It caught in the branches of the orange tree, fell to the ground, and rolled under a clump of cabbages.

Irene took no notice, and sauntered on in the direction of Rachel, but when the prefect had passed out of sight she returned, groped among the vegetables, found the parcel, and slipped it into her packet.
"Miss Mabel Hughes, I believe I've caught you tripping this time," she chuckled.

"I must send out the fiery cross and call an immediate meeting of the Camellia Buds." Among the secret practices of the sorority was a private signal only to be used in times of urgent necessity.

It had been suggested by Jess Cameron, who took the idea from _The Lady of the Lake_, in which poem a gathering of the clan is proclaimed by a runner bearing a cross of wood charred in the fire.

Two burnt matches fastened together with thread served the Camellia Buds for their token, and it was the strictest rite of their order that any one receiving this cryptic symbol must immediately leave whatever she happened to be doing and proceed post-haste to the rendezvous.
So promptly did the members of the society respond to the summons that within ten minutes of the issue of the fiery cross they were assembled in the summer-house in a state of much expectancy.