrow;
+          For him--
+    'God speed!'
+          One fight,--
+    A noble deed,--
+          'Good-night!'
+    And no to-morrow.
+          Where he is,
+    In Thy Peace
+          Time is not,
+    Nor smallest sorrow."
+
+Marjorie was almost glad that on her next exeat at The Tamarisks Elaine
+was away from home. She was afraid her cousin might speak of Private
+Preston, and she did not wish to mention his name again.
+
+"I'm afraid you'll be dull this afternoon without Elaine," said Aunt
+Ellinor; "and I'm obliged to attend a committee meeting at the Food
+Control Bureau. I've arranged for Hodson to take you out. Where would
+you like to go? To Whitecliffe, and have tea at the cafe? You must
+choose exactly what you think would be nicest."
+
+As the girls wished to do a little shopping, they decided to visit
+Whitecliffe first, have an early tea at the cafe, and then take a walk
+on the moor, ending at Brackenfield, where Hodson would leave them.
+
+"That's all right, then," said Mrs. Trafford. "I'm sorry I can't be with
+you myself to-day. Get some sweets at the cafe and have some ices if
+you like. I must hurry away now to my committee. Hodson won't keep you
+waiting long; I've told her to get ready."
+
+Left alone, the girls grumbled a little at the necessity of taking an
+escort with them.
+
+"At fourteen and sixteen we surely don't need a nursemaid," sniffed
+Marjorie. "It's a perfectly ridiculous rule that we mayn't walk ten
+yards by ourselves, even when we're out for the afternoon. We might be
+interned Germans or conscientious objectors if somebody always has to
+mount guard over us. What does the Empress think we're going to do, I
+wonder?"
+
+"Ask airmen for autographs, or snowball soldiers!" twinkled Dona.
+
+"Oh, surely she's forgotten those old crimes now!"
+
+"I wouldn't be sure. The Empress has a long memory. Besides, the rule's
+for everybody, not only for us."
+
+"I know. Patricia was horribly savage last week. An officer cousin was
+over in Whitecliffe, and she wasn't allowed to go and meet him, because
+no one could be spared to act chaperon."
+
+"Some friends asked Mona to tea to-day, and the Empress wouldn't let her
+accept. We only go to Auntie's every fortnight because Mother specially
+stipulated that we should."
+
+"I'm jolly glad she did. It makes such a change."
+
+"I wish Hodson would hurry up!"
+
+Hodson, the housemaid, took a considerable time to don her outdoor
+garments, but she proclaimed herself ready at last. She was a tall,
+middle-aged woman in spectacles, with large teeth, and showed her gums
+when she talked. She spoke in a slow, melancholy voice, and, to judge
+from her depressed expression, evidently considered herself a martyr for
+the afternoon. She was hardly the companion the girls would have
+selected, but they had to make the best of her. It would be amusing, at
+any rate, to go in to Whitecliffe. Marjorie had her camera, and wished
+to take some photographs.
+
+"I've just two films left," she said, "so I'll use those on the way
+down, and then get a fresh dozen put in at the Stores. Let us go by the
+high road, so that we can pass the kiosk and ask about Eric."
+
+The attendant at the lemonade stall smiled brightly at mention of the
+little fellow.
+
+"I saw his pram go by an hour ago, and ran out and gave him your last
+parcel," she informed them. "You'll very likely see him down in
+Whitecliffe. He left his love for you."
+
+"I hope we shan't miss him," said Dona.
+
+Round the very next turn of the road, however, the girls met the invalid
+carriage coming up from the town. It was loaded as usual with many
+packages, over the top of which Eric's small white face peered out. He
+waved a gleeful welcome at the sight of his fairy ladies.
+
+"I've read all the stories you sent me," he began, "and I've nearly
+finished chalking the painting-book. I like those post cards of fairies.
+I've put them all in the post-card album."
+
+"He thinks such a lot of the things you send him," volunteered Lizzie.
+"His ma says she doesn't know how to thank you. It keeps him amused for
+hours to have those chalks and puzzles. He sings away to himself over
+them, as happy as a king."
+
+"I'd like to take his photo while I've got the camera with me," said
+Marjorie. "Can you turn the pram round a little--so? That's better. I
+don't want the sun right in his face, it makes him screw up his eyes.
+Now, Eric, look at me, and put on your best smile. I'm just going----"
+
+"Wait a moment," interrupted Dona. "Look what's coming up the road.
+You've only two films, remember!"
+
+A contingent of German prisoners were being marched from the station to
+the camp on the moors. They were tramping along under an escort of
+soldiers.
+
+"Oh, I must snap them!" exclaimed Marjorie. "But I'll have Eric in the
+photo too. I can just get them all in."
+
+She moved her position slightly, and pressed her button, then, rapidly
+winding on the films to the next number, took a second snapshot.
+
+"The light was excellent, and they ought to come out," she triumphed.
+"How jolly to have got a photo of the prisoners! Eric, you were looking
+just fine."
+
+"We must be getting on home," said Lizzie. "I've a lot of cleaning to do
+this afternoon when I get back. Say good-bye to the ladies, Eric."
+
+The little fellow held up his face to be kissed, and Marjorie and Dona
+hugged him, regardless of spectators on the road.
+
+"You dear wee thing, take care of yourself," said Dona. "Call at the
+kiosk next time you pass, and perhaps another parcel will have arrived
+from fairyland."
+
+"I know who the fairies are!" laughed Eric, as his perambulator moved
+away.
+
+Escorted by the melancholy Hodson, the girls passed a pleasant enough
+afternoon in Whitecliffe. They visited several shops, and had as good a
+tea at the cafe as the rationing order allowed, supplementing the rather
+scanty supply with ices and sweets. It was much too early yet to return
+to Brackenfield, so they suggested making a detour round the moors, and
+ending up at school. Hodson acquiesced in her usual lack-lustre manner.
+
+"I'm a good walker, miss," she volunteered. "I don't mind where you go.
+It's all the same to me, as long as I see you back into school by six
+o'clock. Mrs. Trafford said I wasn't to let you be late. I've brought my
+watch with me."
+
+"And we've got ours. It's all right, Hodson, we'll keep an eye on the
+time."
+
+It was a relief to know that Hodson was a good walker. They felt
+justified in giving her a little exercise. They were quite fresh
+themselves, and ready for a country tramp. They left the town by a short
+cut, and climbed up the cliff side on to the moors. Though they knew
+Eric would not be there that afternoon, they nevertheless determined to
+visit their favourite cove. It was an excellent place for flowers, and
+Dona hoped that she might find a few fresh specimens there.
+
+The girls had reached their old trysting-place, and were gathering some
+cranesbill geraniums, when a figure suddenly climbed the wall opposite,
+and dropped down into the road. To their immense amazement it was Miss
+Norton. She stopped at the sight of her pupils and looked profoundly
+embarrassed, whether at being caught in the undignified act of
+scrambling over a wall, or for some other reason, they could not judge.
+
+"Oh! I was just taking a little ramble over the moors," she explained.
+"The air's very pleasant this afternoon, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," replied Marjorie briefly. She could think of nothing else to say.
+
+Miss Norton nodded, and passed on without further remark. The girls
+stood watching her as she walked down the road.
+
+"What's Norty doing up here?" queried Marjorie. "She's not fond of
+natural history, and she doesn't much like walks."
+
+"She's going towards the village."
+
+"I vote we go too."
+
+They had never yet been to the village, and though Elaine had described
+it as not worth visiting, they felt curious to see it. It turned out to
+be a straggling row of rather slummy-looking cottages, with a post
+office, a general shop, and a public-house. Miss Norton must have
+already passed through it, for she was nowhere to be seen. Dona stood
+for a moment gazing into the window of the shop, where a variety of
+miscellaneous articles were displayed.
+
+"They've actually got Paradise drops!" she murmured. "I haven't bought
+any for months. I'm going to get some for Ailsa."
+
+Followed by the faithful Hodson, the girls entered the shop. While Dona
+made her purchase, Marjorie stood by the counter, staring idly out into
+the road. She saw the door of the post office open, and Miss Norton
+appeared. The mistress looked carefully up and down the village, then
+walked hurriedly across the road, and bolted into "The Royal George"
+opposite. Marjorie gasped. That the august house mistress of St.
+Elgiva's should visit an obscure and second-rate public-house was surely
+a most unusual circumstance. She could not understand it at all. She
+discussed it with Dona on the way back.
+
+"Wanted some ginger pop, perhaps," suggested Dona.
