"I think Fifth-Form girls have responsibilities as well as monitresses," grunted Raymonde. "It's not good for Veronica to take life so earnestly! She'll grow old before her time. The Bumble's always rubbing it into us to make the most of our girlhood, and not be little premature women, so I vote we live up to her theory. It's Veronica's last term here. She ought to be bubbling and girlish, and carry away happy memories of her light-hearted school-days when she goes out into the wide world to be a woman. I consider it's our duty to look after this. The Bumble says the value of school life consists in its 'give and take'. We're taking a good deal from Veronica at present, so we must give her something back. Let's teach her to be kittenish and playful." The chums exploded. The idea of the serious-minded Veronica developing a bubbling or kittenish manner was too much for them. "We did pretty well when we took Maudie Heywood in hand," urged Raymonde. "She's wonderfully improved. Never exceeds the speed limit in her lessons, and if she writes extra essays she keeps them to herself, and doesn't flaunt them before the Form. And there was Cynthia Greene, too! We don't hear a word about The Poplars now, or her wretched bracelet. It may be difficult, perhaps, but we'll do our best with Veronica. We must regard ourselves as sort of missionaries." Having decided that it was their vocation to cultivate a spirit of artless happiness in the school, the Mystic Seven set to work on Veronica. She did not respond to their efforts; on the contrary, she seemed to resent them. When they attempted to introduce lighter veins of conversation, she reproached them with being frivolous. She frowned on riddles, limericks, and puns. One day she so far forgot herself as to murmur "Cheeky kids!" Raymonde, with a shocked and grieved expression, looked at the illuminated card deprecating the use of slang, which had lately been hung in the lecture hall, and Veronica flounced out of the room. That night, when the monitress went to bed, her sponge, nail-brush, tooth-brush, and cake of soap were missing, and it was only after a long search that she found them at the bottom of her emptied water-jug. On the next evening it was impossible for her to strike a light, owing to the fact that both her candle and matches had been carefully soaked beforehand in water. Veronica felt it was high time to lay the matter before her fellow-monitresses. They decided that such flagrant cases of insubordination must be promptly dealt with. In order to catch the offenders they laid a trap, Linda and Daphne concealing themselves in Veronica's bedroom, while Veronica herself walked ostentatiously in the courtyard.