as they are, and the
older girls ought to set a better example. You are fond of Pixie too,
and want to do the best for her. Can't you persuade your friends to
treat her better for the rest of the term?"

Lottie shrugged her shoulders impatiently, and frowned in worried,
discontented fashion.

"It is only three days longer. What is the use of making a fuss? It is
idiotic of Pixie not to tell what she was doing in Mademoiselle's room,
and I can't go about lecturing the whole school because she chooses to
be obstinate! I am going to invite her to stay with me in the holidays,
and will give her a good time to make up for all this. What's the good
of worrying? The girls will be too busy packing and preparing for the
party to think of her any more now."

This was true enough, so true that Margaret could say no more, though
she could not suppress the reflection that Lottie might have given the
clue weeks before, if she had been so disposed. "But, as she says, the
worst is over. Nothing much can happen in three days," she told herself
consolingly; wherein she was for something very exciting indeed was
fated to happen before half that time had elapsed!

CHAPTER TWELVE.

THE DISCOVERY.

The next afternoon all was bustle and confusion in Holly House, servants
setting the tables in the dining-room, and clearing the large classroom,
in preparation for the party, and governesses and pupils dressing
themselves with as much care as though they expected to meet a hundred
strangers, instead of the everyday school set, without a single
addition. Dresses which had not seen the light since the half-term-
holiday were brought forth once more, with such additions in the shape
of sashes, flowers, and gloves as befitted the greater importance of the
occasion, and in her own bedroom Pixie O'Shaughnessy was whisking to and
fro, attending to the wants of three exacting mistresses, who all seemed
to require her at one and the same moment.

"Hi, Pixie, come here! This place is getting knee-deep in clothes.
Just put them away."

"Now then, Pixie. I'm waiting for this hair-dressing! You make it look
like an artificial plait, or there'll be trouble in this camp."

"Oh-h, bother! The more hurry the less speed. Now I've broken this
tape. Has anyone got a bodkin? No, of course not! There never is a
bodkin when I want one. You'll have to manage with a hairpin, Pixie,
and be sharp about it. I shall be late for tea at this