"Indeed it was splendid presence of mind! He might have been killed if you hadn't dashed down so promptly and snatched him."
Katrine's action in saving the school mascot was soon noised abroad among the girls, and brought her a quite unexpected spell of popularity, chiefly with the juniors and the Fifth Form, however. The Sixth, led by the monitresses, still hung back, jealous of their privileges, and unwilling to tolerate one who persisted in considering herself a "parlour boarder", and, as they expressed it, "putting on side!" It was really mostly Katrine's own fault: her previous acquaintance with school life ought to have taught her wisdom; but seventeen is a crude age, and not given to profiting by past experience. Some of the pin-pricks she sustained were well deserved.
On the evening of May Day, being a Saturday as well as a special festival, the monitresses decided to give a cocoa party in their study, and invite the rest of the form.
"We got eight pounds, fifteen and twopence halfpenny in the collecting boxes this afternoon," announced Viola, "and we ought to drink the health of the Prince of Wales's Fund in cocoa. We'll have a little rag-time fun, too, just among ourselves."
"All serene!" agreed Diana. "This child's always ready for sport. What about biscuits?"
"We may send out for what we like. I interviewed the Great Panjandrum, and she was affability itself."
"Good! Cocoanut fingers for me. And perhaps a few Savoys."
"Right-o! Make your list. Tomlinson is to go and fetch them."
"We shall have to borrow cups from the kitchen," said Dorrie, who had been investigating inside the cupboard. "Since that last smash we're rather low down in our china—only four cups left intact."
"Go and ask the cook for five more, then."