front,
the chalky cliffs descended sharply to the beach; and beyond them, now
blue as turquoise, now gleaming silver, now inky black, as calm as a
lake, or lashing into foaming spray, always changing, yet ever
beautiful, lay the wide waters of the English Channel. On one side of
the house was a walled kitchen-garden, and on the other a field for
hockey; while in front a large lawn provided ample space for several
tennis courts.

On the afternoon of September 14th The Grange presented an extremely
lively and animated scene. Girls were everywhere--tall girls, short
girls, fat girls, slim girls; some fair, some dark, some pretty and
some plain; and all in a state of excitement, and chattering as fast as
their tongues would wag. No anthill, or hive of bees about to swarm,
could have seemed in a greater ferment; there was a constant hum of
conversation, a continual patter of feet, and a succession of young
people, always moving in and out, searching for friends, claiming old
acquaintances, exchanging greetings, and passing on items of news. It
was the first day of the autumn term; a fresh school year had begun, and
the party of thirty-nine girls who constituted Miss Drummond's little
community were once more assembled for a season of work and play.
Several changes had taken place; most of the rooms had been re-papered
and painted, and there were alterations in the time-table, a revised
practising list, and an entirely modified arrangement of some of the
classes.

Small wonder, therefore, that a babel of talk prevailed in every corner
of the house, and that various groups of hair ribbons kept collecting
and dispersing with the bewildering effect of a kaleidoscope, while such
a general atmosphere of bustle and commotion pervaded the establishment
as to turn the head of any onlooker in a complete whirl. Aldred,
ensconced in an angle of a bow window, surveyed the whole spectacle, as
yet, from the standpoint of an outsider. It is true, she had received a
cordial welcome from Miss Drummond; she had been duly entered as a
member of the Fourth Form; she had been allotted a desk in a classroom,
a locker in the recreation-room, and a cubicle in a big, airy bedroom;
and was already possessed of a pile of new books, a chest expander, and
a hockey stick: yet, in spite of this initiation she was feeling
decidedly like a fish out of water. She was not usually afflicted with
shyness, but to find herself in the midst of a medley of strange