A Popular Schoolgirl

of the

ice, as its owner, jumping an obstructing gooseberry bush, tore around the corner of the house from the

e of a large fuchsia. "You're enough to wake the dead, Chumps! What is it you want now!

nd position, flung out his arms in what was intended to be a gr

h to disturb your ladyship's elegant repose. He offers a thousand apologies for his unceremonio

iolent onslaught of a fox-terrier puppy which flung itself upon him

of the playful but all too sharp teeth, and catching the little dog by the piece of tarred rope

en of puppyhood, and rolling him about on her knee. "Oh, he did make you dance! You looked so funny!

tle beast," interrupted Hereward sarcastically, "you'll perhap

grunted Ingred, resettling her

you'll please me! Though I should

feet, dropping the

mending the motor bike? You abominable

e. Yes, the engine's running like a daisy, and the sidecar's on, and Egb

ilosophic head at the ways of girls in general, her brother gathered a goos

at Lynstones before returning to their native town of Grovebury. The six weeks by the sea seemed a kind of oasis between the anxious period of the war that was past and gone, and the new epoch that stretched ahead in the future. To Ingred they were halcyon days. To have her father and brothers safely

place on the luggage-carrier, and, after some back-firing, the three started forth. It was a glorious run over moorland country, with glimpses of the sea on the one hand, and craggy tors on the other, and round them billowy masses of heather, broken here and there by runnels of peat-stained water. If Egbert exceeded the speed-limit, he certainly had

makers who were sauntering along in the heat, or sitting on the benches watching the children digging in the sand below. Much to

What a

have thought

u stayi

ver for the

e tea with us, and your brothers too. Yes, indeed you must! Mo

he front garden of a tall boarding-house facing the sea, and while Egbert and Hereward dis

e've got to leave all this and go home. How

talk of going home. I want

ther sport to go to the new buildings at last, won't it? By the by, now the war's over,

so, when

s ago, and the whole place has been done

d's voice was a

ouse. You must have hated lending it as a hospital. I expect when you're back you'll be giving a

y to make plans,"

I get an invitation, I'm going as a Quaker maiden, in a gray dress and the duckiest little white cap. Don't you think it would suit me? With your dark hair

t," laugh

told me she should never forget that Carnival dance she went to at Rotherwood five years ago, and all the lanterns a

nd fired off jokes at her the whole time. The fact was she was thinking deeply. Certain problems, which she had hitherto cast carelessly aw

n's friends. When war broke out, he had been amongst the first to volunteer for his country's service, and, as a further act of patriotism, he and his wife had decided to offer the use of "Rotherwood" for a Red Cross Hospital. The three boys were then at school, Egbert and Athelstane at Winchester, and Hereward at a preparatory scho

rs when her girls were absent from her at school. Then came the Armistice, and the blessed knowledge that, though not yet home again, the dear ones were no longer in danger. By April the

for a private residence, and paperers and painters had been busy there fo

the delirious joy of the holiday was over, Ingred did not know. She had several times mentioned to her mother the prospect of their return to Rotherwood, but Mrs. Saxon had always evaded the subject, saying:

taller already than Ingred. Quenrede, immensely proud of her quaint Saxon name, and not at all pleased that the family generally shortened it to Queenie, had just left school, and had turned up her long fair pigtail, put on a grown-up and rather condescending manner, powdered the tip of her classic little nose, and was extremely particular about the cut of her skirts and

he groused. "If Mother had only let me leave school a year ago, I'd at least have had th

arly so good-looking as pretty Quenrede; her mouth was a trifle heavy and her cheeks lacked color; but her eyes had depths that were not see

I don't see why some fairies shouldn't have dark hair! And it was just as bad when we acted The Merchant of Venice. Miss Carter gave 'Portia' to Francie Hall, and

ring the last five years, everybody knew that their beautiful home had been lent to the Red Cross, and admired their patriotism in thus giving it for the service of the nation. From Avis's remarks that afternoon it was evident that the girls at the college expected the Saxons to return immediately to Rotherwood, and were looking forward to

wanting to ask you this-are we going b

ssors away in her work-basket, and leaned her elbow on t

about this, Ingred. Shall you be ver

Ingred's ton

s profession to take care of itself, and other architects have stepped in and gained the commissions that used to come to his office. It may take him a long while to pull his connection together again, and the time of waiting will be one of much anxiety for him. Then, most of our investments, which used to pay such good dividends, are worth hardly anything n

live, then?" asked Ingr

nt circumstances it will suit us very well. Athelstane is to be entered in the medical school at Birkshaw; he can ride over every d

I to go in to Gr

t it, childie!" as a big tear splashed down Ingred's dress. "After all, we've much to be thankful for. If we had lost Father, or Egbert, or Athelstane out in France

back to school this term, and not liv

e dark head that res

at present. Suppose we see who can be pluckiest over it. We're fighting fortune now, instead of the Hun,

scrubbing her eyes with