ed to see her young cousin turn
up in so unexpected a fashion, and with a rash on her face, but she did
the most sensible thing in the circumstances: she put Diana to bed, and
sent to Dunswick for a doctor. He arrived during the course of the
afternoon, and, after a careful examination of his patient, pronounced
her complaint to be nettle-rash.

"There's not a doubt about it!" he declared. "You need not be in the
least afraid that it's measles."

Armed with a medical certificate to that effect, Mrs. Burritt motored
over to Pendlemere Abbey to patch up peace with Miss Todd. Partly for
reasons of health, and partly to let the storm blow over, she kept
Diana at Petteridge until the rash had entirely disappeared and the girl
seemed in her absolutely normal condition. Mrs. Burritt took her back on
the understanding that bygones should be bygones, and a fresh start
should be made without any reference to former delinquencies.

Miss Todd received Diana quite amiably, but insisted upon her having a
carbolic bath, and herself washed her hair with strong disinfectant
soap. The clothes she had worn disappeared mysteriously for some days,
and were then returned from the stoving department of the Glenbury
Sanitation Office. Diana made no comments at head-quarters, but laughed
to herself.

"I'm sure Toddlekins believes I've had measles," she confided to Wendy.

"Of course she does. She said she hadn't the least doubt about it, and
that you hadn't eaten anything which could have caused you to have
nettle-rash."

"What would she say if she knew about the sausages?" queried Diana.

CHAPTER XIV

Spooks

March had come, and even in the northern mountainous region of
the Pennines, where snow lingers long after it has melted in more
favoured districts, winter had begun to make way for spring. The
snowdrops--January flowers in Wales or Cornwall, fair maids of February
in most counties--were late bloomers at Pendlemere, and were never in
their prime till St. Patrick's Day. They made up for their tardy arrival
by their luxuriance. They grew almost wild in the orchard, and spread
like a white carpet over the grass, tossing fairy bells in the wind.
Diana, promoted to help Miss Carr in the spraying of apple-trees, paused
in her work to look round and revel in nature's re-awakening. She was a
sun lover, and the long months of perpetual mist and rain had tried her
very much. She had, to be sure, kept up her spirits in spite of we