easter was coming—easter with its birds and flowers and hope of summer. already there were hints of plans for the holidays, though these had not yet absolutely crystallised into shape. the mere mention of one of them had been enough to send merle dancing round the house, but, as she had overheard by accident, and was strictly pledged not to reveal the secret to clive, for the present she restrained her ecstasies and kept her lips sealed.

meantime there was plenty to be done at school. the term-end examinations were due, and miss mitchell, who had been rather disappointed with christmas results, was urging everybody to make heroic efforts. mavis and merle had missed much on account of the mumps, and when they attempted some revision they were absolutely appalled at the amount that had to be made up. they did their most creditable best, and toiled over text-books till heads ached. on the evening before the first examination they were sitting in dr. ramsay's study giving a farewell grind to several rather rusty subjects, when clive walked in.

"hello, kid! you're not allowed in here! we're working!" warned merle.

her young cousin grinned.

"i know! and you've got to stop it. i've been sent to tell you to shut those books up at once!"

"did mother say so?"

"she did. she says you've done enough, and you'll only muddle yourselves if you go on any longer."

"we shan't pass!" sighed mavis.

"yes, you will! listen to the oracle and he'll give you a tip or two. a little bird told him, look up keltic words in the english language, and the life and works of william cowper, and the products of java and borneo!"

merle giggled.

"how clever you are all of a sudden! what do you know about our exam subjects?"

clive winked solemnly, first with one eye and then with another.

"perhaps i'm in communication with the occult!" he remarked. "don't people go to clairvoyants and crystal-gazers and astrologers when they want to get tips about the future? i'm your wizard to-night."

"all right. tell us our fortunes."

clive reached over for the pack of patience cards that merle had left on the table, and shuffled them elaborately.

"the wizard is now ready to wizz. i may mention that my fee is only a guinea. you mustn't laugh or it might break the spell. will you please to choose a card, look at it, and put it back in the pack."

"o fate! wangle me a decent fortune!" chuckled merle, selecting at random. it was the six of spades, and her cousin shook his head gravely.

"that's a bad omen, but wait a bit! stick it back in the pack and we'll see where it comes. oh, this is better now-a dark woman is going to bring you trouble, but a fair man will come to the rescue and help you out. you're going amongst a number of people, but the general result will be fortunate. i see a number of diamonds, which means that prizes are in store for you."

"we don't have prizes at easter! is that all?"

"all that the cards tell me, but i'll do a little crystal-gazing if you like!" and clive seized a glass paperweight, and, staring intently at it, pretended to throw himself into a state of abstraction.

"i see an examination-room!" he declared. "i see rows of desks, and girls writing at them. there are lists of questions. i am peeping over their shoulders, and they are puzzling about the products of java and borneo, and the life and works of william cowper, and the keltic words in the english language. you and mavis are scribbling ahead for all you're worth."

"a very pretty picture, i'm sure! can't you tell us some more?"

"alas! the crystal has grown milky."

"and it's your bedtime!" said mavis. "i expect you were on your way upstairs when you came in here. confess!"

"there's no hurry. i'll stay and tell yours too if you like."

"no, thanks. this will do for both of us. is mother in the drawing-room?

come along, merle, we won't work any more to-night."

"oh, i must just look up what was it?—the products of java and borneo, and william cowper, and keltic words. there's luck in them! just for five minutes! get off to bed, you kid, and leave me to work."

rather reluctantly mavis fell in with her sister's humour and reopened her text-books.

"clive's only fooling!" she remonstrated.

"i know; and so am i! here we are—keltic words in use in the english language. you can squint over my shoulder if you like."

the five minutes lengthened out till mrs. ramsay came herself and put a finish to the preparation.

"it's silly to overdo it. you'll only have headaches to-morrow and be able to remember nothing. come along to the drawing-room and sing to father."

"yes, mummie darling, i'm just strapping up my books. there, i'll leave them here on the hall-table. i promise you i won't take them upstairs. hello! here's my jersey! i was hunting for it everywhere after tea and couldn't find it. it feels wet! how funny! has anybody been out in it?"

"give it to alice and ask her to put it by the kitchen fire to dry. father wants to hear that devon folksong you're learning. it will do you good to have a little music after such hard brain-work."

merle marched into school next morning joking about her fortune. she told the girls what the oracle had said, and how she had ground up those particular bits of information.

"i'm sporting enough to give you the tip!" she laughed.

