s quite sticky!"

"It would be a lovely tree to climb, the boughs are so regular," said
Honor, gazing into the green heights above.

"I don't believe I could go up a tree if a mad bull were after me,"
asserted Pauline. "I should just collapse at the bottom, and be gored
to death, I know I should!"

"It isn't difficult," declared Honor. "You've only to catch hold of the
branches, and keep swinging yourself a little higher. I've climbed ever
so many trees in our garden at home."

"I should like to see you do it here, then."

"Very well! I'll show you, if you don't believe me."

The lime tree in question stood close to the house--so near, in fact,
that some of its boughs brushed the windows. Miss Cavendish had several
times decided to have it cut down, thinking it interfered with the
light; but Miss Maitland had always begged that it might be spared a
little longer, saying she loved its cool shade.

Honor swung herself quite easily from branch to branch, while the group
of girls below watched her with admiration.

"You look like a middy going up the main-mast," said Ruth.

"Or a monkey at the Zoo," added Lettice.

"That's the voice of jealousy," remarked Chatty. "Lettice is green with
envy because she can't do it herself."

"A squirrel would be a happier simile," suggested Ruth.

[Illustration: AN UNLUCKY ESCAPADE]

"She's getting along very quickly," said Pauline.

Half-way up the tree Honor paused and looked down.

"Hallo!" she cried, "I'm just by Miss Maitland's study. I shall go in,
and pay her a call. Ta-ta!" and she disappeared suddenly through the
open window.

"What will Miss Maitland say if she's there?" exclaimed Lettice.

"I don't believe she'd be cross," said Maisie. "She'd be amused to see
anybody come in so funnily."

Honor was absent only about a minute, then her beaming face peeped from
the window once more.

"Miss Maitland's not at home," she announced. "I've left my card with
the footman, and said I'd call again another day, in my aeroplane. Keep
out of the way down there--I'm coming!" and down she came, with a rush
and a scramble, arriving quite safely, however, with only her hair
ribbon untied and her hands a little grazed.

"You see, it's really a very easy matter," she explained; "we do far
harder things in the gym."

"Can you find a good foothold?" asked Flossie.

"Oh, yes! There are heaps of places that seem made on purpose to put
your toe in. It's almost like a ladder."