went up to London for a few days, leaving Pendlemere in the hands of
Miss Beverley. The school jogged along without any mishaps during her
absence. She was expected home upon the Thursday. On Wednesday
afternoon, which was a holiday, Miss Chadwick, Miss Carr, Miss Ormrod,
and Miss Hampson mounted bicycles, and rode away with a party of seniors
to Glenbury. The juniors, by special invitation from Mrs. Fleming, went
to tea at the Vicarage. Two intermediates were in bed with a mild form
of "flu", and the remainder amused themselves as they liked best. Peggy
sat indoors, doing pen-painting; Vi brought stones for a rockery; Sadie
and Magsie played a set of tennis on the cinder court; Diana and Wendy,
who had asked to join the cycle party, and had in consequence received a
severe snub from Geraldine, wandered about the garden like unquiet
spirits.

"It's the limit to be an intermediate!" groused Wendy gloomily. "Seniors
and juniors get all the fun! Did you ever hear of _our_ form being taken
to do anything special while the others stopped at school? Of course you
didn't, because we never are! The seniors get first innings, and we only
have the crumbs that are left, and those juniors are treated like babies
though they're nearly as tall as we are. I'm fed up with it!"

"We'd better have a demonstration--parade the corridor with a placard:
'Fair play for Intermediates! Equal treats for all!'" suggested Diana,
who was always ready with ideas.

"Much good it would do us! We should only get sat upon by everybody.
Hullo! Here's Peggy wandering down. What's the matter with you, chucky?
You look disturbed."

"I hate coming out in a wind," said Peggy, holding her hands over her
rumpled hair. "I say, did you, or did you not see Miss Chadwick, Miss
Ormrod, _and_ Miss Carr bike off to Glenbury? Are they all three gone?"

"Of course they're gone!"

"You saw them with your own eyes?"

"Helped to blow up their tyres, which we thought was really saintly,
when we weren't asked to go with them," said the still injured Wendy.

"Well, it's a pretty go they're all off! Bunty's just had a telegram
from Toddlekins. She's coming back this afternoon, and wants the trap to
meet the four-thirty train."

"She should! She's in a precious hurry to leave her beloved London.
Whence this thusness?"

"I don't know. She's coming, at any rate," said Peggy, rather crossly.
"Bunty sent me to find out if everybody had really gone. Toddlekins will
have