"clive was only making fun and ragging us!" qualified mavis. "he's a silly boy."

there was no time for any more last looks, however. the bell was ringing for call-over, and all books must be put away. in the fifth form room a clean sheet of blotting-paper was laid upon every desk, and the inkwells had been newly filled. miss mitchell dealt round typewritten sheets of questions, and the agony began. the english language and literature paper was not nearly so bad as mavis and merle had expected, and curiously enough there were questions both on william cowper and on keltic words. it was such a coincidence that merle could not help looking at mavis and smiling. they were both well prepared, and wrote away at full speed, almost enjoying themselves, and worked steadily till miss mitchell said, "pens down." after eleven o'clock came the examination on the text-book geography, which had this term—owing to miss pollard's influence —supplemented the lantern lectures on that subject. when she saw the first question, "describe the products of java and borneo," merle gave such an audible chuckle that many eyes were cast in her direction, and miss mitchell glared a warning. again mavis and merle found themselves well prepared, and scribbled continuously till the bell rang.

"how did you get on?" said merle to muriel, as they walked downstairs from their classroom. "i say! wasn't it funny about my fortune? why, we had the exact questions! i never heard of anything so queer in my life!"

"very queer!" answered muriel, with restraint in her voice. she was looking at iva, who shrugged her shoulders significantly.

"some people have all the luck!" remarked sybil.

"well, it was lucky, for it was pure guessing of clive's."

"how did he know what exams you were going to have?"

"oh, he's heard us talking about them, of course."

"i wish i had a cousin who could guess the questions beforehand."

"we'd all get honours on those lines."

when mavis and merle returned to school after lunch, they each found a little note laid upon their desks marked 'urgent.'

you are requested to attend a most important meeting to be held in the boarders' sitting-room at the hostel immediately after four.

there was no signature, but the writing was iva's. the ramsays were much mystified. as day-girls they had nothing to do with the hostel, and could only go there by special invitation. when afternoon school was over they asked some of the boarders the meaning of the missive. nobody would explain.

"you'll find out when you get there," was nesta's cryptic reply.

puzzled, and considerably distressed at a certain offensive attitude exhibited by sybil and others, mavis and merle walked across the garden to the hostel. iva had cleared all the younger girls out of the boarders' sitting-room, and was waiting in company with nesta, muriel, aubrey, edith, and kitty. as soon as the ramsays and sybil came in, she closed the door.

"i've called a general meeting of the fifth," she said, "because there's something we all feel we ought to go into. would you like to elect some one into the chair?"

"i beg to propose yourself," piped aubrey.

"and i beg to second," said nesta.

iva settled herself and looked somewhat embarrassed, as if not knowing quite how to begin. she fidgeted for a moment with her pencil, and cleared her throat.

"we're all here," she said at last, "except fay and beata, who couldn't stay. what we've met for is to ask mavis and merle to explain how it was they got to know some of the examination questions beforehand. it seems to us queer, to say the least of it!"

the ramsays, overwhelmed with amazement at such a palpable insinuation, turned wrathfully red.

"why, we've told you! clive guessed!" gasped merle.

"bunkum!"

"how could he?"

"very convenient guessing, i'm sure!"

"it's no use telling us such utter fibs!"

"they're not fibs! how dare you say so!" flamed merle.

"it's the absolute truth!" endorsed mavis.

"do you stick to that?"

"of course we do."

"then i shall have to call on sybil to tell us something she saw yesterday."

sybil, who was red, nervous, and even more uncomfortable than iva, rose from her seat to make her accusation.

"i was in the garden yesterday after school, and i saw merle come back, hurry among the bushes, and climb in at the study window. i waited, and presently she came out again and scooted off as if she didn't want to meet anybody."

"o—o—oh! you didn't see me! i wasn't there! was i, mavis?"

"most certainly not. you were at home all the time. i can prove that!"

"i think the thing proves itself!" said iva. "first of all, you're seen by a witness entering the study, where, no doubt, the exam papers were spread out on the table, and then you come to school primed with the questions. there isn't a shadow of doubt."

"wait a minute!" said mavis, rising with a very white face. "to begin with, you've got to prove that it was merle. one witness isn't enough."

"catie and peggie saw her down the drive. they told me so."

"what time was it?"

"about five o'clock."

"she was practising at home then. i can bring witnesses to prove that. besides, if she had really seen the questions, do you think she'd have been silly enough to tell them to you before the exam?"

the girls looked puzzled at that, but nesta murmured that merle was silly enough for anything.

"as she's one of the monitresses, we thought we ought to give her a chance to clear herself before we told miss mitchell," said iva.

"she can clear herself and she will. it's not fair to condemn her like this. you must give her time to bring her own witnesses. i ask you all, is it like merle to do such a thing?"

"well, no, it certainly isn't like either of you. that's what's surprised us so much."

