"Can you find a good foothold?" asked Flossie.
"Oh, yes! There are heaps of places that seem made on purpose to put your toe in. It's almost like a ladder."
"Here's Vivian!" said Chatty. "I'm afraid she's come to call us in."
"What a nuisance! I don't want to go to bed."
Chatty had accurately guessed the monitress's errand.
"It's nearly nine o'clock," proclaimed Vivian. "Didn't you hear the bell? I rang it at the side door."
"We didn't hear a sound," replied Lettice. "But then, we were all laughing so much. Honor Fitzgerald has just been climbing the lime tree, and she went right through the window into the study."
"Honor Fitzgerald is a hoyden, then," said Vivian. "And what business had she to go inside Miss Maitland's room? It was a piece of great impertinence."
"I'm sorry I told you," said Lettice ruefully.
"I wish Vivian could have heard the verse you made about her!" whispered Pauline to Honor. "Is hoyden a dictionary word, or not? I'm afraid I should have said 'cheek' instead of impertinence, but I'm not a monitress."