nce. She must be able to take
her share of teasing. Humour is her one deficiency."

"I think I can guess who's at the bottom of the business," sniffed
Miss Gibbs. "Raymonde Armitage is the naughtiest girl in the school."

"Pardon me!" corrected Miss Beasley. "The most mischievous, perhaps,
and the most troublesome; full of bubbling spirits and misplaced
energy, but straightforward and truthful. There is something very
lovable about Raymonde."

CHAPTER III

The Limberlost

Everybody agreed that Marlowe Grange was an ideal spot for a school.
The picturesque old orchard and grounds provided an almost unlimited
field of amusement. Those girls who were interested in horticulture
might have their own little plots at the end of the potato patch, and
a delightful series of experiments had been started down by the moat,
where a real, genuine water-garden was in process of construction.
Here, duly shod in rubber waders, a few enthusiasts toiled almost
daily, planting iris and arrow-head and flowering rush, and sinking
water-lily roots in old wicker baskets weighted with stones. There was
even a scheme on hand to subscribe to buy a punt, but Miss Beasley had
frowned upon the idea as containing too great an element of danger,
and of consequent anxiety for teachers.

"I don't want a set of Ophelias drowning themselves among the willows
and the long purples!" she remarked firmly. "If we bought a punt, we
should need a drag and a life-belt as well. You shall go for a row on
the river sometimes during the summer, and that must content you.
There are plenty of occupations on dry land to amuse yourselves
with."

The Grange certainly contained ample space for interests of every
description. The old farm buildings made sheds for carpentry and
wood-carving, or any other work that was too messy for the
schoolrooms. Under the direction of Miss Gibbs, some of the elder
girls were turning the contents of a wood pile into a set of rustic
garden seats, and other industrious spirits had begun to plait
osierwithes into baskets that were destined for blackberry picking in
the autumn. The house itself was roomy enough to allow hobbies to
overflow. Miss Beasley, who dabbled rather successfully in
photography, had a conveniently equipped dark-room, which she lent by
special favour to seniors only, on the understanding that they left it
as they found it. Miss Gibbs had taken possession of an empty attic,
and had made it into a scientif