d under her
breath, hoping Stephanie might overhear.

Ulyth was at the other side of the room, but Stephanie's quick ears
caught the whisper. She looked daggers at Rona, but she made no remark,
and Ulyth, returning, gently took her pendant away and placed it with
the other non-exhibits on the bench. It had been a wet afternoon. No
outdoor exercise had been possible that day, and the girls were tired of
all their usual indoor occupations.

"I wish somebody'd suggest something new to cheer us up," yawned Nellie
Barlow. "There's a quarter of an hour more 'rec.' It's too short to be
worth while getting out any apparatus, but it's long enough to be deadly
dull."

"Can't someone do some tricks?" asked Edie Maycock.

"All right, Toby; sit on your hind legs and beg for biscuits," laughed
Marjorie Earnshaw.

"I mean real tricks--conjuring and fortune telling; the amateur wizard,
you know."

"I don't know."

"Then you're stupid. Have you never seen amateur conjuring--coins that
vanish, and things that come out of hats?"

"Yes; but I couldn't do it, my good child. Being in the Sixth doesn't
make me a magician."

"We tried a little bit at home," pursued Edie. "We had a book that told
us how; only I never could manage it quickly. People always saw how I
did it."

"Rona's the girl for that," suggested Hattie Goodwin.

"Is she? Come here, Rona, I want you. Can you really and truly do
conjuring?"

"Oh, not properly!" laughed Rona. "But when I was on board ship there
was a gentleman who was very clever at it, and I and some boys I'd made
friends with were tremendously keen at learning. We got him to show us a
few easy tricks, and we were always trying them. I could manage it just
a little, but I'm out of practice now. You'd see in a second how it was
done, I'm afraid."

"Oh, do show us, just for fun!"

"What do you want to see?"

"Oh, anything!"

"The vanishing coin?"

"Yes, yes. Go ahead!"

"Then give me two pennies or shillings, either will do."

The audience who had clustered round looked at one another, each
expecting somebody else to produce a coin. Then everybody laughed.

"We haven't got so much as a copper amongst us! We're a set of absolute
paupers!" declared Doris. "Can't you do some other trick?"

"There is nothing else I could manage so well," said Rona
disconsolately. "This was the only one I really learnt."

"Can't it be done with anything but coins?"

"Something the same size and round, pe