not so "gone" on
the monitress of the Pink Dormitory as her friend was--was yet very
indignant that their victim should have any favour shown to her at all.
Both girls bitterly resented the way Muriel had spoken to them after
the fateful hockey match; and the rowing they had received, and the
ensuing conduct marks bestowed upon them, they had, quite unjustly, put
down to Gerry's account. They took care that Muriel should not hear
any more of their persecution of the new girl; but that did not deter
them from carrying it on with an added zeal whenever they were quite
sure that the prefect was not within hearing. They tormented Gerry by
every means in their power; and though Gerry did her best to conceal
from her torturers how much their jeers and gibes had power to hurt,
yet she was so unskilled at hiding her feelings and felt their
unkindness so keenly that the two were perfectly well aware of how
surely their thrusts went home.

The persecution was not by any means confined to her own form, either.
Nearly the whole school had been witnesses of her failure up on the
hockey field, and those who had not been actually present had heard
highly-coloured versions of the episode from those who had. The
obnoxious nickname became more used than ever. Even the small girls
from the First and Second Forms would shout "German Gerry!" after the
new girl; and not even the little marks of favour Muriel sometimes
showed her had power to turn the tide of popular opinion in Gerry's
favour.

Even Monica, who had at first showed Gerry so much kindness, appeared
to have given her up. She no longer smiled at her when they met in the
corridors, as they frequently did. And as for Jack,--for whose
friendship Gerry yearned more than for anyone else's,--she might not
have existed so far as Jack was concerned. That episode up on the
hockey field had put the finishing touch to Jack's wavering attraction
for the new girl. She could not be friends with a girl who
funked--that settled the matter. And Jack returned to her old
companionship with Nita Fleming and three or four other members of the
Lower Fifth, and tried not to see the wistful expression in Gerry's
eyes when they sometimes happened to meet her own.

Gerry's next hockey practice promised to be rather a terrible ordeal
for the girl. She began to dread it directly after the dormitory
match, and was thankful for the brief respite afforded by the
intervening Sunday. Monday, the d