rom Dorothy, who was given to
discoursing in her sleep, and more than once in the course of the first
half-hour Rhoda's own eyes glazed over, and the lids fell. Nature was
pleading for her rights, but each lapse was sternly overcome, and
presently nerves and brain were fully awake, and battling with their
task. She learned by heart passages marked as likely to be useful,
searched to and fro for answers still unknown, and worked out imaginary
calculations. One thing was no sooner begun than she recalled another
which needed attention, and so on it went from arithmetic to
Shakespeare, from Shakespeare to history, from history to Latin, back
and forward, back and forward, until her head was in a whirl.

The clock struck six, the girl in the next cubicle murmured sleepily,
"Such a noise! Something rustling!" and Rhoda held her breath in
dismay. Her haste in turning over the leaves had nearly brought about
discovery, but henceforth she moved with caution, turning from place to
place with wary fingers. Her back ached despite the supporting
cushions, and her head swam, but she struggled on until at last the roll
of the gong sounded through the house, and the girls awoke with yawns
and groans of remembrance.

"Black Monday! Oh! Oh! I wish I'd never been born!"

"Misery me, and I was having such a lovely dream, all about holidays and
picnics, and walks on the sands--"

"I've had the most awful night, doing sums all the time, with the
Examiner looking over my shoulder. My head is like a jelly!"

Then Tom's voice arose in derisive accents. Happy Tom! who was well
through her June Matric, and could afford to chaff the poor victims.

"Would any young lady like to explain to me how to find the resultant of
a system of parallel forces?"

"Tom, you are brutal! Be quiet this moment, or we'll come and make
you--"

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Rhoda, love, just give me the Substance of King
Richard's speech to Northumberland, when the latter announced that he
was to be removed to Pomfret!"

Rhoda began to reply, but stopped abruptly, for on rising from bed she
was attacked by a strange giddiness, and lay back against the pillows
trembling with cold and nausea. Her hands shook as she uncorked the
eau-de-Cologne, and the scent, so far from being reviving, made her
shudder afresh. She dressed with difficulty, sitting down at frequent
intervals, and growing colder and colder with each exertion, so that
when she emerged from her cu