"Then the sooner she submits the better. She'll find it's no use fighting against fate--otherwise the Mystic Seven!" "We'll start business with Cynthia Greene to-morrow," decided Aveline. Fauvette, Valentine, and Katherine were duly informed of the existence of the new society and their initiation thereinto. They offered no objections, and indeed would have been prepared at Raymonde's request to join a Black Brotherhood, or a Pirates' League with a skull and cross-bones for its emblem. A special committee meeting was held to discuss the matter of Cynthia Greene. "It needs finesse," said Morvyth. "She's been to school before, and she's up to most dodges. Naturally she comprehends that her own Form are trying to rag her." "That's where we come in," agreed Raymonde. "We're going to pose as philanthropists. One or two of us have got to take Cynthia up. We'll make her realize, of course, how very kind it is of Fifth Form girls to befriend a lonely junior." "And having taken her up--what then?" queried Fauvette. "Bless your innocence, child! Why, we'll let her down with a run!" "Are we all in it?" "No; it would be too marked. Best leave the affair to Aveline and me. You others must stand aloof and look disinterested but sympathetic. I'll speak to her at lunch-time." During the mid-morning interval, therefore, Raymonde singled out her victim. Cynthia was standing slightly apart from her Form, consuming thick bread and butter with an air of pensive melancholy, and twisting a pet bracelet that adorned her wrist. Raymonde strolled up casually. "Getting on all right?" she began, by way of opening the attack. "I say, you know, I thought I'd just speak to you. I expect you're having a grizzly time with those wretched juniors. They're a set of blighters, aren't they?" "I do find them a little trying," admitted Cynthia cautiously, "especially as I was head girl at my old school." "Rather a climb-down from Senior to Junior, isn't it? Why didn't Miss Beasley put you in the Fifth?" "My mother asked her to, but she said as I was only thirteen it was quite impossible. It's all right. I expect to be ragged a little at first. I'll live it down in time." Cynthia's expression of patient resignation was almost too much for Raymonde, but she controlled her countenance and continued: "They'll respect you all the more afterwards, no doubt." "I hope so. We didn't rag new girls at The Poplars. I always made a point of showing them they were welcome. It seemed only fair to Miss Gordon. She was more like a personal friend than a teacher, and she looked to me, you see, to keep up the tone of the school." "She must be lost without you!" "I think they'll miss me," admitted Cynthia, with a little fluttering sigh of regret. "The girls all subscribed before I left and gave me this bracelet as a keepsake. It's got an inscription inside. Would you like to look at it?"