Mumps in the Christmas holidays! Isolation for the victim for days, even weeks; the risk of infection for others; the terrible, unthinkable possibility of "missing a term"! Mrs Vernon came nobly to the rescue, and invited Darsie to spend the remainder of the holidays under her roof, since, with a Tripos in prospect, every precaution must be taken against infection. For the rest, Lavender's own little eyrie was situated at the end of a long top passage, and might have been originally designed for a sanatorium and there, in solitary state, the poor mumpy poetess bewailed her fate, and besought the compassion of her companions. Letters were not forbidden, and she therefore found a sad satisfaction in pouring out her woes on paper, as a result of which occupation the following poetical effusion presently found its way to the schoolroom party-- "All gay and fair the scene appeared: I was a gladsome maid; When the dire hand of circumstance Upon my life was laid. Upon the eve of festal day The first dread symptoms fell; And those who should have sympathised, Whose tender words I would have prized, Did sneer, and jeer, and with loud cries, Ascribe the reason to mince-pies! "What time I woke the third day morn, By mirror was the sad truth borne; Not alone exile, grief, and pain Must fill my cup--but also _shame_! Gone is my youthful glee and grace, I have an elephantine face; My cheeks are gross, which were so thin; I have a loathsome pendant chin. All who behold me smile aside, And their derision barely hide. Oh, cruel fate! instead of tears, In my sad plight I get but jeers. "Friends, comrades, readers of this ditty, If heart ye have, on me have pity. Go not unthinking on your way, Content to sing, content to play, While I and mumps sit here alone In an unending, drear `At home.' Put wits to work, think out some way To cheer the captive's lonely day, Forget yourself, and think of me, And doubly blessed you shall be. For since the days of earliest youth You have been brought up on this truth-- To help the ailing by your side Is the true work of Christmas-tide!" To disregard so touching an appeal being plainly an impossibility, an impromptu committee meeting was held in the Vernons' study, when the idea of an open-air melodrama was proposed, and carried with acclamation. A melodrama acted in the back garden, underneath Lavender's window, opened out prospects of amusement for the actors as well as the audience, and a rainy afternoon was passed in the merriest fashion discussing the plot, characters, and costume.