Meanwhile, the group assembled round the fire in V B were enjoying themselves.

The room was growing dusk, but, seated on the hearthrug, Addie Knighton could see quite sufficiently to read aloud extracts from a document she was perusing, extracts to which the others listened with thrilling interest, interspersed with comments.
"'The girls of the Oaklands'," so she read, "'were a rather peculiar and miscellaneous set, especially those in the Lower Fifth.

Scarcely any of them could be called pretty--'" ("Oh! oh!" howled the attentive circle.) "'One of them, Valerie Chadford, imagined herself so, and gave herself fearful airs in consequence; she was very set up at knowing smart people, and often bragged about it.'" ("I'll never forgive her, never!" screamed Stephanie.) "'The twins, Pearl and Doris, were fat, stodgy girls, who wore five-and-a-halfs in shoes and had twenty-seven-inch waists.'" ("Oh! Won't Merle and Alice be just frantic when they hear ?") "'But even they were more interesting than Nellie Clacton, who usually sat with her mouth open, as if she was trying to catch flies.'" ("Does she mean me ?" gasped Mary Acton indignantly.) "'Florence Tulliver was inclined to be snarly, and often said mean things about other people behind their backs.'" ("I'll say something now!" declared Gertrude Oliver.) "'And Annie Ryton was----'" but here Addie broke off abruptly and exploded.
"Go on! Go on!" commanded the girls.
"It's too lovely!" spluttered Addie.

"O--ho--ho! So that's what she thinks of me, is it ?" "Read it, can't you ?" "Here, give the paper to me!" "No, no! I'll go on--but--I didn't know my eyes were like faded gooseberries, and my hair like dried seaweed!" "Has she described herself!" asked Stephanie.
"I haven't come to it yet.

Oh yes! here we are, farther on: 'Our heroine, Morvyth Langton, was an unusually----'" But here Addie stopped abruptly, for a blazing little fury stood in the doorway.
"Addie Knighton, how dare you?
How dare you?
Give me that paper this instant!" "No, no! It's much too interesting.