CHAPTER V. THE FLANIGAN HONEY MOON. The Murphy family, with a judicious eye to the buttered side of the bread, had adopted St. Ursula as their patron saint. The family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Murphy, eleven little Murphy's, and Grandma Flanigan, occupied a five-room cottage close to the gates of St. Ursula's school. They subsisted on the vicarious charity of sixty-four girls and the intermittent labour of Murphy Pair, who, in his sober intervals, was a sufficiently efficient stone-cutter and mason. He had built the big entrance gates and the long stone wall that enclosed the ten acres of bounds. He had laid the foundation of the New West Wing, known as Paradise Alley, and had constructed all the chimneys and driveways and tennis courts on the place. The school was a monument to his long and leisurely career. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, with an unusual display of foresight, had christened their first baby after the school. Ursula and Murphy may not be a euphiouistic combination, but the child was amply repaid for carrying such a name by receiving the cast-off clothes of generations of St. Ursula girls. There was danger for a time that the poor thing would be buried beneath a mountain of wearing apparel, but her parents providentially discovered a second-hand clothesman who relieved her of a part of the burden. After Ursula had come other little Murphy's in regular succession, and it had grown to be one of the legendary privileges of the school to furnish the babies with names and baptismal presence. Mrs. Murphy was not entirely mercenary in her yearly request. She appreciated the artistic quality of the names that the girls provided. They had a distinction that she herself, with her lack of literary training, would never have been able to give. The choosing of names had come to be a matter involving politics almost as complicated as the election of the senior president. Different factions proposed different names. Half a dozen tickets would be in the field, and the balloting was conducted with rousing speeches. There was one hampering restriction. Every baby must have a patron saint. Upon this point the Murphy stood firm. However, by a careful study of early Christian martyrs, the girls had managed to unearth a list of Wreckendite saints with fairly unusual and picturesque names. So far, the role of the Murphy offspring read, Ursula Marie, Geraldine Sabina, Muriel Veronica and Lyanna Lambrose, Twins, Eileen Cotilde, John Drew Dominic, Delphine Olivia, Patrick, he had been born in the summer vacation, and the long-suffering priest had insisted that the boy be named for his father. Sydney Orlando Boniface, Richard Harding Gabriel, Yolanda Genevieve This completed the list until one morning early in December. Patrick Sr. presented himself at the kitchen door with the news that another name, a boys, would be seasonable. The school immediately went into a committee of the whole. Several names had been put up, and the discussion was growing heated when Patty Wyatt jumped to her feet with the proposal of Cuthbert St. John. The suggestion was met with cheers, and May Van Arsdale indignantly left the room. The name was carried by a unanimous vote. Cuthbert St. John Murphy was christened the following Sunday, and received a gold-blind porridge spoon in a green plush box. So delighted was the school at Patty's felicitous suggestion that, by the way of reward, they elected her chairman of the Christmas Carnival Committee. The Christmas Carnival was a charitable institution contemporaneous with the founding of the school. St. Ursula's scheme of education was broad. It involved growth in a wide variety of womanly virtues, and the greatest of these was charity. Not the modern scientific machine-made charity, but the comfortable, old-fashioned kind that leaves a pleasant glow of generosity in the heart of the giver. Every year at Christmas tide a tree was decked, a supper laid, and the poor children of the neighborhood bidden to partake. The poor children were collected by the schoolgirls, who drove about from house to house in bobslays or hay-wagons according to the snow. The girls regarded it as the most averting festival of the school year, and even the poor children, when they had overcome their first embarrassment, found it fairly diverting. The original scheme had been for each girl to have an individual protégé that she might call upon the family and come into personal relations with a humbler class. She was to learn the special needs of her child and give something really useful such as stockings or trousers or flannel petticoats. It was an admirable scheme on paper, but in actual practice it fell down. St. Ursula's was situated in an affluent district given over to the estates of the idle rich, and the proletarian who clung to the skirts of these estates was amply provided with an opportunity to work. In the early days when the school was small there had been sufficient poor children to go round, but as St. Ursula's had grown the poor seemed to have diminished until now the school was confronted by an actual scarcity, but the Murphy's at least they always had with them. They yearly offered thanks for this. Patty accepted her chairmanship and appointed sub-committees to do the actual work. For herself and Connie and Priscilla she reserved the privilege of choosing the recipients of St. Ursula's bounty. This entailed several exhilarating afternoons out of bounds. A walk abroad is as inspiring to the inmates of a prison as a trip through Europe to those at large. They spent the better part of a week canvassing the neighborhood, only to reveal the embarrassing fact that there were nine possible children, aside from the Murphy brood, and that none of these nine were from homes that one could conscientiously term poor. The children's sober industrious parents could well supply their temperate Christmas demands. And there are only six Murphy's the right age, Connie grumbled, as they turned homewards in the cold twilight of a wintery day after an unprofitable two-hours tramp. That makes about one child to every five girls, Priscilla nodded dismally. Oh, this charity business makes me tired, Patty burst out. It's fun for the girls and nothing else. The way we dole out stuff to perfectly nice people is just plain insulting.  In moments of intensity, Patty's English was not above reproach. Come on, Patty, Priscilla slipped a soothing hand through her arm. We'll stop in at the Murphy's and count them over again. Maybe there's one we overlooked. The twins are only fifteen, said Connie, hopefully. I think they'll do. And Richard Harding's nearly four.  The more Murphy's we can get, the better. They always love the things we give. I know they do, Patty growled. We're teaching the whole lot of them to be blooming beggars. I shall be sorry I ever used any slang, if we can't put the money to better use than this. The funds for the carnival were yearly furnished by attacks on slang. St. Ursula demanded a fine of one cent for every instance of slang or bad grammar let fall in public. Of course in the privacy of one's own room, in the bosom of one's chosen family, the rigor was relaxed. Your dearest friends did not report you, except in periods of estrangement. But your acquaintances and enemies and teachers did, and even in moments of intense honourableness, you reported yourself. In any case, the slang fund grew. When the committee had opened the box this year, they found thirty-seven dollars and eighty-four cents. Patty allowed herself, after some slight protest, to be drawn to the door of the Murphy domicile. She was not in an affable mood, and a call upon the Murphy's required a great deal of conversation. They found the family hilariously assembled in an overcrowded kitchen. The entire dozen children babbled at once, shriller and shriller, in a vain endeavour to drown each other out. A cabbage stew, in progress on the stove, filled the room with an odorous steam. Shoved into a corner of the hearth was poor old Grandma Flanagan, surrounded by noisy, pushing youngsters who showed her gray hairs but scant consideration. The girls admired the new baby, while Yolanda and Richard Harding crawled over their laps with sticky hands. Mrs. Murphy, meanwhile, discounted in a rich brogue upon the merits of Cuthbert St. John as a name. She liked it, she declared, as well as any in the list. It sure ought to bring luck to a child to carry the name of two saints. She thanked the young ladies kindly. Patty left Connie and Priscilla to carry off the social end of the call, while she squeezed herself onto the woodbox by Grandma Flanagan's chair. Mrs.  She found her the most remunerative member of the household so far as interest went. She always liked to get her started with stories of her girlhood, when she had been a lady's maid in Lord Sterling's Castle in County Clare, and young Tammus Flanagan came and carried her off to America to help make his fortune. Tammus was now a bent old man with rheumatism, but in his keen blue eyes and irish smile, Grandma still saw the lad who had courted her. "'How's your husband this winter?' Patty asked, knowing that she was taking the shortest road to the old woman's heart.  "'I'm not herein for four days. Tammus ain't livin' with us no more. "'It's a pity for you to be separated,' said Patty with quick sympathy, not realizing on how sore a subject she was touching. The floodgates of the old woman's guerrillaity broke down. With Ursulae and Geraldine growin' up and havin' young men to wait on them, to as needin' a parlor they was, and they couldn't spare the room no longer for me and Tammus. So they put me in the garret with the four girls, and Tammus, he was sent up the road to me son Tammus. Tammus's wife said as Tammus could sleep in the kitchen to pay for carryin' the wooden water, but she couldn't take us both because she takes borders. Patty cocked her head for a moment of silence as she endeavored to pluck scents from this tangle of Tammus's. "'It's too bad,' she comforted, layin' a sympathetic hand on the old woman's knee. Gramma Flanagan's eyes filled with the ready tears of old age. "'I'm not complainin' for it's the way of the world. The old must step off and make room for the young. But it's lonely I am without him. We've lived together for forty-seven years, and we know each other's ways. But your son doesn't live very far away.' Patty offered what solace she might. You must see Tammus very often.' "'That and I don't. You might as well have a husband dead as a mile in a half away and laid up with rheumatism.' The clock pointed to a quarter of six, and the visitors rose. They still had to walk half a mile and dress before dinner. The old woman clung to Patty's hand at parting. She seemed to find more comfort in the little stray sympathy that Patty had offered than in all her exuberant brood of grandchildren. "'Isn't it dreadful to be old, and just sit around waiting to die,' Patty shuddered, as they faced the cold darkness outside. "'Dreadful,' Connie cordially agreed. "'Hurry up, or we'll be late for dinner, and this is chicken night.' They turned toward home at a jog-trot that left little breath for speech, but Patty's mind was working as fast as her legs. "'I've got a perfectly splendid idea,' she panted, as she turned in at the gate and trotted up the driveway toward the big lighted house that spread wide wings to receive them. "'What?' they asked. The quick insistent clang of the gong floated out to meet them, and on the instant hurrying figures flitted past the windows, the summons to meals brought a radier response than the summons to study. "'I'll tell you after dinner. No time now,' Patty returned, as she peeled off her coat. They were unlacing their blouses as they clattered up the back stairs, and pulling them over their heads in the upper hall. "'Go slow, please,' they implored, of the down-going procession whose track they crossed. Dinner was the only meal which might be approached by the front stairs, which were carpeted instead of tinned. Their evening