, and three's for luck! She's the third to-day and she may be a
mascot."

"I'd rather have chocolates than mascots," said an injured voice from
behind a coffee-cup.

The chance remark gave Irene the very opportunity she needed. She
suddenly remembered the chocolates her father had handed her before she
left the hotel, and, producing the package, she offered its contents.
After a visible moment of hesitation the girl with the long pigtail
accepted her hospitality, and passed the delicacies round. Instantly all
were chumping almonds, and the icy atmosphere thawed into summer.
Everybody began to talk at once.

"There's a spare cup here if you'd like some coffee. Yes, Rachel, I
_shall_ offer it!"

"I suppose you're over fourteen?"

"We may make coffee after lunch if we're seniors, but the kids aren't
allowed any."

"You've just one minute to drink it in before the bell rings."

"Hustle up if you want to finish it."

"I'll bet a cookie you're a real sport."

"There's the bell! Don't choke or you'll blight your young career."

"We've got to scoot quick!"

"Come along with me and I'll show you where."

Irene, taken in tow by a girl with a freckled nose, was hurried along
the corridor and up the stairs to the classrooms. Although she had
scarcely spoken a word she had undoubtedly gained a victory, and had
established her welcome among at least a section of her schoolfellows.
She did not yet know their names, but names are a detail compared with
personalities, and with some members of the coffee-party she felt that
she might ultimately become chums.

"Don't I bless Dad for those chocs!" she thought as she took her seat
at a desk. "They worked the trick. If I'd had nothing to offer that crew
I might have sat out in the cold forevermore. The dark pigtail is decent
enough, but if it comes to a matter of chumming give me 'Freckles' for
choice."

The Villa Camellia was a high-class boarding-school for
English-speaking girls whose parents were residents, permanently or
temporarily, in the neighborhood of Naples. It was generally described
as an Anglo-American college, for the arrangements were accommodated to
suit the customs of both sides of the Atlantic. Miss Rodgers and her
partner, Miss Morley, the two principals, came respectively from London
and New York; one teacher had been trained in Boston, and another at
Oxford, while the British section of the community included girls from
South Africa, Australia, and Ne