e parties
at boarding school----"

"Maybe you can at some boarding schools," the girl interrupted again
with that same impatient toss of her head. "But those schools don't have
Dill Pickles for guardian angels."

The girls looked at her as though she had gone crazy, and indeed for a
moment they thought she had. But Rose Belser gave a short little laugh
and went on to explain.

"The Dill Pickles are two old-maid sisters. One of them brought you up
here----"

"Miss Dill!" cried Billie, beginning to see light. "Oh, has she a
sister?"

"Yes. And the sister is worse," said the girl, with a little grimace.
"They are Miss Ada and Miss Cora, and Miss Cora is the terror of the
Hall. If it weren't for Miss Walters----But say, you'd better hurry,"
she interrupted herself suddenly and jumped to her feet. "It's almost
time for the lunch gong to ring, and if you're late for lunch, Miss Cora
will be furious. She has charge of the dining hall, you know. You'd
better wash and straighten your hair. Miss Cora looks you through with a
gimlet eye."

She ran over to her wash basin, which happened to be the next one to
Billie's, and began to wash her hands vigorously.

"Oh, dear, we forgot all about lunch, and we must be a sight!" cried
Vi, pulling off her hat and excitedly patting her hair. "Girls, we
haven't any combs--our trunks haven't come up yet. Give me a comb,
somebody! Oh, here's one in my grip."

"How strange," mocked Billie, dashing cold water on her face till it
shone rosily. "It almost seems to me I have one in mine also."

"Well, you'd better get busy and use it," Violet retorted, drawing her
own comb through her heavy hair, "or you'll get in bad the very first
day. Oh, dear! there's the gong." She stopped with her comb in the air
and gazed in horror at the girls. As for Billie and Laura, they stood as
if they had suddenly become paralyzed.

"If you'd start in time you'd be ready in time," said a nasal voice from
the other end of the room, and the girls glanced around quickly. They
had been so absorbed in their new experience that for a time they had
completely forgotten Amanda and Eliza. But now they turned just in time
to see the two girls leaving the room. As she shut the door behind her
Amanda gave it a defiant little slam.

"Say, who's your friend?" asked Rose Belser, looking in astonishment at
the closed door. "She's pleasant, isn't she?"

"They're neither of them friends of ours," said Billie, jerking her