Tea was in the beautiful old dining-room, one of the oldest parts of the original building, a long, lofty room with glorious oak panelling and great worm-eaten oak beams across the ceiling, carefully preserved through several hundred years. No one came to St. Etheldreda's without being impressed by this room, particularly as it had the added advantage of looking out on three sides to green lawns and leafy trees.
From tea till the bell rang again for assembly at six-thirty the school was like a hive of busy bees, swarming and buzzing. The hall where the girls assembled every morning for prayers and every evening for roll-call, and also on state occasions such as Speech Day, was in the Annexe, and had a wide platform at one end and a small gallery at the other.
Madge Amhurst found herself among a little party of Fifth-formers, as she made her way down the corridor.
"Any new girls for the Fifth?" inquired one of them, Irene Eames.
Madge shook her head. "There is only one new senior so far, who I expect will go into the Fourth. There's another who hasn't turned up yet, though. She has the 'flu or something, and will probably be coming next week."
Irene nodded, disappointed. "What a pity! It's rather interesting having new girls in your form and wondering what they'll be like."
"Miss Perkins said she thought this girl who hasn't arrived yet would be put into the Fifth," replied Madge.
Five minutes after the bell had sounded a goodly number of girls had assembled in the hall. St. Etheldreda's was not as big as many of the modern English boarding-schools, nevertheless its numbers were not inconsiderable, averaging between seventy and eighty, all boarders. The lowest age at which a girl could be admitted was ten, for there was neither a kindergarten nor a preparatory department.
After the girls came the mistresses and finally the Principal herself, tall and slight, with hair turning grey rather early, and the possessor of a quiet manner and a voice of peculiar charm, low-toned but very clear and distinct. Standing on the platform at the end of the room she began to speak, saying how pleased she was to see familiar and smiling faces again, but declaring that she would not keep them very long as she knew many had had long journeys and were doubtless beginning already to feel tired. She touched lightly on the work of the coming year, impressing on them the need for a good beginning, followed by steady work throughout the year.
She then read out the list of the new prefects and their chief duties. At this, of course, all heads were turned towards the back row, where stood the five or six new Sixth-formers, who tried hard not to look self-conscious when they heard their names. They came forward to the platform to receive their prefects' stars, which the Principal fastened on the fronts of their dresses, and were heartily clapped by the rest of the school.