ts pupils, and should manage these things to the
best of their ability. Even the trustees of the trust fund were women.

Amongst these ladies Miss Mackenzie was reckoned as head. She was a
tall, strong-minded woman, with iron-gray hair, false teeth, a prominent
nose, and small steel-gray eyes. Miss Mackenzie was between sixty and
seventy years of age; she always dressed in the severest and most
old-fashioned manner, and wore her iron-gray hair in ringlets on each
side of her head. She was an excellent woman of business, and was
dreaded not only by the schoolgirls, but also by one or two of the
ladies of the committee; those who most feared her were the two Misses
Scott and Miss Jane Smyth. Mrs. Ross was a fashionable woman who went a
good deal into London society, talked about the Great Shirley School to
her different friends, and was considered an expert on the subject of
girls' education. Mrs. Ross had a husband and a beautiful home; she
dressed remarkably well, and was looked down on in consequence by Miss
Mackenzie. Mrs. Naylor was the oldest of the governors. She was a
little, wizened lady with a face like a russet apple, a kindly smile,
and a sweet voice.

It was the custom of the governors to meet four times a year as a matter
of course, and as a matter of expediency they met about as many times
again. But a sudden meeting to be convened within forty-eight hours'
notice was almost unheard of in their experience.

When they were all seated round the table Miss Mackenzie, who was
chairwoman, took out the agenda and read its contents aloud. These were
brief enough:

"To inquire into the insurrection amongst the foundationers, and in
particular to cause full investigation to be made with regard to the
Irish girl, Kathleen O'Hara."

"This is really very astonishing," said Miss Mackenzie, turning to the
other governors. "An insurrection amongst the foundationers! Had we not
better summon Miss Ravenscroft, who will tell us what she means?"

A clerk who attended the meetings (also a woman) went away now to summon
Miss Ravenscroft. She appeared in a few minutes, was asked to seat
herself, and was requested to give a full explanation. This she did very
briefly.

"At the beginning of the term," she said, "a girl of the name of
Kathleen O'Hara joined our number. She was eccentric and untrained. She
came from the south-west of Ireland. I had her examined, and found that
she knew extremely little. We were forced to put