+
+"She could have got that at the shop. They had a whole case of bottles.
+No, Dona, there's something funny about it. The fact is, I'm afraid Miss
+Norton is a pro-German. She was sympathizing ever so much with those
+prisoners who were being marched into camp. She may have come here to
+leave some message for them. You know it was never found out who put
+that lamp in the Observatory window; it was certainly a signal, and I
+had seen Norty up there. I've had my eye on her ever since, in case
+she's a spy."
+
+"She can talk German jolly well," observed Dona.
+
+"I know she can. She's spent two years in Germany, and said it was the
+happiest time of her life. She can't be patriotic at heart to say that.
+Do you know, Winifrede told me that a few days ago she and Jean had
+noticed such a queer light dancing about on the hills near the camp. It
+was just as if somebody was heliographing."
+
+"What's heliographing?"
+
+"Dona, you little stupid, you know that! Why, it's signalling by
+flashing lights. There's a regular code. It's done with a mirror. Well,
+Brackenfield is right opposite the camp, and it would be quite possible
+for Norty to be helioing to the prisoners. They're always on the
+look-out for somebody to communicate with them and help them to escape.
+I suppose there are hundreds of spies going about in England, and no one
+knows who they are. They just pass for ordinary innocent kind of people,
+but they ask all kinds of questions, and pick up scraps of information
+that will be useful to the enemy. How is it that most of our secrets
+appear in the Berlin papers? There must be treachery going on somewhere.
+It's generally in very unsuspected places. One of the teachers in a
+school might just as well as not be a spy."
+
+"How dreadful!" shuddered Dona.
+
+"Well, you never know. Of course, they don't go about labelled 'In the
+pay of the Kaiser', but there must be a great many people--English too,
+all shame to them!--who are receiving money from Germany to betray their
+country."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+The Magic Lantern
+
+
+When Marjorie took an idea into her head it generally for the time
+filled the whole of her mental horizon. She had never liked Miss Norton,
+and she now mistrusted her. The evidence that she had to go upon was
+certainly very slight, but, as Marjorie argued, "Straws show how the
+wind blows", and anyone capable of sympathizing with Germans might also
+be capable of assisting them. She felt somewhat in the position of
+Hamlet, doubting whether she had really surprised a dark secret or not,
+and anxious for more circumstantial evidence before she told others of
+her suspicions. She strictly charged Dona not to mention meeting Miss
+Norton in the little hamlet of Sandside, which Dona readily promised.
+She was not imaginative, and was at present far more interested in rows
+of cauliflowers or specimens of seaweeds than in problematical German
+spies.
+
+Marjorie, with several detective stories fresh in her memory, determined
+to go to work craftily. She set little traps for Miss Norton. She would
+casually ask her questions about Germany, or about prisoners of war, to
+judge by her answers where her sympathies lay. The mistress, however,
+was evidently on her guard, and replied in terms of caution. One thing
+Marjorie learned which she considered might be a suspicious
+circumstance. Miss Norton received many letters from abroad. She had
+given foreign stamps to Rose Butler, who had seen her tear them off
+envelopes marked "Opened by the censor". The stamps were from Egypt,
+Malta, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, and Buenos Ayres, a strange variety
+of places in which to have correspondents, so thought Marjorie.
+
+"Of course they're opened by the censor, but who knows if there isn't a
+secret cipher under the guise of an ordinary letter? They may have all
+kinds of treasonable secrets in them. Norty might get information and
+send it to those friends in foreign countries, and they would telegraph
+it in code through a neutral country to Berlin."
+
+She ascertained through one of the prefects that Miss Norton intended to
+spend her holidays in the Isle of Wight. This again seemed
+extraordinary, for the teacher notoriously suffered greatly from the
+heat in summer, and yearned for a bracing climate such as that of
+Scotland; further, she was nervous about air raids, so that the south
+coast would surely be a very unsuitable spot to select for one who
+wished to take a restful vacation. Patricia, whose parents had been on a
+visit to Whitecliffe, and had taken her out on a Saturday afternoon,
+reported that at the hotel some foreigners--presumably Belgians--were
+staying, and that she had noticed Miss Norton drinking coffee with them
+in the lounge.
+
+"Are you sure they were Belgians?" asked Marjorie with assumed
+carelessness.
+
+"Why, the people in the hotel said so."
+
+"What were they like?"
+
+"Oh, fair and rather fat! One of them was a Madame Moeller. She played
+the piano beautifully; everybody came flocking into the lounge to listen
+to her."
+
+"Moeller doesn't sound like a French name."
+
+"Well, I said they were Belgians."
+
+"It has rather a German smack about it. What language were they speaking
+to each other?"
+
+"Something I couldn't understand. Not French, certainly."
+
+"Was it German?"
+
+"I don't know any German, so I can't tell. It might have been Flemish."
+
+Marjorie several times felt tempted to confide her suspicions to
+Winifrede, but her courage never rose to the required point. She had an
+instinct that the head girl would pooh-pooh the whole matter, and either
+call her a ridiculous child, or be rather angry with her for harbouring
+such ideas about her house mistress. Winifrede liked to lead, and was
+never very ready to adopt other people's opinions; it was improbable
+that she would listen readily to the views of an Intermediate, even of
+one whom she was patronizing. A head girl is somewhat in the position of
+the lion in AEsop's fables: it is unwise to offend her. Knowing
+Winifrede's disposition, Marjorie dared not risk a breach of the very
+desirable intimacy which at present existed between them. She yearned,
+however, for a confidante. The burden of her suspicions was heavy to
+bear alone, and she felt that sometimes two heads were better than one.
+Except on exeat days she saw little of Dona, and discussing matters with
+that rather stolid little person was not a very exhilarating
+performance. In her dilemma she turned to Chrissie. The two had shared
+the secret of the Observatory window, and Chrissie, one of the most
+enthusiastic members of their patriotic society, would surely understand
+and sympathize where Winifrede might laugh or scold. Marjorie felt that
+she had lately rather neglected her chum. Their squabbles had caused
+frequent coolnesses, and each had been going her own way. She now made
+an opportunity to walk with Chrissie down the dingle, and confided to
+her the whole story of her doubts. Her chum listened very attentively.
+
+"It looks queer!" she commented. "Yes, more than queer! I always set
+Miss Norton down as a pro-German. Those foreign letters ought to be
+investigated. I wish I could get hold of some of them. It's our duty to
+look after this, Marjorie. You're patriotic? Well, so am I. We may be
+able to render a great service to our country if we can track down a
+spy. We'll set all our energies to work."
+
+"What are we going to do?" asked Marjorie, much impressed.
+
+"Leave it to me, and I'll think out a plan of campaign. These things
+are a battle of brains. She's clever, and we've got to outwit her. Who
+were those foreigners she was talking to in the hotel, I should like to
+know?"
+
+"That was just what I thought."
+
+"For a beginning we must try to draw her out. Oh, don't ask her
+questions about her German sympathies, that's too clumsy! She'd see
+through that in a moment. Let's work the conversation round to military
+matters and munitions, and get the girls to tell all they've heard of
+news from the front, and watch whether Norty isn't just snapping it up."
+
+"Wouldn't that be letting her get to know too much?"
+
+"Well, one's obliged to risk something. If you're over-cautious you
+never get anything done."
+
+"Yes, I suppose you're right. We'll try on Sunday evening after supper.
+She always comes into the sitting-room for a chat with us then."
+
+Chrissie seemed to have taken up the matter with the greatest keenness.
+She was evidently in dead earnest about it. Marjorie was agreeably
+surprised, and on the strength of this mutual confidence her old
+affection for her chum revived. Once more they went about the school arm
+in arm, sat next to each other at tea, and wrote each other private
+little notes. St. Elgiva's smiled again, but the girls by this time were
+accustomed to Marjorie's very impulsive and rather erratic ways, and did
+not take her infatuations too seriously.
+
+"Quarrelled with Winifrede?" enquired Patricia humorously. "I thought
+you were worshipping at her shrine at present."
+
+"Marjorie is a pagan," laughed Rose Butler. "She bows down to many
+idols."
+
+"I should call Winifrede a more desirable goddess than Chrissie," added
+Irene.
+
+"Go on, tease me as much as you like!" declared Marjorie. "You're only
+jealous."
+
+"Jealous! Jealous of Chrissie Lang! Great Minerva!" ejaculated Irene
+eloquently.
+
+It was about two days after this that Marjorie, passing down the
+corridor from Dormitory No. 9, came suddenly upon Chrissie issuing out
+of Miss Norton's bedroom. Marjorie stopped in supreme amazement.
