ding herself in the dark for just those few minutes. Oh, well, if
_that's_ the sort of girl she is, we shall soon know how to get even
with her if she interferes with us. I say, old girl, we shall have to
say good-night to each other here. Now we're so far away from one
another it won't be safe for me to go to your cubicle or for you to
come to mine--at any rate, not until we see what sort of a monitress
Muriel is going to be. Oh, dear! It is sickening to think that we're
separated, and that that wretched new kid is going to sleep in my cubie
to-night!"

Meanwhile, the wretched new kid was saying good-night to her new-found
friend, feeling far happier than she had dared to hope to feel on her
first night at school, and quite unconscious of the fact that she had
made such a revelation of her inner self to the two girls who were well
on the way towards becoming her greatest enemies. With all her new
thoughts and experiences filling her head, that little incident in the
dark had almost vanished from her mind.

"See you in the morning, then," said Jack gaily, as she disappeared in
the direction of her own dormitory. And Geraldine hastened to make her
way to Cubicle Thirteen.

CHAPTER V

A CARICATURE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

Geraldine was awakened next morning by the loud ringing of the
getting-up bell, and she tumbled out of bed in a hurry, having been
informed by Jack the previous evening that a bad mark was the result of
a late appearance at breakfast. However, on this first morning, she
was dressed in plenty of time, and even had to wait a few minutes
before the second bell, which was the signal for the girls to leave
their dormitories, rang through the school.

When she reached the dining-hall she found that the place she had
occupied for her first two meals in the school was no longer vacant, it
having been claimed by Vera Davies, the small girl who had been
displaced by Monica the day before to make room for Geraldine. Vera
was an ardent admirer of Monica Deane, Geraldine discovered later.

"I _always_ sit here," the little girl said in a vigorous whisper as
Geraldine came up. "You must find a place somewhere else--there's
loads of room."

Geraldine looked about her in rather a helpless way. Then she caught
sight of Jack Pym making grimaces at her from the other side of the
room, indicating by various gestures and contortions that Geraldine was
to come to her table. Not sorry to escape from th