"When it was all worked out, we discovered that David was right. Mrs. Thurston was a German spy and all the strange men were spies dropped from aeroplanes at night, and their job was to destroy dams all over Wales and the Midlands. The twins' pilot officer was one of them of course, and so was the man we'd seen on the first day, and so was that old beast Jacob, but Evans was the worst and had actually blown up our dam... Anyway, it's mended now, and that was the end of that adventure... But it was super, wasn't it? Sometimes I wish we could have it all over again, but I'm glad I wasn't the twins lost in the fog that night. They were the real heroes... and my friend David, of course," she added hurriedly, going a little pink.

"Peter!" Margaret gasped incredulously. "Peter! You honestly mean to say that all that happened last summer, and that you've not told any of us? You mean to say that nobody in the school knows?"

Peter shook her head.

"Of course I didn't say anything. How could I? We all promised Captain Ward that we wouldn't talk about it, and now I've broken my promise to him by talking to you, and I feel horrid about it."

She turned fiercely on the wide-eyed Margaret, and gripped her shoulders.

"And you must swear again not to tell a soul. If ever I find out that you've said a word I'll... I'll scrag you," she finished lamely.

The chatter in the dormitory was dying down now. Peter and Margaret had to whisper.

"Thanks again for asking me home," Peter said, "but I shall be all right. I don't expect it will be long before Dad comes back and then we shall all be together again... And you never know, Margaret... P'raps I might find some adventures at the place I'm going to. P'raps I'm the sort of person that adventures happen to, as Dickie would say. Good-bye, Margaret. I hope you have a lovely hols. I'll be off before breakfast, and hope I'll be at the farm by lunch time. Cook cut me some sandwiches... 'Bye!"

The other girl slipped off the bed.

"There's a million questions I want to ask you, Peter," she said pleadingly. "Can't you tell me what happened to those twins in Appledore and how David and those others rescued them. Come on, Peter, it's early yet..."

But at this moment the dormitory door opened, and their housemistress uttered a few brief threats as to what would happen if there was any more talking or noise. When she had gone, Margaret emerged from under Peter's bed and slipped away to her own. Then someone padded over to the window and took down the blackout, and, as she lay back, Peter now could look over the top of her cubicle and see the stars.