+Mistresses' rooms were sacred at Brackenfield, unless by special
+invitation. Miss Norton was not disposed to intimacy, and it was not in
+the knowledge of St. Elgiva's that she had admitted any girl into her
+private sanctum.
+
+"Did Norty send for you there?" questioned Marjorie in a whisper.
+
+"Sh, sh!" replied Chrissie. "Come back with me into the dormitory."
+
+She drew her friend inside her cubicle, looked round the room to see
+that they were alone, then patted her pocket and smiled.
+
+"I've got them!" she triumphed.
+
+"Got what?"
+
+"Norty's foreign letters, or some of them at any rate."
+
+"Chris! You never went into her room and took them?"
+
+"That's exactly what I did, old sport! I'm going to look them over, and
+put them back before she finds out."
+
+Marjorie gasped.
+
+"But look here! It doesn't seem quite--straight, somehow."
+
+"Can't be helped in the circumstances," replied Chrissie laconically.
+"We've got to outwit her somehow. It's a case of 'Greek meets Greek'.
+How else are we to find out anything?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+The idea of entering a teacher's bedroom and taking and reading her
+private correspondence was intensely repugnant to Marjorie. Her face
+betrayed her feeling.
+
+"You'd never do on secret service," said Chrissie, shaking her head. "I
+thought you were patriotic enough to dare anything for the sake of your
+country. Go downstairs if you don't want to see these letters. I'll read
+them by myself."
+
+"I wish you'd put them back at once," urged Marjorie.
+
+"Not till I know what's in them. Here comes Betty! I'm going to scoot.
+Ta-ta!"
+
+Marjorie followed Chrissie downstairs, but did not join her in the
+garden. She was not happy about this latest development of affairs. It
+was one thing to watch Miss Norton by legitimate methods, and quite
+another to try underhand ways. She wondered whether the service of her
+country really demanded such a sacrifice of honour. For a moment she
+felt desperately tempted to run to Winifrede's study, explain the whole
+situation, and ask her opinion, but she remembered that Winifrede would
+be writing her weekly essay and would hardly welcome a visitor, or have
+time to listen to the rather lengthy story which she must pour out.
+After all, it was an affair that her own conscience must decide. She
+purposely avoided Chrissie all the evening, while she thought it over.
+Having slept upon the question, she came to a decision.
+
+"Chris," she said, catching her chum privately after breakfast, "I vote
+we don't do any more sneaking tricks."
+
+"Sneaking?" Chrissie's eyebrows went up high.
+
+"Yes, you know what I mean. We'll keep a look-out on Norty, but no more
+taking of letters, please."
+
+Chrissie gazed at her chum with rather an inscrutable expression.
+
+"Right oh! Just as you like. We'll shelve that part of the information
+bureau and work on other lines. I'm quite agreeable."
+
+That particular day happened to be Miss Broadway's birthday. She lived
+at St. Elgiva's, so the girls determined to give a little jollification
+that evening in her honour. There would not be time for much in the way
+of festivities, but there was a free half-hour after supper, when they
+could have the recreation room to themselves. It was to be a private
+affair for their own hostel, and only the mistresses who resided there
+were invited. The entertainment was to consist of a magic lantern show.
+Photography had raged lately as a hobby among the Intermediates, and
+several of them had taken to making lantern slides. Patricia--an
+indulged only daughter--had persuaded her father to buy her a lantern;
+it had just arrived, and she was extremely anxious to test its
+capabilities. She put up her screen and made her preparations during the
+afternoon, so that when supper was over all was in readiness, and her
+audience took their places without delay.
+
+Miss Norton, Miss Parker, and Miss Broadway had specially reserved
+chairs in the front row, and the girls filled up the rest of the room.
+Some of them, to obtain a better view, squatted on the floor in front of
+the chairs, Chrissie and Marjorie being among the number. The lantern
+worked beautifully; Patricia made a capital little operator, and managed
+to focus very clearly. She first of all showed sets of bought slides,
+scenes from Italy and Switzerland and photos of various regiments, and
+when these were finished she turned to the slides which she and her
+chums had made themselves. There were capital pictures of the school,
+the cricket eleven, the hockey team, the quadrangle in the snow, the
+gardening assistants, and the tennis champions. They were received with
+much applause, Miss Norton in particular congratulating the amateur
+photographers on their successful efforts.
+
+"We haven't had time to do very many," said Patricia, "but I've got just
+a few more here. This is a good clear one, and interesting too."
+
+The picture which she now threw on the screen showed the road leading to
+Whitecliffe, up which a contingent of German prisoners appeared,
+guarded by soldiers. In the foreground was a long perambulator holding a
+little boy propped up with pillows. It was an excellent photograph, for
+the contingent had been caught just at the right moment as it faced the
+camera; both prisoners and guards had come out with remarkable
+clearness. Something impelled Marjorie to glance at Miss Norton. The
+house mistress was gazing at the picture with an expression of amazed
+horror in her eyes. She turned quickly to Irene, who was squatting at
+her feet, and asked: "Who took that photo?"
+
+"Marjorie Anderson took it, but I made the lantern slide from her film,"
+answered Irene proudly. "We think it's quite one of the best."
+
+"I suppose it was just a snapshot as she stood by the roadside?"
+
+"Yes; it was a very lucky one, wasn't it?"
+
+Marjorie, sitting close by, nudged Chrissie, but did not speak. Miss
+Norton made no further remark, and Patricia put on the next slide.
+Afterwards, in the corridor, Marjorie whispered excitedly to Chrissie:
+
+"Did you notice Norty's face? She was quite upset by my photo of the
+German prisoners."
+
+"Yes, I noticed her."
+
+"Significant, wasn't it?"
+
+"Rather!"
+
+"It's like the play scene in _Hamlet_. It seems to me she gave herself
+away."
+
+"She was taken unawares."
+
+"Just as the King and Queen were. You remember how Hamlet watched them
+all the time? What's happened to-night only confirms our suspicions."
+
+"It does indeed!"
+
+"Perhaps some of her German friends were among the prisoners and she
+recognized them."
+
+"It's possible."
+
+"Well, it evidently gave her a great shock, and that would account for
+it."
+
+"The plot thickens!"
+
+"It thickens very much indeed. I'm not sure if we oughtn't to tell
+somebody."
+
+"No, no! Not on any account!"
+
+"You think so?"
+
+"I'm certain of it. You'll spoil everything if you go blabbing!"
+
+"Well, I won't, if you'd rather not; but I'm just longing to ask
+Winifrede what she thinks about it all," said Marjorie regretfully.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+On Leave
+
+
+The next great event on the horizon of Marjorie and Dona was that Larry
+was transferred from the London Military Hospital to the Whitecliffe Red
+Cross Hospital. Mrs. Anderson came to The Tamarisks for a night as soon
+as he was installed, and paid a flying visit to Brackenfield to see her
+daughters, and beg an exeat, that she might take them to spend a brief
+half-hour with their brother. It was neither a Wednesday nor a Saturday,
+but in the circumstances Mrs. Morrison granted permission; and the
+girls, rejoicing at missing a music lesson and a chemistry lecture, were
+borne away by their mother for the afternoon. As they expected, they
+found Larry established as prime pet of the hospital. He was an
+attractive lad, already a favourite with his cousin Elaine, and his
+handsome boyish face and prepossessing manners soon won him the good
+graces of the other V.A.D.'s.
+
+"I'm having the time of my life!" he assured his family. "I shan't want
+to go away. They certainly know how to take care of a fellow here. After
+the trenches it's just heaven!"
+
+"It was hard luck to be wounded when you'd only been at the front three
+weeks!" sympathized Dona.
+
+"Never mind! I got on the Roll of Honour before my nineteenth birthday!"
+triumphed Larry. "And I'll go back and have another shot before I'm much
+older."
+
+"I wish the military age were twenty-one!" sighed Mrs. Anderson.
+
+"And I wished it were fifteen when the war started," laughed Larry.
+"Never mind, little Muvviekins! Peter and Cyril are kids enough yet; you
+can tie them to your apron-strings for a while."
+
+"I shall go home feeling quite happy at leaving you in such good hands,"
+declared his mother. "I know you'll be well nursed here."
+
+Events seemed to crowd upon one another, for hardly was Larry settled in
+the Red Cross Hospital than Leonard got leave, and, after first going
+home, came for a hurried visit to The Tamarisks in order to see his
+brother. Mrs. Anderson wrote to Mrs. Morrison asking special permission
+for the girls to be allowed an afternoon with their brother, whom they
+had not seen for a year, and again the Principal relaxed her rule in
+their favour. Marjorie, nearly wild with excitement, came flying into
+the sitting-room at St. Elgiva's to tell the news to her friends.
