CHAPTER XVIII
Enchanted Ground
Marjorie and Dona spent the larger part of the Easter holidays with an aunt in the north. They had a few days at home, mostly devoted to visits to the dentist and the dressmaker, and then boxes were once more packed, and they started off on the now familiar journey back to Brackenfield. Joan watched the preparations wistfully.
"Do you think the Empress would take a girl of eight?" she enquired in all seriousness.
"Not unless you could be used as a mascot or a school monkey," returned Marjorie. "You might come in handy at the nursing lectures, when we get to the chapter on 'How to Wash and Dress a Baby', or you'd do to practise bandaging on. Otherwise you'd be considerably in the way."
"Don't be horrid!" pouted Joan. "I'm to go to Brackenfield some time. Mother said so."
"You'll have to wait five years yet, my hearty. Why, do you know, even Dona is called a kiddie at Brackenfield?"
"Dona!" Joan's eyes were big.
"Yes, some of the girls look almost as old as Nora, and they've turned up their hair. It's a fact. You needn't stare."