instead of to the country_!"

"_Prison_!" Vie and plain Hannah wagged their heads over the cipher,
hesitated long, pencil in hand, and, finally, in a frenzy of impatience,
which refused to be curbed even by loyalty to the telegraph itself,
dispatched an urgent summons to speech--

"_Come round and talk_!"

The Garnetts flew. The Vernons, waiting upon the doorstep, escorted
them upstairs to the scantily furnished room which had first been a
nursery, then promoted to playroom, and, ultimately, when the more
juvenile name wounded the susceptibilities of its inmates, had become
definitely and proudly "the study." The bureau in the corner was Dan's
special property, and might not be touched by so much as a finger-tip.
The oak table with three sound legs and a halting fourth, supported by
an ancient volume of _Good Words_, was Vie's property; John and plain
Hannah shared the dining-table, covered with the shabby green baize
cloth, which stood in the centre of the room. There were a variety of
uncomfortable chairs, an ink-splashed drugget, and red walls covered
with pictures which had been banished from other rooms as they acquired
the requisite stage of decrepitude and grime.

The five girls surged into the room, faced each other, and burst into
eager speech--

"_Who's_ going to prison?"

"We don't know. Wish we did!"

"What do you mean by prison?"

"Aunt Maria's!"

"Lady Maria's?"

"Lady Maria's! One of us has to go and stay with her for eight weeks
instead of going with you to the sea."

Vie Vernon collapsed on to the nearest chair, and gasped for breath.
"Stu-pendous!" she murmured beneath her breath. Vie had a new word each
season which she used to describe every situation, good and bad. The
season before it had been "Weird!" this season it was "Stupendous," and
she was thankful for the extra syllable in this moment of emotion.
"It's really true? You mean it in earnest? _Why_?"

"Thinks it would be a pleasure to us, and that we should be cheery
companions. _So_ likely, isn't it?"

"But--but surely your mother-- What does she say?"

"Preaches! Oughtn't to think of ourselves. Ought to show a right
spirit and go."

"Stu-pendous!" cried Vie once again. Plain Hannah hoisted herself on to
the corner of the table, and hunched herself in thought. She really was
extraordinarily plain. Looking at her critically, it seemed that
everything that should have been a line had turned into a curve, and