"you feel you can't be sure of anybody," added aubrey.

the boarders' tea-gong, sounding at that moment, brought the meeting to an unsatisfactory conclusion. the ramsays hurried home, bubbling over with indignation, to pour their woes into mother's sympathetic ear, and were highly put out to find the drawing-room full of callers, and to be expected to hand tea-cups and make pleasant conversation instead of retailing their grievances. they beat a retreat as soon as they possibly could, and, for fear of being asked to play or sing for the benefit of visitors, deemed it wise to escape into the garden.

"we'll sit in the summer-house, only i must have my jersey," declared merle, catching up the garment in question from its peg in the hall, and pulling it on. "i want some place where i can explode. this is just the beastliest thing that's ever happened to me in all my life."

"i can't understand it!" puzzled mavis, with her forehead in wrinkles.

merle was stumping along the path with her hands in the pockets of her jersey.

"why should they accuse me, of all people in the world, of climbing in through the study window? sybil must have been dreaming. she's an idiot of a girl. she'd imagine anything from a ghost to a burglar. what are we going to do about it? i wish to goodness they would tell miss mitchell! i'd rather she knew. i've a jolly good mind to go and tell her myself. then i should have first innings and she'd hear our side of it. hello! there's clive."

it was that lively young gentleman who came walking along the garden wall and took a flying leap on to the path, just avoiding one of tom's best flower-beds.

"there's a whole tribe of ladies in the drawing-room!" he volunteered. "i carried my tea into the summer-house! you won't catch me 'doing the polite' if i can help it. rather not! have you bunked too? i don't blame you. you're looking down in the mouth, both of you! exams gone wrong this afternoon? shall i tell your fortunes again?"

"your precious fortune has got us into a great deal of trouble," answered merle. "how did you manage to guess those questions? they were actually in our papers!"

clive pulled his face into a variety of grimaces.

"ah! wouldn't you just like to know!" he retorted. "perhaps i keep a familiar spirit, or perhaps i read things in the stars. i prophesy you'll fail in all the rest of your exams! there!"

"you young wretch!" cried merle, chasing him down the path as he fled. she took her hands from her pockets to catch hold of him, and as she did so out flew a penknife on to the grass. clive pounced upon it immediately and picked it up.

"i've been looking for this everywhere!" he declared.

"how did it get inside my pocket?" asked merle.

"i never put it there!"

"clive!" exclaimed mavis, with a sudden flash of intuition. "did you wear merle's jersey yesterday? i remember she found it wet. i verily believe you dressed up in her clothes and went to school."

for answer clive burst into fits of laughter.

"oh, it was topping!" he hinnied. "i stuck on her skirt and jersey and tam o' shanter and took in everybody. i walked down the street, and up the drive to the school door, and prowled round the garden. there was a window open, so in i went and found exam questions all over the table. i thought i'd rag you about them!"

"you atrocious imp! look here! you don't know what a scrape you've got us into. you'll just have to own up and get us out of it again, that's all!"

irresponsible clive was full of thoughtless mischief, and it was a long time before the girls could get him to see the serious side of his escapade, and realise what an exceedingly grave charge had been brought against their honour. in the end, by dint of scolding, entreaty, coercion, and even bribery, they succeeded in persuading him to come along with them to 'the moorings,' where they asked for miss mitchell, and told her the whole story.

"i'm extremely glad to know," she said, looking hard at clive. "the fact is i was deceived myself. he's very like you, merle! i happened to see him climbing out of the window, and i certainly thought i recognised you. i've felt upset all day about it. i couldn't understand your doing such a thing."

"will you explain to the boarders, please! i hate them to think me a sneak."

"i'll make that all right."

"and about those exam questions—mavis and i wouldn't have dreamt of looking them up beforehand, and i don't suppose we should have known them. wouldn't it be fairer just to cross them off in our papers and not count them? we'd much rather you did."

"yes, it's the only thing to be done."

clive, much subdued, blurted out a kind of apology before he left, which miss mitchell accepted with dignity. perhaps she did not think it good for him to forgive him too easily. his evil prophecies about the exams were fortunately not fulfilled, for his cousins, though they did not score brilliant successes, just managed to scrape through without any failures.

the fifth form, when they heard the true facts of the story, repented their hasty court of justice and made handsome amends.

"it doesn't matter!" said merle. "you were quite right if you thought we'd been cheating. i should pull anybody else up myself, fast enough. it must have been the acting we did at christmas that put the idea into clive's idiotic young head. he was dressed up as a girl then, and rather fancied himself. he really is the limit."

"we shall always be a little uncertain now which is you and which is your cousin!" laughed iva.

"oh, he won't do it again! we've put him on his honour, and i don't think he'd break his word."