, she thinks I ought to do the same."

"Why can't you?"

"Why? You ask me why? Do you think I'm going to muddle my brains more
than I can help, just in the middle of the tennis season? You little
know Mavie Morris. No, Dorothy, I've a distinct grievance against you.
There you are now--actually surreptitiously squinting at a book while
I'm talking to you!"

"It's not a lesson book, at any rate; it's from the library," retorted
Dorothy.

"Let me look at it. You humbug, it's a Manual of Botany! I call that
lessons, in all conscience."

"Well, it has jolly coloured illustrations," said Dorothy, trying to
plead extenuating circumstances. "I want to hunt out the names of some
specimens I've found. We have heaps of wild flowers growing in the lanes
at Hurford."

"Whitewashed, but not exonerated! Your manual smacks too much of school
for my taste. Why don't you take a leaf from me and practise tennis?"

"No luck for such a bad server as I am."

"Well, I didn't say you'd win the championship. I've no chance myself
against Val and Margaret. Here's Alison; she'll reason with you. She
isn't on the rising balance of the Form any more than I am myself.
Alison, tell Dorothy to quit this everlasting studying. Don't you agree
with me that it makes it far harder for us slackers?"

Alison laughed good-naturedly. She never troubled much about her own
lessons, for her mother was generally so anxious regarding her health,
and so afraid of her overworking herself, that an hour's preparation
sufficed for her home work--and, indeed, if she took more, Mrs. Clarke
would threaten to complain to Miss Tempest.

"Yes, Dorothy's turning into quite an old bookworm," she replied. "She
even insisted on looking over her Latin in the train this morning. I
can't stand that, because I always like to talk. I don't get too much of
Dorothy's company."

It was still a grievance to Alison that her mother would not sanction
any closer intimacy with her friend. She had hoped, after the visit to
Ringborough, that matters would be on a different footing, and that she
would be allowed to introduce Dorothy at home and invite her frequently.
She could not understand why, for no apparently adequate reason, she
must be debarred from her society. The fact that she was discouraged
from being on too familiar terms had the effect of making her even more
enthusiastic in her affection. There was a strong vein of obstinacy in
her disposition, and if she once took u