n the Promenade."

"I thought you must be the same girl! I've just had a letter from a
cousin. I don't expect you've met her, but at any rate she has heard all
about you, and she wrote to tell me. I'm so glad you have come to The
Grange! I hope we shall be great friends. Will you sit next to me in
class?"

Aldred's amazement was extreme. That Mabel Farrington, so exclusive and
particular, should have singled her out, and actually wished to sit near
her, was an honour which had been bestowed upon no one else in the
school. It was evidently no empty compliment, but a genuine offer of
friendship, for Mabel went promptly to Miss Bardsley and arranged for an
exchange of desks, with the result that she and Aldred were placed side
by side. At lunch-time she took Aldred's arm as they walked down the
passage, she chose her for a partner at tennis during the afternoon,
and sat talking to her during evening recreation.

She even made a more astonishing proposal.

"It's horrid for you to be obliged to sleep in No. 2, with Fifth Form
girls," she said. "There's plenty of room in my bedroom for another bed.
Would you care to join me? I should be delighted to have you, if you
will."

The sudden fancy which Mabel had taken for Aldred could not fail to
attract the notice of the other members of the Fourth Form. It was so
unlike her to seek to be on such intimate terms with a classmate that at
first they could scarcely believe the evidence of their own eyes. When
they saw, however, that she appeared to have formed, not only an
affection, but also an intense admiration for Aldred, they began to
yield the latter a higher place in their estimation. As an ordinary
new-comer, she had seemed of little importance; but as the chosen friend
and elect companion of Mabel Farrington, she was at once raised to a
very superior and important position. Girls who had hardly noticed her
before, now made much of her; and her opinions were consulted, her
remarks listened to, and her suggestions well received. It was an
understood thing that to offend her would be to offend Mabel also, and
to please the one was the best way of pleasing the other.

Aldred found this new state of things extremely gratifying. It was
exactly what she had hoped for; success had come with a bound, and
granted her the popularity for which she had craved. Added to this, she
liked Mabel immensely, and keenly enjoyed her society. Once Mabel had
unbent and thrown off her usual cl