e--so I winked to Althea and
Maggie and we had a dandy time. It saves lots of work," she added
reflectively. "Every time Miss Watson rolled an _r_, one of us put up a
hand and asked to have the word repeated. We just couldn't understand
her. We made it last for most of the period, and the poor dear didn't
get to the exercise at all."

"I'd have sent you packing, the whole lot of you, to Miss Meredith. You
deserve it, and then I guess you'd be sorry, you little worms!"

"Oh, would you?" retorted Jane shrewdly; "not if you had reported us all
two days ago for setting a metronome going in class. That _was_ fun!
Miss Meredith is getting tired of Miss Watson's returned lessons and bad
marks, though she gave us a jolly good scolding, I must say. No, I think
we are pretty safe for this week." And she chuckled reminiscently.

"Choose some one your own size, Jane," suggested Catherine, hunting for
a piece of chocolate ginger; "'t isn't sporting to pick on Miss Watson
like that."

"Well, why not?" demanded Jane. "She isn't on her job--she's just plain
stupid--I don't believe she ever thinks about anything."

"Well, you're wrong there--she's just crazy about reading--she reads
everything--her room is full of books, and Miss Ashwell says she knows
more about Russian literature than most people in this country. None of
you children been bothering Miss Ashwell, have you?"

There was an indignant denial, and Judith, remembering that she had seen
her friend and comforter looking very much as if she herself stood in
need of comforting, asked quickly:

"Why do you ask, Cathy?"

"Oh, well, she seems bothered," was the rather vague answer.

Judith ran down to Miss Ashwell's room at visiting time that night, and
tapping at the door put in her head and enquired, "May I come in?"

"Not just now, Judith," said Miss Ashwell, "I'm busy."

Judith with a mumbled apology disappeared at once, but not before she
had seen that Miss Ashwell's busy-ness had to do apparently with the
snapshot of a handsome soldier propped against the reading-lamp--a
despatch case lay open on the floor beside her and there were letters
strewn over the table and in Miss Ashwell's lap.

"Now, wasn't that too bad of me to rush in like that," thought Judith,
as she hurried away. "I wonder if that's the picture she showed me the
other day--she was probably going to write to him--wouldn't it be
exciting?"

Miss Ashwell looked complacently next day at her line of