sly on the landing, as if she did not quite know where to go or
what to do. Dorothy's conscience gave her a prick. She had quite
forgotten Alison, who, as a new girl, must be feeling decidedly out of
things at the College. She certainly might have employed the
eleven-o'clock interval much more profitably in befriending the
new-comer than in mooning round the playground by herself, brooding over
her own troubles. However, it was not too late to make up for the
omission.

"Hallo!" she exclaimed. "Not a very breezy occupation to stand reading
the Sixth Form timetable, is it?"

"I've nothing better to do," replied Alison, whose rosy face looked a
trifle forlorn. "I don't know a soul here yet, or the ways of the
place."

"You know me! Come along to the gym.; we're going to have a committee
meeting."

Alison brightened visibly.

"What's the meeting about?" she asked, as she stepped briskly with
Dorothy along the passage.

"It's our 'Dramatic'. You see, we who stay for dinner get up little
plays among ourselves. Each Form acts one or two every term. They're
nothing grand--not like the swell things they have at the College
Dramatic Union--and we only do them before the other girls in the gym.,
but they're great fun, all the same."

"I love acting!" declared Alison, with unction.

"Ever done any?"

"Rather! We were keen on it at the school I went to in Leamstead. I was
'Nerissa' once, and 'Miss Matty' in _Scenes from Cranford_, and 'The
March Hare' in _Alice in Wonderland_. I have the mask still, and the fur
costume, and Miss Matty's cap and curls."

"Any other properties?"

"Heaps--in a box at home. There are Miss Matty's mittens and cross-over,
and her silk dress."

"Good! I must tell the girls that. We requisition everything we can.
Where are they having the meeting, I wonder? Oh, there's Mavie beckoning
to us near the horizontal bar!"

The day boarders belonging to the Upper Fourth were collected in a
corner of the gymnasium, waiting impatiently for a few last arrivals.
They made room for Dorothy and Alison, and as Annie Gray followed in a
moment or two, the meeting began almost immediately. Hope Lawson, by
virtue of her Wardenship, took the chair. The first business of the
society was to choose a secretary.

"I beg to propose Dorothy Greenfield," said Grace Russell, putting in
her word before anyone else had an opportunity, and looking at Ruth
Harmon.

"And I beg to second the proposal," said Ruth, ris