the descent, a toboggan
invariably stopped short before this edge was reached, so that it was
accepted as a retreat of absolute safety, and, as a rule, there were as
many girls resting there as starting from the brow of the hill. All
went on merrily, then, until in the very height of the fun Dorothy was
seized with an attack of her usual sickness. It was not a very deadly
complaint--nothing more serious than haemorrhage from the nose, but it
was astonishing how much trouble it seemed able to give her! To the
gaze of the world that nose was both a pretty and innocent-looking
feature, but it must surely have been possessed with an evil spirit,
since there was no end to the plights in which it landed the unhappy
owner! It disdained to bleed in a cubicle, or any such convenient
place, but delighted in taking advantage of the most awkward and
humiliating opportunities. It bled regularly at Frolics, when she wore
her best clothes, and wished to be merry; it bled in the ante-room of
the Examination Hall, so that she went in to tackle the mathematical
paper with three pennies and two separate keys poked down her back; it
bled at the critical part of a game or when she went out to tea, or
forgot to put a handkerchief in her pocket. "It is my cross!" she would
sigh sadly, and to-day she was inclined to say so more than ever, since
the attack was so severe, that she must needs go indoors, and leave her
favourite sport on the very first day when it had been possible to enjoy
it.

Miss Everett walked with her across the field, cheering and encouraging,
and directing her to go straight to Nurse when she reached the house,
then retraced her own steps and hurried back to her charges. She had
been away only five minutes, barely five minutes, but in that short time
something had happened which was destined to bring about life-long
consequences to more than one member of the party, for it chanced that
just as she turned away Rhoda Chester reached the top of the run, on the
lookout for fresh opportunities. It was absurd to go over the same
course, with no change, no excitement--to do what thirty other girls
could do as well as herself! She must try to discover some variety this
time, and so she gazed about with critical eyes, and suddenly had an
inspiration, for why not drag the toboggan a yard or two further up the
steep bank beyond the path which made the present start? It was a tree-
crowned bank, forming the very crest of th