ardent desire of all their hearts; but
where were the good works to be found?

'I suppose there's always something to be done for somebody, only we've
got to discover what it is,' said Mary Wells, after profound reflection.

'He did say life was full of little things that were waiting to be done,
but it's so easy to talk like that,' complained Jean Murray. 'Why didn't
he say _what_ things?'

'Well, you see, we've got to discover what they are,' persisted Mary. When
she did manage to produce an idea, she was always very slow to part with
it.

'You said that before,' retorted Jean, impolitely; 'and it doesn't help
anybody at all. You can't go round _asking_ people, can you? They'd call
you a nuisance.'

Barbara sighed, and laid down the blackened piece of flannel she had been
toiling at since the beginning of term. Between the address of the Canon
and the shapelessness of her flannel petticoat, life was very difficult to
understand just then.

'Besides,' she chimed in, when Jean finished speaking, 'if everybody is
doing something for everybody else, there's nobody left to do anything
for!'

'Finny always says we are to do things for ourselves as much as we can,
and that the way to help other people most is to see that they don't
have to bother about _us_. That's not a bit the same thing as going round
and finding out what people want done for them,' continued Charlotte,
eloquently.

'They can't both be right,' declared Angela, shrilly. 'If the Canon says
one thing and Finny says another, what are we to believe, and what is the
truth of it all, I should like to know? The _truth_--that's what _I_ want!'

'Yes, you do,' remarked Babs, beginning to chuckle. 'You want it awfully
badly, most of the time.'

'You mind your own business, Barbara Berkeley, and I'll mind mine,'
advised Angela, threateningly.

'But that's just what we haven't got to do,' retorted Babs, with another
laugh. 'I've got to forget my own business and look after somebody else's,
and so have you. The Canon said so.'

'The Canon never said anybody was to have enough cheek for two people,
anyhow,' returned Angela, rather feebly. She generally ended in coming off
the worse in a battle of words with Barbara. On this occasion, however,
she had the junior playroom with her.

'You shouldn't joke about serious things, Barbara Berkeley,' said Mary
Wells, disapprovingly.

'Barbara Berkeley thinks she can laugh at everything!' cried Angela, with
rene