Produced by MWS, F E H and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Transcriber's Notes In this text version of "Head of the Lower School": words in italics are marked with _underscores_ and words in small capitals are shown in UPPER CASE. Illustrations have been moved to be near the text they illustrate. A few changes have been made to standardize punctuation and spelling. HEAD OF THE LOWER SCHOOL [Illustration: JOEY STOOPED A LITTLE, AND PUT HER MOUTH TO THE CHINK] HEAD OF THE LOWER SCHOOL BY DOROTHEA MOORE ILLUSTRATED G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON The Knickerbocker Press 1920 TO WESTHILL, EASTBOURNE WITH MY LOVE THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED PREFACE There is in England a large and interesting county, mostly green on maps. We call it Lincolnshire. There is a part of that same county where you see the gleaming silver of the Wash--so fatal to King John of unpleasing memory--and the green marshlands are drained by wide dykes, and stakes stand bunched at intervals along the low-lying shore to break the fury of the sea, at the great high tides of spring and autumn; and the river that meanders through the "Deeps," as these marsh flats are called, has no banks when the tide is full, but seems as though its waters brimmed, and only kept themselves from slopping over by an amazing steadiness of hand in which you are not wise to place implicit trust. That is "Little Holland." Where the ground begins to rise a shade, so that the great mass of dim red buildings seems to tiptoe in the rolling sea of green, stands the famous Redlands College; where everyone, from Miss Conyngham the Head--are you brave enough to ask her?--down to Tiddles the school baby, will have something to tell about the thrilling story which acted itself round about Little Holland during Joey Graham's first term in the Lower School. And, let me tell you, they are proud of that story at Redlands. Here it is! Gabrielle or Noreen would like to tell it, I know; but you'd better let me. DOROTHEA MOORE. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. LUCKIE JEAN'S ODD-AND-END SHOP 1 II. OUT INTO THE WORLD 18 III. THE DUTIES OF A SCHOLARSHIP KID 29 IV. ENTER GABRIELLE 41 V. LIVELINESS IN BLUE DORM 53 VI. A NIGHT ON THE LEADS 66 VII. THE VIOLET HANDKERCHIEF 76 VIII. THE PEACE-PIPE 84 IX. "MADDY" 92 X. A SUNDAY OUT 106 XI. THE SEA-ROKE 122 XII. IN TROUBLE 133 XIII. "THE THREE MUSKETEERS" 140