“Yes, darling.”

“Wouldn’t you like to come with me to Cassandra Weldon’s?  She is so nice, and so is her mother.  She plays beautifully, and they will sing.”

“Irish songs?” called out Kathleen.

“I don’t know.  Perhaps they will if you ask them.”

“Thanks,” replied Kathleen; “I am not going.”  Again there was silence, and the scratching of the pen continued.  Alice was now obliged to go downstairs to acquaint her mother.

“What is it, dear?  Why, my dear Alice, how excited you look!”

“I have cause to be, mother.  I have come in rather late, very much fagged out from a day of hard examination work and that imp—­that horrid girl—­has locked me out of my bedroom.  I was so looking forward to a nice little supper with Cassandra and the other girls!  Kathleen won’t let me in; she really is intolerable.  I can’t stay in the room with her any longer; she is past bearing.  Can’t you give me an attic to myself at the top of the house?”

“You know I haven’t a corner.”

“Can’t I share your bed, mummy?  I shall be so miserable with that dreadful Kathleen.”

“You know quite well, Alice, that that is the only really good bedroom in the house, and I can’t afford to give it to one girl by herself.  I think Kathleen will be all right when we really get to know her; but she is very undisciplined.  Still, three guineas a week makes an immense difference to me, Alice.  I can’t help telling you so, my child.”

“In my opinion, it is hardly earned,” said Alice.  “I suppose I must stay down here and give up my supper.  I can’t go like this, all untidy, and my hair so messy, and my collar—­oh, mother, it is nearly black!  It is really too trying.”

“I will go up and see if I can persuade her,” said Mrs. Tennant.

She went upstairs, turned the handle of the door, and spoke.  The moment her voice penetrated to Kathleen’s ears, she jumped to her feet, crossed the room, and bent down at the other side of the keyhole.

“Don’t tire your dear voice,” she said.  “What is it you want?”

“I want you to open the door, Kathleen.  Poor Alice wants to get in to get her clothes.  It is her room as much as yours.  Let her in at once, my dear.”

“I am very sorry, darling Mrs. Tennant, but I am privately engaged in my own half of the room.  I am not interfering with Alice’s.”

“But you see, Kathleen, she can’t get to her half.”

“The door is in my half, you know,” said Kathleen very meekly, “so I don’t see that she has any cause to complain.  I am awfully sorry; I will be as quick as I can.”

“You annoy me very much.  You make me very uncomfortable by going on in this extremely silly way, Kathleen.”

“I will darn some more socks for you, darling, tired pet,” whispered Kathleen coaxingly.  “I really am awfully sorry, but there is no help for it.  I must finish my own private affairs in my own half of the room.”