of old who gave large sums to the Church, to try to
atone for the sins they still went on committing. She had no intention
of explaining or setting the matter of the chair right, and her most
earnest hope was that Mabel had succeeded in turning away the suspicions
of the other girls from her, or, at least, in closing their mouths.

"They won't like to mention it any more, from fear of offending Mabel,"
she thought. "There's not one of them who would risk a quarrel. I expect
I'm safe enough, and needn't worry about it: but oh, dear! Mabel thinks
I'm so generous, and everything that's noble and splendid and good; I
wonder what she would say, if she knew me as I really am!"

CHAPTER XIII

Aldred pays a Visit

Miss Bardsley, after nearly six weeks' absence from school, returned to
her work with renewed zeal, and under her judicious rule the Fourth Form
was once more the abode of order and attention, Miss Webb's brief
interlude was soon an old story, and Aldred, except for the inward
monitor that insisted on recalling unpleasant things, was troubled with
no awkward reminiscences, or demands for an explanation which she was
not prepared to give. The days were so full and so busy at the Grange
that the girls were generally occupied with the affairs of the moment,
and they had neither time nor inclination for recollections of an
episode that had reflected so little credit upon the Form.

The spring term was often called "Indoor Science Term", because on
Wednesday evenings Miss Drummond gave lectures that were intended as a
preparation for the botanical and zoological rambles held during the
summer. In May, June, and July the girls would be taken to search for
wild flowers upon the downs, and for marine specimens of all kinds on
the beach; and it was Miss Drummond's object to enable them to
understand beforehand what they were likely to find. Sometimes she had a
magic lantern and sometimes a microscope, and always she had something
interesting to tell and to show, whether it was the marvels of plant
life or the wonders of the seashore; and she could make her nature
stories sound as thrilling as human ones.

There were attendances also at concerts and University Extension
lectures at Chetbourne, to which the school went in relays; Miss
Drummond liked to keep her girls in touch with the outside world, and
did not wish them to remain continually shut up in the Grange, as if it
were a nunnery. At mealtimes, though she