-indeed everybody thought----"

"Then they thought wrong, and a good thing too!" pronounced Patsie.
"Take my advice, Lorraine, and don't stand any nonsense with Vivien.
Kingie's the right to make anybody head girl she wants, and I'm glad
she's chosen you. If the Duchess and old Dollie can't lose in a sporting
way, they're blighters. You hold your own, and I'll back you up. You'll
have most of the school on your side. Ta-ta, and cheer up, old sport!"

Patsie, jolly, good-natured and slangy, swung out of the cloak-room
with what she called a "khaki stride". Lorraine looked after her and
laughed. No one took Patsie seriously, but it was pleasant to feel that
she was an ally, even though she might not prove a very stout prop to
lean upon. That she would need all available help in her new task,
Lorraine was well aware. It would be difficult to follow in the
footsteps of so capable and energetic a head girl as Lily Anderson; the
irrepressible intermediates were likely to prove a handful, and in the
ranks of the Sixth itself she foresaw trouble brewing. It was a
decidedly thoughtful Lorraine who walked down the school garden, out
through the gate, and along the cliff road that led to the western
portion of the town. She had reached the wall below the windmill when
Monica, her eleven-year old sister, came panting after her.

"Lorraine! Do wait! Why did you go off without me? I hunted for you
everywhere, till Ida James told me you'd gone. What a blighter you are
to leave me!"

"Sorry, Cuckoo! But you see I thought _you'd_ gone, so there we are!"
said Lorraine, smiling indulgently at the impetuous little figure that
overtook her and seized her arm. "I'd have waited if I'd known."

"I forgive you!" accorded Monica graciously. "Only to-day of all days,
of course I wanted to walk home with you. D'you know, Tibbiekins, I'm
proud of you! Aren't you bucked? Well, you ought to be. I never got such
a surprise in my life as when 'Lorraine Forrester' was read out 'head of
the school'! Betty Farmer pinched me so hard that I nearly yelled. But I
say, Tibbie, it's a stunt! Didn't you get nerve shock when you heard
your name?"

"I knew yesterday what was coming," admitted Lorraine.

"Was that why you went to see Miss Kingsley? And you never told me a
word! Well, I think you are the limit!"

"Miss Kingsley made me promise on my honour not to tell a single soul."

"I couldn't have helped telling. Think of having that secret all the
eve