Blue Bonnet looked at Carita. Tears were in her eyes, and, even as Blue
Bonnet looked, her head went down in her hands and she, too, began to
sob.

Blue Bonnet rose to the occasion instantly. It was like a call to
arms--the sight of those lonely children.

She looked at her watch.

"We have twenty minutes yet, to visit. Let's play a game. I know a fine
one. Come on, everybody."

There was not the slightest response.

Mary Boyd took hold of Isabel and dragged her to her feet. Then she
roused the others.

"Come on," she said. "You've got to play, whether you want to or not.
How do you do it--Miss--"

"Call me Blue Bonnet."

The girls stood up listlessly--a sorry looking group.

"You can sit down," Blue Bonnet announced. "You don't have to
stand--just keep your eyes on me. You are each of you a musical
instrument."

She went round and whispered something in the ear of each girl.

"Now, I'm the drum. I stand here and beat. Rub-a-dub-dub!
Rub-a-dub-dub--like that. Everybody must try to represent her
instrument. Carita, you're a fiddle. Pretend to handle a bow. Isabel,
you're a piano. Run your hands up and down as if you were playing a
scale.

"Watch me. I beat the drum. When I stop beating and imitate one of your
instruments--suppose it is the fiddle--then you stop playing the fiddle,
Carita, and begin to beat the drum. If you don't stop instantly, and
begin to beat the drum before I call out fiddle, you have to stand up
here and take my place. See?"

Before five minutes had passed there was such hilarity in the room that
it took several knocks at the door to bring a response.

A thin angular form stood in the doorway, and a stern voice said:

"Young ladies, I haf you to report to Miss North if not this noise stop
instantly. _Instantly._ You understand? I speak not again!"

"Oh, isn't she too exasperating," remarked Peggy Austin, one of the
older girls, as Mary closed the door--a little quicker than might have
been thought compatible with good manners.

"I perfectly abominate her," Mary answered. "I am going to ask Miss
North if Fraulein can't be removed from this hall. I don't think it's
one bit fair for us to have her all the time. She's just too
interfering."

"It wouldn't do a particle of good to ask, Sozie," Peggy said. "Miss
North caters to Fraulein, herself. She says she is the finest German
teacher she ever saw. She imported her from Berlin at great expense and
personal sacrifice to the E