by skill,
submitted half a dozen sketches of an impossible young woman apparently
entirely devoid of joints, to explain which she proposed to write a
story, thus entirely reversing the usual process of illustration; and,
fired by a desire to show her own artistic superiority, Dreda hastily
embellished her own paper with two vignette paintings of her own
heroines. Leila, with luxuriant locks of yellow, splashed with green,
and Dolores with inky hair and eyes of a rich gamboge. On the afternoon
of the fourteenth day of the month Dreda spent her recreation hour in
arranging the collected sheets to the best advantage, and in fastening
them within the cover of an old exercise book. She was aglow with self-
satisfaction at having accomplished her task in time, and intended to
lay special stress on the fact in her next letter home and so win from
the home circle that admiration and praise which her schoolfellows were
so slow to bestow.

On the whole, she was well pleased with the result of her labours, and
looked forward with a lively curiosity to Miss Drake's comments and
criticisms. When the booklet was finished and a printed label pasted in
the middle of the black cover, she laid it carefully inside her desk and
went to rejoin her companions by the study fire. They stopped talking
as she approached, and began to "rag" in true school fashion.

"Here comes our literary friend. Quite worn out with the strain of her
intellectual efforts! Sit down, my love, and calm your fevered brow!"
This from Barbara, while Norah cried scornfully:

"Look at her fingers--inked to the joints! Anyone could tell she was a
budding author!"

"Did you tie the papers together with blue ribbon? That's an absolute
necessity. I have a piece I could give you."

"Thank you, Nancy. I'll accept it with pleasure--for my hair. The book
is finished and needs no trimmings. It looks beautifully neat and
professional. I can't show it to anyone until my--my colleague has seen
it and made her alterations; but as soon as it comes back--"

She nodded in condescending fashion, and the girls chuckled and
exchanged twinkling glances.

"`My colleague'! That's good!"

"Good word, Dreda! Bring that in in your story. It has a fine effect."

"I'm thankful it is finished at last. We shall be able to sleep in
peace to-night without being disturbed by your plunging and snortings.
I've always heard that geniuses were trying to live with, but they are