She ought to have
married King Harold, only she didn't, somehow. It's meant as a
compliment, no doubt!"

"I believe you wrote it yourself!"

"No, I didn't. At least I mustn't tell just yet. I'm going to read the
last one now.

"TO PRISSIE

"I am not sentimental, please,
I cannot write in rhyme,
I beg you'll all ecstatics leave
Until another time.

"But if I'm lacking in romance,
At least my heart is true,
And in its own prosaic way,
It only beats for you.

"'Mong damsels all I think you are
The nicest little Missie,
And beg to have for Valentine
That sweetest maid, Miss Prissie."

"Author! Author!" cried Prissie. "It's Lilias, I do believe!"

"Guessing's been horribly wrong!" said Gowan. "Only about one of you was
right. Shall I read the list?

"To Phillida by Dulcie.
To Lilias by Noreen.
To Gowan by myself.
To Bertha by Phillida.
To Noreen by Prissie.
To Dulcie by Bertha.
To Edith by Lilias.
To Prissie by Edith."

"So you wrote your own, Gowan! What a humbug you are! You quite put us
off the scent!"

"Well, I drew my own name, you see. I had to write something! Bertha
ought to have a prize for guessing right, only we've nothing to give
her. Shall we play something else?"

"Prissie's brought a pack of cards, and she says she'll tell our
fortunes," proclaimed Edith.

"I learnt how in the holidays," confessed Prissie. "A girl was staying
with us who had a book about it. We used to have ripping fun every
evening over it. Whose fortune shall I tell first? Oh, don't all speak
at once! Look here, you'd better each cut, and the lowest shall win."

Dulcie, who turned up an ace, was the lucky one, and was therefore
elected as the first to consult the oracle. By Prissie's orders she
shuffled the cards, then handed them back to the sorceress, who laid
them out face upward in rows, and after a few moments' meditation began
her prophecies.

"You're fair, and therefore the Queen of Diamonds is your representative
card--all the luck's behind you instead of facing you. I see a
disappointment and great changes. A dark woman is coming into your life.
She's connected somehow with money, but there are hearts behind her.
You'll take a journey by land, and find trouble and perplexity."

"Haven't you anything nicer to tell me than that?" pouted Dulcie. "Who's
the dark woman?"

"She seems to be a rel