frocks were fortunately in one piece, and they dove into them with little ceremony. The three presented themselves flushed of cheek and somewhat rumpled as to hair, but properly gowned and apologetic just as Grace was ended. To be late for Grace only meant one demerit. The first course came higher, and the second higher still. Then increased by geometrical progression. During the half-hour's intermission before evening study, the three separated themselves from the dancers in the hall, and withdrew to a corner of the deserted school room. Patty perched herself on a desk, and loudly stated her feelings. "'I'm tired of having the dowager get up at prayers and make a speech about the beautiful Christmas spirit and how sweet it is to make so many little children happy, when she knows perfectly well that it's just a lark for us. I'm chairman this year, and I can do as I please. I've had enough of this fake charity. And I'm not going to have any Christmas tree.' "'No Christmas tree?' Connie echoed blankly. "'But what are you going to do with the thirty-seven dollars and eighty-four cents?' asked Priscilla, the practical. "'Listen,' Patty settled to her argument. "'There aren't any children around here who need a blessed thing, but Grandma and Grandpa Flanagan do. That poor old woman, who is just as nice as she can be, is crowded in with all those horrid, yelling, sticky little Murphy's. And Grandpa Flanagan is poked into Thomas Jr.'s kitchen, running errands for Thomas Jr.'s wife, who is a perfectly terrible woman. She throws kettles when she gets mad. Grandma worries all the time for fear he has rheumatism, and nobody to rub on liniment, or make him wear the right under-clothes. They're exactly as fond of each other as any other husband and wife, and just because Ursula wants to have collars, I say it's a mean shame for them to be separated.' "'It is too bad,' Connie agreed impartially. "'But I don't see that we can help it.' "'Why, yes, instead of having a Christmas tree, we'll rent that empty little cottage down by the Laurel Walk and mend the chimney.' "'Patrick can do that for nothing, and put in new windows and furnish it, and set them up in housekeeping.' "'Do you think we can do it for thirty-seven dollars and eighty-four cents?' Priscilla asked. "'That's where the charity comes in. Every girl in school will go without her allowance for two weeks. Then we'll have more than a hundred dollars, and you can furnish a house perfectly beautifully for that. And it would be real charity to give up our allowances, because they are particularly useful at Christmas time. "'But will the girls want to give their allowances?' "'We'll fix it, so they'll have to,' said Patty. "'We'll call a mass meeting and make a speech. Then everybody will file past and sign a paper. No one will dare refuse with the school looking on. Patty's fire kindled an answering flame in the other two. "'It is a good idea,' Connie declared, and it would be a lark fixing the house,' said Priscilla. "'Almost as much fun as getting married ourselves.' "'Exactly,' Patty nodded. "'Those poor old things haven't had a chance to see each other alone for years. We'll give them a honeymoon all over again.' Patty was outwardly occupied with geometry the next hour, but her mind was busy hemming sheets and towels and table-cloths. At being Thursday evening, the hour between eight and nine was occupied with manners. The girls took turns in coming gracefully downstairs, entering the drawing-room, announced by Claire Dubois in the role of Footman, and shaking hands with their hostesses, Connie Wilder as Dowager Mama, and towering above her as debutante daughter, Irene McCullough, the biggest girl in the school. The gymnasium teacher, who assigned the roles, had a sense of humor. An appropriate remark was expected from each guest, the weather being barred. Mrs. Wilder, Priscilla gushed, advancing without stretch-tanned. And dear little Irene, it doesn't seem possible that the child is actually grown. It was only yesterday that she was a might of a thing, toddling about. Priscilla was shoved on by Patty. "'Me, dear Mrs. Wilder,' she inquired in a brogue that would have put the Murphy's to shame, "'Have you heard the news that's going round?' Mr. and Mrs. Tammis Flanagan have taken the laurel cottage for the season. They are thinking of starting a salon. They will be home every afternoon during the recreation hour, and will serve lemonade and gingerbread in summer, and soup and sandwiches in winter. You must take Irene to call on them.' The moment manners was over, the three withdrew to the seclusion of Patty's and Connie's room in Paradise Alley, and closed the door against callers. Between 9 and 9.30 was the fashionable calling-hour at St. Ursula's. The time was supposed to be occupied in getting ready for bed. But if one were clever about undressing in the dark, one might devote the thirty minutes to social purposes. "'Gone to sleep, don't disturb us,' the placard read that they impaled upon the door. But the clatter of tongues inside belied the words. Isn't my idea fine about the lemonade and soup, Patty demanded?' The great thing about charity is not to make it charity.  "'We'll fix little tables under the apple-tree in summer, and in the parlor in winter,' Patty planned, and all the school-girls and automobiles will stop for lemonade. We'll charge the girls five cents a glass, and the automobiles ten.' And I say, let's make Patrick and Thomas each contribute a dollar a week toward their support,' Connie proposed. They must eat up a dollar's worth of potatoes as they are living now. They continued planning and whispers until long after lights out had rung, and Priscilla, in the laudable desire to be inconspicuous, was obliged to crawl on hands and knees past Mademoiselle's open door before she gained her own room at the end of the corridor. The moment recreation sounded the next afternoon, they obtained permission to be out of bounds and set off at a brisk trot. It was their business-like intention to have all the statistics complete before submitting the matter to the assembled school. "'We'll first call on Patrick and Thomas, and make them promise the dollar,' said Patty. Patrick readily promised his dollar. Patrick was always strong in promises. And the girls proceeded gaily to Thomas, Jr.'s. They found Grandpa on the back doorstep anxiously wiping his feet. He was a tremendous reed that bowed before every blast of the daughter-in-law's tongue. Thomas, Jr., after being taken aside and told the project, thought he could manage two dollars a week. An expression of relief momentarily took the hunted look from his eyes. He was clearly glad to rescue his father from the despotic rule of his wife.  It only remained to secure the cottage, coerce the school, and hem the sheets. "'You go and price furniture and wallpaper,' Patty issued her orders, while I see about the rent. We'll meet at the soda fountain.' She found the real estate man who owned the cottage established in an office over the bank, and by what she considered rare business-ability, beat him down from nine dollars a month to seven. This stroke accomplished, she intimated her readiness for the lease. "'A lease will not be necessary,' he said. "'A month-to-month verbal agreement will do for me.' "'I can't consider it without a lease,' said Patty firmly. "'You might sell her something. And then we'd have to move out.' The gentleman amusedly filled in the form, and signed his party of the first part. He passed the pen to Patty, and indicated the space reserve for the signature of the party of the second part. "'I must first consult my partners,' she explained. "'Oh, I see. Have them sign here, and then bring the lease back.' "'All of them?' she asked, dubiously scanning the somewhat cramped quarters. "'I'm afraid there won't be room.' "'How many partners have you?' "'Sixty-three.' He stared momentarily. Then as his eye fell on the embroidered St. U. on Patty's coat sleeve, he threw back his head and laughed. "'I beg your pardon,' he apologized, but I was a bit staggered for a moment. I am not used to doing business on such a large scale. In order to be legal,' he gravely explained, the paper will have to be signed by all the parties to the contract. "'If there is not enough room, you might paste on an—' "'Annex?' suggested Patty. "'Exactly,' he agreed, and with grave politeness bowed her out. "'Has the bell rang that indicated the end of study that evening? Patty and Connie and Priscilla jumped to their feet and called a mass meeting of the school. The door was closed after the retreating Miss Jellings, and for half an hour the three made speeches separately and unison. They were persuasive talkers, and they carried the day. The allowance was voted with scarcely a dissenting voice, and the school filed past and signed the lease. For two weeks St. Ursula's was a busy place, and also Laurel Cottage. Bounds were practically enlarged to include it. The girls worked in gangs during every recreation hour. The cellar was whitewashed by a committee of four who went in blue and came out speckled like a plover's egg. Thomas Junior had volunteered for this job, but it was one the girls could not relinquish. They did allow him to chasmoline the ceilings and hang the wallpaper, but they painted the floors and lower reaches of the woodwork themselves. The evening's hour of recreation no longer found them dancing, but sitting in a solid phalanx on the stairs hemming sheets and table-cloths. The house was to be furnished with the completeness that poor Mrs. Flanagan in all her married life had never known before. When everything was finished, the day before the holidays, the school in a body wiped its feet on the doormat and tiptoed through on a last visit of inspection. The Cottage contained three rooms with a cellar and a woodshed besides. The wallpaper and chintz hangings of the parlor were flaming pink peonies with a wealth of foliage. A touch flamboyant for some tastes, but grandpa's and grandma's eyes were failing, and they liked strong colors. Also crafty questioning had elicited the fact that peonies were grandma's favorite flower. The kitchen had turkey-red curtains with a cheerful strip of rag carpet and two comfortable easy-chairs before the hearth. The cellar was generously stocked from the school farm, Miss Sallie's contribution, with potatoes and cabbages and carrots and onions, enough to make Irish stew for three months to come. The wood-bin was filled, and even a five-gallon can of kerosene. Sixty-four pairs of eyes had scanned the rooms minutely to make sure that no essential was omitted. Both the Murphy and Flanagan households had been agog for days over the proposed flitting of the pair. Even Mrs. Tammis had volunteered to wash the windows of the new cottage, and for a week she had scarcely been cross. The old man was already wondering at life. When the time arrived Mrs. Murphy secretly packed grandma's belongings and dressed her in her best, under the pretext that she was to be taken in a carriage to a Christmas party to have supper with her husband. The old woman was in a happy flutter at the prospect. Grandpa was prepared for the journey by the same simple strategy. Patty and Connie and Priscilla, as originators of the enterprise, had been appointed to install the old couple, but with tactful forbearance they delegated the right to the son and daughter. They saw that the fires were burning, the lamps lighted, and the cat—there was even a cat—asleep on the hearth rug. When the sound of carriage-wheels in front told them that Martin had arrived with his passengers, they quietly slipped out the back way and jogged home to dinner through the snowy dusk. They were met by a babble of questions. Was grandma pleased with the parlor-clock? Did she know what to do with the chafing-dish? Were they disappointed at not having a feather-bed? Did they like the cat, or would they rather have had a parrot? The school had been torn asunder on this important point. At the dinner-table that night, such of the school as was left, chattered only of laurel cottage. They were as excited over Grandma and Grandpa's happiness as over their own approaching holiday. All sixty-four were planning to drink tea on the first day of their return from Grandma's six cups. Toward nine o'clock Patty and Priscilla, by special dispensation that allowed late hours in vacation, received permission to accompany Connie and ten other dear friends to the station for the Western Express. Driving back alone in the hearse, still bubbling with the hilarity of Christmas farewells, they passed the laurel cottage. "'I believe there's still up,' said Priscilla.  