much more interesting than that of the old days when the gardening had
all been done for them, and they had only lounged about the lawn and
played tennis. Each flower seemed twice as beautiful when they had
helped to grow it, and the vegetables of their own cultivation were
voted prize-winners.

Diana, in consideration of her great love for horses, was allowed to
give some assistance in Baron's toilet, and even sometimes to drive him,
a privilege (dependent on good behaviour) which made her supremely
happy.

On the whole, though Miss Todd was undoubtedly rather strict, the girls
decided that the school was jollier than in Mrs. Gifford's days. They
did not forget their former Principal, who wrote to them sometimes from
her new home and told them about her life in Burma, but they had
accepted the changed conditions, and had grown to like them. The outdoor
department seemed to bring a much wider current of life into Pendlemere.
Miss Chadwick and her two assistants were thoroughly modern, and would
discuss all sorts of up-to-date problems, so that the school kept in
touch with the outside world instead of living in the narrow rut of its
own little round of lessons and amusements. This term four elder
students had come, principally to study gardening under Miss Chadwick.
They were girls of eighteen and nineteen, who, instead of being placed
among the school, took somewhat the position of the old-fashioned
"parlour boarder" of sixty years ago, and were on terms of intimacy with
the mistresses. Naturally they were the envy and admiration of those
less fortunate beings who were still only ordinary pupils. They were
good-natured to the schoolgirls, but held themselves a little aloof.
Sometimes, in a rather superior manner, they would condescend to be
friendly. Each had her own train of worshippers. The prettiest and most
attractive of the four was Adeline Hoyle, a tall, fine-looking girl with
dark eyes, a very fair skin, and thick coils of brown hair twisted into
a classic knot. There was a calm dignity about her and a charm of
manner that was exceedingly taking. It bowled over Diana's heart
entirely. She took a sudden and most violent affection for Adeline. She
would hang about to try to get a word with her, flush crimson at the
slightest notice from her idol, and was ready to perform anything in the
way of odd jobs. She even took up sewing--a much neglected part of her
education--in order to embroider a handkerchief-case as a