ell!"

"'Dr. Pillbox's Patient.' That's the title. Squat here and I'll tell you
the rugged outline. We must fill in details as we go along."

Lesbia's plot was quite sufficient to content her comrades; they
hurriedly arranged their parts, and flew to the cloakroom for anything
they could commandeer in the way of costumes. They shamelessly
purloined a felt hat of Nina Wakefield's, Pauline Kingston's waterproof,
and Ada Wood's thick coat, which, together with the duster from the
gymnasium blackboard, a piece of charcoal from Grace Stirling's
pencil-box, Mabel Andrews' water-colour paint-box, that was lying about
on the mantelpiece, and a few chairs which were already on the platform,
made the extent of their hastily-scrambled-together wardrobe and
scenery.

"It's 'your theatre while you wait'!" giggled Aldora.

"We've not made them wait long. I flatter ourselves we'd do for
lightning actresses," grunted Lesbia, helping Cissie with her hasty
toilet.

"Do I look the least scrap like a real medical man?" demanded Marion
tragically.

"Put on a professional air and you'll do," advised Lesbia. "You want a
piece of paper for a white collar. That's fine! Oh, you do look grand!"

Furious sounds of stamping and clapping and shouts of "Get a move on
there!" from the gymnasium showed signs of impatience among the
expectant girls below, so the performers, fearful that their audience
might desert them altogether and go away, if they were not quick, made a
few final titivations, and told Betty Wroe, who had volunteered as "odd
job woman", to raise the curtain.

The scene disclosed Lesbia, as Miss Lovelace, lounging upon a sofa,
improvised from four chairs with Ada Wood's coat thrown over them. After
much yawning, interspersed with heavy sighs, she revealed, in the short
soliloquy usual among stage heroines, the utter boredom of her life as a
mistress at the Muddlehead High School. She debated how it was possible
to obtain a brief respite from the eternal round of teaching, and
confided to the audience that a holiday would be particularly
acceptable, as George, her fiance, was coming to spend to-morrow with
his aunt, and would take her a trip upon the river if she could get the
day off.

"We teachers have hearts as well as other people," proclaimed Lesbia
eloquently, "and often we long to fling Minerva to the winds and worship
only Cupid! What are chemistry and mathematics compared to whispered
words and tender glances? No! T