Mollie. "One has no need to cultivate a tough
skin, just because one's fond of cricket and hockey. I hate to see girls
with hard red cheeks and freckles."

It was certainly not possible to obtain Mrs. Courtenay's lavender cream
or any other toilet specialties at the Camp. Beatrice and Mollie,
however, impressed with the necessity of preserving their complexions,
commandeered some of the buttermilk which was sent daily from the farm,
and dabbed it plentifully over their faces before retiring to bed,
following the application with massage to the best of their ability.
They were emulated in these toilet rites by Agatha James, Mary Payne and
Olave Parry, who also studied the beauty hints columns, and liked to try
experiments. One day Agatha found an entirely new suggestion in a copy
of "The Ladies' Portfolio." A correspondent wrote strongly advocating
common salt as a hair tonic. It was to be rubbed in at night, and
brushed out again in the morning.

Apparently nothing could be more simple. Beatrice, being on kitchen
duty, had access to the salt-box. She purloined a good breakfastcupful,
and divided the spoils with her four confederates. They all rubbed the
salt carefully into the roots of their hair. Next morning, however, when
they essayed to brush it out again, it obstinately refused to budge, and
remained hard and gritty among their tresses. They were very much
concerned. What was to be done? The only obvious remedy was to wash
their hair. Now the one drawback of the Camp was its shortage of water.
The daily supply had to be carried in buckets from the farm, and as,
owing to the warm dry weather, the well was getting low, their allowance
at present was rather small, and had to be carefully husbanded. The
amount doled out for washing purposes certainly was quite inadequate
for the due rinsing of five plentiful heads of hair.

"I suppose we shall just have to grin and bear it till we can get home
and can mermaid properly in a bath!" sighed Mary.

"Oh, I can't! I'm going to wash mine somehow. Look here, suppose we
sneak off quietly this afternoon, and go on a water hunt?"

"There isn't a stream or a pond anywhere near."

"We haven't tried the wood!"

"Well, we're not allowed there, of course."

"I don't see why we shouldn't go. The young pheasants must be all
hatched, and running about by this time, so what harm could we do?
Besides which, nobody's troubling about preserving game during the war.
They're shooting G