"Oh, yes--that she would. But think of our fun and--and--we know enough about Brenda now to force her to give us a good time." "I think, girls, we had best accept the situation," was Fanchon's final judgment. Whatever the other girls might have remarked, and whatever their resolve would have been, must be left partly to conjecture. But something occurred at that moment to cause them to come altogether to Fanchon's point of view; for, just at that instant, there was a tap at Nina's door, and who should walk in but--Miss Jemima Juggins herself! She came close up to Nina's bedside, and asked abruptly where the Reverend Josiah was. "Why are you lying in bed, you lazy child?" she said. "What is the matter?" Now certainly Miss Juggins made a great contrast to pretty Brenda, and, when she removed her blue glasses and fixed her rather crooked eyes on Nina, Nina made up her mind on the spot to believe in Brenda, in Marshlands, in the pretty clothes which were yet to be bought, in a good time by the sea. "I will go and find papa," said Fanchon. "I know he'll be glad to see you, Miss Juggins." "I hope he will, indeed," said Miss Juggins. "I have come to speak to him on business. I want a new situation. How untidy your room is, girls! Shameful, I call it--three great hulking lasses like you not to be able to keep your own bedroom straight! But get your father at once, please, Fanny." "My name is Fanchon," said that young lady. "Fanny--I prefer to call you; I hate French names." Fanchon withdrew. The Reverend Josiah was discovered, and was borne up to little Nina's room. Miss Juggins was seated by the bed. "How do you do!" she said when the rector entered. "You don't mind my finding my way about this house, I hope, Mr Amberley, seeing that I knew your sainted wife so well. I came to ask you if you could find me a situation. This child is a little ill from overeating, and ought to get up and take a good walk. I will go down with you to your study, Mr Amberley, for I must have a private talk. Good-bye, children. Take my advice, and tidy up your room. Really, Rector, you don't bring your girls up at all in the way their dear mother would have liked." The door slammed behind Miss Juggins. The girls looked at each other. "We mustn't get rid of Pussy-cat," said Nina then. "_She_ would be fifty times worse. Well, I'll keep the sums awfully carefully, and I'll--" "You'll have to believe in her, you know, and try to be agreeable," said Fanchon. "Oh--any fate in preference to Juggins!" was Josephine's remark. CHAPTER THIRTEEN. A SURPRISE INVITATION. On the morning after the prize-giving day at Hazlitt Chase, Penelope rose with a headache. There was a great deal of bustle and excitement in the school, for nearly all the girls were going to their several homes on that special morning. Penelope and Mademoiselle d'Etienne would have the beautiful old house to themselves before twenty-four hours were over.