onely there without a princess, she feared, and she
herself already belonged to Kit. It was always easier to find princes
than princesses, and she did wish that Finny would not wear a cap and
scrape her hair back so tidily--two things which disqualified her, in
spite of her niceness, from being a princess in anybody's kingdom.
However, perhaps he would not mind doing without a princess just at
first; and in time she might be able to find some one who was neither
silly nor unkind, and would be worthy of a crown and the companionship
of a disenchanted beast.

At this point in her reflections Barbara reached the door of the senior
playroom, and the sight of the elder girls, as they busied themselves
with their weekly correspondence, reminded her again of her letter to
Kit. For the moment, as far as she was concerned, her new prince would
have to whistle for a princess.

CHAPTER IX

THE BABE'S 'FURY'

In the junior playroom Jean Murray had been taking the opportunity to
revive the animosity against the new girl.

'Can't you see that she's laughing at us all?' she exclaimed to a circle
of humble listeners. 'It's all very well to pretend to be such a baby;
that kind of thing may go down with the elder ones, but it won't do here.
Anybody can see that she's only putting it all on, to be aggravating.'

'She told a story the very day she arrived,' chimed in Angela from behind.
'A girl who could do that would do anything.'

'Can't you leave the child alone?' suggested Charlotte Bigley, who
happened to be listening. 'She seems such a harmless infant to me. I
don't believe she even knows she is supposed to be in disgrace.'

It required a good deal of courage to stand up alone against all the girls
in the junior playroom, and Charlotte flushed a little when they all
laughed at her.

'That's where her artfulness comes in,' declared Jean. She thought she
heard her rival's voice on the other side of the curtain, and jealousy
made her more bitter than before. 'If you ask me, I believe she only
pretends not to notice any of us, so as to pick up everything she can; and
then she goes and sneaks it all to the elder ones.'

'Oh, Jean!' remonstrated Charlotte.

Jean looked a tiny bit ashamed of herself. It was not nearly so easy to
say unkind things about the new girl as it had been a week ago. All the
same, her unhappiness at the continued coldness of Margaret Hulme was
quite genuine, and it hurt her sorely to think that