learn and act yards
of dialogue, or to sit in the audience and listen while other people
show off. I like out-of-doors treats! I'm an open-air girl."

The occupants of the Blue bedroom decided that it was high time
something happened to stir up Carmel, who was behaving more like an
exile than an heiress. Now the first excitement of her arrival and
unpacking was over, she had relapsed into a piteous fit of homesickness.

"I believe she's crying again!" said Dulcie, laying an ear to the door
that communicated with the dressing-room. "Do you think I ought to go in
to her?"

"It's no use!" declared Lilias. "I went last night and tried to comfort
her, and I'm sure I only made her cry harder. Best leave her to
herself."

"Homesick people always do cry harder if you sympathize," proclaimed
Gowan. "I was prefect of the junior dormitory at my other school before
I came here, and the new kids always turned on the water works at first.
I learnt how to manage them. Sympathy makes them worse. What you want is
to switch their minds off thinking about home, and make them enjoy
school life. Carmel will come round in time."

"Meantime," said Bertha, "she reminds me of that picture in Miss
Walters' study: 'The Hostage.' You know the one I mean, the girl who's
standing leaning over the castle wall and gazing out to sea, and
evidently thinking of her own country. I wonder if princesses who were
sent to be married to foreign princes felt homesick?"

"I dare say they did," grunted Gowan, "but I'm sure my plan's the best
for curing the complaint. Smack them on the back and make them cheer up,
instead of letting them weep on your shoulder. I don't like a damp
atmosphere!"

To do Carmel justice, however acute her sense of exile might be, she had
not obtruded her woes upon her schoolfellows, and had conducted her
weeping in secret. If sounds of distress filtered through the door, it
was only when matters seemed particularly hopeless. On Saturday she
came down dressed for the jaunt, and all smiles.

"Sit her between Edith and Bertha," commanded Gowan, "and tell them they
may be their silliest! Make her laugh till she's weak. I'll take a turn
at her myself later. Don't let her mope about in the woods alone. Keep
close to her, and make all the insane jokes you can. I tell you I was
homesick myself once, though you mayn't believe it. I don't often dab my
eyes now, do I?"

"Here are the wagonettes," said Dulcie. "Why, that driver has stuc