tle sister
learned it listening to mother and me saying it over and over."

"Ah! yes," Miss Pepperill observed. "Your sister? I suppose much younger
than you?"

"Oh, no; only about four years younger," said Mrs. Eland, sadly. "But I
lost her when we were both very young."

"Oh! ah!" was Miss Pepperill's abrupt comment. "Death is sad--very sad,"
and she shook her head.

At the moment somebody spoke to the matron and called her away.
Otherwise she might have stopped to explain that her sister had been
actually lost, and that she had no knowledge as to whether she were dead
or alive.

The red-haired teacher and the two little Corner House girls went on to
the children's ward.

CHAPTER XIX

A THANKSGIVING SKATING PARTY

The rehearsal of _The Carnation Countess_ that afternoon went most
dreadfully.

"It really is a shame!" chuckled Neale to Agnes, as he sat beside her
for a few minutes after the boys acquitted themselves very well in their
part. "It really is a shame," he went on, "what some of you girls can do
to a part when it comes to acting. Talk about Hamlet's father being
murdered to make a Roman holiday!"

"Hush, you ridiculous boy! That isn't the quotation at all," admonished
Agnes.

"No? Well, Hamlet's father was murdered, wasn't he?"

"I prefer to believe him a mythical character," said Agnes, primly.

"At any rate, something as bad will happen to you, Neale O'Neil, if you
revile the girls of Milton High," declared Eva Larry, who was near
enough to hear the boy's comment. "Oh, dear me! I believe I could make
something of that part of Cheerful Grigg, myself. Rose Carey is a
regular stick!"

"Hear! hear!" breathed Neale, soulfully. "I'm sorry for Professor
Ware."

"Well! he gave them the parts," snapped Eva. "I'm not sorry for him!"

The musical director was a patient man; but he saw the play threatened
with ruin by the stupidity of a few. If his voice grew sharp and his
manner impatient before the rehearsal was over, there was little wonder.

The choruses, and even the little folks' parts, went splendidly--with
snap and vigor. Some of the bigger girls walked through their roles as
though they were in a trance.

"I declare I should expect more animation and a generally better
performance from marionettes," cried the despairing professor.

Mr. Marks came in, saw how things were going, and whispered a few words
to Professor Ware. The latter fairly threw up his hands.

"I give it up f