"I suppose I must unpack," she said, still smiling contentedly. "Where has Phyllis gone, I wonder?" She went to the door and made the passage ring with her voice, until Phyllis hurried out of a neighbouring room and apologised for not being there when she was wanted. "I believe you were there when I didn't want you," said Katharine candidly. "Wasn't I cross to you or something?" Her foot touched one of the discarded Chinese lanterns. "Hullo! I thought there were some lanterns somewhere. Where are they gone?" "Oh, no!" said Phyllis, going down on her knees before the box. "You must have been dreaming." "I wasn't dreaming, and you're a foolish old dear, and I am a selfish pig," cried Katharine penitently. "Oh, no!" said Phyllis again. "I was the pig, you see, because I forgot your letter. You'll rumple my hair, if you do that again." Katharine did hug her again, nevertheless, and accused herself of all the offences she could remember, whether they related to the present occasion or not; and Phyllis silenced her in a gruff voice, and the unpacking proceeded by degrees. "Don't you think," said Katharine irrelevantly, "that women are much more selfish than men, in some ways?" "What ways?" "I mean when they are absorbed in anything. Now, a man wouldn't behave like a cad to his best friend, just because he happened to be in love with a girl, would he? But a woman would. She would betray her nearest and dearest for the sake of a man. I am certain I should. Women are so wolfish, directly they feel things; and they seem to lose their sense of honour when they fall in love. Don't they?" "Where do the stockings go?" was all Phyllis said. "Perhaps," continued Katharine, "it is because a woman really has stronger feelings than a man." "I shouldn't wonder," said Phyllis. "Who packed the sponge bag next to your best hat?" "I don't think it matters," said Katharine mildly. "I was saying-- What are you laughing at?" "Nothing. Only, it is so delightful to have you back again, moralising away while I do all the work," laughed Phyllis. Katharine owned humbly that Phyllis always did all the work, and Phyllis bluntly repudiated the charge, and insisted that Katharine was the most unselfish person in the world, and Katharine ended in allowing herself to be persuaded that she was; and the rest of the evening passed in an amicable exchange of news. Even the "cat in the pie dish" seemed appetising that evening. Her feeling of satisfaction was increased when she arrived at school the next morning and found that Mrs. Downing was anxious to speak to her. An interview with the lady principal at the beginning of term generally foreboded some good.