arade such a woebegone face, whatever might be the depths
of my misery," returned Chatty briskly.

"I'm always glad to come back," declared Dorothy Arkwright. "I like
school. It's fun to meet everybody again, and arrange about cricket,
and the Debating Society, and the Natural History Club. There's so much
going on at St. Chad's."

"No one has answered my question yet," remarked Madge Summers. "Are
there any new girls?"

Chatty wriggled herself into a more comfortable position between
Adeline Vaughan and Ruth Latimer.

"I think there are about a dozen altogether. Vivian Holmes says there
are four at St. Bride's, three at St. Aldwyth's, two at the School
House, and two at St. Hilary's. I saw one of them arriving at the same
time as I did, and Miss Cavendish was gushing over another in the
library; and Marian Spencer has brought a sister--she introduced her to
me just now."

"But what about St. Chad's?"

"We've only one, I believe, though Flossie Taylor, the Hammond-Smiths'
cousin, has moved here from St. Bride's. She was always destined for a
Chaddite, you know, only there wasn't room for her till the Richardsons
left."

"She's no great acquisition," said Dorothy Arkwright. "I hate girls to
change their quarters. When once they start at a house, they ought to
stick to it."

"Well, she wants to be with her cousins, I suppose," put in Madge
Summers. "Who's our new girl?"

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything about her."

"Perhaps she hasn't arrived yet."

"Sh! Sh!" said Pauline Reynolds, squeezing Madge's arm by way of
remonstrance, and pointing to the closely-drawn curtains of the cubicle
at the farther end of the room. "She's here now."

"Where?"

"There, you goose!"

"What has she shut herself up like that for?"

"How should I know?"

"Perhaps she's unpacking," suggested Dorothy Arkwright.

"If she is, she'll finish it quicker than Lettice and I can," returned
Maisie Talbot. "Why can't you be hanging up some of those skirts,
instead of sitting staring at me? Yes, this is a whole box of Edinburgh
rock, but you shan't have a single piece, any of you, unless you get
off my bed at once."

"Poor old Maisie, don't grow excited!" murmured Ruth Latimer,
appropriating the box and handing it round, though no one attempted to
move.

"But look here! what about this new girl?" persisted Madge. "Hasn't
anybody seen her?"

"No. She's been in there ever since she arrived."

"Don't talk so loud; she'll