ly critical eye. "We thought if you would call a
meeting of the whole school that we'd ask Gerry to come down, and then
we'd tell her how frightfully sorry we are about having been so mean,
and each of us would apologise to her in front of everybody."

"And jolly pleasant that would be for poor Gerry!" said Muriel. "Do
you think she wants a public apology! To be made to feel an utter ass
in front of the whole school just to ease your rotten little
consciences! We'll give her a public ovation if you like, but not a
public apology--at least, not one anything in the least like the scheme
you've planned. If you want to make amends, I think it would be much
more to the purpose if you went and told Miss Burton the truth about
that strike of yours, and how it was Gerry who broke it down by her
plucky action in refusing to go on with it."

The Lower Fifth gasped a little. Jack had certainly confessed with a
vengeance! Somehow it had never before struck the Lower Fifth that
Gerry's action on that particular occasion had been plucky.

"But of course, when you come to think about it in the right light, it
was plucky of her," Hilda Burns said afterwards, when the matter came
up for discussion in the Lower Fifth sitting-room. "It must have
needed quite a lot of courage for Gerry to say what she did that
evening."

"Yes. It was moral courage," said Jack. "She wanted most awfully
badly to stick in with us and be friendly. But she just felt she had
to stay out because she felt so sorry for Miss Burton, although she
knew how beastly we should all be to her."

But that was afterwards. At the moment the Lower Fifth was scarcely
able to view the courage of Gerry Wilmott in any light at all; it was
so flabbergasted at having its past delinquencies cast up at it in this
manner, and so dismayed at Muriel's suggestion that it should go and
acquaint Miss Burton with the full details of the matter.

There was a moment's hesitation, then suddenly Dorothy Pemberton made a
movement of acquiescence.

"All right, we will!" she announced. Then, turning round to the rest
of the form, she asked briefly:

"Are you all game?"

"Yes," came unanimously from the ranks of the Lower Fifth.

Muriel Paget rose to her feet and faced her visitors with a pleased
smile.

"Good kids!" she said approvingly. "Cut along at once and get it over.
And then come back to me afterwards, and we'll see if we can't arrange
some sort of public receptio