ogether, staring before her with
wide, startled eyes. "Oh-h! Do you remember? He said that he had been
_amused_ by one of the four essays. His lips twitched, and he tried not
to laugh. Amused at the `high-flown eloquence.' That was the
expression--wasn't it? High-flown eloquence! That means rubbish, of
course--bombastic, stupid, exaggerated rubbish! Girls, _that was mine_!
I feel it--I know it! Susan, you know it, too. You wouldn't say that
it was good, even when I asked you straight out. You were too honest to
say `Yes.' Oh! I am not angry. You needn't look so miserable. It was
true, and down at the very, very bottom of my heart I knew it myself.
When I thought I had won the prize I was only really happy for a few
minutes; after that I grew frightened, for I knew it was a mistake, and
that I was not really a genius at all, only a rather sharp-witted girl,
a ready girl,"--she gave a dreary little laugh--"who could pick up other
people's ideas, and string them together as if they were her own. The
girls weren't clever enough to know the real from the sham, but Mr
Rawdon knew it at once. He saw how--how--" (she paused, groping in her
extensive vocabulary for a word to express her meaning) "how
_meretricious_ it was! He was--_amused_!"

The last word came with an involuntary quiver of pain, and there was
silence round the impromptu tea-table. Dreda saw without surprise that
the tears were rolling down Susan's cheeks--it seemed natural that Susan
should cry. What did give her a real shock of surprise was to hear a
sound of subdued snuffling on her right, and on turning her head to
behold the imperturbable Nancy suspiciously red about the eyes and nose.

"Nancy!" she cried involuntarily. "You are crying! I never believed
that it was possible that you _could_ cry! Why are you crying, Nancy?
Is it about--_me_?"

But Nancy only jerked the tea-tray, tossing her head the while in her
most nonchalant fashion.

"Can't I cry if I like? Can't I cry for myself? If I don't, no one
else will. No one thinks about Me! _I_ tried for the prize as well as
you, and I've far more right to be disappointed. No one ever said I
might be great!"

She tossed her head and frowned and pouted, but Dreda was not deceived
by the pretence. At her heart lay a warm feeling of comfort and
gratitude. In recalling the incidents of this tragic day, it would
always bring a throb of consolation to remember that Nancy, the
impe