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The School by the Sea




    BLACKIE & SON LIMITED
    50 Old Bailey, LONDON
    17 Stanhope Street, GLASGOW

    BLACKIE & SON (INDIA) LIMITED
    Warwick House, Fort Street, BOMBAY

    BLACKIE & SON (CANADA) LIMITED
    TORONTO




[Illustration: "THERE IS SOMEBODY OR SOMETHING INSIDE THE BARRED ROOM!"
SHE GASPED _Page 149_ _Frontispiece_]




    The School by the Sea

    BY
    ANGELA BRAZIL

    Author of "Joan's Best Chum" "The School in the South"
    "The Youngest Girl in the Fifth"
    &c. &c.

    _Illustrated_

    BLACKIE & SON LIMITED
    LONDON AND GLASGOW




By Angela Brazil

    At School with Rachel.
    Ruth of St. Ronan's.
    Joan's Best Chum.
    Captain Peggie.
    Schoolgirl Kitty.
    The School in the South.
    Monitress Merle.
    Loyal to the School.
    A Fortunate Term.
    A Popular Schoolgirl.
    The Princess of the School.
    A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl.
    The Head Girl at the Gables.
    A Patriotic Schoolgirl.
    For the School Colours.
    The Madcap of the School.
    The Luckiest Girl in the School.
    The Jolliest Term on Record.
    The Girls of St. Cyprian's.
    The Youngest Girl in the Fifth.
    The New Girl at St. Chad's.
    For the Sake of the School.
    The School by the Sea.
    The Leader of the Lower School.
    A Pair of Schoolgirls.
    A Fourth Form Friendship.
    The Manor House School.
    The Nicest Girl in the School.
    The Third Form at Miss Kaye's.
    The Fortunes of Philippa.




_Printed in Great Britain by Blackie & Son Ltd. Glasgow_




Contents


    CHAP.                                                 Page

        I. THE INTERLOPER                                    9

       II. A KINGDOM BY THE SEA                             20

      III. A MYSTERIOUS SCHOOLFELLOW                        30

       IV. "THE KING OF THE CASTLE"                         42

        V. PRACTICAL GEOGRAPHY                              51

       VI. RAGTIME                                          65

      VII. AN INVITATION                                    76

     VIII. A MEETING ON THE SHORE                           89

       IX. A MESSAGE                                        99

        X. MAROONED                                        114

       XI. "CORIOLANUS"                                    127

      XII. IN QUARANTINE                                   140

     XIII. THE LIFE-BOAT ANNIVERSARY                       153

      XIV. THE BEACON FIRE                                 166

       XV. THE OLD WINDLASS                                179

      XVI. HARE AND HOUNDS                                 192

     XVII. A DISCOVERY                                     205

    XVIII. AN ALARM                                        224

      XIX. A TORN LETTER                                   235




Illustrations


                                                        Facing
                                                         Page

    "THERE IS SOMEBODY OR SOMETHING INSIDE THE
    BARRED ROOM!" SHE GASPED                    _Frontispiece_

    A SMALL BOY WAS WAVING HIS CAP IN FRANTIC WELCOME       48

    THE MAN APPEARED TO HAVE MANY DIRECTIONS TO GIVE        96

    GERDA DARTED UPON THE BATHFUL OF OLD LETTERS           200




THE SCHOOL BY THE SEA




CHAPTER I

The Interloper


Girls! Girls everywhere! Girls in the passages, girls in the hall,
racing upstairs and scurrying downstairs, diving into dormitories and
running into classrooms, overflowing on to the landing and hustling
along the corridor--everywhere, girls! There were tall and short, and
fat and thin, and all degrees from pretty to plain; girls with fair hair
and girls with dark hair, blue-eyed, brown-eyed, and grey-eyed girls;
demure girls, romping girls, clever girls, stupid girls--but never a
silent girl. No! Buzz-hum-buzz! The talk and chatter surged in a full,
steady flow round the house till the noise invaded even that sanctuary
of sanctuaries, the private study, where Miss Birks, the Principal, sat
addressing post cards to inform respective parents of the safe arrival
of the various individual members of the frolicsome crew which had just
reassembled after the Christmas vacation. In ordinary circumstances
such an indiscretion as squealing on the stairs or dancing in the
passages would have brought Miss Birks from her den, dealing out stern
rebukes, if not visiting dire justice on the offenders; but for this one
brief evening--the first night of the term--the old house was Liberty
Hall. Each damsel did what seemed good in her own eyes, and talked,
laughed, and joked to her heart's content.

"Let them fizz, poor dears!" said Miss Birks, smiling to herself as a
special outburst of mirth was wafted up from below. "It does them good
to work off steam when they arrive. They'll have to be quiet enough
to-morrow. Really, the twenty make noise enough for a hundred! They're
all on double-voice power to-night! Shades of the Franciscans, what a
noise! It seems almost sacrilege in an old convent."

If indeed the gentle, grey-robed nuns who long, long ago had stolen