e!'

This was more to the point; and the junior playroom, which had never
thrown itself with any heartiness into the feud, decided that Barbara
Berkeley was to be accepted without any more delay. Unfortunately,
Barbara Berkeley, who had never realised that her school-fellows had
been leaving her in peace on purpose to annoy her, was quite unprepared
for the sudden change in their behaviour.

Charlotte Bigley was the first to put into force the resolution that
had been arrived at by the junior playroom. 'If you like,' she observed
carelessly, when she met Barbara by the bookshelf, just before the first
class, 'you can put away Ruth Oliver's desk after preparation, instead
of me.'

For her part, she had always felt kindly disposed towards the new girl,
and the offer she was making now came straight from her heart, and was the
most generous one she could think of at the moment. But Babs only looked
dismayed.

'Why must I put away Ruth Oliver's desk?' she demanded. 'I have to put
away Margaret Hulme's as it is; and it's so difficult to get dressed
in time for supper when there's such a lot of desks to put away first. Of
course,' she added with an effort, 'I'll do it to please you, if you
really want me to.'

'Why, I thought you'd _like_ to do it!' exclaimed Charlotte, staring at
her. 'You're so thick with Ruth, and naturally I supposed----'

'Thanks awfully,' said Barbara, without enthusiasm. 'It's really awfully
kind of you, but I think p'raps you'd better go on doing it, if you're
used to doing it. Of course, I know some people like doing those stupid
things for the big girls, but----'

'All right,' said Charlotte, abruptly; and she went away, feeling
distinctly small.

Babs hurried off to the Fifth classroom, and arrived just in time for
the geography lesson. She was settling herself as usual at the bottom
desk, when her neighbour, rather a dull girl, for whom she secretly felt
a sort of contempt because she took no interest in her lessons, but only
learned them from conscientious motives, began making advances to her.

'Barbara,' she whispered, nudging the new girl in a familiar way that
was meant to be sociable. Babs, having sat next to her for fourteen days
without extracting a single remark from her, was considerably startled.

'What do you want?' she asked impatiently. She was taking a last frantic
look at the capes of Scotland, and the interruption was agonising.

'Would you like to be my partner, next