ith trembling
fingers. It yielded easily. The next moment she was creeping through.

Raymonde now found herself inside a cupboard full of old lumber. The
dust was thick, and surely had not been disturbed for years. Some
broken chairs with moth-eaten seats were piled together, and some
ancient boxes lay full of rubbish. Straw, old books, hanks of rope,
and other miscellaneous things occupied the corner. There was a door
opposite, without either latch or knob. Raymonde with some difficulty
managed to pull it open, and stepped out into a passage. When she
pushed the door to behind her, she noticed that it fitted so exactly
into the oak panelling as to be quite undiscernible. Could it be a
secret cupboard? She wondered if Miss Beasley knew of its existence.
There was a window close by; she looked out and took her bearings.
Apparently she was just over the big dormitory; the tiles across which
she had crawled to enter the cupboard must have been those of Miss
Gibbs's bedroom. The landing where she found herself at present led to
the servants' quarters; the staircase was to her right.

Raymonde hurried down without meeting anybody, washed the dust and
dirt off her hands, and walked in to preparation in the very nick of
time.

CHAPTER V

Fifth-Form Tactics

It was an unfortunate truth that Miss Gibbs was not very popular at
the Grange. She was clever, conscientious, and well-meaning, and
preserved a high ideal of girlhood. Much too high for practical use,
so her pupils maintained.

"This isn't a school for saints!" grumbled Valentine one day. "If we
followed all Gibbie's pet precepts we should have halos round our
heads."

"And be sprouting wings!" added Raymonde. "A very uncomfortable
process too. I expect it would hurt like cutting teeth, and it would
spoil the fit of one's blouses. I don't want to be an angel! I'm quite
content with this world at present."

"I'm so tired of developing my capabilities!" sighed Fauvette. "One
never gets half an hour now, just to have fun."

Miss Gibbs, who aspired to a partnership in the school, was deeply
concerned this term with the general culture and mental outlook of her
charges. She had attended an educational congress during the Easter
holidays, and came back primed with the very latest theories. She was
determined to work on the most modern methods, and to turn her pupils
out into the world, a little band of ardent thinkers, keen-witted,
self-sacrificing, logical,