Martin was readily induced to halt. His discipline also was relaxed in vacation. They approached the door, but hesitated at sight of the picture revealed by the lighted window. To interrupt with boisterous greetings of the season, seemed like rudely breaking in upon the seclusion of lovers. Only a glance was needed to tell them that the housewarming was successful. Grandma and Grandpa were sitting before the fire in their comfortable red cushioned rocking chairs. The lamp shed a glow on the radiant faces as they held each other's hands and smiled into the future. Patty and Priscilla tipped out away and climbed back into the hearse, a touch sobered and thoughtful. "'You know,' Patty pondered, they are just as contented as if they lived in a palace with a million dollars in an automobile. It's funny, isn't it?  CHAPTER 6 The Silver Buckles To be cooped up for three weeks with the two stupidest girls in the school. "'Kid McCoy isn't so bad,' said Connie consolingly.  But you know she's entertaining, Patty.  I would just as soon spend Christmas with a weeping angel on a tombstone. She is pretty mournful,' Priscilla agreed. "'I've spent three Christmases with her. But anyway, you'll have fun. You can be late for meals whenever you want. And Nora lets you make candy on the kitchen stove.' Patty sniffed disdainfully as she commenced the work of resettling her room after the joyous upheaval of a Christmas packing. The other two assisted in silent sympathy. There was, after all, not much comfort to be offered. Full in holiday time was a lonely substitute for home. Priscilla, whose father was a naval officer, and whose home was a peripatetic affair, had become enured to the experience. But this particular year she was gaily setting out to visit cousins in New York, with three new dresses and two new hats. And Patty, whose home was a mere matter of two hours in a Pullman car, was to be left behind. Number six-year-old Thomas Wyatt had chosen this inopportune time to come down with scarlet fever. The case was of the lightest. Master Tommy was sitting up in bed and occupying himself with a box of lead soldiers. But the rest of the family were not so comfortable. Some were quarantined in, and the others out. Judge Wyatt had installed himself in a hotel and telegraphed the Dowager to keep Patty at St. Ursula's during the holidays. However Patty had been happily packing her trunk when the news arrived, and as she unpacked it, she distributed a few excusable tears through the bureau drawers. Ordinarily a number remained for the holidays. Girls whose homes were in the west or south, or whose parents were traveling abroad or getting divorces. But this year the assortment was unusually meager. Patty was left alone in Paradise Alley. Marguerite McCoy of Texas was stranded at the end of the South Corridor, and Harriet Gladden, of nowhere, had a suite of eighteen rooms at her disposal in Lark Lane. These and four teachers made up the household. Harriet Gladden had been five years straight at St. Ursula's, term time and vacations without a break. She came a lanky little girl of twelve, all legs and arms, and she was now a lanky big girl of seventeen, still all legs and arms. An invisible father, at intervals mentioned in the catalogue, mailed checks to Mrs. Trent, and beyond this made no sign. Poor Harriet was a mournful, silent, neglected child, entirely out of place in the effervescing life that went on around her. She never had any birthday boxes from home, never any Christmas presents except those that came from the school. While the other girls were clamoring for mail, Harriet stood in the background silent and unexpected. Miss Sally picked out her clothes, and Miss Sally's standards were utilitarian rather than aesthetic. Harriet with no exception was the worst dressed girl in the school. Even her school uniform, which was an exact twin of sixty-three other uniforms, hung upon her with the grace of a meal-bag. Miss Sally, with provident foresight, always ordered them a size too large in order to allow her to grow, and Harriet invariably wore them out before she had established a fit. What on earth becomes of Harriet gladdened during vacation, Priscilla once wondered on the opening day? They keep her on ice through the summer, was Patty's opinion, and she never gets entirely thought out. As a matter of fact, this was, as nearly as possible, what they did do with her. Miss Sally picked out a quiet, comfortable, healthy farmhouse, and installed Harriet in charge of the farmer's wife. By the end of three months, she was so desperately lonely, that she looked forward with pleasurable excitement to the larger isolation of term time. Patty one day had overheard two of the teachers discussing Harriet, and her reported version had been picturesque. Her father hasn't seen her for years and years. He just chucks her in here and pays the bills. I don't wonder he doesn't want her at home, said Priscilla. There isn't any home. Her mother is divorced and married again, and living in Paris. That was the reason Harriet couldn't go abroad with the school party last year. Her father was afraid that when she got to Paris her mother would grab her. Not that either of them really wants her, but they like to spite each other. Priscilla and Connie set up interestingly. Here was a tragic intrigue, such as you expect to meet only in novels, going on under their very noses. You girls who have a happy home life cannot imagine the loneliness of a childhood such as Harriet's, said Patty impressively. It's dreadful, Connie cried. Her father must be a perfect beast not to take any notice of her. Harriet has her mother's eyes, Patty explained. Her father can't bear to look at her because she reminds him of the happy past that is dead forever. Did Miss Wadsworth say that? They demanded in an interested chorus. Not exactly in those words, Patty confessed. I just gathered the outline. This story, with picturesque additions, lost no time in making the rounds of the school. And Harriet chosen to play up to the romantic and melancholy role she was cast for. She might have attained popularity of a sort. But Harriet did not have the slightest trace of the hystronic in her make-up. She merely moped about, and continued to be heavy and uninteresting. Other more exciting matters demanded public attention. Then Harriet and her blasted childhood were forgotten. Patty stood on the verandah, waving good-bye to the last hearseful of Christmas travellers, then turned indoors to face an empty three weeks. As she was listlessly preparing to mount the stairs, Maggie waylaid her with the message, Mrs. Trent would like to speak to you in her private study, Miss Patty. Patty turned back, wondering for just which of her latest activities she was to be called to account. A visit to the Dowager's private study usually meant that a storm was brewing. She found the four left behind teachers causally gathered about the tea table, and to her surprise was received with four affable smiles. Sit down, Patty, and have some tea. The Dowager motioned her to a chair while she mingled an inch of tea with three inches of hot water. Miss Sally furnished a fringed napkin. Miss Jellings presented buttered toast, and Miss Wadsworth salted almonds. Patty blinked dayzedly and accepted the offerings. To be waited on by four teachers was an entirely new experience. Her spirits rose considerably as she mentally framed the story for Priscilla's and Connie's delectation. When she had ceased to wonder why she was being less honoured, the reason appeared. I am sorry, Patty," said the Dowager, that none of your special friends are to be here this year, but I am sure that you and Marguerite and Harriet will get on very happily. Breakfast will be half an hour later than usual, and the rules about bounds will be somewhat relaxed. Only of course we must always know where to find you. I shall try to plan a matinee party in the city, and Miss Sally will take you to spend the day at the farm. The ice is strong enough now for you to skate, and Martin will get out the sleds for you to coast. You must be in the open air as much as possible, and I shall be very pleased if you and Marguerite can interest Harriet in out-of-door sports. Speaking of Harriet, the Dowager hesitated momentarily, and Patty's acute understanding realised that at last they were getting to the kernel of the interview. The tea and toast had been merely wrapping. She listened with a touch of suspicion while the Dowager lowered her voice with an air of confidence. Speaking of Harriet, I should like to enlist your sympathy, Patty. She is very sweet and genuine, a girl that anyone might be proud to have for a friend. But through an accident, such as sometimes happens in a crowded, busy, selfish community, she has been overlooked and left behind. Harriet has never seemed to adjust herself so readily as most girls, and I fear that the poor child is often very lonely. It would be highly gratifying to me if you would make an effort to be friendly with her. I am sure that she will meet your advances halfway. Patty murmured a few polite phrases, and retired to dress for dinner, stubbornly resolved to be as distant with Harriet as possible. Her friendship was not a commodity to be bought with tea and buttered toast. The three girls had dinner alone, at a little candlelit table set in a corner of the dining-room, while the four teachers occupied a conveniently distant table in the opposite corner. Patty commenced the meal by being as monosyllabic as possible, but it was not her natural attitude toward the world, and by the time the veal had arrived, it was Wednesday night, she was laughing wholeheartedly at kids' ingenuous conversation. Miss McCoy's vocabulary was rich in the vernacular of the planes, and in vacation she let herself go. During term time she was forced to curb her discourse owing to the penny tax on slang. Otherwise her entire allowance would have gone to swell the public coffers. It was a relief to let dinner-table conversation flow where it listed. Usually, with a teacher in attendance and the route marked out, there was a cramped formality about the meal. French conversation was supposed to occupy the first three courses five nights in the week, and every girl must contribute at least two remarks. It cannot be said that on French nights the dining-room was garrulous. Saturday night was devoted to a discussion, in English, of current events, gleamed from a study of the editorials in the morning paper. Nobody at Cenercel has had much time for editorials, and even on an English Saturday conversation languished. But the school made up for it on Sunday. This day, being Festa, they could talk about anything they chose, and sixty-four magpies chattering the rep most would have been silence in comparison to St. Ursula's at dinnertime on Sunday. The four days preceding Christmas passed with unexpected swiftness. A snowstorm marked the first, followed by three days of glistening sunshine. Martin got out the bobs, and the girls piled in and rode to the woodlot for evergreens. There were many errands in the village, and the novelty of not always having a teacher at one's heels proved in itself diverting. Patti found the two companions which circumstances had forced upon her unexpectedly companionable. They skated and coasted and had snowfights, and Harriet, to Patti's wide-eyed astonishment, assumed a very appreciable animation. On Christmas Eve they had been out with Martin delivering Christmas baskets to old-time protégés of the school, and on the way home, through pure overflowing animal spirits, for a mile or more they had caught on the back of the bob, and then tumbled out and run and caught on again, until they finally dove head foremost into a big piled-up drift by the Port Couchere. They shook the snow from their clothes like puppies from a pond, and laughing and excited trooped indoors. Harriet's cheeks were red from contact with the snow. Her usually prim hair was a tangled mass about her face. Her big dark eyes had lost their mournful look. They were merry mischievous, skirlish eyes. She was not merely pretty, but beautiful in a wild, unusual, gypsyish way that compelled attention. I say, Patti whispered to kid McCoy, as they divested themselves of rubbers and leggings in the lower hall. Look at Harriet, isn't she pretty? Golly murmured the kid.  