birthday except in a leap year. That accounts for anything odd there is
about me; so if you find me queer, you must just say: 'She's a
twenty-ninth of February girl', and make excuses for me. As for the
other questions, I've never been to school before; I've seen Miss
Cavendish, but I haven't heard yet what class I'm to be in; five
minutes ago I didn't know anybody here, but now I know--how many are
there of you?--one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine!"

"Have you unpacked yet?" asked Maisie, returning to her box, which
Lettice had been steadily emptying.

"Only about half."

"I think we had better come and help you, then."

"Better finish our own first!" grunted Lettice, for which remark she
was promptly snubbed by her elder sister.

"Miss Maitland will be up at eight o'clock to look at our drawers,"
said Chatty Burns. "She'll expect you to have everything put away, and
your coats and dresses hung in the wardrobe."

"We have to be so fearfully tidy here!" sighed Adeline Vaughan. "A
warden comes round each morning, and woe betide you if you leave hairs
in your brush, or have forgotten to fold your nightdress!"

"It's just as bad at St. Hilary's," said Madge.

"And worse at St. Bride's," added Ruth Latimer.

"My father wanted me to be at the School House," said Honor, "but Miss
Cavendish wrote that it was full, so I was entered at St. Chad's
instead."

"Yes, you generally need to have your name down for two years before
you can get a vacancy at the School House," said Dorothy Arkwright.
"It's the popular favourite with parents, because Miss Cavendish
herself is the Head; but really, St. Chad's is far nicer. We all stand
up for our own house, and I know you'll like it."

"There's the tea-bell! Come along! we must go at once," interrupted
Chatty Burns.

"Won't they wait for us?" enquired Honor, beginning to wash her hands
with much deliberation.

"Wait! She asks if they'll wait!" exclaimed Adeline Vaughan.

"One can see you've never been to school before!" commented Maisie
Talbot. "No, you certainly haven't time to comb your hair now. You had
better follow the rest of us as fast as you can."

St. Chad's could accommodate forty pupils, and Honor found a place
assigned to her in the dining-hall near the end of a long table, which
looked very attractive with its clean white cloth, its pretty china,
and its vases of flowers in the middle. She had a good view of her
schoolfellows, more than hal