e other girls did not care to compete themselves, they were
interested in Lindsay's and Cicely's lists, and gave them any assistance
they could in hunting out fresh quotations.

"I'll tell you what," said Beryl, "you ought to ask Monica. She reads a
great deal, and I believe she's rather clever at botany. I heard her
talking about the wild flowers of the neighbourhood to Miss Russell."

"Yes, I believe she has a nice pressed collection," said Effie. "She
promised to show it to us some day."

Lindsay and Cicely took Beryl's advice, and waylaid Monica as she came
to the French class next morning.

"I'm glad you asked me," she replied. "I've no doubt I shall be able to
help you; I have a good many beautiful books on botany in the library.
I'll bring the key this afternoon, and unlock the case for you."

Monica always kept her promises. She arrived about four o'clock, and
opened the large glass doors that preserved the handsome calf-bound
volumes from dust and dirt.

"Here they are," she said. "Some are very dry and scientific, and some
are popular, and have coloured pictures. There are catalogues of plants,
and schedules of species, and old herbals, and every kind of book you
can imagine that has a bearing on the subject. Some are about British
flowers and some about foreign ones, and there are others on mosses and
ferns and fungi. They used to belong to my uncle; he was extremely fond
of botany."

"Have you read them all?" asked Cicely.

"No, I'm afraid I have rather neglected them. You see, I have had so
many lessons to learn. One can't study everything at once, and Mother
particularly wants me to work hard at French. Perhaps some day I may
attack the natural orders. It will take you a long time to look through
every one of these books. I'll leave the case unlocked, so that you can
get them out when you like. I know I can trust you not to spoil the
covers, and to put each back in its proper place."

"We'll be very, very careful of them," Lindsay assured her. "We won't
carry them into the garden. We'll sit and read them here at the table."

"That will be all right, then," said Monica. "I feel they are rather a
particular charge, because they were left to me as a special legacy. I
believe my uncle valued them more than anything else in the world. I
often think I don't appreciate them as much as I ought."

As Monica had said, it took considerable labour to thoroughly examine
all the books and search for extracts