Real enough, for the agitation had been too much for the poor old lady, so proud of the reputation of her school. A note over the garden wall-- a young lady looking over into the lane, perhaps in conversation with a man, and just when a stranger had arrived to act as escort for two finished pupils. It was too much. For the first time for many years Miss Twettenham had fainted away. VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FIVE. A VERY NICE LITTLE WOMAN. "Fainted dead away, Arthur; fainted dead away, Miss Rosebury; and until I shouted aloud there was my fair pussy peeping out of paradise over the wall to see if a young Adam was coming. Ha! ha! ha!" "I am very much surprised, Dr Bolter," said Miss Rosebury, severely; "I always thought the Miss Twettenham's was a most strictly-conducted establishment?" "So it is, my dear madam--so it is; but they've got one little black ewe lamb in the flock, and the old ladies told me that if my young lady had not been about to leave they'd have sent her away." "And very properly," said Miss Rosebury, tightening her lips and slightly agitating her curls. "And did the lady soon come to, Harry?" said the Reverend Arthur Rosebury, for he seemed to be much interested in his friend's discourse over the dessert. "Oh, yes, very soon. When I shouted, the dark nymph hopped off the garden-seat, and the fair one came running from the flowers, and we soon brought her to. Then I had a good look at the girls." Miss Rosebury's rather pleasantly-shaped mouth was fast beginning to assume the form of a thin red line, so tightly were her lips compressed. "By George, sir! what a girl! A graceful Juno, sir; the handsomest woman I ever saw. I was staggered. Bless my soul, Miss Rosebury, here's Perowne and here's Stuart; they say to me, `You may as well take charge of my girl and see her safe back here,' and being a good-natured sort of fellow--" "As you always were, Harry," said the Reverend Arthur, beaming mildly upon his friend, while Miss Rosebury's lips relaxed a little. "All rubbish! Stuff, man! Well, I said _yes_, of course, and I imagined a couple of strips of schoolgirls that I could chat to, and tell them about the sea, and tie on their pinafores before breakfast and dinner, and give them a dose of medicine once a week; while here I am dropped in for being guardian to a couple of beautiful women--girls who will set our jungles on fire with their eyes, sir. By George, it's a startler, sir, and no mistake." "Dr Bolter seems to be an admirer of female beauty," said Miss Rosebury, rather drily.