"I say, Giles," he said, when they were once more driving steadily on their way, "you won't tell mother anything about this, will you?"
"Ay, that I shall, Master Rupert," was the stolid reply. "Don't you make any mistake about that."
"Then you are a disagreeable old pig," retorted Rupert; "that's what you are!"
"And you are a very wilful young gentleman, and you'll get into trouble one of these fine days if you ain't careful."
Rupert, after this, maintained a sulky silence, and it was not until the wagonette drew up at Farley House that he recovered himself.
"Good-bye, Cinders," he cried mischievously, as the three girls alighted. "I quite expect you'll be in the babies' class with Marcia, so don't disappoint me."
"I hope she will be," said little Marcia; "that would be just lovely for me."
Gertie secretly hoped the same, for the idea of Ella proving a rival to herself was most distinctly unpleasant.
At first Ella felt overcome with bashfulness, for never in her life had she been in such a big company of girls. But presently she forgot about herself altogether, and consequently, when one of the governesses examined her as to the extent of her knowledge, she answered the questions put to her without any shyness, and, moreover, with a clearness which surprised her questioner.
"Who's the new girl with her arm in a sling?" asked a certain Dorothy Grey of Gertie, during an interval of the morning's lessons.