nd arrived at six o'clock she found the visitors
gone, the tea-things washed, and the whole of the wee establishment
in apple-pie order; while three flushed, rather tired little
maids-of-all-work stood at attention, ready for her tour of inspection.

"Housekeeping isn't quite so easy and simple as it appears on the
surface, is it?" she remarked. "In its own way, it has as many
difficulties as Latin or mathematics, and needs as much learning. It's
a very useful art, however, and worthy of cultivation. You'll have
gained a little experience even in this one brief experiment, and your
mistakes will teach you what to avoid next time. You have done very
nicely, though, and I shall give you each a good report. Have you
enjoyed your day at the cottage?"

And all three girls answered: "Immensely!"

CHAPTER V

Out of Bounds

Aldred had never been to school before, but she was so happy at the
Grange that she was sure no other place in the United Kingdom could be
half so nice. Miss Drummond was certainly a delightful head mistress,
and the model cottage was only one of her many original ideas. Following
her theory of training her pupils in useful home arts, she allowed them
to do many little things in the house that do not always come within the
province of schoolgirls. Each classroom was provided with vases, and it
was the monitresses' duty to keep these replenished, using leaves and
berries when the garden supply failed. The prefects always arranged the
flowers for the dinner-table, and the top girl in each Form had the
privilege of attending to those in the drawing-room and in Miss
Drummond's study. Those girls who gained ninety per cent in the monthly
examinations were invited to the Principal's Wednesday afternoon "At
Home", and helped to pass cups and entertain visitors, the one with the
highest score being asked to pour out tea.

Miss Drummond encouraged the girls to talk to her, and tried to make the
whole atmosphere as homelike as possible, allowing a tolerable amount of
liberty, so long as it did not degenerate into licence. She would
discuss topics of the day, books, music, art, or any other subject with
her pupils, trying to make them talk easily and naturally, and take an
intelligent interest in what was going on in the world.

"Conversation is like a game of ball," she would sometimes say; "it must
be thrown backwards and forwards from both sides. There is nothing so
aggravating as to be obliged to ta