"Not now, thank you! Some day soon I shall come and make you a little visit, though, with pleasure. Good night, young ladies!"
She nodded kindly, closed the door, and passed on.
The girls drew breath. A moment, and Grace Wolfe rolled out again, rose, and shook her neat dress.
"So much for Buckingham!" she said. "The good point about Principie is, she is respectable. Now, my Puggy would have looked through the keyhole first. But I foresee a visit to my own humble cot, to see whether I have learned my lessons.
"Oh! Farewell, friends!
Here Thisbe ends!"
She waved her hand, vaulted once more over the window, and was gone. An occasional faint, cat-like sound told of her progress up the fire-escape; then a window creaked slightly overhead, and all was silent.
Bertha Haughton ruffled up her curly black locks with a gesture of exasperation.
"And the worst of it is," she said, "that girl will know her Greek better than any one in class. That's half the trouble; she learns so quickly, her lessons don't take half her time, and she puts the rest into mischief."
"She seems awfully clever!" said Peggy, timidly.
Bertha nodded. "She is just that, my dear; awfully clever! I'll tell you more about her to-morrow, but now we must study hard, for we've only twenty minutes left. Only, my dear, when you think of the Goat, remember three things: she is D. D. D.,—dear, delightful,—and dangerous!"