Reckoning the boys first, I have got eight, as I
said; but I have had letters this morning from several parents who wish
to send their sons to my school.'

'Well, we 'll say eight boys,' said Mrs Maclure. 'I suppose they are
quite babies?'

'Not at all. Jasper is fifteen. He is the eldest boy in the school,
but will only stay for a year, as he has been very well taught by his
gifted mother and by Mr Lennox, the father of my sweet little Flower
Girls, as I call them.'

'Elsie, you are becoming sadly romantic. It runs in the blood. You
must be careful. Fancy a big boy of fifteen in a girls' school.'

'He's a gentleman and my right hand,' said Mrs Macintyre.

'That has nothing whatsoever to do with it. He's fifteen, and ought to
be in a public school.'

'He wants a year's training before he can go to Eton. He is a
singularly gifted lad, and is the life of the house.'

'He must be the life of some other house. Now, then, for the girls.
How many of them have you got?'

'To begin with, I've got Lucy, Margaret, Rose, and Dorothy Lennox;
their father is the Honourable George Lennox, who lives in a house
called The Garden close by.'

'Well, go on. I suppose you have more girls than that. That makes
four. Now proceed with the rest.'

'Well, there's Lady Leucha Villiers.'

'You don't say so!'

'I do, my friend. Her mother, the Countess of Crossways, has entrusted
her to my care.'

'You amaze me!'

'Perhaps I shall amaze you further. I have also got the Ladies Barbara
and Dorothy Fraser, daughters of the Marquis of Killin.'

'You astound me!'

'Then I have the Honourable Daisy Watson. In addition I have Miss
Augusta Fane, Miss Agnes Featherstonhaugh'----

'Good name that,' muttered Mrs Maclure.

'Miss Margaret Drummond.'

'I know them well--Scots to the backbone,' said Mrs Maclure.

'Miss Mary Barton,' continued Mrs Macintyre, 'Miss Nancy Greenfield,
Miss Isabella Macneale, Miss Jane Calvert.'

'Now let 's count how many you have got in the school,' said Mrs
Maclure. 'Everything _sounds_ well, but the boys will ruin the whole
affair.'

'Oh, nonsense, Jane. If only you were not so narrow-minded.'

'I know the world, my dear friend, and I don't want the best school in
Scotland to be spoiled for the lack of a little care--care bestowed
upon it at the right moment. Your girls, counting the Lennoxes, make
fifteen. Altogether in the school you have therefore twenty-three
children. How m