d now, and at home
again, and had promised to help to make up for lost time by
superintending a gathering at the beginning of the new term. It was to
be held in the big hall of the school, though the girls begged hard to
have it out-of-doors, pleading that on a fine evening they could keep
perfectly warm, and it would only resemble a Fifth of November affair.

"That may be all very well for you, but I'm not going to risk Mrs.
Arnold's catching cold," returned Miss Bowes; which argument put a final
stop to the idea.

"We'll have ripping fun in the hall, if we can't be outside," beamed
Addie. "I always enjoy a stunt."

"What's a stunt?" asked Rona.

"A stunt? Why, it's just a stunt!"

"It's an American word," explained Lizzie. "It means just having any fun
that comes. An impromptu kind of thing, you know. We sing, or recite, or
act, or dance, on the spur of the moment--anything to keep the ball
rolling, and anybody may be called upon at any moment to stand up and
perform."

"Without knowing beforehand?" queried Rona, looking horror-stricken.

"Yes, that's the fun of it. We have a bag with all our names written on
slips of paper, and we draw them out one by one to fill up the
programme. Nobody knows who's to come next. You may be the very first,
or you may sit quaking all the evening, and never be called at all."

"I hope to goodness--I mean, I hope very much--I shan't be drawn."

"You never know; so you'd better have something in your mind's eye."

Punctually at six o'clock on the appointed night the whole school filed
into the hall, each girl carrying a candle in a candlestick. Saluting
their leader, they ranged themselves round the room for the opening
ceremony. At an indoor meeting this was of necessity different from the
kindling of the camp-fire, but it had a certain impressiveness of its
own. First the lamps were extinguished, and the room was placed in
entire darkness. Then Mrs. Arnold struck a match and lighted her candle,
which she held towards the Torch-bearer of highest rank, who lighted
hers from it, and performed the same service for her next neighbour. In
this way, one after another, the candles were lighted all round the
room, every girl saying, as she offered the flame to her comrade: "I
pass on my light!" After the "shining" song was sung, all the
candlesticks were arranged on the large central table, taking the place
the camp-fire would have occupied out-of-doors.

The business of the meetin