will excuse my saying so, I think
the trouble is more likely to come to you than to us! If you go on
behaving as you have done the last two days, you will be in need of
friends yourself, my dear, so don't say I haven't warned you."

"Behaving as I have done! Get into trouble meself!" echoed Pixie
blankly. "And what for, please? What have I done? I promised Bridgie
before I left that I would behave meself, and not disgrace the family,
and I've kept me word. I've not been naughty once the whole time
through."

"Don't say `naughty,' child, as if you were a baby two years old! You
may not have done anything wrong from your point of view, but you have
broken half a dozen rules all the same. You planted yourself in front
of the fire when the fifth-form girls were in the room, and never
offered to give up your place even when Margaret herself came in. Not
one of the old girls would think of doing such a thing. And you
answered back when Miss Phipps spoke to you at tea--and told a story so
loud that everyone could hear!"

"And small blame to me if I did! It _was_ the dullest meal I ever sat
through, and I thought I would do you a kindness by waking you up!"
returned Pixie defiantly. She did not at all approve of Clara's
attitude of fault-finding, and was up in arms at once in her own
defence. "I have been brought up to make meself agreeable, and when
Miss Phipps spoke to me, wasn't I obliged to give a civil answer? And I
was cold when I sat before the fire. Are fifth-form girls colder than
anyone else, that they must have all the heat?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean, or if you don't, you are a stupid
child, and you needn't fly into a temper when I tell you your mistakes.
You want to get on, I suppose, and take a good place in the school, so
you ought to be grateful to anyone who tries to keep you out of
trouble."

In the seclusion of her cubicle Pixie made a grimace, the reverse of
appreciative, but she stifled her feelings in her desire for
information, and asked the next question on her list.

"How often in the year do you get prizes?"

"Once. At the end of the summer term. There's a chance for you now!
Work hard for six months, and win the class prize!"

Flora chuckled with amusement at the idea, but Pixie considered the
subject seriously for a good two minutes, and found it altogether
agreeable. She saw a vision of herself walking forward to receive her
honours while the elder girls sat