Avelyn went back to school in a serious frame of mind. She knew that she had undertaken a big thing, and, though she mentally set her teeth and meant to grapple with it, she felt that her dear Lavender Lady did not--could not--realize all the difficulties that lay in her path. Miss Carrington's supreme faith in her buoyed her up, however; she would try her utmost, and if failure came---- No! the Lavender Lady had said it was fatal even to mention failure, and that she must go about her errand absolutely determined to succeed. She began by sounding the members of her own dormitory. They received the suggestion with wonderful favour. "The school's been slack enough at games all the winter!" commented Irma. "Time it bucked up, certainly!" agreed Janet. "That Hawthorners' Hockey Club was a scandal!" said Laura. "Well, if we don't take care they'll be turning it into a tennis club for the summer," warned Avelyn. "We'd better make some sort of a move," grunted Ethelberga. "It's Adah that's at the bottom of all the trouble," said Laura, sitting on the floor with her arms clasped round her knees, and swaying thoughtfully to and fro. "Adah's a thorough old-fashioned Silversider, and hates the new contingent--that's the matter in a nutshell." "Isobel and Consie and even Joyce would come round directly if Adah would only let them," agreed Irma. "And Annie and Gladys would meet them half-way," nodded Janet. "Adah's the most ripping tennis-player I know," ruminated Laura. "And so's Annie. She won the trophy last year at The Hawthorns." "The two together would make the best champions any school ever had." "Well, look here, they've just _got_ to go together!" "I've an idea--a brain wave!" said Avelyn. "The Council Meeting will be to-morrow. Well, this afternoon let us propose a tennis set, 'School versus Mistresses'. Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin are simply A1 at tennis, and everybody knows they are, so we'll insist upon Adah and Annie playing together for the school. They can't refuse when it's put like that. Whether they win or lose, it'll pave the way for what we want to bring forward to-morrow." "Right you are, O Queen! It's a blossomy idea!" Avelyn got up, and straightened her tie. "I'll go down now to the dressing-room, and catch those day girls as they come in, and have a talk with some of them." "And I'll go and sound Miss Peters about the set this afternoon. She's in a good temper to-day, because she's had a letter from the front."