The Manor House School

say'

to the third-class schoolroom with a letter in her hand, and

we are to have a short holiday, you know), and she says: 'We have asked Monica Courtenay, and we should be very pleased if Miss Russell would also allow you to bring one of your younger schoolfellows who would p

ix in chorus, each enchanted with such a tempting

says this will be the best way to arrange it. The girl who is nearest to Rhoda's age must go. Will you each

of settling the question, and one ag

ly. "I'm afraid I haven't the slightest chance, b

I were a few months younger. Effie, I shall b

as child," returned Effie. "I

y. Can anybody do better than

ixth of April,

a pencil and a piece of paper. Let me see, the twenty-seventh of February to the twentieth of March is twenty-on

'm glad I wasn't born a week later. How dreadfu

ght of them altogether. Meta, the eldest, is seventeen; she's going to study music in Germany next September. Ralph and Leonard are fifteen and fourteen; they go to the Appleford Grammar School, and ride there every day on their bicycles. Then

py date of her birthday. She was in a state of great excitement on the Friday afternoon, when the phaeton arrived with Monica already installed on the front seat. To drive away in such company was indeed a matter for

will be your turn next time for something nice. At any

ion, that one could forgive the lowness of the rooms, the narrowness of the passages, the steepness of the stairs, and the inconvenience of the fact that the front door opened directly into the dining-room, and the bedrooms nearly all led into one another. None of these draw

ta will monopolize Irene and Monica, and I should have been lef

, the three elder girls evidently wishing to have a chat in private. Rhoda made an effort to secure Lindsay to herself, but the four little ones-Wilfred, Alwyn, Joan, and Cyril-begged so piteously not t

of piebald mice, consisting of a mother and five young ones, which generally went to bed in the daytime, and had to be poked out of their sleeping quarters with a lead pencil to make them show themselves; a morose-looking tortoise that would allow Wilfred to scratch its head, but spat indignantly at the others; and a whole box full of silkworms in various stages, from tiny, wriggling black threads to chrysalids in cocoons. The childre

soon as we were born. Meta, Ralph, and Leonard have apples, Wilfred and Alwyn pears, mine is a Victoria plum, Joan has a greenga

Lindsay, looking at a fine pe

ar on his birthday, so we pick them all and pack them carefully in a box, and send them to a children's hospital in London. Mother sends the money she would

Alwyn had built a miniature house in her plot out of old bricks and stones, and had thatched it neatly with straw. She had made a gravel path up to the front door, and had sown grass to represent lawns, and cut a round flower bed in the middle of each. Joan's garden was subject to violent changes. Last year it had been a potato patch, but as she dug up those useful vegetables every day to see how they were sprouting, it was not surprising that they refused to make much growth. Lately she had converted the whole into a dolls' cemetery, and, with

eady to cut. He also had some bulbs under pieces of glass in a corner which he called his hothouse. Ralph and Leonard were

each figure in different-coloured flowers. Then I thought if I could fix a pole in the middle it ought to cast a shadow, and tell the ti

ngers. It was a very old-fashioned little room, with a low, black-beamed ceiling, and a window that opened on to a small balcony, where she could grow nasturtiums and other trailing plants in pots

me the poets now as Christmas presents. I have Longfellow and Shakespeare and Wordsworth, and I expect it will be either Cowper or Goldsmith next time. This is my paint-box. I daren't leave it i

e music?" a

would be something to practise for. We had to go to Bridgend to take it. It was rather fun, for w

m learning the violin, but I can

er and help us at one of

too frightened!" excla

u did was splendid. They clap at everything, even when Ralph gives nigger songs; and he's got no voic

se to keep in tune," laughed Lindsa

lfred to sit underneath and keep poking them up as fast as I played on them, or else half the notes wouldn't sound; and it seemed so queer to only get pa

people

lly is tiresome, though, to have a piano like that at the school. John Crosby, the stonemason's little boy, sings very nicely, and I went so wrong in playing his accompa

icoats, all had very decided opinions of their own, which they urged and argued with considerable force of character, but an amount of good temper which spoke well for their training. Mrs. Greenwood, who t

lways arrange everything, but on the other hand Joan and Alwyn will get nothing at all if they begin to wail and complain in that most grumbling and unpleasant tone of voice. I think it is a disg

t them; while Monica looked on with an amused smile, without taking part in any arguments or disputes. There wa

ere, and they proposed to take their visitors for a trip on the water. They started off with baskets of provisions, intending to land and have a picnic tea, if they could find sufficient dry sti

," declared Meta, "Sir Percy Harwood, the

agreed Ralph. "Look here! What do you say to camping out on that little island?

out in the middle of the lake. It had an attractive appearance, so they rowed through the quiet str

ppose we leave the baskets here, and go

in the Lady of the Lake. We ought to find a hunting-lodg

be nothing for him to trap here, unless he kept a boat stowed

cell and told his beads without being disturbed by anybody, except an occasional knigh

Leonard. "I don't believe Sir Percy Harwood would let anybody settle so near his pheasants; he'd suspect st

etting off-the ground seems fearfully soppy. Perhaps it may be better higher up. Le

ch step it sank with a curious squelching sound, and rose behind with the elasticity of a cork, so that as they sprang here and there the whole o

't seem proper soil, only roots and moss and grass growing through it. Why, th

denly, like a punctured indiarubber ball, it collapsed, and they found themselves struggling nearly up to their waists in water. Luckily they were able to clutch at the hazel bushes above, an

id foundation, it's only a collection of sticks and leaves. Cling to the trees, and try to get back

as much as possible on the roots of the trees, and never letting go their hold of the boughs. They

clared Rhoda. "It's a horrib

if it weren't so uncomfortable.

h, I'm sorry to s

they're wet through, and not

of all the dead wood and rubbish that have accumulated in the lake. I expect seeds have blown on to it, and then trees and bushes have sprung up. Now I think of it

t managed, if he ever l

ned Ralph. "Well, I must say we have given our visitors a pleasant afternoon! They won't wan

e of soap and a can of

on Monday. We can boil a kettle there, and have no end of fun. If