rds you, and of course I had to run out to see you,
and--; Primrose, dearest, here is Miss Martineau. She is dreadfully
opposed, and she says she won't let us go."

Primrose was bending over a battered old trunk which had been hauled
down from the lumber-room. She was filling it with books, and her fair
face was slightly flushed, and her eyes were brighter than usual.

"How do you do, Miss Martineau?" she said, rising to her feet. "It is
very kind of you to call. I feel sure you are annoyed, and think us
girls rather silly, but I'm afraid we must do what we think right
ourselves in this matter. We have taken our first steps, and now that
we have quite and absolutely made up our minds, mean to leave Rosebury
as quickly as possible. It is very kind of you to be interested in us,
and I am sorry that I spoke bitterly the other day, but the plan which
was to divide us girls was of course impossible, and we could not
listen to it for a moment. We have made our own little scheme, and
perhaps we shall not fail. Daisy, darling, hand me dear old 'Sandford
and Merton,' I have just got a nice corner for it here."

Primrose went down again on her knees, and serenely continued her
packing, while Miss Martineau, standing over her, then and there gave
way to a burst of passion.

She was well aware that she lost ground with her pupils by not
controlling her temper, but as she said afterwards, she really could
not help herself. Such coolness, such perversity, such a headstrong
flying in the face of their elders, she had never encountered in three
young girls before.

Poor Daisy quite sobbed, and even Jasmine felt a little frightened at
Miss Martineau's bitter and angry words; but no language she could
use, no threats of the direst failure she could utter, had power to
shake Primrose's resolve.

"We have no guardian, and we can go if we please, and we have really
made up our minds to go," replied that perverse young lady.

As a last resource Mr. Danesfield was appealed to, but he, being an
old bachelor and not quite at home with girls, although in his heart
he was very fond of them, declined to interfere.

"I gave Primrose Mainwaring some uncalled-for advice when she came to
see me the other morning," he said. "She is perfectly at liberty to
choose her own life, and I, for one, am not going to add to her
troubles by needlessly opposing her. Very likely the girls will get on
in London--they are spirited girls, and they may do bett