Let's make her, said Patti. At the top of the stairs they met Osaki with a hammer and chisel. I opened two box, he observed. One Mies Marguerite McCoy, one Mies Patti Wyatt. Hurray! cried the kid, starting at a gallop for her room in the south wing. A Christmas box to kid McCoy meant a lavish wealth of new possessions out of all proportion to her desserts. She owned a bachelor guardian who was subject to fits of such erratic generosity that the Dowager had regularly to remind him that Marguerite was but a schoolgirl with simple tastes. Fortunately, he always forgot this warning before the next Christmas, or else he knew kid too well to believe it, and the boxes continued to come. Patti had also started without ceremony for Paradise Alley when she became aware of deserted Harriet slowly trailing down the dim length of Lark Lane. She ran back and grasped her by an elbow. Come on, Harry, and help me open my box! Harriet's face flushed with sudden pleasure. It was the first time in five and a half years of her school career that she had ever achieved the dignity of a nickname. She accompanied Patti with some degree of eagerness. The next best thing to receiving a Christmas box of your own is to be present at the reception of a friend's. It was a big square wooden box packed to the brim with smaller boxes and parcels tied with ribbon and holly, and tucked into every crevice funny surprises. You could picture just from looking at it the kind of home it came from, filled with jokes and nonsense and love. It's the first Christmas I've ever spent away from home, said Patti, with the suggestion of a quiver in her voice. But her momentary soberness did not last. The business of exploration was too absorbing to allow any divided emotion. Harriet sat on the edge of the bed and watched in silence while Patti gaily strewed the floor with tissue paper and scarlet ribbon. She unpacked a wide assortment of gloves and books and trinkets, each with a message of love. Even the cook had baked a Christmas cake with a fancy top. And little Tommy, in wobbly uphill printing, had labeled an elephant filled with candy, for dear sister from Tom. Patti lapped happily as she plumped a chocolate into her mouth and dropped the elephant into Harriet's lap. Aren't they deers to go to such a lot of trouble?  They think such a lot more of you. This is from mother, she added, as she pried off the cover of a big dressmaker's box and lifted out a filmy dancing frock of pink crepe. Isn't it perfectly sweet? she demanded. And I didn't need it a bit. Don't you love to get things you don't need? I never do, said Harriet. Patti was already deep in another parcel. From Daddy with all the love in the world, she read. Dear old Dad, what on earth do you suppose it is? I hope mother suggested something.  Pink silk stockings and slippers to match. And look at those perfectly lovely buckles. She offered for Harriet's inspection a pink satin slipper adorned with the daintiest of silver buckles, and with heels dizzily suggestive of France. With my father a lamb, Patti Gailey kissed her hand toward a dignified judicial-looking portrait on the bureau. Mother suggested the slippers, of course, but the buckles and French heels were his own idea.  She was deep in the absorbing business of holding the pink frock before the glass to make sure that the color was becoming when she was suddenly arrested by the sound of a sob, and she turned to see Harriet throw herself across the bed and clutch the pillow in a storm of weeping. Patti stared with wide open eyes. She herself did not indulge in such emotional demonstrations, and she could not imagine any possible cause. She moved the pink satin slippers out of the reach of Harriet's thrashing feet, gathered up the fallen elephant in scattered chocolates, and sat down to wait until the cataclysm should pass. What's the matter? She mildly inquired when Harriet's sobs gave place to choking gasps. My father never sent me any silver buckles. He's way off in Mexico, said Patti, awkwardly groping for consolation. He never sends me anything. He doesn't even know me. He wouldn't recognize me if he met me on the street. Oh, yes he would, Patti assured her with doubtful comfort. You haven't changed a bit in four years. And he wouldn't like me if he did know me. I'm not pretty, and my clothes are never nice, and Harriet was off again. Patti regarded her for a moment of thoughtful silence. Then she decided on a new tack. She stretched out a hand and shook her vigorously. For goodness' sake, stop crying. That's what's the matter with your father. No man can stand having tears drip down his neck all the time. Harriet arrested her sobs to stare. If you could see the way you look when you cry, sort of streaked. Come here." She took her by the shoulder and faced her before the mirror. Did you ever see such a fright? And I was just thinking before you began about how pretty you looked. I was, honestly. You could be as pretty as any of the rest of us if you'd only make up your mind. No I couldn't.  Nobody likes me and— It's your own fault, said Patti sharply. If you were fat like Irene McCullough, or if you didn't have any chin like Evelina Smith, there might be some reason.    There's never any use bothering to tell people the truth when you don't like them. The reason Connie and Priss and I get on so well together is because we always tell each other the exact truth about our faults. Then we have a chance to correct them. That's what makes us so nice, she added modestly. Harriet sat with her mouth open. You surprised to cry.  You ought not to let Miss Sally pick them out. Miss Sally's nice. I like her a lot, but she doesn't know any more than a rabbit about clothes. You can tell that by the way she dresses herself. And then, too, you'd be a lot nicer if you wouldn't be so stiff. If you'd just laugh the way the rest of us do. How can I laugh when I don't think things are funny? The jokes the girls make are awfully silly. Speech was no longer possible, for kid McCoy came stampeding down the corridor with as much racket as a cavalcade of horses. She was decked in a fur scarf and a necklace set with pearls.  Her wrist was adorned with an oriental bracelet, and she was lugging in her arms a silver-mounted Mexican saddle, of a type that might be suited to the plains of Texas, but never to the respectable country lanes adjacent to St. Ursula's. Bully for guardie, she shouted as she descended upon them.  Did you ever see such a perfectly corking saddle? She plumped it over a chair, transformed the pink chiffon scarf into a bridle, and proceeded to mount and canter off.  Whoa! Hi there! Clear the road! Harriet jumped aside to avoid being bumped, while Patty snatched her pink frock from the path of the runway. They were shrieking with laughter, even Harriet the tearful. Now you see, said Patty, suddenly interrupting her mirth. It's perfectly easy to laugh if you just let yourself go. Kid isn't really funny, she's just as silly as she can be. Kid brought her horse to a stand. Well, I like that. Excuse me for telling the truth, said Patty politely. I'm just using you for an illustration. Heavens, there's the bell! She commenced unlacing her blouse with one hand, while she pushed her guest to the door with the other. Hurry and dress, and come back to button me up. It would be a very delicate attention for us to be on time tonight. We've been late for every meal since vacation began. The girls spent Christmas morning coasting. They were on time for luncheon, and with appetites. The meal was half over when Osaki appeared with a telegram, which he handed to the Dowager. She read it with agitated surprise, and passed it to Miss Sally, who raised her eyebrows and handed it to Miss Wadsworth, who was thrown into a very visible flutter. What on earth can it be? Kid wondered. Lordy's eloped, and they've got to hunt for a new Latin teacher, was Patty's interpretation. As the three girls left the table, the Dowager way laid Harriet. Up into my study a moment, a telegram has just come. Patty and Kid climbed the stairs in wide-eyed wonder. It can't be bad news, for Miss Sally was smiling, meditated Patty, and I can't think of any good news that can be happening to Harriet. Ten minutes later there was the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and Harriet burst into Patty's room, wild with excitement. He's coming! Who? My father! When? Right now, this afternoon, he's been in New York on business, and is coming to see me for Christmas. I'm so glad, said Patty Hardily. Now you see the reason he hasn't come before, is because he has been away off in Mexico. Harriet shook her head, with a sudden drop in her animation. I suppose he thinks he ought. Nonsense! It's so, he doesn't care for me, really.  Well then, be jolly, and pretty, and clever like me. Harriet's eyes sought the mirror, and filled with tears.  I'm an awful fright in my green dress, said Harriet. Yes, Patty grudgingly conceded, you are. The skirt is too short, and the waist is too long. And the sleeves are sort of queer, said Patty. Faced by these dispiriting facts, she felt her enthusiasm ebbing. What time is he coming? She asked. Four o'clock. That gives us two hours, Patty rallied her forces. One can do an awful lot in two hours. If you were only nearer my size, you could wear my new pink dress. But I'm afraid, she regarded Harriet's long legs dubiously. I'll tell you, she added in a rush of generosity. We'll take out the tux, and let down the hem. Oh, Patty! Harriet was tearfully afraid of spoiling the gown. But when Patty's zeal in any cause was roused, all other considerations were swept aside. The new frock was fetched from the closet, and the ripping began. And you can wear kid's new pearl necklace and pink scarf, and my silk stockings and slippers, if you can get them on. And I think Connie left a lace petticoat that came back from the laundry too late to pack. And here's kid now. Miss McCoy's sympathies were enlisted, and in fifteen minutes the task of transforming a remonstrating, excited, and occasionally tearful Harriet into the school beauty was going gaily forward. Kid McCoy was supposed to be an unreclaimable tomboy, but in this crucial moment the eternal feminine came triumphantly to the fore. She sat herself down with Patty's manicure-scissors, and for three-quarters of an hour painstakingly ripped out tux. Patty meanwhile addressed her attention to Harriet's hair. Don't strain it back so tight, she ordered. It looks as though you've done it with a monkey wrench. Here, give me the comb. She pushed Harriet into a chair, tied a towel about her neck, and accomplished the coughing by force. How's that, she demanded of kid?  Harriet's hair was rippled loosely about her face, and tied with a pink ribbon bow. The ribbon belonged to Connie Wilder, and had heretofore figured as a belt, but individual property rights were forced to bow before the cause. The slippers and stockings did prove too small, and Patty frenziedly ransacked the bureaus of a dozen of her absent friends in the vain hope of unearthing pink footwear. In the end, she had reluctantly to permit Harriet's appearing in her own simple cotton hose and patent leather pumps. But after all, Patty reassured her, it's better for you to wear black. Your feet would be sort of conspicuous in pink.  