l as you, and will be ready to dispute for the head
place."

"Then they won't get it! It's booked already for Aldred Laurence, and
so is the tennis championship, and anything that's first and foremost in
the way of hockey and lacrosse."

"Great Scott! What more?" exclaimed Keith, looking at his sister with
quizzical amusement. "Are there no bounds to your ambition?"

"Well, I've often heard you say yourself that if one is to get on at
school one must do well at games."

"No one tolerates slackers, certainly I'll allow that."

"I mean to be a general favourite," continued Aldred. "I want the girls
to be tremendously fond of me, and ready to do anything for me."

"They won't jump into your arms all at once, I assure you."

"I'll make them like me! Just you wait and see! I can always make people
care about me when I try hard enough."

"How about Miss Perkins?" suggested Keith dryly.

"Miss Perkins? Oh, well, I didn't even try! I disliked her so much, I
wanted to get rid of her. But it will be a very different matter indeed
when I go to The Grange. I don't mind undertaking that by the time I've
been there a year I shall be the most popular girl, not only in my
class, but in the whole school."

"Whew! That's a large order! Popularity isn't so easy to come by, Sis.
It depends on a dozen things--sometimes, indeed, it seems almost an
accident. If you work too hard for it, you may overstep the line, and
find yourself sent to Coventry instead. I've known two or three fellows
served that way."

"You always want to discourage me," declared Aldred, with a flush on her
cheeks.

"No, I don't. But I think you've far too good an opinion of yourself.
You need taking down considerably, and fortunately school will soon do
that for you. You'll talk very differently from this at the end of your
first term, or I'm much mistaken."

Aldred shrugged her shoulders. She was confident of her own success, and
regarded Keith's warnings simply in the light of brotherly teasing. She
said no more for the present, but gave her whole attention to her
sketch, which had now arrived at the painting stage. She dabbed on the
colours with the greatest assurance; there was no hesitation in the
bold, rather clever strokes, and the picture, though somewhat
"slap-dash" in style, was already beginning to bear a very fair
resemblance to the scene before her.

"You're not the only one out working to-day," remarked Keith, after an
interval of silence.