ld that she clasped them together to restore some
feeling of warmth, and the faintness of an hour ago seemed creeping on
once more. She leant her elbows on the desk, bowed her hands in her
head, and remained motionless for ten minutes on end. The other girls
would think that she was studying the paper, and deciding what question
she could best answer; but in reality she was fighting the hardest
battle of her life, a battle between the Flesh, which said, "Give in;
say you are too ill! Think what bliss it would be to lie down and have
nothing to do!" and the Will, which declared, "No, never! I must and
shall go on. Brain! Hands! Eyes! you are my servants. I will not
_let_ you fail!" In the end Will conquered, and Rhoda raised her face,
pale to the lips, but with determination written on every feature.

The girl next to herself had covered half the sheet with figures, and
was ruling two neat little lines, which showed that Question A was
satisfactorily settled. All over the room the girls were scribbling
away, alert and busy; there was plainly no time to be wasted, and Rhoda
began slowly to puzzle out the easiest problem. The answer seemed
inappropriate; she tried again, with a different result; a third time,
with a third result; then the firm lips set, and she began doggedly the
fourth time over. To her relief this answer was the same as number two,
so it was copied out without delay, and the next puzzle begun, and the
next, and the next.

Oh, the weariness of those two hours, the struggle against weakness, the
moments of despair when memory refused to work, and simplest facts
evaded her grasp! Nobody ever knew all that it meant, and as she had
the presence of mind to tear up her blotting-paper, no examining eyes
were shocked by the sight of the expedients to which a senior candidate
had been reduced in order to discover the total of six multiplied by
six, or eight plus eleven. There were other moments, however, when the
brain cleared and allowed a space for intelligent work. More faintness
came on again, and at the end she could announce to her companions that
she had answered nine out of the twelve questions.

"What did you get for the square root?" enquired Kathleen anxiously.
"Irene's answer was different from mine; but I _did_ think I was right.
I went over it twice!"

The girls were all surging together in the ante-room, comparing answers,
and referring eagerly to Irene, who read aloud her own list