I'll tell you, she cried, you can wear my silver buckles. And she commenced cruelly wrenching them from their pink chiffon setting. Patty, don't, Harriet gasped at the sacrilege. They're just the last touch that your costume needs. Patty ruthlessly carried on the work of destruction. When your father sees those buckles, he'll think you're beautiful. For a feverish hour they worked. They clothed her triumphantly in all the grandeur that they could command. The entire corridor had contributed its quota even to the lace-edge tankerchief with a hand embroidered H that had been left behind in Hester Pringle's top drawer. The two turned her critically before the mirror, the pride of creation in their eyes. As kid had truly presaged, she was the ravingest beauty in all the school. Irish Maggie appeared in the door. Mr. Gladden is in the drying-room, Miss Harriet. She stopped and stared. Sure, you're that beautiful, I didn't know ye.  Patty and kid restlessly set themselves to reducing the chaos that this sudden butterfly flight had caused in Paradise Alley. It is always dreary work setting things to rights after the climax of an event has been reached. It was an hour later that the sudden quick patter of feet sounded in the hall, and Harriet ran in, danced in. Her eyes were shining. She was a picture of youth and happiness and bubbling spirits. Well, cried Patty and kid in a breath.  Look! She cried. He brought me that for Christmas, and I'm going to have all the dresses I want, and Miss Sally isn't going to pick them out ever again. And he's going to stay for dinner to-night and eat at the little table with us. And he's going to take us into town next Saturday for luncheon and the matinee, and the Dowager says we may go. Gee! observed the kid. It paid for all the trouble we took.  He likes me. I knew those silver buckles would fetch him, said Patty. End of CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER VII. While St. Ursula's was still dallying with the belated morning after Christmas breakfast, the mail arrived, bringing, among other matters, a letter for Patty from her mother. It contained cheering news as to Tommy's scarlet fever, and the expressed hope that school was not too lonely during the holidays. It ended with the statement that Mr. Robert Pendleton was going to be in the city on business, and had promised to run out to St. Ursula's to see her little daughter. The last item Patty read aloud to Harriet Gladden and Kid McCoy, christened Marguerite. The three left behinds were occupying a table together in a secluded corner of the dining room. Who's Mr. Robert Pendleton, inquired Kid, looking up from her own letter? He used to be my father's private secretary when I was a little girl. I always called him Uncle Bobby. Kid returned to her mail. She took no interest in the race of uncles, either real or fictitious, but Patty, being in a reminiscent mood, continued the conversation with Harriet, who had no mail to deflect her. Then he went away and commenced practicing for himself. It's been ages since I've seen him, but he was really awfully nice. He used to spend his entire time, when he wasn't writing father's speeches, and getting me out of scrapes. I had a goat named Billy Boy. Is he married? asked Harriet. No, I don't think so. I believe he had a disappointment in his youth that broke his heart. What fun! cried Kid, re-emerging. Is it still broken? I suppose so, said Patty. How old is he? I don't know, I'm sure. He must be quite old by now. Her tone suggested that he was tottering on the brink of the grave. It has been seven years since I've seen him, and he was through college then. Kid dismissed the subject. Old men, even with broken hearts, contained no interest for her. That afternoon, as the three girls were gathered in Patty's room, enjoying an indigestible four o'clock tea of milk and bread and butter, furnished by the school, and fruitcake and candy and olives and stuffed prunes, the expressmen arrived with a belated consignment of Christmas gifts, among them a long, narrow parcel addressed to Patty. She tore off the wrapping to find a note and a white-pace-board box. She read the note aloud while the others looked over her shoulder. Patty always generously shared experiences with anyone who might be near. My dear Patty, have you forgotten Uncle Bobby, who used to stand between you and many well-deserved spankings? I trust that you have grown into a very good girl, now that you are old enough to go away to school. I am coming to see for myself on Thursday afternoon. In the meantime, please accept the accompanying Christmas remembrance, with the hope that you are having a happy holiday in spite of having to spend it away from home. Your old play-fellow, Robert Pendleton What do you suppose it is, asked Patty, as she addressed herself to unknotting the gold cord on the box? I hope it's either flowers or candy, Harriet returned. Miss Sally says it isn't proper to— Looks to me like American Beauty Roses suggested kid McCoy. Patty beamed. Isn't it a lark to be getting flowers from a man? I feel awfully grown up. She lifted the cover, removed a massive tissue paper, and revealed a blue-eyed smiling doll. The three girls stared for a bewildered moment, then Patty slid to the floor and buried her head in her arms against the bed and laughed. It's got real hair, said Harriet, gently lifting the doll from its bed of tissue paper and entering upon a detailed inspection. Its clothes come off and it opens and shuts its eyes. Woop! shouted kid McCoy as she snatched a shoehorn from the bureau and commenced an Indian war-dance. Patty checked her hysterics sufficiently to rescue her new treasure from the danger of being scalped. As she squeezed the doll in her arms safe from harm's way, it opened its lips and omitted a grateful, MAMA! They laughed afresh. They laid on the floor and rolled in an ecstasy of mirth until they were weak and gasping. Could Uncle Bobby have witnessed the joy his gift brought to the three marooned Saint Ursulites? He would have indeed been gratified. They continued to laugh all that day and the following morning. By afternoon Patty had just recovered her self-control sufficiently to carry off with decent gravity Uncle Bobby's promised visit. As a usual thing, callers were discouraged in St. Artsola's. They must come from away, accredited with letters from the parents, and then must pass an alarming assemblage of chaperones. Miss Sally remained in the drawing-room during the first half of the call, which could last an hour, but then was supposed to withdraw. But Miss Sally was a social soul and she frequently neglected to withdraw. The poor girl would sit silent in the corner, a smile upon her lips, mutiny in her heart, while Miss Sally entertained the caller. But roles were somewhat relaxed in the holidays. On the day of Uncle Bobby's visit, by a fortuitous circumstance Miss Sally was five miles away superintending a new incubator-house at the school farm. The Dowager and Miss Wadworth and Miss Jellings were scheduled for a reception in the village, and the other teachers were all away for the holidays. Sally was told to receive him herself, and to remember her manners, and let him do a little of the talking. This left her beautifully free to carry out the outrageous scheme that she had concocted overnight. Harriet and Kid lent their delighted assistance, and the three spent the morning planning for her entrance in character. They successfully looted the baby ward, where the fifteen little girls of the school occupied fifteen little white cots set in fifteen alcoves. A white, stiffly starched sailor suit was discovered, with a flaring blue linen collar and a kilted skirt that was shockingly short. Kid McCoy gleefully unearthed a pair of blue and white socks that exactly matched the dress, but they proved very much too small. "'They wouldn't look well, anyway,' said Patty philosophically. "'I've got an awful scratch on one knee.' The gymnasium slippers, with spring heels, reduced her five feet by an inch. She spent the early afternoon persuading her hair to hang in a row of curls, with a spanking blue bow over her left ear. When she was finished, she made as sweet a little girl as one would ever find romping in the park on a sunny morning. "'What will you do if he kisses you?' inquired Kid McCoy. "'I'll try not to laugh,' said Patty. She occupied the fifteen minutes of waiting in a dress rehearsal. By the time Maggie arrived with the tidings that the visitor was below, she had her part-letter perfect. Kid and Harriet followed as far as the first landing, where they remained dangling over the banisters, while Patty shouldered her doll and descended to the drying-room. She sidled bashfully into the door, dropped a curtsy, and extended a timid hand to the tall young gentleman who rose in advance to meet her. "'How do you do, Uncle Wabbe?' she list.  Mr. Pendleton was, mercifully, somewhat nearsighted. She smiled back sweetly, with wide innocent baby eyes. "'You're getting to be a great big girl,' he pronounced with fatherly approval. You reach almost to my shoulder.' She settled herself far back in a deep leather chair, sat primely upright, her feet sticking straight out in front, while she clasped the doll in her arms. "'Thank you very much, Uncle Wabbe, for my perfectly beautiful doll.' Patty imprinted a kiss upon the smiling bisque lips. Uncle Wabbe watched with gratified approval. He liked this early manifestation of the motherly instinct. "'And what are you going to name her?' he inquired. "'I can't make up my mind,' she raised anxious eyes to his. "'How would Patty Junior do?' she repudiated the suggestion, and they finally determined upon Alice, after Alice in Wonderland. At this point happily disposed of, they settled themselves for conversation. He told her about a Christmas pantomime he had seen in London, with little girls and boys, for actors. Patty listened, deeply interested. "'I'll send you the fairy-book that has a story of the play,' he promised, with colored pictures. And then you can read it for yourself. You know how to read, of course,' he added. "'Oh, yes,' said Patty reproachfully, I've known how to read for a long time. I can read anything, if it has big print.' "'Well, you are coming on,' said Uncle Wabbe. They fell to reminiscing, and the conversation turned to Billy Boy. "'Do you remember the time he chewed up his rope and came to church?' Patty dimpled at the recollection. "'Jove, I'll never forget it.' And usually Favre found an excuse for not going, but that Sunday Mover made him, and when he saw Billy Boy marching up the aisle, with a sort of dignified smile on his face, Uncle Wabbe threw back his head and laughed. I thought the judge would have a stroke of apoplexy,' he declared. "'But the funniest thing,' said Patty, was to see you and Father trying to get him out. You pushed and Father pulled, and first Billy balked, and then he butted.' She suddenly realized that she had neglected to lisp, but Uncle Wabbe was too taken up with the story to be conscious of any lapse. Patty inconspicuously resumed her character.   