to leaving the championship till next summer, and to not going out
to-day, and to sitting stuffing here and moaning our bad luck, and
feeling as cross as a bear with a toothache--at least, that's how I
feel: I don't know what the rest of you do!"

"I should like to have gone home with the day girls," sighed Dilys
Fenton.

"No, you wouldn't!" snapped Norah Bell. "You know it's jollier to be a
boarder; we do have some jolly times, even if it does rain. You can't
expect it always to keep fine, and as for----"

"Oh, Norah, don't preach! We must have our growls--it lets off steam. I
think it's the wretchedest, miserablest, detestablest, most altogether
sickening afternoon that ever was--there!"

"If only something would happen, just to cheer us up a little!" said
Lennie Chapman, opening the window rather wider and putting her head out
into the rain.

"What do you want to happen?"

"Why, something exciting, of course--something interesting and jolly,
and out of the common, to wake us up and make things more lively."

"You'll fall out of the window if you lean over like that, and that
would be lively, in all conscience, if you were picked up in fragments.
Come in; you're getting your hair wet."

"Let me alone! I shan't! I say, what's that? There's a cab turning in at
the gate; it's coming up the drive!"

Five extra heads immediately poked themselves out of the window
regardless of the rain, for the Juniors' sitting-room commanded an
excellent view both of the carriage drive and of the front steps.

"It is a cab!" murmured Dilys excitedly.

It certainly was a cab, just an ordinary station four-wheeler, with a
box on the top of it, bearing the initials G. L. painted in large white
letters. As the vehicle came nearer they could see a girl's face inside,
and--yes, she apparently caught sight of the row of heads peering out
of the window, for she smiled and turned to somebody else who sat beside
her. There was a grinding of wheels on the gravel, the cab drew up at
the steps, the door opened, and out hopped a dark-haired damsel in a
long blue coat. She gave one hurried glance at the window, smiled again
and waved her hand, then vanished inside the porch, where she was
instantly followed by her companion, a middle-aged gentleman, who
carried a bag. The cabman began to take down the box, and the sound of
the front door bell could be heard plainly--a loud and vigorous peal,
forsooth--enough almost to break the wire! The s