+
+"Another exeat! You lucky thing!" exclaimed Betty enviously. "Why can't
+my brother come to Whitecliffe?"
+
+"Can't you bring him to school and introduce him to us?" suggested
+Irene.
+
+"Or take some of us out with you?" amended Sylvia.
+
+"We're simply dying to meet him!" declared Patricia.
+
+"He has only the one afternoon to spare," replied Marjorie, "and has
+promised to take just Dona and me out to tea at a cafe, though I don't
+mind betting Elaine goes too. I wish I could bring him to school and
+introduce him. The Empress is fearfully mean about asking brothers.
+Brackenfield might be a convent."
+
+Chrissie also seemed tremendously interested in Leonard's arrival. She
+walked round the quad with Marjorie.
+
+"How glorious to have a brother home from the front!" she said
+wistfully. "If he were mine, I'd nearly worship him. There'd be such
+heaps of things I'd want to ask him, too. I'd like to hear all about a
+tank."
+
+"You've seen them on the cinema."
+
+"But only the outside, of course. I want to know exactly how they work.
+Don't laugh. Why shouldn't I? Surely every patriotic girl ought to be
+keen on everything in connection with the war. I wish you'd ask him."
+
+"Why, I will if you like."
+
+"You won't forget?"
+
+"I'll try not."
+
+"And there's a new shell we've just been making. I wonder how it
+answers. I heard we've some new guns too. Would your brother know?"
+
+"Really, I shall never remember all this! Pity you can't come with us
+and ask him for yourself."
+
+"I believe I could get an exeat----" began Chrissie eagerly.
+
+"I'm sure you couldn't!" snapped Marjorie. "Dona and I are going just by
+ourselves."
+
+The sisters spent a somewhat disturbed morning. It was difficult to
+concentrate their minds on lessons when such a delightful outing awaited
+them in the afternoon. Immediately after dinner they rushed to their
+dormitories to don their best dresses in honour of Leonard. They knew he
+would not care to take out two Cinderellas, so they made careful
+toilets. Marjorie, in front of her looking-glass, replaited her hair,
+and tied it with her broadest ribbon, chattering all the while to
+Chrissie, who sat on the bed in her own cubicle.
+
+"Leonard's an old dandy. At least, he was a year ago--the war may have
+changed him. He used to be most fearfully particular, and notice what
+girls had on. I remember how savage he was with Nora once for going to
+church in her old hat, and it was such a wet day, too; she didn't want
+to spoil her new one. He always kept his trousers in stretchers, and his
+boots had to be polished ever so--Chrissie, you're not listening.
+Actually opening letters! You mean to say you've not read them yet, and
+you got them this morning!"
+
+"I hadn't time," said Chrissie, rather abstractedly. She was drawing
+pound notes out of the envelope.
+
+"Sophonisba! What a lot of money!" exclaimed Marjorie. "It isn't your
+birthday?"
+
+"No. This is to take me home, of course."
+
+"It won't cost you all that, surely! Doesn't your mother send your
+railway fare to Mrs. Morrison? Mine always does."
+
+"My mother wouldn't like me to be short of money on the journey,"
+remarked Chrissie serenely, locking up the notes in her little
+jewel-box.
+
+At precisely half-past two the melancholy Hodson arrived at the school,
+and escorted Marjorie and Dona to The Tamarisks. Here they found
+Leonard, and it was a very happy meeting between the brother and
+sisters.
+
+"Leonard shall take you into the town," said Aunt Ellinor. "I know
+you'll like to have him to yourselves for an hour. No, Elaine can't go.
+She's on extra duty at the Red Cross this afternoon."
+
+"I have to be back in the ward by half-past three," smiled Elaine. "Yes,
+I'll give your love to Larry. I'm sorry you can't see him to-day, but
+the Commandant's a little strict about visiting."
+
+"We'll concentrate on Leonard," declared the girls.
+
+It was an immense satisfaction to them to trot off one on each side of
+their soldier brother. They felt very proud of him as they walked along
+the Promenade, and noticed people glance approvingly at the
+good-looking young officer. After going on the pier and doing the usual
+sights of Whitecliffe, Leonard took them to the Cliff Hotel and ordered
+tea on the terrace. Dona and Marjorie were all smiles. This was far
+superior to a cafe. The terrace was delightful, with geraniums and
+oleanders in large pots, and a beautiful view over the sea. They had a
+little table to themselves at the end, underneath a tree. It was
+something to have a brother home from the front.
+
+"Tell us everything you do out in France," begged Dona.
+
+"You wouldn't like to hear everything, Baby Bunting," returned Leonard
+gravely. "It's not fit for your ears. Be glad that you in England don't
+see anything of the war. There's one little incident I can tell you,
+though. We'd marched many miles through the night over appalling ground
+under scattered shell-fire, and were only in our place of attack half an
+hour before the advance started up the ridge. That night march is a
+story in itself, but that's not what I'm going to tell you now. We drew
+close to one of the blockhouses, and the sound of our cheering must have
+been heard by the Germans inside those concrete walls. The barrage had
+just passed, and its line of fire, volcanic in its fury, went travelling
+ahead. Suddenly out of the blockhouse a dozen men or so came running,
+and we shortened our bayonets. From the centre of the group a voice
+shouted out in English: 'I'm a Warwickshire man, don't shoot! I'm an
+Englishman!' The man who called had his hands up in sign of surrender,
+like the German soldiers.
+
+"'It's a spy!' said one of our men. 'Kill the blighter!'
+
+"The voice again rang out: 'I'm English!'
+
+"And he was English, too. It was a man of a Warwickshire regiment, who
+had been captured on patrol some days before. The Germans had taken him
+into their blockhouse--and because of our gun-fire they could not get
+out of it--and kept him there. He was well treated, and his captors
+shared their food with him, but the awful moment came for him when the
+drum-fire passed, and he knew that unless he held his hands high he
+would be killed by our own troops."
+
+"How awful!" shivered Dona.
+
+"Tell us some more tales about the war," begged Marjorie.
+
+"I might have been killed one evening," said Leonard, "if it hadn't been
+for a friend. We were carrying dispatches, and fell into an ambush. I
+owe it to Winkles that I'm here to-day. He fought like a demon. I never
+saw such a fellow!"
+
+"Who's Winkles?"
+
+"Oh, an awfully good chap, and so humorous! I've never once seen him
+down. I've got his photo somewhere, I believe. I took a snapshot of him
+once."
+
+"Oh, do show it to us!"
+
+Leonard searched through his pockets, and after turning out an
+assortment of letters and papers produced a small photograph for
+inspection. The girls bumped their heads together in their eagerness to
+look at it. It had been taken in camp, and represented the young soldier
+in the act of raising a can of coffee to his lips. There was a pleased
+smile on the whimsical face, and a twinkle in the dark eyes. Marjorie
+caught her breath.
+
+"Why, why!" she gasped. "It's surely Private Preston!"
+
+"That's his name right enough. We call him Winkles, though. He's a
+lieutenant now, by the way--got his commission just lately."
+
+"But--I thought he was killed?"
+
+"Not a bit of it! I heard from him yesterday."
+
+"He was in the Roll of Honour," urged Marjorie, still unable to believe.
+
+"No, he wasn't. That was his brother Henry, who was in the same
+regiment--a nice chap, though nothing to Winkles."
+
+Marjorie sat in a state of almost dazed incomprehension. A black cloud
+seemed suddenly to have rolled away from her, and she had not yet had
+time to readjust herself. As in a dream she listened to Dona's
+explanation.
+
+"He was in the Red Cross Hospital here, and we saw him when Elaine took
+us to the Christmas tree."
+
+"Was it Whitecliffe? I knew he'd been in a Red Cross Hospital, but never
+heard which one," commented Leonard.
+
+"He was going on to a convalescent home," continued Dona.
+
+"He came back to the front before he was really fit," said Leonard.
+"The poor chap had had influenza, but he was so afraid of being thought
+a shirker that he made a push to go. He was laid up with a touch of
+pneumonia, I remember, a week after he rejoined."
+
+"Will he get leave again?" faltered Marjorie.
+
+"Yes, next month, he hopes. They don't live such a very long way from
+Silverwood, and he said he'd try to go over and see the Mater. She'd
+give him a welcome, I know."
