washed, and the
kitchen left in apple-pie order. Miss Drummond herself and one of the
other teachers were permanent guests at dinner; and the three
housekeepers were each allowed to ask one friend to afternoon tea, so
that there should be visitors to appreciate the various viands prepared.

The girls welcomed the experiment with the utmost enthusiasm. The
cottage was to them a veritable doll's house, and they were supremely
delighted at the prospect of directing the internal arrangements. As
three were told off weekly for "domestic duty" there was just time
during the term for each of the thirty-nine to have one trial, and
"Cottage Saturday" became an event to which they looked forward with the
greatest eagerness.

Instead of giving the upper forms the entire precedence, Miss Drummond
sandwiched elder and younger girls in alternate weeks, so that several
members of the Fourth Form secured an early chance. Aldred's turn
happened to come the first week in October. To her great satisfaction,
Mabel was bracketed with her for the same day, and Dora Maxwell
completed the trio.

"It will be such fun!" declared Mabel. "We shall have to get our own
breakfast. I hope we shan't make any idiotic mistakes."

"Grind the bacon, and fry the coffee?" laughed Aldred.

"Well, hardly so bad as that. But we shan't have anybody to ask. Miss
Drummond says we're to be absolutely and entirely by ourselves."

"I wish we could do something rather out of the common," said Aldred;
"something that nobody else has thought of yet! It would be such fun to
surprise Miss Drummond!"

"Suppose we were to make some jam?" suggested Dora. "There are heaps of
blackberries growing round the playing-field and the paddock. We could
pick them this afternoon, and hide the basket."

"How about the sugar? There wouldn't be enough in the stores that are
given out."

"We shall have to let Miss Reade into the secret, and ask her to buy it
for us. We can pay for it out of our pocket-money."

"All right. I know there's a preserving-pan and plenty of jam pots at
the cottage. It would be such a triumph, when Miss Drummond came to look
round in the evening, if we could show her a row of jars neatly labelled
'Blackberry'."

"We'll do it, then. Let us get the basket and go to the paddock now."

There was no lack of fruit on the brambles, and the hedgerows yielded
such a prolific harvest that in an hour the girls had picked all they
required. They concealed thei