"It's really too bad," said Winnie. "Someone ought to go to Miss Rowe and ask her about it." "Yes, so they ought." "Who will, then?" Nobody volunteered for the disagreeable task, and Avis suggested that Winnie herself might be suitable. "I daren't, after the snubbing I got yesterday," said Winnie. "She wouldn't listen to me." "I think it would be best if we were to draw lots," said Enid. "No, don't draw lots, it seems like gambling," said Avis. "Suppose we count as we do for games? Stand in a circle, and I'll begin. Are you ready?" "The first one who gets 'out' will have to go and tell Miss Rowe what we think, then," agreed Enid. "'One, two, three, four, Jenny at the cottage door," began Avis. "'Eating cherries off a plate, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, out goes _she_.' Why, it's you, Winnie, after all." "I wish it wasn't," groaned Winnie. "However, I suppose I shall have to go. Miss Rowe's in the studio, so I'll ask her now and get it over." "Tell her we don't think it's fair," said Enid. "And that Ella ought to have a bad mark too," said Kitty Harrison. "Oh, you mean thing! It's not my fault," protested the indignant Ella. "You can say we might all have done the parsing if we'd begun it first," said Beatrice. "And don't forget to say there wouldn't have been time to answer two such long questions," said Maggie Woodhall. "I'll do the best I can, but don't expect too much," replied Winnie. "Stay here, all of you, till I come back." Winnie returned in about five minutes with a doleful face. "It's no use," she assured the girls, "I can't make Miss Rowe understand the point at all. She would only say: 'You wrote a very ill-prepared exercise, which did not deserve a good mark, and if you think I am going to excuse bad work you are quite mistaken'." "It's just what I expected," declared Enid. "Miss Rowe carries everything with such a high hand, she won't take the trouble to listen properly when one tries to explain." "It's a shame!" said all the girls, indignantly. "I wish we could find some way of paying her out," said Enid. "What could we do?" "Let me think. I know! Suppose we none of us say 'Good morning' to her when she comes into the schoolroom to-morrow to take the register." "Oh, yes! That would be splendid, and then she would see our opinion of her." "Every girl must vow she won't say it, even you, Patty!" "I think you're very silly," said Patty, "but I shan't be there myself. I always have my music lesson at nine o'clock on Friday mornings." "So much the better," said Enid. "You were the only one I thought might spoil it. Will everybody else promise?"