+
+"Rather!" agreed the girls.
+
+"We shall be at home in August," added Dona.
+
+Marjorie, however, said nothing. There are some joys that it is quite
+impossible to express to outsiders.
+
+"I'm glad they've made him a lieutenant," she said to herself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+The Royal George
+
+
+When Leonard brought Marjorie and Dona back to The Tamarisks there was
+still one more golden half-hour before they need return to school. Aunt
+Ellinor proposed tennis, and suggested that her nephew should play his
+sisters while she sat and acted umpire. The game went fairly evenly, for
+Leonard was agile and equal to holding his own, though it was one
+against two. They were at "forty all" when Dona made a rather brilliant
+stroke. Leonard sprang across the court in a frantic effort to get the
+ball, missed it, slipped on the grass, and fell. The girls laughed.
+
+"You've been a little too clever for once," called Dona. "That's our
+game!"
+
+"Get up, you old slacker!" said Marjorie.
+
+But Leonard did not get up. He stayed where he was on the lawn, looking
+very white. Mrs. Trafford ran to him in alarm.
+
+"What's the matter?" she cried.
+
+"I believe I've broken my ankle--I felt it snap."
+
+The accident was so totally unexpected that for a moment everyone was
+staggered, then, recovering her presence of mind, Aunt Ellinor, with
+Marjorie and Dona's help, applied first aid, while Hodson hurried into
+Whitecliffe to fetch the doctor. He was fortunately at home, and came at
+once. He helped to carry Leonard into the house, set the broken bone,
+and settled him in bed.
+
+"You'll have to stay where you are for a while," he assured him.
+"There'll be no walking on that foot yet. It'll extend your leave, at
+any rate."
+
+"I can't imagine how I was such an idiot as to do it," mourned Leonard.
+"I just seemed to trip, and couldn't save myself."
+
+"We'll borrow you some crutches from the Red Cross when you're well
+enough to use them," laughed the doctor. "You'll be well looked after
+here. Miss Elaine is one of my best nurses at the hospital."
+
+Marjorie and Dona arrived back at school late for Preparation, but were
+graciously forgiven by Mrs. Morrison when they explained the unfortunate
+reason of their delay.
+
+"It's ripping to have both Leonard and Larry at Whitecliffe," said Dona
+to Marjorie in private.
+
+"Rather! I think I know one person who won't altogether regret the
+accident."
+
+"Leonard?"
+
+"Yes, Leonard certainly; but somebody else too."
+
+"I know--Elaine."
+
+"She'll have the time of her life nursing him."
+
+"And he'll have the time of his life being nursed by Elaine," laughed
+Dona.
+
+It was now getting very near the end of the term, and each hostel,
+according to its usual custom, was beginning to devise some form of
+entertainment to which it could invite the rest of the school. After
+much consultation, St. Elgiva's decided on charades. A cast was chosen
+consisting of eight girls who were considered to act best, Betty,
+Chrissie, and Marjorie being among the number. No parts were to be
+learnt, but a general outline of each charade was to be arranged
+beforehand, the performers filling in impromptu dialogue as they went
+along. To hit on a suitable word, and think out some telling scenes, now
+occupied the wits of each of the chosen eight. They compared notes
+constantly; indeed, when any happy thought occurred to one, she made
+haste to communicate it to the others.
+
+An inspiration came suddenly to Marjorie during cricket, and when the
+game was over she rushed away to unburden herself of it. She had thought
+several of the performers might be in the recreation room, but she found
+nobody there except Chrissie, who sat writing at the table.
+
+"I've a lovely idea, Chris!" she began. "You know that word we chose,
+'cough', 'fee'--'coffee'; well, we'll have the first syllable in a Red
+Cross Hospital, and the second in an employment bureau, and a girl can
+ask if there's any fee to pay; and the whole word can be a scene in a
+drawing-room. Chrissie, do stop writing and listen!"
+
+Her chum shut up her geometry textbook rather reluctantly. She was
+putting in extra work before the exams, and was loath to be interrupted.
+She kept on drawing angles on her blotting-paper almost automatically.
+
+"They'd be ripping if we could get the right properties," she agreed.
+"Could we manage beds enough to look like a hospital? Yes, those small
+forms would do, I dare say. The employment bureau will be easy enough.
+The drawing-room scene would be no end, if we could make it up-to-date.
+I ought to be an officer home on leave, and you're my long-lost love,
+and we have a dramatic meeting over the coffee cups!"
+
+"Gorgeous! Oh, we must do it! Shall I droop tenderly into your arms?
+What shall I wear?"
+
+"Some outdoor costume, with a picturesque hat. I must have a uniform, of
+course."
+
+"A brown waterproof with a leather belt?"
+
+Chrissie pulled a face.
+
+"I hate these make-ups out of girls' clothes! I'd like a real genuine
+uniform to do the thing properly."
+
+"But we couldn't get one!"
+
+"Yes, we could. It's your exeat on Wednesday, and you might borrow your
+brother's. He's in bed, and can't wear it."
+
+"What a ripping notion!" gasped Marjorie. "But I couldn't carry a great
+parcel back to school. Norty'd see it, and make one of her stupid
+fusses."
+
+"We must smuggle it, then. Look here, when you go to your aunt's make
+the clothes into a parcel and leave it just inside the gate. I've a
+friend at Whitecliffe, and I'll manage to write to her and ask her to
+call and take it, and drop it over the wall at Brackenfield for me."
+
+"Won't Norty ask where we got it, when she sees you wearing it?"
+
+"She might be nasty about it beforehand, but I don't believe she'd say
+anything on the evening, especially if the charade goes off well. It's
+worth risking."
+
+"You'd look ripping in Leonard's uniform! Of course it would be too
+big."
+
+"That wouldn't matter. Will you get it for me?"
+
+"Right oh!"
+
+"Good. Then I'll write to my friend."
+
+"You're writing now!" chuckled Marjorie, for Chrissie had been
+scribbling idly on the blotting-paper while she talked. "Look what
+you've put, you goose! 'Christine Lange!' Don't you know how to spell
+your own name? I didn't think it had an _e_ at the end of it!"
+
+Chrissie flushed scarlet. For a moment she looked overwhelmed with
+confusion; then, recovering herself, she forced a laugh.
+
+"What an idiot I am! I can't imagine why I should stick on an extra _e_.
+Lang is a good old Scottish name."
+
+"Are you related to Andrew Lang, the famous author?"
+
+"I believe there's a family connection."
+
+The charades were to be held on the evening of the next Wednesday, after
+supper, which was fixed half an hour earlier to allow sufficient time
+for the festivities afterwards. That afternoon would be Marjorie's and
+Dona's last exeat before the holidays, and they were determined to make
+the most of it. They would, of course, visit Leonard and Larry, and they
+also wished if possible to say good-bye to Eric. They had begged Elaine
+to leave a note at the kiosk, asking him to be waiting at their old
+trysting-place on the cliffs at five o'clock, and they meant to take him
+some last little presents. If they did not see him to-day it would be
+the end of September before they could meet again.
+
+"He'll miss the fairy ladies when we've gone home," said Dona. "Sweet
+darling! I wish we could take him with us!"
+
+"I wonder if he ever goes away?" speculated Marjorie.
+
+"I shouldn't think he'd be strong enough to travel."
+
+When the girls arrived at The Tamarisks they found Leonard installed in
+bed, a remarkably cheerful invalid, and apparently not fretting over his
+enforced period of rest.
+
+"I've got a little Red Cross Hospital here all to myself," he informed
+his sisters. "A jolly nice one, too! I can thoroughly recommend it. I
+shan't want to budge."
+
+"Then they'll send an army doctor down to examine you for shirking,"
+laughed Marjorie.
+
+"I can't hop back to the front on one leg," objected Leonard.
+
+Elaine was head nurse in the afternoons, an arrangement which seemed to
+be appreciated equally by herself and the patient.
+
+"I'd run up with you to the Red Cross Hospital to see Larry," she
+assured Marjorie and Dona, "but I oughtn't to leave Leonard. Hodson
+shall take you, and go on with you to the cove afterwards. Give my love
+to Eric. I hope the dear little fellow is better. I bought the things
+for him, as you asked me. They're on the table in the hall. We'll have
+tea in Leonard's room before you start."
+
+Under a pretence of inspecting Eric's presents, Marjorie ran downstairs.
+She wanted somehow to get hold of Leonard's uniform, and she was afraid
+that if she mentioned it, Elaine, in her capacity of nurse, would say
+no.
