engeance.

"Means they've got it, too," laughed Lois.

"Of course we'll have to answer it," Polly said.

The next few days the composition of a fitting reply occupied all their
time. They wrote and discarded a dozen answers before finally deciding
on a poem of Betty's. The _Tatler_ went to press with instructions to
print it on the first page, and the Whitehead girls, when they got their
copy, laughed long and heartily, for this is what they read:

"Eight little germs lurked in a cup
All on a pleasant day.
Eight little maids they spied that cup
When they went out to play.
They thought they'd take it home with them;
They didn't know, you see,
The mumpy germs were waiting there
As slyly as could be.
But when they took the cup, alas!
Those eight germs gave eight jumps
And landed in those eight maids' throats,
And gave them each the mumps."

CHAPTER XVII

SPRING

The months of March and April had come and gone. The days had passed in
unvarying monotony for the most part.

Now and again, however, some little incident found its place and added
the necessary interest to the school life. The long term after Christmas
is always tiring, and Easter vacation had come as a relief. By the time
this chapter opens the grounds of Seddon Hall gave proof of spring--warm
days and sunshine beckoned the girls out of doors, and early flowers
rewarded their frequent rambles in the woods. In less than three weeks
school would close, and another Senior class would graduate. Polly and
Lois had seen the same thing happen year after year, but now that the
time was approaching for them to go, they experienced the same feeling
of regret and wonder that every girl knows who has ever finished and
received a diploma.

Fortunately they did not have much time to wonder at the coming change
in their lives, for there are many events that crowd themselves into the
last few weeks of a Senior's school life, occupying most of her time.

To-day was a particularly busy one. There was a Senior class meeting to
decide on the Senior play. The photographer was coming to take the class
picture. There was a basket ball practice, for Field Day was not far
off, and an art exhibition in the evening. The latter was an entirely
new idea instigated by Miss Crosby. Every girl who could draw or paint
had offered the best her portfolio could yield, and these had been
framed and hung on the walls of the Assembly Hall.