ur mouth
and shut your eyes, and see what the king will send you!"

Rona was fumbling in her drawer as she spoke. She turned round, seized
her friend boisterously and forced her on to the bed, then, holding a
hand over her eyes, crammed a chocolate almond into her mouth.

"Rona! What are you doing?" protested Ulyth, shaking herself free.
"Where did you get this chocolate?"

Rona pulled a face expressive of mingled secrecy, delight, and triumph.

"Rats!" she chuckled enigmatically. "Little girls shouldn't ask
questions."

"But I want to know."

"That's not sporty! Take the goods the gods send you, and don't ask 'em
what tree they picked them from."

"But, Rona----"

"Are you two girls still out of bed and talking?" said an indignant
voice, as Miss Lodge opened the door and glared reproval. "Make haste. I
give you three minutes, and if you're not ready by then I shall report
you. Not another word! I'm astonished at you, Ulyth, for breaking the
silence rule."

"I didn't hear the half-past nine bell," replied Ulyth, abashed.

"Then it's your business to hear it. It's loud enough. Everybody else on
the landing is in bed."

Miss Lodge put out the light and walked away, with a final warning
against further conversation. Rona was asleep in a few minutes,
breathing calmly and peacefully as was her wont, but Ulyth lay awake for
a long time watching a shadow on the wall cast from the beech-tree
outside. Where had Rona got her chocolates? The answer was perfectly
plain. With the little brooch for evidence there could be no mistake.

"She's not so bad as the others, because I really don't think she quite
realizes even yet what school honour means. But Tootie and her scouts
know. There's no excuse for them. Well, only two days now, and Mrs.
Arnold will be here. What a tower of strength she is! I can tell her
everything. Friday will very soon come now, thank goodness!"

But those two days were to bring events of their own, events quite
unprecedented in the school, and unexpected by everybody. How they
affected Ulyth and Rona will be related farther on in our story; but
meantime, for a true understanding of their significance, we must pause
to consider a certain feature of the life at The Woodlands. When Miss
Teddington had joined partnership with Miss Bowes she had added many new
ideas to the plan of education which had formerly been pursued.

She was determined that the school should not be dubbed "old-fashioned",
a