able tracing interminable circles on the
back of an old envelope with a pair of compasses. The presence of Ruth at
her elbow, as she absorbed herself in this pursuit, was very comforting.
Ruth was a slow old thing, as every one knew, but in time of need she
was invaluable.

After a while, the head girl dug the point of the compass into the table,
and cleared her throat nervously.

'She's such an awfully nice little kid,' she said. She spoke hurriedly,
and her face had turned rather red.

'Yes,' answered Ruth, staring down at the maze of circles on the back of
the envelope.

Margaret went on, with an effort: 'She has such a queer way of getting at
you,' she said. 'I never knew how much I cared about the child, till--till
now.'

'No,' answered Ruth, softly.

'Supposing----' began Margaret, and stopped abruptly. 'Do you think----?'
she began again, and again hesitated.

'Hurly-Burly said they couldn't tell till the Doctor's next visit,'
replied Ruth. 'She hadn't recovered consciousness when he left, you see.'

'Don't!' muttered Margaret, hastily. She dug the compass a little deeper,
and cleared her throat once more. 'When did you see Hurly-Burly?' she
asked.

'Just after prayers,' said Ruth. 'She said I wasn't to tell the younger
ones, so don't split. The Doctor stayed till five this morning, and he's
coming again presently. He's rather cut up, she says.'

'_That_ Doctor? Don't believe it!' said Margaret, shading some of the
circles with a pencil.

'Hurly-Burly said so,' maintained Ruth, in her resolute way. 'Perhaps he
isn't so stiff and stupid as he seems. I saw him last night, talking to
Jill Urquhart, and he looked quite young and jolly. You never know, do
you?'

'Perhaps not. It doesn't matter, does it?' said the head girl,
indifferently.

'Hurly-Burly is pretty bad, too,' continued Ruth. 'She thinks it's her
fault, because there was a gap in the mattresses, so that the Babe fell
half on the boards. That's how she cut her head. You see, the mattresses
were arranged for the rings, and when Hurly-Burly altered them for the
trapeze she didn't stop to test them to see if they were in the right
place. Anybody else might have done the same, with the whole room waiting
for her; but still, she is reproaching herself like anything.'

'She needn't,' said Margaret, with quiet vehemence. 'It's only the fault
of that idiot Scales.'

'Poor Scales!' murmured Ruth. 'I saw him too wandering about the hall;
and he