said,--

"Caught you, Marion Parke! Now I'm going straight in to report you to
Miss Ashton, and you'll see what you'll get."

"What shall I?" asked Marion, laughing back.

"She'll ask you very politely to take a seat by her on the sofa, and
then she'll look straight in your eyes and she'll say,--

"'I am very sorry, Marion, to find you so soon after joining my school
breaking one of my most important regulations.' (She always says
regulations; we don't have any rules here.) 'I had expected better
things of you, as you are a minister's daughter, and came from the far
West.'"

"Is studying your lesson, then, breaking a rule?"

"Studying it in exercise hours is an unpardonable sin. Don't you know
we are sent out into the open air for rest, change, exercise? You
ought to be rowing, walking, playing croquet, tennis, base-ball,
football. You've to recruit your shattered energies, instead of
winding them up to the highest pitch. We've been watching you, but no
one liked to tell you, so I came. I won't tell Miss Ashton this time,
if you'll promise me solemnly you'll join our croquet party, and
always play on our side! Come; we're waiting for you!"

"Wait until I come back," said Marion, rising hastily, and gathering
up her books. "I didn't know there was any such a rule--regulation, I
mean."

Then, half frightened and half amused, she went back to the house,
straight to Miss Ashton's room.

Miss Ashton was busy, but she met her with a smile.

"Miss Ashton," said Marion, "I am very sorry; I didn't know it was
against your wishes. I found such a lovely, quiet little nook in the
grove, and I've been studying there when Mamie Smythe says I ought to
have been exercising."

"Then you have done wrong," said Miss Ashton gravely. "I understand
that the newness of your work makes your lessons difficult, but there
is nothing to be gained by overwork. Come to me at some other time,
and I will talk with you more about it. Now go, for the pleasantest
thing you can find to do in the way of healthful exercise. There are
some fine roses in blossom on the lawn; I wish you would pick me a
nice, large bunch for my vase. Look at the poor thing! See how
drooping the flowers are!"

Mamie Smythe's croquet party waited in vain for Marion's return; but
on the beautiful lawn, where the late roses were doing their best to
prolong their summer beauty, Marion went from bush to bush, picking
the fairest, and conning a lesson which somehow se