d noticed girls like herself walking
demurely beside mother or governess, with laced-in boots, gloved bands,
and silky manes flowing down their backs in straight, uninterrupted
flow. She looked down at her own new, stout, little boots. Sixteen
buttons in all, and only one missing! Such a pitch of propriety made
her feel quite in keeping with her surroundings, and she had kid gloves
too--dyed ones--which looked every bit as good as new, and left no mark
at all except round the fastenings, and the lobes of the fingers. She
gave a wriggle of contentment, and at that moment the cab turned in at
the gate of Holly House.

The name of the house seemed to have more appropriateness than is
usually the case, for the garden was surrounded by a thick holly hedge,
and the beds were planted with holly trees so dark that they appeared to
be almost black in hue. To the eyes of the new pupil there was
something awe-inspiring in the sight of the grim flowerless beds and the
foliage which looked so stern and prickly, almost as bad as the pieces
of broken glass which are laid on the top of high walls to prevent
escape or intrusion. The house itself was big and square, with a door
in the centre, and at the top two quaint dormer windows, standing out
from the roof like big surprised-looking eyes. "Dear, dear!" they
seemed to say. "If this isn't Pixie O'Shaughnessy driving up to the
door! Wonders will never cease!"

The hall was wide and cold, and, oh, so clean--"fearful clean," thought
the new pupil with a sigh, as she stepped gingerly over the polished
oilcloth and gazed awesomely at spotless wood and burnished brass. The
drawing-room had none of the splendour of that disused apartment at
Knock Castle, but it was bright and home-like, with an abundance of
pretty cushions and tablecloths, a scent of spring flowers in the air,
and a fire dancing cheerily in the grate. Pixie's prejudices received a
shock at the sight of so much frivolity in a drawing-room, and she could
not echo her father's admiration. She seated herself on the edge of the
sofa and began to paint imaginary pictures of the mistress of this fine
house. "She will be tall, with yellow hair. She will have cold fingers
and a nose that looks thin and has a hump in the middle. No, I don't
believe she will, after all. I believe she'll be fussy, and then they
are small and dark--dark, with eyeglasses, and those funny red cheeks
that are made up of little lines, and nev