til the sun did wane;
And fast confirmed in Grecian pose,
They never flopped again!"

"You may mock as much as you please!" retorted Phillida, "but it's sheer
envy because you know you won't be chosen as a wood nymph. Play cricket
and tennis if you wish, by all means! But _I_ think when we're having a
performance we may just as well give our minds to it, and do it
properly, especially when Miss Adams is here to teach us."

"Right you are! Float on, O goddess! You're getting too ethereal for the
school. I shall be glad when the entertainment's over, and we can have a
cricket match again. It's decidedly more in my line!"

Miss Adams, with all the enthusiasm of youth and a new vocation, was
determined to make the entertainment a success. She spared no trouble
over constant rehearsals, and having weeded out those girls who could
not adapt themselves to her methods, she kept the rest well at work in
any time that was available. She determined not only to have dances, but
to give in addition a short Greek play, and selected for that purpose
the famous fifteenth idyll of Theocritus.

"But we're not to act it in Greek, surely!" objected Edith in alarm.

"It's bad enough to have to learn French plays! We'd never be able to
tackle Greek!" urged Dulcie, absolutely aghast.

"Don't look so scared!" laughed Miss Adams. "I'm not going to ask you to
give it in Greek. Probably few people would understand it if you did! I
have a delightful translation here. It ought to take very well indeed
with the audience. Come and squat on the grass, and I'll read it aloud
to you first, and then I'll allot parts."

"Is it _very_ stiff and educational?" groaned Dulcie, obeying
unwillingly.

"Wait and see! Come under the shade of the lilac bush, it's so hot to
sit in the sun."

The girls composed themselves into attitudes of more or less classic
elegance, and Miss Adams, book in hand, began to read.

"IDYLL XV

"_Gorgo._ Is Praxinoe at home?

"_Praxinoe._ Dear Gorgo, how long it is since you have been here! She
_is_ at home. The wonder is that you have got here at last. Eunoe,
see that she has a chair. Throw a cushion on it, too.

"_Gorgo._ It does most charmingly as it is.

"_Praxinoe._ Do sit down.

"_Gorgo._ Oh, what a thing spirit is! I have scarcely got to you
alive, Praxinoe! What a huge crowd! What hosts of four-in-hands!
Everywhere cavalry boots, everywhere men in unifor