a, do
stop! I'd no idea you meant to play such a dreadful trick on Stephie."

"You must have known something of it, or you wouldn't have come to look
on. I expect you were at the bottom of it," sneered Stephanie; "so don't
try to sneak out of it, Ulyth Stanton. Your precious joke has marked me
for life."

"No, no! It's only cochineal and milk. I got it from the cook," put in
the Cuckoo.

"It's stained her face all over, though," said Beth Broadway
reproachfully.

"I shall go straight to Miss Bowes," whimpered Stephanie.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Ulyth. "Try some methylated
spirit first. I'll give you some from my room."

The remedy proved efficacious. The stains yielded to gentle rubbing, and
the four girls flew in a wild hurry to make their beds, three much
relieved and one naughtily exultant.

"I've paid out Stephie," panted Rona, tucking in her blankets anyhow. "I
felt proud of that letter. Made it up with the help of advertisements in
the _Illustrated Journal_. Then I typed it in the study while Teddie was
out. You didn't know I could type? Learnt how on the voyage, from a girl
who'd a typewriter on board with her. I laid on the butter pretty thick.
I knew Steph would swallow it to any amount. Oh, didn't she just look
flattered? It was prime! The under-housemaid posted the parcel for me."

"Stephie'll never forgive you!"

"Much I care!"

CHAPTER VII

The Cuckoo's Progress

"Your bear cub still needs taming, Ulyth," said Gertrude Oliver. "She
spilt her coffee this morning--such a mess on the tablecloth! I wish I
didn't sit next to her. I felt like Alice at the March Hare's
tea-party."

"It was half Maud's fault; she jerked her elbow," pleaded Ulyth in
extenuation.

"Oh, you can't whitewash her, so don't try! I won't say she isn't better
than when she arrived, but there's room for improvement."

"She's much slimmer. I suppose it must have been the voyage that had
made her grow so fat in September."

"I wish, at any rate, you could get her out of using those dreadful
backwoods expressions. It's high time she dropped them. She's been here
nearly a full term."

Ulyth thought so too, and the next time she found a suitable opportunity
she tackled Rona on the subject.

"You're too nice to speak in such a queer way. You've no idea how it
spoils you," she urged. "You could be another girl if you'd only take a
little trouble."

"What's the use? Who minds what I'm like?" return