Catherine, who took Miss Ashwell's place at the end of the line, was obliged to send a runner ahead with the request, "Less noise till we reach bounds, please." But the instant they reached the school gates the line dissolved and Judith was surrounded by an excited mob. "Oh, go on, tell us, Judy." "Whatever were you doing on the platform?" "Who is he, anyway?" "Don't be a piker! Tell us, Judy." "Fancy Miss Meredith whisking him off like that." "Is he really Miss Ashwell's?" But Judith, though triumphant, was loyally discreet. He was an old friend of her Uncle Brian's. She had to speak to Uncle Tom, and then Uncle Tom and Major Phillips came down to speak to Miss Ashwell. There were some who felt that this was not all, but Catherine supported Judith and adjured them not to go into their own houses and spread romantic tales. But there are some things which even a popular prefect cannot achieve. The affair was discussed in all its details by the tired forty as they consumed much cocoa and cake in the sitting-room, and even later, when the running of many bath-taps proclaimed loudly the fact that forty tired bodies were being refreshed, scraps of conversation floated over the bath partitions. "Good thing it's his left arm that's hurt." "Isn't his hair lovely? I adore hair that is slightly greying!" "Is it a V.C. he's got?" "When do you suppose they'll be married?" "Did you say he was an artist or an engineer?" "Won't she look lovely in a wedding gown?" "_I_ wouldn't be married in anything but white." "Judith Benson thinks she's _it_. What is she doing in it anyhow?" Judith smiled happily in her bath. She had decided on her bridesmaid's frock. CHAPTER XIV JUDITH WINS THE TENNIS CUP SPRING came early this year and the school spent much time out of doors during the last term. Many classes were held in the big sun porches and in the sheltered spots in the grounds, and the various teams were hard at basket-ball and cricket and tennis, even before breakfast. It was not so hard now to get up at a quarter to seven, and Judith and Florence even joined the B.B.B.'s--"Before Breakfast Brigade"--who pledged themselves to get up in time for a dip in the swimming-pool or a game before the breakfast-bell rang.