arly a head. "She is in
inches, at any rate."

"I'm only a year older than Lettice, though I am so much taller,"
explained Maisie. "I suppose I ought to be in a higher form, but she
always manages to catch me up. I make up my mind every term I'm going
to win a double remove and leave her behind, yet somehow it never
happens to come off. I'm much better at cricket and hockey than at
French and algebra. But after all, it's rather convenient to have her
in the same form: she's sure to remember what the lesson is when I
forget, and I can borrow her books if I lose my own."

"Yes, I have to work for both," complained Lettice. "Maisie won't even
copy her exercise questions; she always relies on me."

Maisie certainly made her younger sister useful. She expected her to
fetch and carry, tidy both their cubicles, and generally maintain a
very subservient and inferior position. On the other hand, though she
tyrannized over Lettice herself, she would not allow anybody else to do
so, and was ready to take her part and fight her battles against the
whole school.

"I'm glad we're in the same class," remarked Honor, with an approving
glance at Lettice's round, smiling face. "Perhaps I shall ask you to
copy the exercise questions too. My memory is not particularly good
where lessons are concerned. Who else is in the Lower Third?"

"Ruth Latimer, my greatest chum."

"We allow ourselves chums," put in Maisie, "but we're not at all
romantic at Chessington. We don't swear eternal friendships, and
exchange locks of hair, and walk about the College with our arms
clasped round each other's necks, and write each other sentimental
notes, with 'sweetest' and 'darling' and 'fondest love' in them. That's
what Miss Maitland calls 'early Victorian'. We're very matter of fact
here. Still, when we choose a chum we generally stick to her, and don't
go in for all that nonsense of 'getting out of friends', or not
speaking, as they do at some schools."

Honor was about to ask more questions, but at that moment Vivian
Holmes, the monitress and head girl of the house, came bustling into
the room.

"You haven't got your sailor and jersey yet, Honor Fitzgerald," she
said. "Miss Maitland asked me to give them to you. Here they are, both
marked with your name, so that they needn't be mixed up with anybody
else's. You're to take this hook, and this compartment for your shoes,
and this locker to keep your books in. I've put labels on them all."

Honor