but
Dreda was smiling still, her grey eyes wide open, her very gums showing
in the unnatural stretching of her lips. She submitted to be kissed,
but offered no caress in return, and turned with a nonchalant air to
examine the photographs on the mantelshelf, while Miss Bretherton
escorted her mother to the door.

They were all photographs of girls--old girls who had left school and
could afford to be amiable and forgiving. One wore a cap and gown and
was evidently a crack pupil who had won honours at college; another held
a baby on her knee--she was pretty, and had married young; a third
supported her head on her hand and stared dreamily into space; another
posed against a screen. Dreda stared at them with eyes that grew misty
and unseeing, as the motor puffed down the drive. Now she was alone--
away from home for the first time in her life! Miss Bretherton was
coming back--Miss Bretherton with the thin face and the sharply pointed
nose.

The door opened; the photographs looked mistier than ever; Miss
Bretherton's voice sounded from an immense distance, saying in cheery
tones:

"Now I am going to take you upstairs to see your room, Etheldreda.
Susan Webster and Nancy West will share it with you. Susan you know
already--a delightful girl; and Nancy is equally charming. Most of the
girls returned last night, but we have not yet settled into regular
work: it takes a little time to arrange the classes. Are your boots
quite clean? Better rub them once more on the mat! Pupils are not
allowed to ascend the staircase in outdoor shoes."

She led the way forward, while Dreda followed, looking about with
curious eyes. The carpet lasted only so long as the stair could be seen
from the hall beneath, and was then replaced by oil-cloth, worn to a
colourless drab by the tramp of many feet. On the first storey a narrow
passage ran the whole length of the house, and innumerable doors seemed
to open on each side. The murmur of voices could be heard from within,
as one passed these closed portals; but one of the number, labelled
Number 5, was not quite shut, and Dreda had a shrewd suspicion that it
opened an inch or two wide as she passed by. Probably it gave entrance
to the room from which faces had stared out on the drive; probably the
same curious faces were peering forth through that crack at this very
moment.

The bedroom bore a bleak look, despite the fact that the furniture was
all in threes--three narrow beds,