ve! I'm a little
surprised, because I thought math would kill me.
Miss Bickford is most _horribly_ conscientious and
insists upon finding out whether I really
understand or not, and it is generally 'not.' I
suppose I was born with a thick head for figures,
anyway, she seems amazed at my ignorance. I lay the
blame on St. Osmund's. Is that mean of me? It's my
only way of paying out Miss Gordon for past scores.

"I don't mind admitting I have warm times in
school over some of the classes, but the rest of
the life is lovely. Miss Bickford is often a big
thorn, but Peachy is a rose. As for Lorna she's
like one of those tropical flowers that Uncle
Redvers grows in his conservatory. How does Vin
like being at the office? Are you straight yet at
the flat? Come and see me as soon as ever you can,
because I'm a little bit lonesome and wanting my
home folks, though I wouldn't confess it to any of
these girls for the world.

"Heaps of love to Dad and Vin and your dear self.

"From

"RENIE."

If Irene, who had found her niche in a congenial set at the Villa
Camellia, was capable of feeling the pangs of homesickness, that
unpleasant malady exhibited itself with far more serious symptoms in the
case of another new girl who had entered the school upon the same day.
Desiree Legrand could not settle down among the juniors. She was used to
the society of grown-up people, and did not take kindly to young
companions. In the excitement of her own affairs Irene had hardly given
the child a thought since her arrival, but one afternoon, when enjoying
a solitary ramble round the garden, she suddenly came face to face with
Little Flaxen. She was shocked at the change in her; the once pink
cheeks were white and pasty, and her eyelids were red and swollen as if
with perpetual crying.

"Hello! Whatever have you been doing to yourself?" exclaimed Irene.
"You look rather a bunch of misery, don't you? What's the matter?"

Desiree, squatting forlornly on the steps that led to the upper tennis
courts, produced a lace-bordered pocket-handkerchief and mopped her
eyes.

"Nobody loves me here!" she blurted out dramatically. "I'm just
wr-r-r-etched! They all laugh and call me Fren