were
immaculately connected, put a clean handkerchief in her pocket, nicked
the clothes-brush over her skirt, and, what could one do more? It
seemed on the face of it that one could do nothing, but the other girls
had accomplished a great deal more than this. Rhoda never forgot the
shock of dismay which she experienced on first stepping forth, and
beholding them. It was surely a room full of boys, not girls, for
skirts had disappeared, and knickerbockers reigned in their stead. The
girls wore gym. costumes, composed of the aforesaid knickers, and a
short tunic, girt round the waist with a blue sash, to represent the
inevitable house colour. Thomasina's aspect was astounding, as she
strode to and fro awaiting the gathering of her forces, and the new
girls stared at her with distended eyeballs. Rhoda had registered a vow
never to volunteer a remark to the hateful creature; but Dorothy
stammered out a breathless--

"You never said--We never knew--Is it a _rule_?"

"Not compulsory, or I would have told you; you may do as you please.
They wear gyms, at Wycombe in the afternoon, and we have adopted the
idea to a certain extent. Most of the girls prefer it for the sake of
the games, for it is so much easier to run about like this. For myself,
I affect it for the sake of appearances. It is so becoming to my
youthful charms."

She simpered as she spoke, with an affectation of coyness that was
irresistibly amusing. Dorothy laughed merrily, and Rhoda resisted doing
the same only by an enormous effort of self-will. She succeeded,
however, in looking sulky and bad-tempered, and went downstairs feeling
quite pleased with herself for resisting an unworthy impulse.

All the old girls were in gym. costume, and a quaint sight it was to
watch them descending the great central staircase. Lanky girls, looking
lankier than ever; fat girls, looking fatter than ever; tall girls
magnified into giantesses; poor little stumpies looking as if viewed
through a bad piece of window glass. Plump legs, scraggy legs, and legs
of one width all the way down, and at the end of each the sad,
inevitable shoe, and down each back the sad, inevitable pigtail! Now
and again would come a figure, light and graceful as a fawn, the
embodiment of charming youth; but as a rule the effect was far from
becoming.

Rhoda's criticisms, however, were less scathing than usual, for she
herself was suffering from an unusual attack of humility! If any read