+
+"I shan't ask," decided Marjorie. "Elaine is a little 'bossy', and
+inclined to appropriate Leonard all to herself at present. Surely his
+own sister can borrow his uniform. I know it's in the dressing-room. I
+could see it, and I got up and shut the door on purpose. I'll go round
+by the other door and take it."
+
+The deed was quickly done. Leonard's suit-case was lying open on the
+floor, and she packed in it what she wanted, not without tremors lest
+Elaine should come in suddenly from the bedroom and catch her. She could
+hear nurse and invalid laughing together. Bag in hand, she hurried
+downstairs and out into the garden. Down by the gate a woman was already
+hanging about waiting. It would be the work of a moment to give it to
+her. But Marjorie had not calculated upon Dona. That placid young person
+usually accepted whatever her elder sister thought fit to do. On this
+occasion she interfered.
+
+"What are you doing with Leonard's suit-case?" she asked.
+
+Marjorie hastily explained.
+
+"Don't," begged Dona promptly. "Leonard will be fearfully savage about
+it. How are you going to get his things back to him?"
+
+"I don't know," stammered Marjorie. She had, indeed, never thought about
+it.
+
+"I've been watching that woman," urged Dona, "and I don't like her. She
+asked me if this were 'The Tamarisks', and she speaks quite broken
+English. You mustn't give her Leonard's uniform."
+
+"But I promised to get it for Chrissie to act in."
+
+"Marjorie, I tell you I don't trust Chrissie."
+
+The woman, seeing the two girls, came inside the gate, and advanced
+smilingly towards them. Marjorie, annoyed at Dona's interference, and
+anxious to have her own way, greeted the stranger effusively.
+
+"Have you come for the bag? For Miss Lang? Thanks so much. Here it is!"
+
+Then for once in her life Dona asserted herself.
+
+"No, it isn't!" she snapped, and, snatching the bag from her sister's
+hand, she rushed with it into the house.
+
+Marjorie followed in a towering passion, but her remonstrances were
+useless. Dona, when she once took an idea into her head, was the most
+obstinate person in the world.
+
+"Leonard's things are back in the dressing-room, and I've opened the
+door wide into his bedroom," she announced doggedly. "If you want to get
+them you'll have to take them from under Elaine's nose."
+
+Full of wrath, Marjorie had nevertheless to make the best of it. The
+woman had vanished from the garden, and Elaine was calling to them that
+tea was ready in Leonard's bedroom. The invalid had a splendid appetite,
+and, as his nurse did not consider that he ought to be rationed, the
+home-made war buns disappeared rapidly.
+
+"It's top-hole picnicking here with you girls," he announced. "Wouldn't
+some of our fellows at the front be green with envy if they only knew!"
+
+Marjorie was distant with Dona all the way to the Red Cross Hospital,
+but recovered her temper during the ten minutes spent with Larry. They
+were not allowed to stay long, as it was out of visiting hours, though
+Elaine had obtained special permission from the Commandant for them to
+call and say good-bye to him. Still laughing at his absurd jokes, they
+rejoined Hodson, and set off along the road over the moor. As they
+neared the cove they looked out anxiously to see if Eric were at the
+usual trysting-place, but there was no sign of him to-day. They sat down
+and waited, thinking that the long perambulator had probably been
+wheeled into Whitecliffe, and had not yet returned. In about ten minutes
+Lizzie came hurrying up alone.
+
+"I've run all the way!" she panted. "He got your letter, did Eric, and
+he was that set on coming, but he's very ill to-day and must stop in
+bed. He's just fretting his heart out because he can't say good-bye to
+you. He'll say nothing all the time but 'I want my fairy ladies--I want
+my fairy ladies!' His ma said she wondered if you'd mind coming in for a
+minute just to see him. It's not far. It would soothe him down
+wonderful."
+
+"Why, of course we'll go," exclaimed the girls with enthusiasm. "Poor
+little chap! What a shame he's ill!"
+
+"I hope it's nothing infectious?" objected Hodson, mindful of her
+duties.
+
+"Oh no! It's his heart," answered Lizzie. "He's got a lot of different
+things the matter with him, and has had ever so many doctors," she added
+almost proudly.
+
+She led the way briskly to the little village of Sandside. Where did
+Eric live, the girls were asking themselves. They had always wondered
+where his home could be. To their amazement Lizzie stopped at the "Royal
+George" inn, and motioned them to enter. Hodson demurred. She was an
+ardent teetotaller, and also she doubted if Mrs. Trafford would approve
+of her nieces visiting at a third-rate public-house.
+
+"Wait for us outside, Hodson," said Marjorie rather peremptorily.
+
+"I'll go into the post office," she agreed unwillingly. "You won't be
+long, will you, miss?"
+
+The passage inside the inn was dark, and the stairs were steep, and a
+smell of stale beer pervaded the air. It seemed a strange place for such
+a lovely flower as Eric to be growing. Lizzie went first to show the
+way. She stopped with her hand on the latch of the door.
+
+"His ma's had to go and serve in the bar," she explained, "but his
+aunt's just come and is sitting with him."
+
+Dona and Marjorie entered a small low bedroom, clean enough, though
+rather faded and shabby. In a cot bed by the window lay Eric, white as
+his pillow, a frail ethereal being all dark eyes and shining golden
+curls. He stretched out two feeble little arms in welcome.
+
+"Oh, my fairy ladies! Have you really come?" he cried eagerly.
+
+It was only when they had both flown to him and kissed him that the
+girls had time to notice the figure that sat by his bedside--a figure
+that, with red spots of consternation on its cheeks, rose hastily from
+its seat.
+
+"Miss Norton!" they gasped, both together.
+
+The mistress recovered herself with an effort.
+
+"Sit down, Dona and Marjorie," she said with apparent calm, placing two
+chairs for them. "I did not know you were Eric's fairy ladies. It is
+very kind of you to come and see him."
+
+"This is Titania," said the little fellow proudly, snuggling his hand
+into his aunt's. "She knows more fairy tales than there are in all the
+books. You never heard such lovely tales as she can tell. Another,
+please, Titania!"
+
+"Not now, darling."
+
+"Please, please! The one about the moon maiden and the stars."
+
+The dark eyes were pleading, and the small mouth quivered. The child
+looked too ill to be reasoned with.
+
+"Don't mind us," blurted out Marjorie, with a catch in her voice. Dona
+was blinking some tear-drops out of her eyes.
+
+Then a wonderful thing happened, for Miss Norton, beforetime the cold,
+self-contained, strict house mistress, dropped her mask of reserve, and,
+throwing a tender arm round Eric, began a tale of elves and fairies. She
+told it well, too, with a pretty play of fancy, and an understanding of
+a child's mind. He listened with supreme satisfaction.
+
+"Isn't it lovely?" he said, turning in triumph to the girls when the
+story was finished.
+
+"We must trot now, darling," said his aunt, laying him gently back on
+the pillow. "What? More presents? You lucky boy! Suppose you open them
+after we've gone. You'll be such a tired childie if you get too excited.
+I'll send Lizzie up to you. Say good-bye to your fairy ladies."
+
+"Good-bye, darling Bluebell! Good-bye, darling Silverstar! When am I
+going to see you again?"
+
+Ah, when indeed? thought Dona and Marjorie, as they walked down the
+steep dark stairs of the little inn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+Charades
+
+
+Hodson was waiting in the road when they came out. Miss Norton spoke to
+her kindly.
+
+"We need not trouble you to take the young ladies back to Brackenfield,
+they can return with me across the moor," she said. "I dare say you are
+anxious to get home to The Tamarisks."
+
+"Yes, thank you, m'm, it's got rather late," answered Hodson gratefully,
+setting off at once along the Whitecliffe Road.
+
+The girls and Miss Norton took a short cut across the moor. They walked
+on for a while in silence. Then the mistress said:
+
+"I didn't know it was you two who have been so kind to Eric. I should
+like to explain about him, and then you'll understand. My eldest brother
+married very much beneath him. He died when Eric was a year old, and his
+wife married again--a man in her own station, who is now keeping the
+'Royal George'. I can't bear to think of Eric being brought up in such
+surroundings, but I have no power to take him away; his mother and
+step-father claim him. I had planned that when he is a little older I
+would try to persuade them to let me send him to a good preparatory
+school, but now"--her voice broke--"it is not a question of education,
+but whether he will grow up at all. I am writing for a specialist to
+come and see him next week. I won't give up hope. He's the only boy left
+in our family. Both my other brothers were killed at the beginning of
+the war." She paused for a moment, and then went on. "I'm sure you'll
+understand that I did not want anybody at Brackenfield to know that my
+relations live at a village inn. I have not spoken of it to Mrs.
