e sooner you are packed
off to school the better. We have indulged you too much at home, and it
is time indeed that you learnt to submit to some kind of discipline."

The proposal to send her away to school was a terrible blow to Honor.
At first she appealed to her mother, begging her to plead with her
father and try to persuade him to alter his resolution. But Mrs.
Fitzgerald, while regretting to part with her troublesome daughter, was
so convinced of the wisdom of the proceeding that, instead of
interceding, she applauded her husband's decision.

"I can't ever like England!" sobbed Honor. "I'd rather have our
mountains and lakes and bogs than all the grand streets and houses. I'm
Irish to the core, and I don't believe any school over the water can
change me. There's no place in the world like Kilmore. I love even the
cabins, and the peat fires, and the pigs, and the potatoes! I shan't
forget a single stick or stone of it, and I shall never know a moment's
happiness till I'm home again."

After considerable hesitation, and the examination of a large number of
prospectuses, Major and Mrs. Fitzgerald had determined to send Honor to
Chessington College. It had a wide and well-deserved reputation, and
Miss Cavendish, the principal, was understood to give much individual
attention to the characters and dispositions of her pupils. Added to
this, it was situated within a few miles of the Naval Preparatory
School where Dermot, Honor's younger brother, had been for the last two
years; so that they knew from experience that the neighbourhood was
bracing and healthy.

"It's a comfort, at any rate, that I shall be near Dermot," said Honor,
as she sat watching while her mother superintended the maid who was
packing her boxes.

"I'm afraid you won't see much of him, dear, during term-time," replied
Mrs. Fitzgerald. "He will not be able to visit you, I'm sure; neither
will Miss Cavendish allow you to go out with him."

"Why not?" demanded Honor.

"Because it would be against the rules."

"Then the rules are absurd, and I shan't keep them."

"Honor! Honor! Don't speak like that! You have run wild here, but at
Chessington College you will be obliged to fall in with the ordinary
regulations."

"They'll have hard work to tame me, Mother!" laughed Honor, jumping up
and dancing a little impromptu jig between the boxes. "I don't want to
go, but since I must, I mean to get any enjoyment I can out of it.
After all, perhaps it may