says it
takes a whole year to become a full-blown Chaddite, and until you've
thoroughly assimilated Chessington ideas you oughtn't to presume to air
outside opinions."

"What bosh!"

"No, it's not bosh. You see, we all think that Chessington is the only
girls' school in England, and that St. Chad's is the one house at
Chessington. One must keep up the traditions of the place, and it
wouldn't do to let every fresh comer take the lead. You'll have to
knuckle under, Paddy, and eat humble pie. Vivian has been here for five
years--she's simply a 'Chaddite of the Chaddites'. That's why she was
chosen monitress. You'll have your chance when you get to the Sixth
Form."

"Shall I ever climb so high up in the school? If I were head of the
house, though, I'd be rather less hard on new arrivals."

"Oh, no, you wouldn't! By the time you've gone through the mill
yourself you'll want to grind everybody else. There's an attraction
about the St. Chad's code; you'll like it better when you're more used
to it, and when you've forgotten any pettifogging notions you may have
brought from anywhere else."

"You're outspoken, at any rate!"

"Certainly! I believe in plain, unvarnished truths."

Honor had already discovered that fact, and also the further one that
whatever a girl's position might be at home, it made no difference to
her standing at the College, where each was judged solely and entirely
on her own merits. She had once unfortunately alluded with a touch of
pride to her family pedigree, but she rued her mistake in a moment, for
Vivian, with uplifted eyebrows, had enquired in a tone of cutting
contempt: "Who are the Fitzgeralds?"

A large public school is indeed a vast democracy, and members are
estimated only by the value they prove themselves to be to the
commonweal: their private possessions and affairs matter little to the
general community, but their examination successes, cricket scores, or
tennis championships are of vital importance. All, to use an old
phrase, must find their own level, and establish a record for
themselves apart from home belongings. Honor was beginning to realize
that among two hundred girls she was a mere unit, and that her opinions
and prejudices counted as nothing against the enormous weight of
universal custom. It was quite a new aspect of life, so new that she
was not sure whether she liked or disliked it; although, if she had
been given her choice of remaining at the College or returning t