Louie had had Burnett Major especially in her mind when she had painted her fancy picture of a possible meeting with her fellow-students a year or two hence. The two sisters were the daughters of a Gloucestershire M.F.H., and Louie could forgive B. Major for being a little dazzled by her approaching presentation. There was nothing unfamiliar to Louie, either, in the rest of the things she felt herself, at one and the same time, both "in at" and "out of," for probably Mewley Hall, the Burnetts' home, was not very different from Trant or Mallard Bois. But Burnett Major's position a few years hence was a forgone conclusion; she filled it already in anticipation; and the noisy talk that was in progress as Louie joined the party threw bright lights on it. They were discussing the coming vacations. These were Chesson's yearly dread. They interrupted his supply of free labour, and there were always fewest girls when he most wanted them. As the vacation arrangements rested after all chiefly with the parents, he could do little except express his preference that as many of the girls as possible should take their holidays in the empty month of June, and his hope that those who did not do so would defer them until as late as they could. Otherwise he was, to that extent, no better off than his trade competitors. "Here she comes," Burnett Minor was crying as Louie entered the crowded cubicle. "I want to be here when Causton is. It's all right for Major--oh, you needn't think we don't know, Major--if you aren't actually engaged he's always about the place when you're at home--and I'm going to stalk you both with a camera and then what-d'you-call-it--blackmail him----" "Shut up, Minor, or I shall send you out," B. Major ordered. "Then I shall tell everybody who he is and shout his name through the keyhole. It's----" She moved her lips, threatening to pronounce the name there and then. "Sneak!" said her sister. B. Minor bridled. "I _will_ tell them if you call me that again! Causton, have you a young man? (That means, Avez-voo un jeune homme, Pig?)" "Not for you to shout his name through keyholes," Louie replied, smiling. "No, but do tell us--have you?" "At my age?" said Louie mockingly, sitting down on the edge of the bed and reaching for candied fruits. "Go on--you're trying to wriggle out of it--_have_ you?" "Hush, little girl--open your mouth----" She popped a fruit into the mouth that itself resembled an untouched fruit. Pigou, from the lower deck of the washstand, interposed loudly: "Elle a vingt-quatr'ans--elle est perdue!" "Uppé petite chose, avec voter Françay," commented Burnett Minor. "Cau-ston coiffe déjà Sainte Catherine," said the ruthless Pigou: "à vingt-quatr'ans on est déjà--pff!" "Non elle isn't pff--rude chose! But she'll tell me when we sleep out, because I'm going to have my mattress next to hers, sha'n't I, Causton?" "Mais elle vient d'promettre----"