+Morrison. May I ask you both to keep my secret and not to mention the
+matter at school?"
+
+"We won't tell a soul, Miss Norton," the girls assured her.
+
+"Thank you both for your kindness to Eric," continued the house
+mistress. "You have made his little life very bright lately. I need
+hardly tell you how dear he is to me."
+
+"He's the most perfect darling we've ever met," said Dona.
+
+After that they walked on again without speaking. All three were busy
+with their own thoughts. Marjorie's brain was in a whirl. She was trying
+to readjust her mental attitude. Miss Norton! Miss Norton, whom she had
+mistrusted and suspected as a spy, was Eric's idolized aunt, and had
+gone to the Royal George on no treacherous errand, but to tell fairy
+tales to an invalid child! When the cold scholastic manner was dropped
+she had caught a glimpse of a beautiful and tender side of the
+mistress's nature. She would never forget Miss Norton's face as she
+held the little fellow in her arms and kissed him good-bye.
+
+"I'm afraid I've utterly misjudged her!" decided Marjorie. "I see now
+why she was so upset about that lantern slide I took. It was because
+Eric was in it. It had nothing to do with the German prisoners. After
+all, anybody can receive foreign letters if they've relations abroad,
+and perhaps she's going to stay with friends in the Isle of Wight. As
+for those Belgians in the hotel, perhaps they were genuine ones. We had
+Belgian guests ourselves at the beginning of the war, and couldn't
+understand a word of the Flemish they talked."
+
+Marjorie ran upstairs to her dormitory as soon as she reached St.
+Elgiva's, and found Chrissie waiting for her there.
+
+"Where's the uniform?" demanded her chum imperatively.
+
+"The uniform? I didn't get it after all," replied Marjorie a little
+vaguely. The unexpected episode of Eric and Miss Norton had temporarily
+driven the former matter from her mind.
+
+"You--didn't--get it?"
+
+Chrissie said the words very slowly.
+
+"No. I'm sorry, but it couldn't be helped. Elaine was there--and Dona
+wouldn't let me--so----"
+
+"You sneak!" blazed Chrissie passionately. "You promised! You promised
+faithfully! And this is how you treat me! Oh, I hate you! I hate you!
+What shall I do? Can't you go back for it? send for it? I tell you, I
+must have it!"
+
+"How can I go back for it or send for it?" retorted Marjorie, amazed at
+such an outburst on the part of her chum. "I'm sorry; but, after all, it
+would have been miles too big for you, and you'll really do the part
+quite as well in my mackintosh, with Irene's broad leather belt. There's
+a piece of brown calico we can cut into strips and make puttees for you.
+You'll look very nice, I'm sure."
+
+Chrissie hardly seemed to be listening. She was sitting on her bed
+rocking herself to and fro in the greatest emotion. When Marjorie laid a
+hand on her arm she flung her off passionately. She had never exhibited
+such temper before, and Marjorie was frankly surprised. The occasion did
+not seem to justify it. The disappointment about the costume could not
+surely be so very keen. None of the girls had meant to dress up to any
+great extent for the charades.
+
+"Chrissie, don't be an idiot!"
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"What are you making such a hullabaloo about? You're the limit this
+evening. Do, for goodness' sake, brace up!"
+
+"Let me alone!" snapped Chrissie. "You called yourself my friend, and
+you wouldn't do what I asked you. I've done with you now. Don't speak to
+me again."
+
+"Bow-wow! Pitch it a little stronger. I'll go away till you've got over
+your tantrums. It's what used to be called katawampus when I was small,
+and they generally spanked me for it."
+
+"Can't you go?" thundered Chrissie.
+
+Thoroughly angry with her chum, Marjorie went. She wondered how they
+were going to act a love scene together that evening. The soft nothings
+they had rehearsed would seem very hollow after the mutual reproaches
+they had just exchanged.
+
+Chrissie was not in her usual place at supper-time.
+
+"Sulking!" thought Marjorie. "I suppose she doesn't want to sit next to
+me. Well, she's punishing herself far more than me, silly girl! She must
+be dreadfully hungry, unless she's shamming a headache, and getting
+Nurse to give her bread and milk in the ambulance room. Perhaps she's
+busy with her costume. She never liked the idea of using my mackintosh
+for a uniform. I expect she's thought of something else."
+
+Marjorie's anger, always hot while it lasted, but short-lived, was
+beginning to cool down. When supper was over she ran to look for her
+chum, but could not find her anywhere. There was no time for a long
+search, as the charades were to begin almost at once, and the St.
+Elgiva's girls were already preparing the stage for the first scene.
+Marjorie was seized upon by Patricia and borne off to arrange screens
+and furniture.
+
+Punctual to a moment, the guests from the other hostels arrived and took
+their seats as audience. The performers, in the little room behind the
+platform, were breathlessly scuttling into their costumes, and all
+talking at once.
+
+"Where's my hat?"
+
+[Illustration: SHE STARED AT IT IN CONSTERNATION]
+
+"Do button this at the back for me, please!"
+
+"I can't find my boots!"
+
+"Oh, bother, this skirt has no hooks!"
+
+"Who's got the safety pins?"
+
+"Be careful, you'll tear that lace!"
+
+"I can't get into these shoes, they're too small!"
+
+"I've grown out of this skirt since last theatricals."
+
+"It's miles too short!"
+
+"Has anybody seen my belt?"
+
+Each one was so occupied in finishing her own hasty toilet that she
+could not give much thought to the others, and it was only when all were
+ready that Patricia asked:
+
+"Where's Chrissie?"
+
+The girls looked round in consternation. She was certainly not in the
+dressing-room. Betty ran on to the platform, drew aside the curtain a
+little, and, beckoning Annie Turner from among the audience, sent her
+and six other Intermediates in search of the missing performer. They
+returned in a few minutes to say that they could not find her. Marjorie,
+meantime, had explained the cause of the quarrel.
+
+"It's sickening!" raged Betty. "For her to go and spoil the whole thing,
+just out of temper! I'd like to shake her!"
+
+"Everybody's waiting for us to begin!" fluttered Rose.
+
+"We won't wait!" declared Patricia. "Let us take the second charade
+first, Chrissie doesn't come on in that; and, Betty, you go and ask
+Annie to take Chrissie's place. She doesn't act badly, and there'd be
+time to tell her what to do. She must fetch a mackintosh. Here's my
+broad belt and a soft felt hat. She can belong to an Australian
+regiment."
+
+Annie, summoned hastily behind the scenes, rose magnificently to the
+occasion. Coached by Betty and Marjorie, she grasped the outline of the
+part she must play with immediate comprehension. She donned the
+mackintosh, buckled the belt over her shoulder, cocked the soft hat over
+one eye, practised a military stride and an affectionate embrace, and
+declared herself ready for action. She was only just in time. The
+audience was already applauding the end of the first charade. The
+performers came trooping back, flushed and excited, and much relieved to
+find Annie so well prepared.
+
+"You mascot! You've saved our reputation!" exulted Patricia.
+
+"I'm never going to speak to Chrissie Lang again!" declared Betty.
+
+"It's abominable of her to let us down like this!" agreed Rose
+indignantly.
+
+Charade No. 2 went off with flying colours. Annie really played up
+magnificently. None of the girls had known before that she could act so
+well. She threw such fervour into her love-making that Mrs. Morrison,
+who was among the spectators, gave a warning cough, whereupon the
+gallant officer released his lady from his dramatic embrace, and,
+falling gracefully on one knee, bestowed a theatrical kiss upon her
+hand. The clapping from the girl portion of the audience was immense.
+
+"But where is Chrissie Lang?" asked everybody when the performance was
+over.
+
+Nobody knew. Since Marjorie had parted from her in the dormitory she had
+not been seen. Neither teachers, girls, nurses, nor servants could give
+any report of her. She simply seemed to have disappeared. Mrs. Morrison
+questioned everyone likely to know of her movements, but obtained no
+satisfaction. Her cubicle in No. 9 Dormitory was unoccupied that night.
+At breakfast next morning the sole topic of conversation was: "What has
+become of Chrissie Lang?"
+
+"Mrs. Morrison thinks she must have run away, and she's telephoning to
+the police," Winifrede told Marjorie in confidence, when the latter,
+anxious to unburden herself, sought the head girl's study. "I can't see
+that it's your fault in any way. Chrissie was absurd to show such
+temper, and it certainly was no reason for going off. I'm afraid there
+must be something else at the bottom of it all."
