ad taught Barbara the exercise, and she had every reason to be
proud of her pupil. So she let down the trapeze from the roof and held it
back with her hands, ready to drop it forward when the child had worked up
her swing.

The eyes of the German music-master were filled with sentimental
interest, as the youngest girl in the school stepped up to the rings. He
knew very little about gymnastics, though a German; for his life had been
passed almost entirely in other lands, and during the brief period he
had spent in his own country he had been so absorbed in his art that he
had completely neglected the physical culture that is of so much
importance to most Germans. As for girls' gymnastics, his experience in
them had been entirely confined to a few occasions like the present,
when he was asked to play instead of the junior music-mistress. But he
never assisted at the usual lessons, when the junior music-mistress was
considered good enough to perform; so Miss Finlayson's remarks on the
merits of the three competitors conveyed very little to him. Still, he
managed to gather that Barbara stood a good chance of winning the prize,
and his fat, benevolent face beamed with satisfaction in consequence.
It was true that the little Fraeulein with the black, black eyes and the
wonder-clumsy fingers had no more talent for music than his tabby
cat, while the performances of Fraeulein Vilkins were the joy of his
heart; but it was the little one who asked him so many questions about
his beloved Germany, which she seemed to regard as being about the size
of Kensington Gardens, and he forgave her all her excruciating false
notes for the sake of her warm heart, which was _colossal_. When he saw
her standing there all alone, he quite gave up trying to be brilliant and
dropped into a little simple melody of his own, which he had never
thought important enough to name, but which Barbara had always told
him in her funny English was 'awfully fine.' Unfortunately, just as she
recognised the notes and nodded at him with a little smile, Jean brought
him a message from the games-mistress, asking him not to play at all
until the exercise was over.

'It's rather a difficult exercise, and you might put her out,' explained
Jean, seeing that he looked puzzled at such a peculiar request. Her
explanation did not help him much, for Jean did not trouble to translate
it into his own language; and, never having witnessed the exercise
that was coming, he faile