Besides the resident teachers there was the chaplain and his wife. The chaplain had his own quarters in a distant wing of the school. His name was the Reverend Edmund Fairfax. He was an elderly man, with white hair, a benign expression of face, and gentle brown eyes. His wife was a somewhat fretful woman, who often wished that her husband would seek preferment and leave his present circumscribed sphere of action. But nothing would induce the Reverend Edmund Fairfax to leave Mrs. Haddo so long as she required him; and when he read prayers morning and evening in the beautiful old chapel, which had been built as far back as the beginning of the eighteenth century, the girls loved to listen to his words, and even at times shyly confided their little troubles to him. Such was the state of things at Haddo Court when this story opens. Mrs. Haddo was a woman of about thirty-eight years of age. She was tall and handsome, of a somewhat commanding presence, with a face which was capable, in repose, of looking a little stern; but when that same face was lit up by a smile, the heart of every girl in the school went out to her, and they thought no one else like her. Mrs. Haddo was a widow, and had no children of her own. Her late husband had been a great friend of Mr. Fairfax. At his death she had, after careful reflection, decided to carry on the work which her mother had so successfully conducted before her. Everything was going well, and there was not a trace of care or anxiety on Mrs. Haddo's fine face. There came a day, however, when this state of things was doomed to be altered. There is no Paradise, no Garden of Eden, without its serpent, and so Janet Haddo was destined to experience. The disturbing element which came into the school was brought about in the most natural way. Sir John Crawford, the father of one of Mrs. Haddo's favorite pupils, called unexpectedly to see the good lady. "I have just got the most exciting piece of news for you," he said. "Indeed!" replied Mrs. Haddo. She never allowed herself to be greatly disturbed, but her heart did beat a trifle faster when she saw how eager Sir John appeared. "I have come here all the way from Yorkshire in order not to lose a moment," continued the good baronet. "I don't want to see Fanny at present. This has nothing whatever to do with Fanny. I have come to tell you that a wonderful piece of news has reached me." "What can that be?" asked Mrs. Haddo. She spoke with that gracious calm which always seemed to pervade her presence and her words. "Do relieve my mind at once!" said Sir John. "Is it possible that you--you, Mrs. Haddo, of Haddo Court--have at the present moment three vacancies in your school?" Mrs. Haddo laughed. "Is that all?" she said. "But they can be filled up to-morrow ten times over, if necessary." "But you _have_ three vacancies--three vacancies in the upper school? It is true--I see it is true by your face. Please assure me on that point without delay!"