Cassandra was one of the first arrivals. She was standing in the wide
courtyard waiting for the school doors to be opened. She looked, as
usual, bright and capable. A stream of girls were surrounding her, each
smiling and trying to draw her attention. Cassandra was a girl of few
words, and after nodding to her companions, she gave them to understand
that she did not intend to enter into any special conversation. Her neat
satchel of school-books was slung on her arm. She wore a very dark-blue
serge dress, and her white sailor-hat looked correct and pretty on her
shining brown hair. Cassandra, with her face beaming as the sun, made a
sort of figure-head for the smaller girls. Presently three foundation
girls entered the gates side by side and glanced up at her. This trio
formed perhaps the most objectionable set in the school. One was called
Kate Rourke; she was a girl of fifteen years of age, showily dressed,
with flashing eyes, long earrings in her ears, false jewellery round her
neck, and a smart, rather shabby hat, trimmed with a lot of flowers,
placed at the back of her head. Hanging on Kate's arm might have been
seen Hannah Johnson, in all respects that young lady's double. Clara
Sawyer, a fair-haired little girl about fourteen, with a heavy fringe
right down to her eyebrows, completed the trio.

They glanced at Cassandra, and then nodded to one another and joked and
laughed.

"I have no doubt," said Kate, "that Cassie will take her up."

She said the word "Cassie" in a loud voice. Cassandra heard her, but she
took not the slightest notice.

"She is safe to," continued Kate. "Now, such a girl oughtn't to be on
the foundation at all. If you only knew the snubbing she gave me