ed as fuel to Pixie's determination, and
she would only laugh and lean over the banisters, experimenting with the
long green rope, and altering the length until it met with her approval.

Five minutes passed, and nobody appeared; ten minutes, and the
conspirators were beginning to grow impatient, when from below came the
unmistakable sound of an ascending footstep. The orders of the chief
had been that when this happened her attendants were to withdraw to a
safe distance, so that no movement nor sound of muffled laughter should
warn the victim of her peril; so the girls retreated obediently, leaving
Pixie to crouch on the floor until the eventful moment when a head
appeared on the landing six steps below. It came--the top of a smooth,
brown head, and on the moment out flew the rope, whirled into space with
a skilful jerk which sent the noose flying wide, and with an accuracy of
aim which brought it right round the neck of the new-comer. She
squealed indeed, but horror of horrors! she squealed in French, with
such staccato "Oh's" and "Ah's" of astonishment as could only have come
from one person in the house. It was Mademoiselle herself! and lifting
her glance she beheld six horrified faces peering at her over the
banisters, six pairs of startled eyes, six mouths agape with dismay.
She looked, and then, as it seemed with one stride, was in their midst,
with her hands gripping Pixie by the shoulders.

Now it happened that Mademoiselle was in her most irritable mood this
afternoon, for all day long she had been struggling against what, for
convenience' sake, she called a headache, but which might more honestly
have been described as a heartache instead. A teacher cannot explain to
thirty pupils that she has received a letter from home which has seemed
to drop a veil before the sky, but such letters come all the same, and
make it difficult to bear the hundred and one little annoyances and
trials of temper which fall to her lot. Mademoiselle's letter had told
of the illness of a beloved father, and as she dared not sit down and
have a good cry to relieve her feelings, she was an a pent-up state of
nerves which made her the worst possible subject for a practical joke.
The rope in Pixie's hand marked her out as the principal offender, and
she was called to order in a breathless stream of French which left her
dumb and bewildered.

"I--I can't understand!" she stammered, and Mademoiselle struggled to
express herself in