I had no idea that my position was in a peculiar way the
place of honour. A lady, who proclaimed many times that she had never
done such a thing in her life, stood in the middle of the circle and
asked questions, and from the confusing answers she received I
discovered promptly that I did not know what game we were playing. At
last she came to me and said, "Is it beautiful?" so as we were only
allowed to say "Yes" or "No," and the last answer had been "Yes," I
said "No." I shall never forget the gasp which followed. Dick, I am
ashamed to say, gave way to merriment, but the rest of the people
looked at me as if I had committed a crime. It was not hard for me to
guess that I ought to have said "Yes"; the agitation had even spread to
Mrs. Leigh-Tompkinson. The second question asked me was, "Is it old?"
and this time I said "Yes," with some fervour; but my answer again
caused consternation. Some one indeed declared that it was too hot for
games, and in a minute the circle was broken up. Then Dick told me
that "it" was always the left-hand neighbour of the person who was
asked the question, and I saw that my answers, if true, had also been
unfortunate.

Mrs. Leigh-Tompkinson went into the billiard-room at once, and I am
afraid that even an immediate explanation and apology would not have
been considered compensation enough for making her ridiculous. During
the next two days Dick and I were left very much to ourselves, and then
I asked Miss Bentham, who was, I think, secretly pleased at my answers,
to suggest that I should take him to the sea for the rest of his
holidays. This request was made in the morning, and we started during
the afternoon of the same day, for I had sinned past forgiveness. But
unless I had played this game of "It" I should never have had time to
make friends with Dick, and he wanted a friend rather badly. He was
lonely among a crowd of people, all of whom were ready to give him
anything he asked for, except companionship. I started by being sorry
for him, and ended by liking him very much; he only wanted some one to
take an interest in him, and that I was able to do quite easily. After
my tutorship was over Mrs. Leigh-Tompkinson wrote to me and hoped that
I should often be able to take him away with me, but she expressed no
wish for me to stay with her again.

At the beginning of my third summer term I was able to pay Fred the
money he had lent me. He protested, but I insisted, for he w