d Dorothy may be the lucker instead of you.
_Me?_ Rather not! I can hardly flatter myself after my career last term
that I'd be chosen as pattern pupil and pitchforked into the post of
honour to set a good example to the rest of the school. Do I _look_ the
part, now?"

The others, surveying Patsie's humorous face and twinkling grey eyes,
broke into a universal chuckle.

"Well, it's hardly your line, exactly!" admitted Vivien. "Why, if you
confiscated surreptitious sweets from the kids, you'd probably eat them
before their indignant faces, and give them a tip on how to hide them
more carefully in future. I know you!"

"Joking apart, though," said Dorothy, "I suppose somebody'll be made
head of this school. Hasn't any one got the least inkling or hint?
Lorraine! Lorraine Forrester, come here! We're talking about who's to be
head girl. It's a burning question, isn't it? Do you know anything?"

The schoolmate addressed as Lorraine closed with a slam the book she
was reading, and advanced somewhat unwillingly. She was a slim, pretty
girl of sixteen, with the general effect of an autumn woodland.
Everything about her seemed golden brown; her hazel eyes, her creamy
complexion, the sunny glint in her rich, dark hair were emphasized by
the brown dress she was wearing and the orange carnations pinned in her
belt. At the first glance there was a certain likeness to Vivien, for
the girls were cousins, yet everything about Lorraine seemed of a
slightly superior quality, as if she had been turned out of a finer
mould. She flushed as she evaded Dorothy's question.

"I suppose we shall all know when Miss Kingsley tells us," she answered.

"We'd be duffers if we didn't!" mocked Patsie. "In my opinion Dorothy'll
have an uncommonly good innings, and I'm getting ready to congratulate
her."

"No, no! It'll be Vivien!" declared Mona.

"Yes, Vivien!" agreed Sybil and Phoebe together.

But at that moment the loud clanging of the bell put a stop to the
conversation, and the girls turned in a body, and hurried into the
house.

CHAPTER II

The First Day of Term

It was an old-established custom at The Gables that the autumn term
should begin on a Tuesday afternoon. There were no lessons: the girls
simply gathered together in the gymnasium to listen to a short address
from Miss Kingsley, to be told in what forms they were placed for the
coming school year, and to be given new text-books, with passages to
prepare for the mor