Uncle Wabbe hastily offered comfort. "'Never mind, Patty. Maybe you'll have another goat some day.' She shook her head with the suggestion of a sob. "'No, I never will. They don't let us keep goats here. "'I loved Billy Boy. I'm awfully lonely without him.' "'There, there, Patty, you're too big a girl to cry.' Uncle Wabbe patted her curls with kindly solicitude. "'How would you like to go to the circus with me some day next week, and see all the animals?' Patty cheered up. "'Will there be elephants?' she asked. "'There'll be several,' he promised, and lions and tigers and camels. "'Oh, goodie!' she clapped her hands and smiled through her tears. "'I'd love to go. Thank you very, very much.' Half an hour later Patty rejoined her friends in Paradise Alley. She executed a few steps of the sailor's hornpipe with the doll as a partner, then plumped herself onto the middle of the bed and laughingly regarded her two companions through overhanging curls. "'Tell us what he said,' kid implored. We nearly pulled our necks out by the root stretching over the banisters, but we couldn't hear a word. "'Did he kiss you?' asked Harriet. "'No. There was a touch of regret in her tone. But he patted me on the head. He has a very sweet way with children. You'd think he'd had a course in kindergarten training. "'What did you talk about?' insisted kid, eagerly. Patty outlined the conversation. "'And he's going to take me to the circus next Wednesday,' she ended, "'to see the elephants.' "'The Dowager will never let you go,' objected Harriet. "'Oh, yes she will,' said Patty. It's perfectly proper to go to the circus with your uncle, especially in vacation. We've got it all planned. I'm to go into town with Wadi. I heard her say she had an appointment at the dentist, and he'll be at the station with a handsome. More likely a baby carriage, kid put in quickly. "'Miss Wadsworth will never take you into town in those clothes,' Harriet objected. Patty hugged her knees and rocked back and forth while her dimples came and went. "'I think,' she said, "'that the next time I'll give him an entirely different kind of a sensation.' And she did. Ticipatory of the coming event, she sent her suit to the tailors and had him lengthen the hem of the skirt two inches. She spent an entire morning retrimming her hat along more mature lines, and she purchased a veil with spots. She also spent twenty-five cents for hairpins, and did up her hair on the top of her head. She wore kid McCoy's Christmas furs and Harriet's bracelet watch.  They reached the city a trifle late for Miss Wadsworth's appointment. Patty spied Mr. Pendleton across the waiting-room.  She sauntered over in a very blasé fashion and held out her hand. The spots in the veil seemed to dazzle him. For a moment he did not recognize her. "'Mr. Pendleton, how do you do?' Patty smiled cordially. "'It's really awfully good of you to devote so much time to my entertainment. And so original of you to think of a circus. I haven't attended a circus for years. It's really refreshing after such a dose of Shakespeare and Ibsen as the theatres have been offering this winter.' Mr. Pendleton offered a limp hand, and hailed a handsome without comment. He leaned back in the corner and continued to stare for three silent minutes. Then he threw back his head and laughed. "'Good Lord, Patty, do you mean to tell me that you've grown up?' Patty laughed, too. "'Well, Uncle Bobby, what do you think about it?' Dinner was half over that night before the two travellers returned. Patty dropped into her seat and unfolded her napkin with the weary air of a society-woman of many engagements. "'What happened?' the other two clamored. "'Tell us about it. Was the circus nice?' Patty nodded. "'The circus was charming. And so were the elephants. And so was Uncle Bobby. We had tea afterwards, and he gave me a bunch of violets in a box of candy instead of the fairy book. He said he wouldn't be called Uncle Bobby by anyone as old as me, that I'd got to drop the uncle. It's funny, you know, but he really seems younger than he did seven years ago.' Patty dimpled and cast a wary eye toward the faculty-table across the room. He says he has business quite often in this neighbourhood. CHAPTER VIII. THE SOCIETY OF ASSOCIATED SIRENS Connie had gone home to recuperate from a severe attack of pink eye. Priscilla had gone to Puerto Rico to spend two weeks with her father and the Atlantic Fleet. Patty, lonely and abandoned, was thrown upon the school for society, and Patty at large was very likely to get into trouble. On the Saturday following the double departure, she, with Rosalie Patton and May Van Arsdale, made a trip into the city in charge of Miss Wadsworth to accomplish some spring shopping. Patty and Rosalie each needed new hats. Besides such minor matters as gloves and shoes and petticoats, Anne May was to have a fitting for her new tailor suit. These duties performed, the afternoon was to be given over to relaxation, at least to such relaxation as a Shakespearean tragedy affords. But when they presented themselves at the theatre, they were faced by the announcement that the star had met with an automobile accident on his way to the performance, and that he was too damaged to appear. Money would be refunded at the box-office. The girls still clamoured for their matinee, and Miss Wadsworth hurriedly cast about for a fitting substitute for Hamlet. Miss Wadsworth was middle-aged and vacillating and easily led and ladylike and shockable. She herself knew that she had no strength of character, and she conscientiously strove to overcome this cardinal defect in a chaperone by stubbornly opposing whatever her charges elected to do. Today they voted for a French farce with John Drew as hero. Miss Wadsworth said no with all the firmness she could assume, and herself picked out a drama entitled The Wizard of the Nile, under the impression that it would assist their knowledge of ancient Egypt. But the wizard turned out to be a recent and spurious imitation of the original historical wizard. She was ultra-modern English with a French flavour. The time was to-morrow, and the scene the terrace of Shepards Hotel. She wore long-clinging robes of chiffon and gold cut in the style of Cleopatra along Parisian lines. Her rose-tinted ears were enhanced by drooping earrings, and her eyes were cunningly lengthened at the corners in a fetching Egyptian slant. She was very beautiful and very merciless. She broke every masculine heart in Cairo. As a climax to her shocking career of wickedness, she smoked cigarettes. Poor bewildered Miss Wadsworth sat through the four acts worried, breathless, horrified, fascinated. But the three girls were simply fascinated. They thrilled over the scenery and music and costumes all the way back in the train. Cairo, to their dazzle-dyes, opened up realms of adventure, undreamed of in the proper bounds of Saint Ursula's. The mecca of all travel had become Shepards Hotel. That night, long after lights out had rung, when Patty's mind was becoming an agreeable jumble of sphinxes and pyramids and English officers, she was suddenly startled awake by feeling two hands rise from the darkness and clutch her shoulders on the right and left. She set up right with a very audible gasp, and demanded in unguardedly loud tones, Who's that? The two hands instantly covered her mouth. Sh! Keep quiet, haven't you any sense? Mademoiselle's door is wide open, and Lordy's visiting her. Rosalie perched on the right of the bed, and Mamertel on the left. What do you want, house Patty Crossley? We've got a perfectly splendid idea, whispered Rosalie. A secret society, echoed Mamertel. Let me alone, growled Patty. I want to go to sleep. She laid down again in the narrow space left by her visitors. They paid no attention to her in hospitality, but drawing their bath robes closer about them, settled down to talk. Patty, being comfortably inside and warm while they shivered outside, was finally induced to lend a drowsy ear. I've thought of a new society, said Mamertel. She did not propose to share the honour of creation with Rosalie. And it's going to be really secret this time. I'm not going to let in the whole school, only us three.  It has an aim. We're going to call it the Society of Associated Sirens, Rosalie eagerly broke in. The what? demanded Patty. Rosalie rolled off the saunerous syllables a second time. The society of associated sirens? Patty mumbled sleepily. It's too hard to say. Oh, but we won't call it that in public. The name's a secret. We'll call it the SAS. What's it for? You'll promise not to tell, may ask guardedly. No, of course I won't tell. Not even Priss and Connie when they get back. We'll make them members, said Patty. Well, perhaps. But this is the kind of society that's better small. And we three are the only ones who really ought to be members because we saw the play. But anyhow, we must promise not to tell unless Rosalie and I give you permission. Do you promise that? Oh, yes, I promise. What's it for? We're going to become sirens, may whispered impressively. We're going to be beautiful and fascinating and ruthless, like Cleopatra, said Rosalie. And avenge ourselves on man, added may. Avenge ourselves? What for, inquired Patty, somewhat dazed? Why, for breaking our hearts and destroying our faith in, my heart hasn't been broken. Not yet, said may with a touch of impatience, because you don't know any men, but you will know them some day, and then your heart will be broken. You ought to have your weapons ready. In time of peace, prepare for war, quoted Rosalie. Dude, you think it's quite ladylike to be a siren, asked Patty dubiously? It's perfectly ladylike, said may. Nobody but a lady could possibly be one. Did you ever hear of a washerwoman who was a siren? No, Patty confessed. I don't believe I have. And look at Cleopatra, put in Rosalie. I'm sure she was a lady. All right, Patty agreed. What are we going to do? We're going to become beautiful and fascinating with a fatal charm that ensnares every man who approaches. Do you think we can? There was some doubt in Patty's tone. May's got a book, put in Rosalie eagerly, about beauty and grace.  Cleopatra had, but I'm afraid it will be impossible to get. And you ought to learn to sing, added Rosalie, and have some one song like Laura Lie that you always hum when you're about to ensnare a victim. The project was foreign to Patty's ordinary train of thought, but it did have an element of novelty and allurement. Neither May nor Rosalie were the partners she would naturally have chosen in any enterprise, but circumstances had thrown them together that day, and Patty was an obliging soul. Also, her natural common sense was wandering. She was still under the spell of the Egyptian sorceress. They discussed the new society for several minutes more until they heard the murmur of Miss Lorde's voice bidding Madame Roselle, good night. There's Lorde, Patty whispered warily. I think you'd better to go to bed. We can plan the rest in the morning. Yes, let's," said Rosalie with a shiver. I'm freezing, but we must first take the vow-insisted May-Mertel. We aren't really to do it at midnight, but maybe half past ten we'll do as well. I've got it all planned. You two say it after me." They joined hands and whispered in turn. I most solemnly promise to keep secret the name and object of this society. And if I break this oath, may I become freckled and bald and squint-tied and pigeon-toed, now and forever more. The three members of the SAS devoted their leisure during the next few days to a careful study of the work on beauty, and painstakingly set about putting its precepts into practice. Some of these seemed perplexingly at variance. The hair, for example, was to be exposed to air and sunlight, but the face was not. They cleverly circumvented this difficulty, however. The week's allowance went for chamoiskin. During every recreation hour they retired to an airy knoll in the lower pasture and sat in a patient row with hair streaming in the wind and faces protected by homemade masks. One afternoon, a little junior A, wandering far afield in a game of hide-and-seek, came upon them unawares, and returned to the safe confines of the playground with frightened shrieks. Dark rumors began to float about the school as to the aim and scope of the new society. Suggestions ranged all the way from Indian squaws to druid priestesses. They almost met with disaster while acquiring the ingredients of the oatmeal poultice. The oatmeal and lemon were comparatively easy. The cooks applied them without much fuss. But she stuck at the honey. There were jars and jars of strained honey in the storeroom, but the windows were barred, and the key was in the bottom of Nora's pocket. Confronted by the immediate necessity of becoming beautiful, they could not placidly sit down for five days and wait for the weekly shopping trip to the village. Besides with a teacher in attendance, there would be