glare.

The elder girls were not at all sorry to be going alone. They clung to
their privileges as seniors most tenaciously.

"We don't want the whole rag-tag and bobtail of the school trailing
after us," said Dorothy. "It's quite enough in my opinion to include the
Fifth. I hate marching about in a troop, like trippers."

"Well, we can spread out when we get on to the cliffs. There's no need
to be so fearfully particular to keep together."

Madame Bertier, among her many other accomplishments, possessed some
knowledge of botany. She had studied the wild flora of the district, and
knew where to take the girls to secure a variety of the best specimens.
The walk she chose was down a lane, over some fields and across a
portion of the moor, where Lorraine, who thought she knew all the
neighbourhood of Porthkeverne, had never happened to go before. As in
most rambles of the sort, it was a difficult task for the mistress to
keep all the members of her flock in sight. Some were always on ahead,
and others lagging behind, while a few would make detours over gates or
banks in quest of particular specimens. There was the usual amount of
jodelling, cuckooing and calling, and running back to fetch laggers;
there was frantic excitement over a patch of wild strawberries, and
great congratulation when several rare flowers were found and carefully
put away in tin cases. As generally happens in natural history rambles,
there was decided rivalry among the numerous budding botanists. Each
wanted to be the first to secure a new specimen and to take it in
triumph to show to Madame. Lorraine, who was not superior to the common
weakness, had not yet had any luck at all. Seeing the others heading in
a bee-line for a small tower on the hill, and, knowing she could catch
them up there, she determined to branch off to the left, cross a dyke
and go by herself over a particularly interesting-looking piece of the
moor. If she were quick she would probably reach the tower as soon as
most of the others; they would be sure to sit down there to rest and
compare specimens. She would have asked Claudia to go with her, but
Claudia was on in front talking to Dorothy.

"If I jodel to her it will give the show away," thought Lorraine. "No! I
must do it on my own."

So she jumped a dyke, scrambled down a bank, and in a few minutes had
reached a tract of wild heather-clad land that adjoined the cliff. Small
bushes, bracken, and brambles mixed among the h