eart. She even began to feel a
faint enjoyment in the dramatic element of her position, to realise that
if she had failed she had failed in a noticeable, even in a tragic,
fashion. To Susan belonged the glory, yet she, the beaten one, remained
unquestionably the heroine of the day!

By the time that second cups of tea had been handed round, and an attack
made upon the iced cake, Dreda was ready and eager to discuss her
trouble.

"How _could_ those numbers have been altered, Susan? Mine was five and
yours was ten. They aren't in the least alike!"

"Dreda, I don't know--I can't _think_! If they had come loose and Mr
Rawdon had clipped them on again, he would have remembered doing it. At
least, an ordinary person would; but he is a genius. Perhaps geniuses
are different."

"_You_ are a genius, Susan. You ought to know!" said Dreda, whereat the
poor little genius flushed miserably, and Nancy, rattling the tea-tray,
rushed hastily into the breach.

"Accidents _will_ happen! It's no earthly use worrying your head about
the how and the why. There it is, and you've got to make the best of
it, and forget it as soon as possible."

Dreda rolled tragic eyes to the ceiling.

"I shall never forget. You can't reach the height of your ambition and
then see your treasure crumble to pieces in your hands in less than ten
minutes, and fall down into a very pit of humiliation without wearing a
mark for life."

"Don't say humiliation, Dreda," cried Susan tremulously. "Don't, dear;
I can't bear it. It was dreadful for you; but there was no humiliation.
There was nothing--nothing of which you could be ashamed. Your essay
was very good, too; it has been mentioned as one of the best."

But Dreda was not in the mood to accept comfort. She was miserable, and
she intended to be miserable in a thorough, systematic fashion, so that
for the moment alleviations seemed rather to irritate than to cheer--

"My essay was only one of the best four. That's nothing. Except our
three selves and Barbara Morton, there's not another girl in the school
who can write a decent essay to save her life. The others were all as
dull and stupid as could be. You have seen them, and know that that's
true. If mine was only the fourth best, that's no praise at all. Mr
Rawdon made no special mention of any but yours, except when he--_Oh-
h_!" Dreda's voice shrilled with sudden panic; she dropped her cake on
to her plate and clasped her hands t