ll for Gwen to congratulate herself, but she quite
forgot that ghosts have an awkward habit sometimes of disregarding
tombstones, and rising from their graves to haunt those who have
interred them. The matter of the broken china was not to be so easily
disposed of as she had imagined, and though for the present her secret
seemed safe, there was trouble ahead for her in plenty.

CHAPTER V

Trouble in the Fifth

The direct result of Gwen's transaction about the china was to fling
her into the arms of Netta Goodwin. With such a secret between them it
was impossible not to be friendly, and though Netta was hardly an
ideal chum, there seemed no choice in the matter. Moreover, she was
the only one in the Fifth who had offered advances; the other girls,
still indignant at the promotion of a Junior, turned the cold
shoulder. This unfortunate intimacy caused Gwen to be banned the more.

"I see Gwen Gascoyne has taken up with Netta Goodwin," said Hilda
Browne.

"Then that stamps her," replied Edith Arnold. "I wouldn't touch Netta
with a pair of tongs myself. I thought better of the Gascoynes!"

Netta was a type of girl that can be found in every school and almost
every Form. Rather deficient in moral fibre, and badly trained at
home, her influence was always on the wrong side. She was clever
enough, as a rule, just to avoid getting into open trouble with the
authorities, but under the surface she was a source of disturbance.
She had a certain following of gigglers and slackers, who thought her
escapades funny, and were ready to act chorus to her lead, and though
she had never done anything specially outrageous, her reputation at
headquarters was not good. Every teacher realized only too plainly
that Netta was the firebrand of the Form, and that while she might
preserve a smug exterior it was really she who was responsible for any
outbreaks of lawlessness among the others.

As Junior Mistress of the Fifth no one had more reason to be aware of
this than Winnie Gascoyne. Teaching was uphill work to Winnie. She had
not Beatrice's commanding disposition and capacity for administration,
consequently it was the more difficult for her to keep order and
enforce rules. She did her conscientious best, but girls easily find
out a governess's weak point, and at present Netta was trying how far
she could go. "Ragging Miss Gascoyne" was a favourite pastime of hers,
and one which afforded much sport to her applauders, if not to t