y use apart."

"We only realized buddies last term," explained Peachy, "but the idea
caught on no end. We all went simply crazy over it. I don't mind
guessing that every girl in this school who's worth her salt has got her
buddy. She mayn't let it be known outside her own sorority, but we
aren't blind."

"Are there other sororities in the school then besides the Camellia
Buds?" asked Irene.

"Bless your innocence! I should think there are. There's a rival one in
the Transition. I rather fancy they've snapped up Mabel already. I gave
Winnie a hint she wasn't to tackle _you_, because you'd come to school
with an introduction to _me_, so I ought to have first innings. The
prefects have a sorority all to themselves, and the seniors have one,
and as for the juniors, silly little things, they're as transparent as
glass, with their signaling and their grips and their cypher letters.
Any one can see through them with half an eye. But we're wasting time.
We've got to fix you up with a buddy, and we must be quick before the
bell rings."

"May we choose?" asked Irene, and her eyes fell longingly on Peachy.

"No, we mayn't!" said President Agnes firmly. "We have to take what the
fates send us. It's Kismet. Every time we elect a new member we draw
lots again for buddies. It's a kind of general shuffle. If we're an
uneven number somebody of course has to be odd man out."

"I was the 'old maid' last draw, and I haven't had a buddy this term,"
remarked Sheila plaintively.

"Never mind, ducky! You're bound to find a partner now," consoled Delia.
"It might even be my little self, so live in hope."

"No such luck," groaned Sheila. "I'll probably get Joan, and you know
she always uses me as a door-mat."

Agnes meantime was writing ten names on ten separate pieces of paper and
folding them in identically the same fashion. Peachy offered the loan of
a hat, and into this treasury they were cast and shuffled.

"The newest member draws," murmured Agnes, and the others pushed Irene
forward. She chose two folds of paper at a venture, and twisted them
together, then performed the like service for another pair, until all
the ten were assorted. The thrill of the ceremony was when Agnes opened
the screws of paper and read out the names. Fate had mixed the Camellia
Buds together thus:

Peachy Proctor--Sheila Yonge.
Jess Cameron--Delia Watts.
Joan Lucas--Esther Cartmel.
Agnes Dalton--Mary Fergusson