lomon. Not only did it give her a part in
the entertainment, but it solved the horrible question of her evening
dress. Etaire's flame-coloured robe with its stencilled blue border
would be very becoming, and she longed to wear the Celtic ornaments
which she had herself manufactured. She learnt the dance and the
speeches easily, and by the time the rehearsal was over everybody
breathed freely, and felt secure of the success of the performance.

No boxes arrived for Lesbia on the fatal 19th of December, but she could
afford to snap her fingers at fate now. Kitty and Joan Patterson went as
her guests to the school party, and sat among the audience quite
impressed with the excellence of the entertainment. The girls had indeed
risen tremendously to the occasion. The orchestra kept in fair time and
tune, drowned in any doubtful passages by Miss Bates's energy on the
piano; Marjorie Johns as Uathach and Pauline Kingston as King Eochaid
were the two leading voices, and sang and declaimed their parts with
much dramatic fire; Nina Wakefield made quite a sensation as Ochne, the
Druid, her incantation on the darkened stage creating such an atmosphere
of the supernatural as to send cold shivers down the spines of the
audience. Dainty Eve Orton, the nymph and sorceress of the drama,
presented a "posture-measure", reminiscent of the three graces in
Botticelli's picture of spring, a piece of futurist dancing, which
entirely took the house by storm, and made some of the guests remark
that at any rate the High School was up-to-date. Miss Tatham, watching
with much approval, caught the whispered words and smiled in secret
satisfaction that her visit to the Glastonbury Festival had not been in
vain: the reproach of "old-fashioned" could no longer be cast at the
school.

Lesbia, in her flame-coloured dress, with gilt chaplet, torc, and
brooch, made a truly Celtic maiden, and mercifully did not forget her
newly learnt speeches. She caught Joan's eye, as the performers lined up
for their final bow, and could not restrain a smile. The school
platform meant much to Lesbia. It was the centre of her little world,
and to have taken her place upon it to-night was the fulfilment of a
long-cherished ambition. Fortune, which lately had frowned upon her, had
for once proved a veritable fairy godmother.

CHAPTER VII

Those Juniors

Lesbia spent Christmas at the house of her great-aunt Newton. Mrs.
Patterson was expecting her sons home, and