which might have been written especially for her
benefit. What rapture to be questioned about those very rules in French
grammar which one had rubbed up the week before; to have pet passages
selected from Shakespeare, and find the Latin prose for translation
become gradually intelligible, as one telling substantive gave the clue
to the whole! Once assured of the meaning, it was easy to pick out the
words, skimming lightly over difficult phrases, but making a great show
of accuracy when opportunity arose. As to the elegance of the
translation from English into Latin the less said the better, but even
with a realisation of its shortcomings, Rhoda was hopeful of the result.

"They will say, `She doesn't know much, poor thing, but she has worked
hard, and deserves to pass. Her grammar is good, and she has mastered
the books. Oh, yes; certainly she has enough marks to pass.'"

"I think I have done fairly well in Latin," she told Miss Mott on her
return, and that severe lady actually smiled, and said graciously:

"I hope you have. You have certainly worked with a will."

Miss Bruce, however, was not nearly so encouraging, and her last
interview with her pupil was somewhat in the nature of a cold douche.

"Now that the week is over, Rhoda," she said, "I must tell you that I
have felt a good deal of anxiety on your account, which I would not
willingly have repeated. There is a strain about examinations which
some girls feel more than others. The head of your house, for instance,
Thomasina Bolderston, is a capital subject, and seems able to hit the
happy medium between working hard and over-working; but you appear to
suffer physically from the strain. I thought you seemed ill even before
the breakdown on Monday, and I fear your parents will be far from
satisfied with your looks. In the case of a girl who is preparing to
earn her livelihood, and to whom certificates are all-important, one
must take all reasonable precautions and then face the risk; but with
you it is different. You are the only daughter of wealthy parents, and
as, in all probability, you will never need to work for yourself, it
would be wiser to content yourself with taking the ordinary school
course and leaving examinations alone. I shall feel it my duty to
acquaint your mother with my opinions, and to advise--"

Rhoda gave a gasp of dismay, and stared at her with horrified eyes.

"You will forbid me to go in for any more exams.! You won't allo