rongest nerves. Rhoda felt an agonised certainty that the Chase was
on fire, and springing up was confronted by the blue walls of her little
cubicle. Memory came back then, and with a pang of regret she lay back
in bed, listening to the succession of groans, yawns, and sighs which
arose from every corner of the room.

They were so eloquent that one could almost _see_ the sleepers
stretching themselves in turn, blinking heavy lids, and rubbing
dishevelled locks like so many sleek, lazy kittens. For a moment no one
spoke, then began a chorus of lamentations.

"Seven o'clock! It can't be true. I haven't slept a wink all night!"

"I've been getting up at half-past eight all the holidays, and having a
cup of tea in bed before that. It's killing going back to this!"

"Wait till the mornings are dark, and the water is frozen in the jugs;
that's the time it is really fun. This is a mere trifle."

"It's not a trifle at all. I'm a growing girl, and need sleep. If Miss
Bruce had any heart she would see it, and give me an excuse."

"She'll give you a mark instead, if you are not quick. Hurry up now!
No laggards!" cried Thomasina's voice, in answer to which there came
still louder groans, and the creaking of bedsteads as one girl after
another rose to her feet.

Rhoda rose with the rest, and for ten minutes there was silence, broken
only by the splashing of water. Then suddenly the air was filled with a
deep, melodious roll, at which, as at a signal, Thomasina appeared from
her lair--beautiful in a magenta dressing-jacket, and hair coiled in a
tight little knot at the top of her head--and opened wide the door of
the dormitory. Rhoda, peering from between her curtains could see other
doors opening all the way down the corridor, and bare arms hastily
withdrawn from view, while all the time the music swelled into fuller
force, and pealed over the great, silent house like some majestic
wakening voice.

"What is it?" she queried breathlessly, and Thomasina answered from
behind her curtain:

"The organ, of course. The organ in the hall. One of the music
mistresses plays a voluntary every morning ten minutes after we get up,
and the choir sings a hymn. You will hear them presently. Each house
takes it in turn to do choir duty. It's the Greens this week."

As she spoke the first note of the hymn sounded, and the words rose
clearly on the air:--

"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
Early in the morning our