lk now, and for pity's sake don't look so dismal.
Let us look over this paper together, and make remarks, and smile as if
we were enjoying ourselves too."

"I don't feel as if I should ever enjoy myself again. It's hateful
going to school. If I had known it was as bad as this I would never
have come."

"There's a lake in the grounds. We will drown ourselves together after
tea, but in the meantime do please keep up appearances. Don't give
yourself away before all these girls!"

Rhoda looked at her curiously, and felt a thrill of comfort at finding a
friend in the midst of her desolation. "What is your name?" she queried
eagerly, and the dark eyes met hers in a solemn stare.

"Marah, for bitterness. That's how I feel to-day, anyhow. My
godmothers and godfather christened me Dorothy, and in festive moments I
have even answered to `Doll,' but I'd murder any one who called me that
to-day. Now, I'll show you something interesting... I've travelled on
this line before, and if you look out of the window you can catch a
glimpse of Hurst Manor as we pass the next station. It stands in its
own grounds with nothing between it and the line. Over there to the
right--you can't miss it if you keep your eyes open. Now! There! That
gaunt, grey building."

Rhoda looked, and there it lay--a gaunt building, indeed, with row upon
row of tall, bare windows staring like so many eyes, and out-standing
wings flanked like sentinels on either side. The poor recruit's face
lengthened with horror.

"It looks," she said dismally, "like a prison! It looks as if when you
once got in, you would never never get out any more!"

CHAPTER FIVE.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

Ten minutes later the journey came to an end, and the girls surged out
on to the platform of the country station. A line of waggonettes,
cheerfully denominated "Black Marias" by the pupils, was in waiting, and
with less confusion than might have been expected the girls divided into
different parties, and seated themselves in the carriages marked with
their own house colours. Rhoda and her travelling companions, being all
"blue," were among the first to drive off, each girl clutching the
handbag which contained the immediate necessities of her toilet, and
chattering away at the pitch of her voice. "Square Face" was evidently
the wag of the party, and was treated with an admiring deference which
seemed to bespeak a position of importance. She was professionally
ad