her; these things one did
not put into words, things you were expected to know without telling.
Hence, she never more than half understood what she had done. She only
saw disapproval painted on faces that had hitherto been neutral, and
from one or two quarters got what was unmistakably the cold shoulder.--
Her little beginnings at popularity had somehow received a setback, and
through her own foolish behaviour.

X.

The lesson went home; Laura began to model herself more and more on
those around her; to grasp that the unpardonable sin is to vary from
the common mould.

In August, after the midwinter holidays, she was promoted to the second
class; she began Latin; and as a reward was allowed by Mother to wear
her dresses an inch below her knees. She became a quick, adaptable
pupil, with a parrot-like memory, and at the end of the school year
delighted Mother's heart with a couple of highly gilt volumes, of
negligible contents.

At home, during those first holidays, she gave her sister and brothers
cold creeps down their spines, with her stories of the great doings
that took place at school; and none of her class-mates would have
recognised in this arrant drawer-of-the-long-bow, the unlucky little
blunderbuss of the early days.

On her return, Laura's circle of friends was enlarged. The morning
after her arrival, on entering the dining-hall, she found a new girl
standing shy and awkward before the fireplace. This was the daughter of
a millionaire squatter named Macnamara; and the report of her father's
wealth had preceded her. Yet here she now had to hang about, alone,
unhappy, the target of all eyes. It might be supposed that Laura would
feel some sympathy for her, having so recently undergone the same
experience herself. But that was not her way. She rejoiced, in
barbarian fashion, that this girl, older than she by about a year, and
of a higher social standing, should have to endure a like ordeal.
Staring heartlessly, she accentuated her part of old girl knowing all
the ropes, and was so inclined to show off that she let herself in for
a snub from Miss Snodgrass.

Tilly Macnamara joined Laura's class, and the two were soon good
friends.

Tilly was a short, plump girl, with white teeth, rather boyish hands,
and the blue-grey eyes predominant in Australia. She was usually
dressed in silk, and she never wore an apron to protect the front of
her frock. Naturally, too, she had a bottomless supply of pocket