St. Ethelberta's

The immediate result to Marjorie of her mock somnambulistic adventure
was that she got a very bad cold in her head, due no doubt to walking
about the passages with bare feet and only her nightdress on. It was
highly aggravating, because she was considered an invalid, and her
Wednesday exeat was cancelled. She had to watch from the infirmary
window when Dona, escorted by Miss Jones, started off for The Tamarisks.
Dona waved a sympathetic good-bye as she passed. She was a kind-hearted
little soul, and genuinely sorry for Marjorie, though it was rather a
treat for her to have Elaine quite to herself for the afternoon. Mrs.
Anderson had been justified in her satisfaction that the sisters had not
been placed in the same hostel. In Marjorie's presence Dona was nothing
but an echo or a shadow, with no personality of her own. At St.
Ethelberta's, however, she had begun in her quiet way to make a place
for herself. She was already quite a favourite among her house-mates.
They teased her a little, but in quite a good-tempered fashion, and
Dona, accustomed to the continual banter of a large family, took all
chaffing with the utmost calm. She was happier at school than she had
expected to be. Miss Jones, the hostel mistress, was genial and
warm-hearted, and kept well in touch with her girls. She talked to them
about their various hobbies, and was herself interested in so many
different things that she could give valuable hints on photography,
bookbinding, raffia-plaiting, poker-work, chip-carving, stencilling,
pen-painting, or any other of the handicrafts in which the Juniors
dabbled. She was artistic, and had done quite a nice pastel portrait of
Belle Miller, whose Burne-Jones profile and auburn hair made her an
excellent model. Miss Jones had no lack of sitters when she felt
disposed to paint, for every girl in the house would have been only too
flattered to be asked.

Dona was a greater success in her hostel than in the schoolroom. After
her easy lessons with a daily governess she found the standard of her
form extremely high. She was not fond of exerting her brains, and her
exercises were generally full of "howlers". Miss Clark, her form
mistress, was apt to wax eloquent over her mistakes, but she took the
teacher's sarcasms with the same stolidity as the girls' teasings. It
was a saying in the class that nothing could knock sparks out of Dona.
Yet she possessed a certain reserve of shrewd common sense whi