The week of examination passed slowly by, and the morning dawned when
the all-important lists were to be read aloud. The girls were tired
after the strain, the teachers exhausted by the work of reading over
hundreds of papers, and it was consequently a somewhat pale and
dejected-looking audience which assembled in the Hall to hear the
report.
Rhoda sat tense on her seat, and puzzled for some moments over the
meaning of a certain dull, throbbing noise, before discovering that it
was the beating of her own heart. It seemed to her morbid sensitiveness
that every eye was upon her, that everyone was waiting to hear what
place the new girl had taken. When Miss Bruce began to read she could
hardly command herself sufficiently to listen, but the first mention of
her own name brought her to her bearings with a shock of dismay. After
all her work, her care, her preparation, to be so low as this, to take
so poor a place! The mortification was so bitter that she would fain
have hidden herself out of reach of consolation, but to her surprise, so
far from condoling, teachers and pupils alike seemed surprised that she
had done so well.
"You have worked admirably, Rhoda. I am pleased with you," said Miss
Murray.
"Well done, Fuzzy!" cried Tom, and even Miss Bruce said graciously:
"Very good progress for a first term, Rhoda!"
It was evident from their manner that they meant what they said, and
another girl might have gleaned comfort from the realisation that she
had expected too much of her own abilities. Not so Rhoda! It was but
an added sting to discover that she had been ranked so low, that an even
poorer result would have created no astonishment. She was
congratulated, forsooth, on what seemed to her the bitterest
humiliation! If anything was needed to strengthen the determination to
excel at any and every cost, this attitude of the school was sufficient.
In the solitude of the cubicle she vowed to herself that the day should
come, and that speedily, when she would be estimated at her right value.
She stood in the damp and cold gazing up at the Record Wall, and
renewed the vow with fast-beating heart. The sun struggled from behind
the clouds and lit up the surface of the tablets, and the Honours girl,
and the B.A. girl, and the girls who had won the scholarships, seemed to
smile upon her and wish her success, but Eleanor Newman's name was in
the shade. The sun had not troubled to light it up. She was "stupid,"
and had never won a prize.
The last two days were broken and unsatisfactory, and Rhoda longed for
the time of departure to arrive; yet it was not without a pang of regret
that she opened her eyes on the last morning, and gazed round the little
blue cubicle. It was delightful to be going home, yet school had its
strong points, and there were one or two partings ahead which could not
be faced without depression. How nice it would be if she could take all
her special friends home--Dorothy and Kathleen, and Miss Everett, and--
yes! Tom herself; for, wonderful to state, she was unaffectedly sorry
to part from Tom. What fun they would have had running riot in Erley
Chase, and summoning the whole household to wait on their caprices!
The gong rang, and all the little bells followed suit in their usual
objectionable fashion, but the girls yawned and lay still for another
five minutes, aware that leniency was the order of the day. The roll of
the organ and the first two lines of the hymn found them still in bed,
and the words were clearly distinguishable:--