no possible chance of making the purchase. Honey was a contraband article, in the same class with candy and jam and pickles. They discussed the feasibility of filing through the iron gratings, or of chloro- forming Nora and stealing the key. But in the end Patti accomplished the matter by the use of a little simple blarney. She dropped into the kitchen one afternoon with the plaintive admission that she was hungry. Nora hastened to supply a glass of milk and a piece of bread and butter while Patti perched on a corner of the carving-table and settled herself for conversation. The girls were not supposed to visit the kitchen, but the law was never rigidly enforced. Nora was a social soul, and she welcomed callers. Patti praised the apple-dumplings of last night's dessert. Progress from that to a discussion of the engaging young plumber, who at the moment claimed all of Nora's thoughts, then by a natural transition she passed to Honey. Before she left, she had obtained Nora's promise to substitute it for marmalade the next morning at breakfast. The members of the SAS brought pin trays to the meal and unobtrusively transferred a supply from their plates to their laps. But even so disaster still threatened. Patti had the misfortune to collide with Avelina Smith in the upper hall, and she dropped her pin tray honey-side down in the middle of the rug. At the same instant Miss Lorde bore down upon her from the end of the corridor. Patti was a young person of resource. The emergency of the moment rarely found her napping. She plumped down on her knees in the midst of the puddle, and with widespread skirts commenced frantically searching for an imaginary stick-pin. Is it necessary for you to block up the entire hall, was Miss Lorde's only comment as she passed? The rug was happily reversible, and by the simple process of turning it over, Patti satisfactorily cleaned up the mess. The other two girls were generous and shared their supply, so in the end she obtained her honey. For three wakeful nights they stuck to the poultice, though perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the poultice stuck to them. In spite of many washings in hot water, their faces became noticeably scaly. Miss Sally, who represented St. Ursula's Board of Health, met Patti Wyatt in the hall one morning. She took her by the chin and turned her to the light. Patti squirmed embarrassedly. My dear child, what is the matter with your face? I don't know. Exactly. It seems sort of… of… dandruffy. I should think it did. What have you been eating? Only what I get at meals, said Patti, relievedly telling the truth. There's something the matter with your blood, diagnosed Miss Sally. What you need is a tonic. I shall prescribe bone-set tea for you. Oh, Miss Sally, Patti earnestly remonstrated. I don't need it, really. I'm sure I'll be all right. She had tried bone-set tea before. It was the bitterest brew that was ever concocted. When Miss Sally met May Van Arsdale suffering from the same complaint, and later still Rosalie Patton, she commenced to be perturbed. The apple-trees under her care at the farm had been afflicted that spring with San Jose scale, but she had hardly expected the disease to spread to the schoolgirls. That afternoon she superintended an infusion of bone-set of gigantic proportions, and at bed-time a reluctant school formed in line and filed past Miss Sally, who, ladle in hand, presided over the punch-bowl. Each received a flowing cupful and drank it with what grace she might until Patti's turn came. She disposed of hers in a blue china umbrella-holder which stood in the hall behind Miss Sally's back. The remainder of the line successfully followed her lead. Miss Sally watched her little charges closely for the next few days, and sure enough the scales disappeared. The associated sirens had discarded poultices. She was much more than ever convinced of the efficacy of bone-set. Shortly after the founding of the society, May Murtel returned from a weekend visit to her home. Her mother was ill, and she had been sent for. Someone in May's family was conveniently ill a great deal of the time. She brought with her three bracelets of link scales representing a serpent swallowing his tail. S. A. S. in tiny letters was engraved between the emerald eyes. They are perfectly sweet, said Patti, with grateful appreciation. But why a snake? It isn't a snake, it's a serpent, May explained, to represent Cleopatra. She was the serpent of the Nile, will-be-serpents of the Hudson. With the appearance of the bracelets, curiosity in the S. A. S. increased. But unlike the other secret societies which had appeared from time to time, its raison d'etre remained a mystery. The school really commenced to believe that the society had a secret. Miss Lord, who had a reputation of being curious, stopped Patti one day as she was leaving the Virgil class and admired the new bracelet. And what may be the meaning of S. A. S., she inquired. It's a secret society, said Patti. Ah! a secret society, Miss Lord smiled. Then I suppose the name is a deep mystery. She lowered her voice, as she said it, to sepical depths. There was something peculiarly irritating about Miss Lord's manner. It was always suggested that she was amused by the vagaries of her little pupils. She did not possess Miss Sally's happy faculty of meeting them on a level. Miss Lord peered down from above, through lorgnettes. Of course the name is secret, said Patti. If that got out, it would give the whole thing away. And what is the object of this famous society? Or is that too a secret? Why, yes, that is. I mustn't tell you exactly. Patti smiled up at Miss Lord with the innocent, serific gaze that always warned those who knew her best that it was wisest to let her alone. It's a sort of branch of the Sunshine Society, she added confidentially. We're too, well, to smile on people, you know, and make them like us. I see, said Miss Lord, with an air of friendly understanding. Then S. A. S. stands for Sunshine and Smiles. Oh please, you mustn't say it out loud! Patti lowered her voice and threw an anxious glance over her shoulder. I wouldn't tell anybody for worlds, Miss Lord promised solemnly. Thank you, said Patti. It would be dreadful if it got out. It is a very sweet womanly society, Miss Lord added approvingly. But you ought not to keep it all to yourselves. Can't you let me be an honorary member of the S. A. S.? Certainly, Miss Lord, said Patti sweetly, if you care to belong, we should love to have you. Lordy wants to be a siren, she announced to her two fellow members when she met them shortly in the gymnasium. The account of the interview was received with hilarity. Miss Lord was anything but the accepted type of siren. I thought a few smiles might relieve the gloom of Latin class, Patti explained. It amuses Lordy to think she's helping the children in their play, and it doesn't hurt the children. For a time the S. A. S. flourished with the natural health of youth, but as the novelty wore off, the business of becoming beautiful grew onerous. May and Rosalie continued to study the beauty book with dogged perseverance. The subject lay along the line of their natural ambitions. But Patti felt other matters calling. Springfield Sports had commenced, and the nearness of the annual match with Highland Hall crowded out her interest in cold cream and almond meal. She and May were not naturally sympathica, and in spite of May's insistence, Patti became an apathetic siren. One Saturday just after the spring recess, Patti received permission to lunch in town with Uncle Bobby. He was an Uncle by courtesy only, but Patti had failed to inform the Dowager that the title was not his by natural right. She knew well what the result would be. It is quite proper to have lunch in with an Uncle, and quite improper with even the oldest and baldest of family friends. When the hearse returned from the station at dusk with Madame Iselle in the city contingent, Rosalie Patton was waiting the arrival on the Port Corsair. She separated Patti from the group and whispered in her ear. The most awful thing has happened. What, Patti demanded? The S.A.S. All is discovered. Not really, cried Patti aghast. Yes. Come in here.  You mean they found out the name and everything? Patti demanded breathlessly. Not quite everything, but they would have if it hadn't been for Lordy. She saved us for once. Lordy saved us! There was incredulity mixed with Patti's horror. What do you mean? Well, yesterday May went shopping in the village with Miss Wadsworth, and you know what kind of chaperone Wattie makes. Patti nodded impatiently. Anybody could fool her, and May, right under her very nose, commenced a flirtation with the soda-water clerk. Oh! said Patti hotly. How perfectly horrid! She didn't care anything about it, really. She was just trying to put the principles of S.A.S. into practice. She might at least have picked out somebody decent. Well, he is quite decent. He's engaged to the girl at the underwear counter in blood goods, and he didn't want to be flirted with a bit. But you know how persistent May Martell is when she makes up her mind. The poor young man just couldn't help himself. He was so embarrassed that he didn't know what he was doing. He gave Hester Pringle half chocolate and half sarsaparilla, and she says it was a perfectly awful combination.  And all this time Wattie just sat and smiled into space and saw nothing, but all the girls saw, and so did the drugstore man. Oh! said Patti breathlessly. And this morning Miss Sally went to the drugstore to get some potash for Harriet Gladden's sore throat, and he told her all about it. What did Miss Sally do, as Patti faintly? Do.  Well, said Patti impatiently, what happened? The Dowager was perfectly outraged. She told May that she had disgraced the school, and that she would be expelled, and she wrote a telegram to May's father to come and take her away. And she asked May if she had anything to say for herself, and May said it wasn't her fault, that you and I were to blame just as much as she, because we were all in a society together, but that she couldn't tell about it because she'd sworn. Beast. said Patti. So then they sent for me, and commenced asking questions about the S.A.S. I tried not to tell, but you know the way the Dowager looks when she's angry. Even a Sphinx would break down and tell everything it knew, and I never did pretend to be a Sphinx. All right, said Patti, bracing herself for the shock. What did they say when they heard? They didn't hear. I was just on the point of breaking my vows and telling all, when who should pop in but Lordy. And she was perfectly splendid. She said she knew all about the S.A.S., that it was a very admirable institution, and that she was a member herself. She said it was a branch of the Sunshine Society, and that May had never meant to flirt with the young man. She had just meant to smile and be kind to everybody she came in contact with, and he had taken advantage. And May said yes, that was the way of it, and she shoved off all the blame on that poor innocent soda water clerk. Just like her, Patti nodded. And now May is perfectly furious with him for getting her into trouble.  And they're going to let her stay? Yes, the Dowager tore up the telegram. But she gave May ten demerits, and made her go without dessert for a week, and learned Thanatopsis by heart. And she can't ever go shopping in the village anymore. When she needs new hair-ribbons or stockings or anything, she must send for them by some of the other girls. And what's the Dowager going to do to us? Nothing at all. And if it hadn't been for Lourdie, we'd all three have been expelled. And I've always detested Lourdie, said Patti contritely. Isn't it dreadful? You simply can't keep enemies. Just as you think people are perfectly horrid and begin to enjoy hating them, they all of a sudden turn out nice.  So do I, Patti agreed cordially. I'm going to leave her old society. I'm already out, Patti glanced toward the mirror. And I'm not freckled, and I'm not squintied. What do you mean? Rosalie stared. She had for the moment forgotten the dread nature of the oath. I've told Uncle Bobby. Oh, Patti, how could you? I—I—that is— Patti appeared momentarily confused. You see, she confessed, I thought myself that it would be sort of interesting to practice on somebody, so I—I just tried. And did he? Patti shook her head. It was awfully uphill work. He never helped a bit. And then he noticed my bracelet and wanted to know what SIS meant. And before I knew it, I was telling him. What did he say? First he roared. Then he got awfully sober, and he gave me a long lecture. It was really very impressive. Sort of like Sunday School, you know. And he took the bracelet away from me and put it in his pocket. He told me he'd send me something nicer. What do you suppose it will be, asked Rosalie, interestedly? I hope it won't be a doll. Two days later the morning mail brought a small parcel for Miss Patti Wyatt. She opened it under her desk in geometry class. Buried in jeweler's cotton, she found a gold-linked bracelet that fastened with a padlock in the shape of a heart. On the back of one of Uncle Bobby's cards was written, This is your heart. Keep it locked until the chap turns up who has the key. Patti deflected Rosalie as she was turning into French, and privately exhibited the bracelet with pride. Rosalie regarded it with sentimental interest. What has he done with the key, she wondered. I suppose, said Patti, he's got it in his pocket. How awfully romantic! It sounds sort of romantic, Patti agreed with the suggestion of a sigh. But it isn't really. He's thirty years old, and beginning to be bald. End of Chapter 8 Recording by Patti Cunningham


