even worse by night than by day!"

"At what time are you going to present the Opus to your colleague?
After prep, to-morrow? Then I beg to suggest that until it has been
reviewed and the verdict passed the subject shall be forbidden. The
strain is _too_ great!"

Norah rolled her eyes, a performance rendered weirdly effective by the
presence of her large round glasses, and the other girls taking up the
clue, flopped in their seats, leant feebly against a neighbouring
shoulder, and fanned themselves faintly with their handkerchiefs. As a
rule, Dreda was as quick to take offence as she was to forgive, but this
afternoon she manifested no signs of irritation. "They laugh who win,"
and no one could deny that she had won this time--won all along the
line--in gaining consent to the establishment of a magazine, in
obtaining the post of sub-editor; lastly, and most striking of all, in
being ready up to time, despite the gloomy prophecies to the contrary.

For the next twenty-four hours she was her brightest, most charming
self, so radiant with happiness that she overflowed with sympathy and
kindness to all around. She nursed little Vida Neale, the baby of the
school, on her knee, and recounted such fascinating stories that earache
was forgotten in squeals of delighted merriment. She went up early to
dress for the evening and carried hot water to the cubicles of her four
best friends; she talked in the most amiable of fashions to poor, dull
Fraulein at supper; listened to remarks on the superiority of Germany
with a self-control bordering on the miraculous; and finally laid her
head down on the pillow of her bed with the feeling of being at peace
with all the world.

"Prosperity suits me," she told herself, snuggling cosily beneath the
clothes. "It brings out the best points in my disposition. I ought
never to be crossed!"

The next morning passed slowly. Dreda did not distinguish herself at
lessons, and it was with a somewhat strained manner that Miss Drake
crossed the room to speak to her at the end of the preparation hour.
She had been obliged to find fault with her new pupil several times in
the course of the day's classes. There was that in her manner which
showed that she feared lest yet another reprimand might be necessary.

"Dreda, have you remembered that to-day is the fifteenth of the month?"

"Yes, Miss Drake."

"Have you the synopsis of the school magazine ready to show me?"

"Yes, Miss Drake."