+
+"But what?"
+
+"Ah, that's just the question!"
+
+Marjorie was very much upset and disturbed. She could scarcely keep her
+attention on her classes that morning. "Where has Chrissie gone, and
+why?" she kept asking herself. At dinner-time there was still no news of
+the truant. It was rumoured that Mrs. Morrison had telegraphed to Mrs.
+Lang, and had received no reply. The Principal looked anxious and
+worried. She felt responsible for the safety of her missing pupil.
+
+Early in the afternoon, Marjorie, wishing to be alone, took a stroll
+down the dingle. It was a favourite haunt of Chrissie's, who had often
+sat reading beside the little brook. Marjorie walked to the very stone
+that had been her usual seat. The sharpenings of a lead pencil were
+still there, and lying at the edge of the water was a crumpled-up piece
+of paper. Marjorie picked it up and smoothed it out. It was in
+Chrissie's writing, and contained a list of details in connection with
+tanks and guns, also particulars of the Redferne munition works and the
+Belgian colony there, and several other pieces of information in
+connection with the war. She stared at it in consternation. A sudden
+light began to break in upon her mind.
+
+"Good heavens! Was it Chrissie after all who was the spy?" she choked.
+
+The idea seemed too horrible. It was she herself who had so readily
+answered all her chum's questions in regard to these things. In doing
+so, had she not been betraying her own country? Once the clue was given,
+all sorts of suspicious circumstances came rushing into her mind. She
+wondered it had never struck her before to doubt her friend's
+patriotism. Nearly distracted with the dreadful discovery, she hurried
+away to find Winifrede, and, showing her the paper, poured out her
+story. Winifrede listened aghast.
+
+"I'm afraid it's only too true, Marjorie," she said. "I've been talking
+to Mrs. Morrison, and all sorts of queer things have come out about
+Chrissie. It seems that a prisoner has escaped last night from the
+German camp, and they think it must have been her brother, and that she
+helped him. Mrs. Morrison has had a long talk with a detective, and he
+said they telegraphed to Millgrove, where Chrissie's mother lives, and
+the police there found the house shut up, and discovered that she is a
+German, and that her true name is Lange, not Lang. The detective said
+they have had Brackenfield under observation lately, for they suspected
+that somebody was heliographing messages with a mirror to the German
+camp. And who put that bicycle lamp in the Observatory window last
+spring? We have certainly had a spy in our midst. We ought to take this
+paper at once to Mrs. Morrison, and you must tell her all you know."
+
+Marjorie not only had a long talk with the Principal, but was also
+forced to undergo an examination by the detective, who asked her a
+string of questions, until he had extorted every possible detail that
+she could remember.
+
+"There's not a shadow of a doubt," was his verdict. "There are plenty of
+these spies about the country. It's our business to look after them.
+Pity she got away so neatly. I'm afraid she and her precious brother
+must have had a boat in waiting for them. It's abominable the amount of
+collusion there is with the enemy. They'd accomplices in Whitecliffe, no
+doubt, if we could only get on the track of them."
+
+"I wish you had mentioned all this to me sooner, Marjorie," said Mrs.
+Morrison.
+
+"I never suspected anything," returned Marjorie, bursting into tears.
+
+The poor child was thoroughly unnerved by her interview with the
+detective, and the Principal's reproach seemed to put the finishing
+touch to the whole affair. In Winifrede's study afterwards she sobbed
+till her eyes were red slits.
+
+"Never mind," comforted Winifrede. "After all, things might have been
+worse. Be thankful you didn't lend her your brother's uniform. It's as
+clear as daylight she didn't want it for charades. It would be easy for
+a German prisoner to escape disguised as a British officer. It might
+have got your brother into most serious trouble."
+
+"It was Dona who wouldn't let me take it," choked Marjorie. "She said at
+the time that she didn't trust Chrissie. I've been a blind idiot all
+along!"
+
+"We were none of us clever enough to find her out."
+
+It was just about a week after this that a letter arrived at
+Brackenfield, addressed to Marjorie in Chrissie's handwriting. It bore a
+Dutch stamp and postmark, and had been opened by the censor. Mrs.
+Morrison perused it first in private, then, calling Marjorie to the
+study, handed it to her to read. It bore no address or date, and ran
+thus:--
+
+    "MY DEAR MARJORIE,
+
+    "This letter is to say a last good-bye to you, for you will
+    never hear from me or of me again. By now you will have found
+    out all. Believe me that what I did was not by my own wish. I
+    hated and loathed it all the time, but I was forced by others to
+    do it. I cannot tell you how wretched I was, and how I envied
+    you, who had no dreadful secret to keep. We are going back to
+    our own people" (here a portion of the letter was blackened by
+    the censor). "It was all for his sake" (again a portion was
+    erased). "I want to tell you, Marjorie, how I have loved you.
+    You have been the one bright spot in my life, and I can never
+    forget your kindness. I have your portrait inside my locket, and
+    I shall wear it always, and have it buried with me in my coffin.
+    Try to think of me as if I were already dead, and forgive me if
+    you can.
+
+    "From your still loving friend,
+        "CHRISSIE."
+
+Marjorie put down the letter with a shaking hand.
+
+"Is it right to forgive the enemies of our country?" she asked Mrs.
+Morrison.
+
+"When they are dead," replied the Principal.
+
+Marjorie went out slowly from the study, and stood thinking for a
+moment. Then, going upstairs to her cubicle, she looked in her treasure
+box, and found the little gold locket containing the portrait of her
+one-time friend. It had been a birthday present from Chrissie. She
+refrained from opening it, but, taking it down to the dingle, she flung
+it into the deepest pool in the brook. She walked back up the field with
+a feeling as though she had attended a funeral.
+
+Dona met her in the quadrangle.
+
+"I've just seen Miss Norton," she confided. "The specialist came to look
+at Eric yesterday, and he gives quite good hopes for him. He's to go
+into a children's hospital under a very clever doctor, and be properly
+looked after and dieted. His own mother lets him eat anything. Norty's
+simply beaming. She's to take him herself next week in a motor
+ambulance."
+
+Marjorie heaved a great sigh of relief. The world seemed suddenly to
+have brightened. Bygones must remain bygones. She had been imprudent,
+indeed, in supplying information, but it had been done in all innocence,
+and though she might blame her own folly, she could not condemn her act
+as unpatriotic.
+
+"There's good news from the front, too," continued Dona. "Another ridge
+taken, and a village. Winifrede showed me the newspaper. Lieutenant
+Preston's name is mentioned for conspicuous bravery. It's really quite
+an important victory on our part. We've driven the Huns back a good
+piece. I feel I just want to shout 'Hurrah!' and I'm going to!--
+
+"Hurrah!"
+
+"Hurrah! God save the King!" echoed Marjorie.
+
+
+
+
+By Angela Brazil
+
+My Own Schooldays.
+
+    Ruth of St. Ronan's.
+    Joan's Best Chum.
+    Captain Peggie.
+    Schoolgirl Kitty.
+    The School in the South.
+    Monitress Merle.
+    Loyal to the School.
+    A Fortunate Term.
+    A Popular Schoolgirl.
+    The Princess of the School.
+    A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl.
+    The Head Girl at the Gables.
+    A Patriotic Schoolgirl.
+    For the School Colours.
+    The Madcap of the School.
+    The Luckiest Girl in the School.
+    The Jolliest Term on Record.
+    The Girls of St. Cyprian's.
+    The Youngest Girl in the Fifth.
+    The New Girl at St. Chad's.
+    For the Sake of the School.
+    The School by the Sea.
+    The Leader of the Lower School.
+    A Pair of Schoolgirls.
+    A Fourth Form Friendship.
+    The Manor House School.
+    The Nicest Girl in the School.
+    The Third Form at Miss Kaye's.
+    The Fortunes of Philippa.
+
+_Printed in Great Britain by Blackie & Son, Ltd. Glasgow_
+
+
+    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
+    |Transcriber's Note:                                            |
+    |                                                               |
+    |Unusual words used in direct speech, and the following words   |
+    |have been left as they appear in the original book: caligraphy,|
+    |hinnied, musn't, schemeing and seccotining. The phrase "turned |
+    |up up to time" has also been retained.                         |
+    |                                                               |
+    |The frontispiece illustration was not available for inclusion  |
+    |in this ebook.                                                 |
+    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Patriotic Schoolgirl, by Angela Brazil
+
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