XIV. "THE PLAY'S THE THING" 154 XV. THE COURT-MARTIAL 167 XVI. THE EVE OF THE MATCH 181 XVII. TRICKED 196 XVIII. AT DEEPING ROYAL 210 XIX. AGAINST TIME 222 XX. THE PROFESSOR'S DRIVE 240 XXI. IN THE ROUND TOWER 255 XXII. THE GREAT ELECTION 275 ILLUSTRATIONS JOEY STOOPED A LITTLE, AND PUT HER MOUTH TO THE CHINK _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE "HOW DARE YOU COME?" 42 "HAVE YOU FINISHED?" ASKED GABRIELLE 88 "I HOPE I DIDN'T FRIGHTEN YOU COMING IN LIKE THIS," JOEY SAID POLITELY 130 "MEIN FATER, IS THE MIXTURE SLAB AND STRONG?" 160 "I'M FRIGHTFULLY SORRY WE STARTLED YOU SO" 242 HEAD OF THE LOWER SCHOOL CHAPTER I LUCKIE JEAN'S ODD-AND-END SHOP "There was a small kid called Jennie, A millionaire with a penny; But this her disgrace is She blued it on laces, And so all the rest hadn't any!" "But Joe _isn't_ Jennie," objected Bingo, as Gavin chanted the last line of this lyric in a cheerful jigging sing-song, and a voice that would have done credit to a cathedral choir. "And Mums wanted me to get shoe-laces," Joey added. "You see, these haven't any tags, and the ends are all frayed out." "What's wrong with stiffening up the ends with Bingo's play-wax?" demanded Gavin the resourceful. "I never thought that _you'd_ come to spending the one penny going on silly shoe-laces, when we have to go to Luckie Jean's odd-and-end shop, and might have bought bull's-eyes, or at least pear-drops." Joey cast a glance down at the very dilapidated laces securing her shabby shoes. Her indifference to her own personal appearance was supreme, but Mums had seemed worried about those shoe-laces, and it was a point of honour in the Graham family to protect Mums from all possible worries. All the same she agreed with Gavin: it was a waste to be going all the way to Crumach and Luckie Jean's odd-and-end shop without so much as a penny to spend among the five of them--Gavin, Ronnie, Kirsty, Bingo, and herself. She considered the question. "But Joey isn't Jennie!" objected Bingo once more with determination. Bingo never left a question till he got an answer; even when Gavin smacked his head for bothering, which happened now and then. Father--the big, cheery father to whom the five had said their last good-bye one chilly morning close on two years ago at Crumach Station--had called Bingo "the little bull-pup," because you couldn't make him let go.