!"

Janie spoke of home with the intense longing of a girl who is not
naturally fond of the social side of life. She was out of her element
at Chessington, and the strenuous bustle and stimulating whirl of the
place, which began to mean so much to Honor, were repugnant to her
quiet, reserved disposition. In every big school there are Janies,
isolated characters not quite able to run the pace required by the
inexorable code of public opinion, interesting to the one or two who
may happen to discover their good points, but to the mass of their
companions merely names and faces in class. Some of them do fine work
in the world afterwards, yet the very qualities that help them to
future success are not those to bring present popularity. They are not
for the many, but for the few, and only show their best to an
occasional friend whose sympathy can overstep the wall of shyness that
fences them round.

With Honor alone Janie was at her ease, and she would chat away in
their bedroom with a sprightliness that would have amazed the other
members of St. Chad's, if they could have heard her. The two girls got
on well together. Their opposite dispositions seemed to dovetail into
one another, and so to cause little friction; and Miss Maitland, whose
observant eyes noticed more than her pupils imagined, was well
satisfied with the result of her experiment. Janie kept Honor up to the
mark in the way of work; she would generally go over dates or difficult
points in the lessons while they were dressing each morning, and it was
chiefly owing to her efforts that Honor held a tolerably high place in
her class. The latter often wished that she could have performed a like
service for her friend in respect of athletics, but Janie was hopeless
at physical sports, and endured them only under compulsion.

Every afternoon, from two o'clock till a quarter to four, all the girls
were required to take part in organized games, under the direction of
Miss Young, the gymnastic mistress. They were allowed their choice
between cricket and tennis, but during the specified hours they must
not be absent from the playing-fields, as this systematic outdoor
exercise formed part of the ordinary course of the school. Now and then
it was varied by a walk, and occasionally by an archery or croquet
tournament; but these were reserved for insufferably hot days, and the
time, as a rule, was devoted to more active pursuits. The cricket pitch
lay to the west of the Col