had only just joined the group. "Miss Oakley's gone away
till Wednesday--I was in the hall just now and saw her drive off. That
means Thursday before the row can come off, at the very earliest."

"Hurrah!" shouted Jack. "If we all hold together till then we shall
have broken Miss Burton's spirit, and shown her that she can't treat us
as though we were just a parcel of kids. Thursday--why, who knows, we
may have brought her to terms by then!"

"There's the bell!" said Hilda. "Buck up! it's Mademoiselle first, and
we don't want to be late for her."

The French lesson passed off most successfully, full marks being gained
by the whole form. Then came a breathless moment while the form waited
for the reappearance of Miss Burton. But to everybody's astonishment
it was the head girl, Muriel Paget, who walked into the classroom at
the conclusion of the French lesson.

"Miss Burton isn't coming to this class," announced the head girl in
cold tones. "Miss Latham has asked me to come and sit here during the
lesson. Get out your _Henry the Fifths_, please. You are to copy out
Act I. Scene ii. from the beginning, putting in all the
stage-directions and footnotes. Those are Miss Latham's orders, and
what you don't have time to do now, you are to finish in prep to-night."

"My hat! The whole of the second scene!" groaned Phyllis in a whisper.
"Why, there's pages and pages of it!"

"Silence, please! There is to be no talking in class," rapped out
Muriel, frowning. Phyllis, catching the frown, relapsed into instant
silence, and meekly found the place in her copy of _Henry V_. Defying
the new mistress was one thing, but to defy the head girl was quite
another. And soon the whole of the Lower Fifth was struggling with
ink-stained fingers and much inward groaning of spirit to accomplish
the irksome and monotonous task allotted to it.

Miss Burton did not return to the classroom at all that morning, and at
the end of school, Muriel set the preparation for the evening and
prepared to take the marks. Miss Latham's awards for English came
first and were duly noted down. Then came the marks for the German
class.

"German, now," said Muriel. "Hilda Burns, how many?"

"None," came from Hilda.

"Dorothy Pemberton?"

"None."

"Phyllis Tressider?"

"None."

And so on throughout the whole form, right down to Gerry Wilmott, whose
name as the last comer was placed last upon the list. Muriel made no
comment upon t