When breakfast was over, Miss Carslake announced that the Principal wanted to see all the school prefects in her room that morning. "She also wishes to see all the senior girls of the house," the mistress added; "so those who are not prefects must also be ready after chapel."
Of course there was a certain amount of excitement at this unusual proceeding, and many reasons were suggested for it.
"Shall I have to go?" inquired Kitty.
"Oh, yes. Come along. You're sure to be in the Upper or Lower Fifth, so you must look upon yourself as a senior."
Consequently, about ten o'clock, Kitty found herself with the six other senior girls of her house in the sanctum of Miss St. Leger, Principal of Easthampton College. She was very popular with her girls, who were wont to declare that they could not imagine Easthampton without her.
The seniors sat gravely on chairs in a little semicircle. Kitty, through hearing them address one another, had already learned their names, and surveyed them interestedly, for these were to be her future companions. There was, first of all, the slight, fair Hilary, insignificant in appearance but ready of tongue and decidedly shrewd of brain. Then there were the Lower Fifth-formers sitting side by side. Margaret Batt was liked by everybody; she was a nice, simple, unaffected English girl, not brilliant in any way, but always ready to lend a helping hand to anyone who needed it. Sonia Edwards was a pretty, golden-haired, smartly dressed girl, inclined to be vain and rather empty-headed, though not ill-natured. Kitty rather sweepingly described her to herself as a "fluffy-haired, dressed-up doll." Bertha Salter was not very prepossessing in appearance. She had straight, carroty hair, a sturdy but stockily-built figure, and a rather heavy, sullen expression. Kitty fancied she looked rather sly, then quickly reproved herself for an unkind thought about a total stranger. The girl was very likely quite a decent sort. She couldn't help her looks.
There remained the other two Upper Fifth-formers. The second of the three prefects was the chestnut-haired girl who played the organ for chapel services. She was not exactly pretty, but there was something distinctive about her carriage and dress. Later, Kitty discovered that Francesca Kent had a natural taste for art, and was firmly and proudly convinced that she had what she called an "artistic temperament," though in reality she had the sweetest of tempers. She was quite a character in the school.
Last, but not least, was the Hon. Duane l'Estrange Estevan. Kitty decided that there was nothing insignificant about her looks, at least. She was as tall and long-limbed as Kitty herself, but there the resemblance stopped. She was rather broader of shoulder, and there was nothing awkward or angular about her. Her hair was black and thick and cut in a straight mediæval bob; her complexion was inclined to be sallow; her eyes were very grey and formed a curious contrast to her black hair and eyebrows, looking remarkably vivid and luminous in their dark setting. She lounged, rather than sat, in her chair and listened with a blasé, preoccupied indifference to what the revered Principal was saying. Duane's voice was curiously soft, with a decided drawl in it; her movements, too, were listless and deliberate. She was an English aristocrat from head to foot, Kitty told herself, and Kitty had all a self-respecting Australian's contempt for the English aristocracy.
Now the Principal was speaking to them, and Kitty's whole attention was fixed on her words.
"I wanted specially to say just a few words to the older girls in Miss Carslake's House. I expect you can guess what I want to say. To put it frankly, girls, I don't like to see one of the houses so hopelessly below all the others in both school work and sports."