card at arm's length, and gazed at it admiringly, "that if I was to
write out another card similar, and tie it round your arm, it would,
mayhap, help you in getting safe to your journey's end."

I, a girl of twelve, was the Janet Hope indicated above, and I had been
looking over Chirper's shoulder with wondering eyes while she addressed
the card.

"But who is Lady Chillington, and where is Deepley Walls, and what have
I to do with either, Chirper, please?" I asked.

"If there is one thing in little girls more hateful than another, it is
curiosity," answered Chirper, with her mouth half-full of nails.
"Curiosity has been the bane of many of our sex. Witness Bluebeard's
unhappy wife. If you want to know more, you must ask Mrs. Whitehead. I
have my instructions and I act on them."

Meeting Mrs. Whitehead half-an-hour later, as she was coming down the
stone corridor that led from the refectory, I did ask that lady
precisely the same questions that I had put to Chirper. Her frosty
glance, filled with a cold surprise, smote me even through her
spectacles; and I shrank a little, abashed at my own boldness.

"The habit of asking questions elsewhere than in the class-room should
not be encouraged in young ladies," said Mrs. Whitehead, with a sort of
prim severity. "The other young ladies are gone home; you are about to
follow their example."

"But, Mrs. Whitehead--madam," I pleaded, "I never had any other home
than Park Hill."