ny cost to avoid the chance of a letter
being sent to her at her own home. She got a receipt for the ten
shillings on account, and put it carefully away in her purse. She
thought both the shopmen looked at her very inquisitively, but she
took no notice. She did not mean to gratify their curiosity by
explaining the details of how she had incurred the expense. She wished
Netta were with her; it was so much harder to keep up her dignity
alone. With a curt "Good afternoon!" she left the china stores and
hurried back to school. She was only just in time, for the second bell
was already ringing. Fortunately the dressing-room was empty, except
for one agitated Junior, who was in too great haste to notice
anything. Gwen scuttled into the Fifth exactly five seconds before
Miss Douglas, and sat down at her desk, exhausted but congratulating
herself. She contrived to write a surreptitious note to Netta, and to
pass it, neatly rolled into a ball, on the waste-paper tray. Its tenor
was calculated to be ambiguous to outsiders, but intelligible to the
initiated.

"All hail, Protector of the Poor! This is to inform you that
the deed is done--successfully. I thought I was within an
ace of exposure, but things righted themselves, and lo! I
triumphed. For the present the supplier of brittle goods is
satisfied, and for the future--well, I leave it to luck. I
feel like a warrior who has been through a campaign--I'm not
sure if I haven't acquired some wounds. My head is swimming,
and I'm a broken flower for the afternoon. Expect me to
collapse in maths. My brains are capable of nothing more
arduous than the three R's. I am living till four, when I
can have the exhilaration of reciting my breathless
experiences to your sympathetic ear.

"Yours in abject gratitude,

"G.G."

CHAPTER IX

Keeping Christmas

The end of the term seemed to arrive very rapidly--too quickly for the
amount of work that had to be done, yet too slowly in the estimation
of the three hundred and eleven girls who were looking forward to the
holidays. Exam week came and went, leaving inkstained fingers and a
crop of headaches; mistresses were busy correcting papers; "swatters"
were daring to congratulate themselves, and "slackers" were bewailing
the difficulty of the questions. Gwen, who had done pretty well on the
whole, considering her handicaps, ventured to think she must be
through in most subj