o leave, and transfer her energies to another sphere.
She meant well, but she was always cock-sure that she was right, and
though this line of action may serve with weaker characters, it is
liable to cause friction when practised upon equals or elders whose
views are also self-opinionated. As regards looks, Marjorie could score.
Her clear-cut features, fresh complexion, and frank, grey eyes were
decidedly prepossessing, and her pigtail had been the longest and
thickest and glossiest in the whole crocodile of Hilton House. She was
clever, if she chose to work, though apt to argue with her teachers; and
keen at games, if she could win, but showed an unsporting tendency to
lose her temper if the odds were against her. Such was Marjorie--crude,
impetuous, and full of overflowing spirits, with many good qualities and
certain disagreeable traits, eager to loose anchor and sail away from
the harbour of home and the narrow waters of Hilton House into the big,
untried sea of Brackenfield College.

Two sisters surely never presented a greater contrast than the Anderson
girls. Dona, at thirteen, was a shy, retiring, amiable little person,
with an unashamed weakness for golliwogs and Teddy bears, specimens of
which, in various sizes, decorated the mantelpiece of her bedroom. She
was accustomed to give way, under plaintive protest, to Marjorie's
masterful disposition, and, as a rule, played second fiddle with a good
grace. She was not at all clever or imaginative, but very affectionate,
and had been the pet of the family at home. She was a neat, pretty
little thing, with big blue eyes and arched eyebrows and silky curls,
exactly like a Sir Joshua Reynolds portrait, and she had a pathetic way
of saying, "Oh, Marjorie!" when snubbed by her elder sister. According
to Aunt Vera, if Marjorie needed to "find her level", Dona required to
be "well shaken up". She was dreamy and unobservant, slow in her ways,
and not much interested in any special subject. Marjorie's cherished
ambitions were unknown to Dona, who liked to plod along in an easy
fashion, without taking very much trouble. Her daily governess had found
it difficult to rouse any enthusiasm in her for her work. She frankly
hated lessons.

It was a subject of congratulation to Mrs. Anderson that the two girls
would not be in the same house at Brackenfield. She considered that
Dona's character had no chance for development under the shadow of
Marjorie's overbearing ways, and that am