s reached to her ankles; she was thin and angular; her head was
perpetually thrust forward, and a pair of spectacles were worn
perpetually over the bridge of her pointed little nose. The description
does not sound attractive, yet in some mysterious manner, and despite
all drawbacks, Lavender _did_ manage to be attractive, and had a select
band of followers at school who practised stoops and poked-out heads out
of sheer admiration of her defects.

Harry's voice was beginning to croak, which, taken together with a
dawning passion for socks, ties, and brilliantine, was an unmistakable
sign of growing up; Russell was preternaturally thin and looked all arms
and legs; while Tim had forsaken knickers for full-fledged trousers, and
resented any attempt at petting as an insufferable offence.

One and all were on their best company manners on the occasion of
Darsie's last lunch, and the most honeyed replies took the place of the
usual somewhat stormy skirmish of wits; nevertheless, there was a
universal feeling of relief when the meal was over, and a peal at the
bell announced the arrival of the cab which was to convey Darsie and a
girl companion on the first stage of their journey.

If anything could have added to Darsie's joy in the fulfilment of a
lifelong ambition, it would have been the fact that Hannah Vernon was to
be her companion at Newnham, as she had been through the earlier
schooldays. All the Vernon family were dears of the first water, and
might have been specially created to meet the needs of their neighbours,
the Garnetts. It is true that the Vernons possessed the enviable
advantage of a big grown-up brother, but when the Garnetts felt
particularly tried on this score, they sought comfort from the
reflection that a brother so solemn and scholarly, so reserved and
unresponsive, hardly counted as a brother at all. Dan was already in
the second year of his Cambridge course, and was expected to do great
things before he left. So far as such a sober person could be made
useful, Darsie Garnett intended to use him towards the furtherance of
her own enjoyment of the new life.

For the rest, Vie, the eldest daughter of the Vernon household, was the
sworn ally and confidante of Clemence, and John, the younger son, was in
himself such a tower of mischievous strength that the Garnett trio sat
at his feet. Last, but certainly not least, came Hannah, and Hannah
was--Darsie would have found it an almost impossible task