this need exam is concerned. People say that these kind of examinations, standardized testing is being done worldwide. Okay, fine. But on two very important aspects, need has a plus. The first thing is, a student is studying in a school for about 16 years, starting from age 3 up to age 18. The child is studying in a school to get plus two marks. This need rejects the entire plus two marks. They are not considering the school marks at all and only need examination will be the entrance point for any college, medical college and any pieces that will be a type of examination for all courses. This is the one flaw, a very important flaw need is having number one. The second thing about the need is the commercialization of the training centers. These, you know, if you take these suicides that has taken place in Tamil Nadu, these suicides are part of the huge amount of investment that has been done by the parents. See, you think about the amount. It is about six lakhs if you are going to study from 9 standard onwards preparing for need. And if it is going to be only for secondary areas, it differs from about three lakhs to four lakhs, five lakhs. The minimum amount is, you know, as per our survey has been about 150,000. So this is a huge burden on the parent and on the student. The second very important flaw regarding the need examination is that it is actually demanding too much from the parents for preparation that because it has been totally commercialized. These training centers have given enormous pressure on the government to conduct the examination during the pandemic and the students have come to the centers to write the exams, etc. As well as the need exam for comparison with the other countries, including China, all countries are conducting entrance like examinations or to enter into the colleges. About 40 to 50 countries are doing that. That is what the central government is showing us. But in those places, public exam is not mandatory. See, they are having coacover test in China, which is a very, very difficult test.  But there is no public exam. Here, a child has to take a public exam in total standard, 10 standard. And now the NEP says it is going to conduct examinations from third standard, fifth standard, in eighth standard standardized exams will be introduced. They will also have 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th, about two to, you know, semesters, which are also equivalent to public exams. So eight exams they have to write before they are going to enter into need. These mode of eight needs need examinations. Take for example, the exam conductor a few days ago, that is on 13th, you take that examination about 145, 46 questions. They are having only, you know, option two as the answer and option four answer for 45 and more questions. And option one and three you have to select only from, you know, a few, you know, questions like that it goes. So there is a lot of flop in the system. And of course, if at all a training center is having power enough to collect these, you know, things, there are so many, you know, things that can take place behind the screen when a lot of amount is invested. Now, our problem is that the children are getting a lot of pressure from the parents because of enormous amount they are spending on the training centers. When it is a total commercialization of the education, whatever you are going to study in your school, how far you are tougher, how far you are very good, it is not considered. They consider only the unique mark. So the investment that has been made in the training centers are now become more important than the education itself. The government is not coming forward to reduce any kind of burden in this matter. There can be three suggestions very important. The Tamil Nadu government, there was a big flaw in handling the need issue. That is why we had too many suicides in Tamil Nadu. Because the first thing, the students never expected the exam during the pandemic. All the other exams have been cancelled. And the last exam that took place was only on March 24th, 22nd. That's all. Then there was no exams. The children thought need will not come. Suddenly now the need has come. They have to write. The Supreme Court says, don't worry, go to the exam. The courts are saying, okay, okay, exam is an important. Now suddenly it has come. The child is not knowing what to do because they are not prepared to that. They were all in the pandemic. There are some students were in the pandemic in the area where there are affected people. There are constraints. Number two, many of the students who have completed total standard from the middle class area, they have gone to work with their parents in the vegetable shops, this and that. Number three, these children who have completed studies, they are also having a lot of other problems because no other institution has started any admission process, anything. So all these things put together, the children thought things will happen only on a later stage. So they were not ready to face the exams. Now what the Tamil Nadu government should have done? Number one, the Tamil Nadu government should have ensured that enough counseling would have been done for those children. When you go to Google, just type those who are writing a need. The entire name list and everything is coming. They can have the government concentrated only on the government school children. They also were conducted a few mock tests. Now there is a huge set of private school students who have been facing this threat of need. So there was no counseling from the government part and at least a minimum of reaching the child and talking with the child on forums, it should have been done. Some mock tests would have been conducted. Some kind of exam oriented mood should have been bought. All these things were missing. Suddenly the children were asked to go for the exam halls and that was a huge flaw from the Tamil Nadu government side and they should have faced it. They should at least should have got one opposition party meeting. The entire all party meeting regarding need to decide what is their stand and what is their scenario, how to face the need suddenly that has come. That could have been creating some awareness among the parents about what to do and how to really face the exam, how to write the exam, all those things. So these things were not done. Need has come. This government in Tamil Nadu is not for it. Number one, number two, bucket is conducting. It says both sides. It has to balance this and that so that students were in confusion and a lot of pressure on the students from all sides including the political side and so this has become a problem. Now when you are going to conduct need in future, should we have need or not? See education even today is in the concurrence list. It is not like in the center list. There should be a say for every state regarding these kind of examinations. Everyone has a system. When the Supreme Court says need is final, then we should put together some of the education is to have their view about what can be done. First we should consider the total standard mark what they are getting from CBC or state board or any board it is in that case and how much of percentage you are going to take for the consideration of the admission in MBS and other areas and for the general entrance test, how much of percentage will be taken from that and that should be a system that can really balance the school as well as the entrance. That is how in future it can be conducted or otherwise the number of people who are going to oppose need will become higher and higher. Just on one day you please think about the child. Single day of 13th of September somebody got a real fever. Somebody got sickness. What will they do? What will they do? You think about it. They cannot do anything. So please see that need is having balancing act regarding the examination system and the plus two marks should also be considered to be part of it. I'm not here to comment on the Supreme Court but what has happened is very unfortunate. The real unfortunate thing that has happened I think is due to the pressure we are getting from the training centers. Now look at this issue on part of the training centers point of view. They need new team to come inside. That is the person who have completed the 10th standard should enter the 11th standard scheme of their training center scenario and that should also be the guys who have completed 11 going to 12. They should also enter into the scheme of their training. So what happens naturally is there is enormous pressure on the center government that need exams at any cost to be conducted and see that the set which has been trained for many days have been sent out and fresh peace scenario is being maintained. This is one side of the story. Another side of the story is the Supreme Court I think was actually in the stand that the medical admissions should start otherwise half of the academic year is over all over the world. If you see the scenario, the Supreme Court has not seen the scenario worldwide. Nowhere the entrance or anything has been conducted regarding the colleges. In no country it has been conducted so far. They are all actually waiting for the pandemic to be over and they are all having scenarios. For example, let me tell you in US usually this is the time in which everything would have been over and the certification and all things would be finalized and the system would have been started in the universities. But still they are also waiting. Every country in the world which is now affected by the pandemic is waiting for the doors to open and see that somehow this pandemic is going to be over. But here it was not considered either it is Supreme Court or central government or whoever it is. That was a open platform for the students to come to your campus to write a test in open and they are telling that day we gave them a you know mask we gave them this and that but instead of everything you have made isolation wards in every center and these isolation wards even some many students who have been affected with COVID-19 were taking their tests. Now this is a you know totally uncalled for we never expected it will happen in this country. It is a shame on the people who have planned this and it's a shame for everyone who have made children with this is coming to your campus to write such a very present giving test.