ie and her subjects had the sitting-room
to themselves.

Immediately after the tableaux there would be that wonderful supper,
at which Mrs. Ward was to be the principal guest, and then the happy
evening would end with all sorts of dances and frolics.

Now, all these things would cost money, and it was arranged, after
brief consultation, that each girl was to subscribe in an equal ratio
towards the proposed entertainment. Janet, who had a head for figures
as well as a taste for tableaux vivants, suggested that, to do the
entertainment properly, they would have to expend something like
fifteen shillings each. This was immediately agreed upon, and even the
Tristrams did not feel embarrassed by the amount which was decided
upon, for Mr. Tristram was wise in his generation, and would not send
his girls to an expensive school if he could not give them a
sufficient supply of pocket-money to make them feel independent. The
only person who was short of funds on this occasion was Maggie, for
her stepfather had arranged that she was to receive her allowance at
the end of the term, not at the beginning. He had given her a few
shillings to go to school with; but these she had already spent on
chocolates, which were considered essential during the leisure hours.
It is true that Mrs. Ward would have advanced a little money to
Maggie, but Maggie could not bear to ask her. She had a great dislike
to the subject of money being mentioned in Mrs. Ward's presence. She
was afraid beyond everything else that the fact of her being received
at such a select school for forty pounds a year might reach the ears
of her fellow-pupils. What more easy than to sell that charming little
Oriental brooch, which was one of the treasures in one of those tin
boxes? But Maggie could not manage this in Miss Lucy's presence, and
it was quite against the rules at Aylmer House for any girl to go
shopping or even to leave the house unaccompanied.

On one or two previous occasions Maggie had, however, managed to evade
this rule without being found out, and she thought she could do so
now. She planned the whole thing rather cleverly. She had a room to
herself; which of course made it easier for her, and there were always
the leisure hours. She made up her mind to feign headache or some
slight indisposition, to go downstairs by the back way, and sell her
brooch on a certain afternoon during the leisure hours. She must do it
quickly, for the girls had proposed to p