The Princess of the School   By: Angela Brazil (1868-1947)

THE PRINCESS OF THE SCHOOL ================================== By ANGELA BRAZIL

AUTHOR OF

"The Luckiest Girl in the School," "The Harum Scarum Schoolgirl," "A Popular Schoolgirl," "The Head Girl at the Gables."

Illustrated by Frank Wiles. ================================== A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York

Published by arrangement with Frederick A. Stokes Company

Printed in U. S. A.

Copyright, 1920, by FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

All rights reserved

First published in the United States of America, 1921

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I THE INGLETON FAMILY 1

II A STOLEN JOY RIDE 15

III A VALENTINE PARTY 33

IV DISINHERITED 50

V THE NEW OWNER 61

VI PRINCESS CARMEL 73

VII AN OLD GREEK IDYLL 88

VIII WOOD NYMPHS 100

IX THE OPEN ROAD 114

X A MEETING 129

XI A SECRET SOCIETY 145

XII WHITE MAGIC 157

XIII THE MONEY MAKERS 171

XIV ALL IN A MIST 190

XV ON THE HIGH SEAS 201

XVI THE CASA BIANCA 215

XVII SICILIAN COUSINS 229

XVIII A NIGHT OF ADVENTURE 242

XIX AT PALERMO 261

XX OLD ENGLAND 271

XXI CARMEL'S KINGDOM 283

THE PRINCESS OF THE SCHOOL

CHAPTER I

The Ingleton Family

On a certain morning, just a week before Christmas, the little world of school at Chilcombe Hall was awake and stirring at an unusually early hour. Long before the slightest hint of dawn showed in the sky the lamps were lighted in the corridors, maids were scuttling about, bringing in breakfast, and Jones, the gardener, assisted by his eldest boy, a sturdy grinning urchin of twelve, was beginning the process of carrying down piles of hand bags and hold alls, and stacking them on a cart which was waiting in the drive outside.

Miss Walters, dreading the Christmas rush on the railway, had determined to take time by the forelock, and meant to pack off her pupils by the first available trains, trusting they would most of them reach their destinations before the overcrowding became a serious problem in the traffic. The pupils themselves offered no objections to this early start. The sooner they reached home and began the holidays, so much the better from their point of view. It was fun to get up by lamp light, when the stars were still shining in the sky; fun to find that rules were relaxed, and for once they might chatter and talk as they pleased; fun to run unreproved along the passages, sing on the stairs, and twirl one another round in an impromptu dance in the hall.

The particular occupants of the Blue Bedroom had been astir even before the big bell clanged for rising, so they stole a march over rival dormitories, performed their toilets, packed their hand bags, strapped their wraps, and proceeded downstairs to the dining hall, where cups and plates were just being laid upon the breakfast table. It was quite superfluous energy on the part of Lilias, Dulcie, Gowan, and Bertha, for as a matter of fact not one of them was on the list of earliest departures, but the excitement of the general exodus had awakened them as absolutely as the advent of Santa Claus on Christmas mornings. They stood round the newly lighted fire, warming their hands, chatting, and hailing fresh arrivals who hurried into the hall.

"You going by the 6.30, Edith? You lucker! My train doesn't start till ten! I begged and implored Miss Walters to let me leave by the early one, and wait at the junction, but she would not hear of it, so I've got to stop here kicking my heels, and watch you others whisked away. Isn't it a grisly shame?"