"I suppose--it's a childish trouble! I suppose--when I am old--and sensible--I shall look back on to-day, and laugh to think how I worried myself over such an unimportant trial."
"I am sure you will do nothing of the kind. You will be very, very sorry for yourself, and very pitiful, and very proud, too, if you can remember that you bore it bravely and uncomplainingly."
"But I can't! I can't bear it at all. It gets worse every moment. I keep remembering things that I had forgotten. Miss Bruce preaching, and Miss Mott staring through her spectacles--the girls all saying they are sorry, and the--the Record Wall, where I wanted to see my name! I _can't_ bear it, it's no use."
"But you will _have_ to bear it, Rhoda. It is a fact, and nothing that you can do will alter it now. You will have to bear it; but you can bear it in two ways, as you make up your mind to-day. You can cry and fret, and make yourself ill, and everyone else miserable, or you can brace yourself up to bear it bravely, and make everyone love and admire you more than they have ever done before. Which are you going to do?"
"I am going to be cross and horrid. I couldn't be good if I tried. I'm soured for life!" said Rhoda stoutly, but even as she spoke a smile struggled with her tears, and Evie laughed aloud--her sweet, ringing laugh.
"Poor, dear old thing! She looks so like it! I know better, and am not a bit afraid of you. You will be good and plucky, and rejoice unaffectedly in Kathleen's success."
"She has won the Scholarship. Yes, it will be such a joy. She needed it so badly, and has worked so hard."
"She was always kind to you. I remember the very first day she took you round the grounds. You were very good friends."
"I hate her, I tell you! I detest her name."
"I am sure you will write and congratulate her. Imagine if _your_ parents were poor, and you saw them harassed and anxious, how thankful you would feel to be able to help! Kathleen had a harder time than any of you, for she could take none of the nice, interesting `Extras.' I think all her friends will be glad that she has won."
"I shall be glad, too, in about ten years. If I said I was glad now I should be a hypocrite, for I wanted it myself. I suppose Irene is all right, and Bertha, and all the Head girls? Has--has Dorothy--"