The Manor House School

ers

big lawns afforded space for so many tennis courts that there was no need for the younger ones to hover about, waiting enviously until their elders had finished before they could get a chance of a game; and there was plenty of room left for croquet and clock golf. The shrubbery and the plantation were ideal spots for hide-and-seek (almost too good, Lindsay said, because it was so very difficult to find anybody); while the var

nding blindly or turning back to the original entrance, and only one of the number leading to the arbour in the centre. For a long time the girls amused themselves with trying to discover the proper clue. Cicely, like Hansel,

he swing in the playground at Winterburn Lodge, because a strong push would send the happy occupant high up among the green leaves, and give her a flying peep into a missel-thrush's nest on the topmost bough, where four gaping yellow mouths were clamouring for food. In a corner, down a flight of steps, there was a pond where grew marsh marigolds, and irises, and forget-me-no

ion that one almost approved of the neglect. Round this garden was a high hedge of clipped holly, so that it was sheltered from every wind, and the roses bloomed as if in a greenhouse. Nor must we forget the peacocks, which were as much a feature of the old house as the twisted chimneys, or the stone ball

om a distance to admire the delicate tracery of the windows, the exquisite carving of the pillars, and the splendid old oak choir stalls that had formed part of a tenth-century abbey. At the west end hung a collection of banners, won by Monica's ancestors in many a hard-fought battle, and, all tattered and faded as they were, still bearing tribute to the glories of the past. There were monuments, too, in memory of the Courtenays: stone effigies of knights in armour, lying under car

portant addition to the little congregation of villagers. They certainly helped to swell the singing, and I think ev

opes leading to a higher peak, called Pendle Tor, that stood out as a landmark for the district. Naturally the girls were very anxious to explore the neighbourhood, and delighted when Miss Russell allowed walks on half-holidays. The whole school was n

its six members were standing by the gate, impatiently awaiting the arrival of Miss

s dismally. "She threatened last week to report me if I had another cross for history, and I mi

aid Beryl Austen, "so that we can all get in the same

n hour a day is enough for anybody

we haven't a music m

she wants us to keep up what we've learnt, so that we won't

Nelson! We shan't

l, in Se

e meantime we're learning from Miss Frazer. Here she is

Russell has been giving me a commission to transact while we are out. S

alk?" as

here before, but I don't t

ere still a tender green, and the sycamores were covered with pendent blossoms, in the golden pollen of which the bees revelled like drunkards. The larches had opened all their tassels, and the young cones on the firs glowed with such a pink hue that they resembled can

was as interested as they were in the finding of a robin's nest; and quite as excited when a hawk swooped suddenly into a bush, and flew away with a young thrush in

ith tadpoles. The girls would have lingered here, trying to catch the funny, wriggling, little black objects, but Miss Frazer's patience

By the side of the open barn door the cows were standing lowing to be milked, and the dairymaid, a rosy-faced young woman in a blue apron, was coming from the ki

th Mrs. Brand," said Miss Frazer; "or if you like you may w

best parlour to transact her errand, so, left alone, the g

said Lindsay, who with Cicely

r and eggs and things, so I don't expect we shall see

s at the other side of those haystacks. It looks interesting. Come along! The dairymaid is busy milk

g each other with armfuls of the hay, and scooping out nests to sit in. It was dark inside the barn-the beautiful brown gloom that one sees only in old castles or churches, or ancient buildings, and is quite different from the black of ordinary darkness. Through the open door came just one shaft of sunshine, in which the spe

o move. I believe they quite forgot about the time, until at last they

ed Cicely. "What a nuisance!

awn, and brushing loose stalks from her dress.

ver have happened at all. As it was, fate decreed that Lindsay, in her flying leap through the dusk, should knock her shins against something decidedly hard. She stood rubbing them ruefully, and put out her hand to feel what had been the cause of her brui

ad, do you think?

pect. I wonder what's up the

nd, and as she was six rungs up before Cicely ventured a half

"Miss Frazer will wait for us in the wood

arrived at the top. As Lindsay had supposed, they found a granary half-filled with sacks of corn and a pile of loose barley. A door at t

," said Cicely. "It was hardly

the ladder again," suggested Lindsay, beginning to walk rou

-handkerchief, evidently containing slices of bread. From sheer idle

afternoon tea?" sh

er of the room sprang a collie dog that, unobserved by them, had been

ed the tin and the hand

" she said encouragingl

her friendly advances. It came a little nearer, gro

oes it think I want to stea

n rather a shaky voice. "Don't try to

ould not deny that the gleaming eyes and sn

e going," she said, tu

louder, and would have flown at he

exclaimed, looking at Cic

lantly from one to the other, snarling so fiercely if they stirred even an inch that they did not dare to put its intentions to the test. Oh! why had they come? If they had only gone back down the ladder before they had roused the dog, or if Lin

ould spring. Evidently it did not object to conversation, so long as they kept still, for though it looked at her it did not growl.

d noticed us go into the barn. They wouldn't dream of our climbing the ladder. They'd

he was standing, could fortunately look through the window and command a view of the field below. Though she gazed with as keen anxiety as Sister Anne in the story of Bluebeard,

top here all night," groan

a catastrophe. At the moment, however, when Cicely felt that she simply could not endure any longer, deliverance came. Through the little squares of the wooden lattice she

ica! Help! O

deciding that the screams came from the direction of the granary, she hurried as fast as she could u

n she could find. In less than a minute she had returned with Mr. Brand, whose stout boot and stick

to-day. You silly hound! You ought to know better than to set on two young wenches.

it was their own fault, and that it served them right for prying into places where they had no business (as Mildred Roper or any of the other monitresses would cer

said. "It might have been hours before any of the farm people went i

e missing pair must have walked home in front of the others. Their absence had only just been discovered when they arrived

t have happened just as easily to any of the others. I saw Beryl and Effie peep into the cowhouse as they passed, though they didn't climb up a ladder. Wasn't Monica nice? I believe the old farmer would hav