w me to
try again?"

The Principal smiled slightly.

"That is, perhaps, over-stating the case. The final decision must, of
course, rest with your parents. If, in opposition to my advice, they
should still desire--"

But Rhoda heard no more. The idea that her father and mother should
wish her to go in for any work which interfered with health was so
impossible to conceive that it might as well be dismissed at once. With
one fell crash her castle in the air had fallen to the ground and lay in
ruins at her feet. If she had not done well this time, farewell for
ever to her dreams of distinction, for no other opportunity would be
granted!

For the first half of the holidays the thought weighed upon her with
depressing force, but gradually, as health improved, the outlook
lightened also, and she began to pose to herself in a new light. If she
passed well--and, despite her illness, she looked back on most of the
papers with a feeling of complacency--if she won the scholarship, or
even gained distinction, her reputation among her class-mates would be
to a certain extent established, and the fact that the delicate nature
of her nervous system debarred her from further efforts would entitle
her to a tribute of peculiar sympathy. When other girls succeeded,
their companions would shake their heads, and whisper among themselves,
"If Rhoda could only--"

"A good thing for her that Rhoda," etcetera, etcetera. In imagination
she could hear the remarks, and her face unconsciously assumed the
expression of meek endurance with which she would listen. And so more
and more did the result of that week's work fill the horizon of her
life; she thought of it day by day, and dreamt of it by night; she
talked of it to Ella, until even that patient listener wearied of the
theme; she counted the weeks, the days, the hours, until the report
should arrive. And then one morning, half-way through breakfast, Mr
Chester looked up from his eggs and bacon and remarked casually--as if
it were an ordinary, commonplace subject, and not an affair of life and
death:

"By the way, Rhoda, there is something about your examination in the
paper to-day. I noticed the heading. You may like to see it!"

Rhoda leant back in her chair, and held out her hand in dumb entreaty.
The newspaper was open at the right page, and her eye fell at once on
the familiar heading, and, underneath, a long list of numbers.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

FAILED!

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