mploy this sum to the best advantage, so as to provide
some future means of subsistence for yourself and family?"

The opinions of the Form had been interesting, and had varied from
poultry farming to the establishment of a boarding-house or the
setting up of tea-rooms. The most original suggestion, however, was
contributed by Fauvette, and, while it outraged Miss Gibbs's sense of
propriety, caused infinite hilarity in the Form.

"If I were left a widow," she wrote, "I should get the children into
orphanages, or persuade rich friends to adopt them. Then I would spend
the three hundred pounds in buying new clothes and staying at the best
hotels, and try to get married again to somebody who could provide for
me better."

Among the flights of fancy in which the Fifth Form were forced to
indulge were a railway collision, a fire, a bicycle accident, an
escape of gas, the swallowing of poison, the bursting of the kitchen
boiler, a case of choking, and an infectious epidemic. On the whole
they rather enjoyed the fun of airing their views, and when asked to
propose fresh topics had suggested such startling catastrophes as "A
German Invasion," "A Revolution," "A Volcanic Eruption," "A Famine,"
and "A Zeppelin Raid."

Rejecting the first four, Miss Gibbs had chosen the last for
discussion, and for fully ten minutes the Form, in imagination, dwelt
in an atmosphere of explosives. They clutched their few valuables that
were within reach, donned dressing-gowns and bedroom slippers, each
seized a blanket, and all descended to the cellars with the utmost
dispatch of which they were capable, while bombs came crashing through
the roof, and the walls of the house tottered to ruin.

"I shall never dare to go to sleep again!" shivered Fauvette, appalled
at the mental picture presented to her.

"Are the Zepps likely to come, Miss Gibbs?" enquired Ardiune.

"Not so likely at this time of year as in winter. Still, of course,
one never can tell," replied the mistress, anxious to justify the
usefulness of her emergency lessons. "It is wise to know what to do.
We ought all to adopt the Boy Scouts' motto--'Be Prepared'."

"And suppose we ever do hear dreadful noises in the middle of the
night?" said Raymonde, gazing with solemn, awestruck eyes at the
teacher.

"Then you must make for the cellar without delay," replied Miss Gibbs
emphatically.

If she could have seen Raymonde's expression, as that young lady
turned her head for a momen