she
showed any intellectual promise they might consider it worth while to
have her trained. They had never made much of her attainments, but if
she could come out third or fourth in the school she felt they would be
pleased. It would be impossible to overstep Geraldine or Hilary, but her
work was tolerably on a level with Ida's and Stuart's, and certainly
above Nesta's.

It was just at this crisis that Miss Todd offered a prize for the best
essay on "The Reconstruction of England after the Great War, and its
Special Application to Women's Labour and Social Problems".

It was rather an ambitious topic for girls to tackle, but the seniors
attacked it with the crude courage of seventeen. It is often easier at
that age to state our opinions than later, when our minds wobble with
first-hand experience of the world. At any rate, it gives a force and
style to an essay to be absolutely sure that what you write in it is the
final thing to be said on the subject. The girls scribbled away, tore up
many sheets, showed bits to admiring friends, and felt themselves
budding authoresses. Public opinion, surging round the school, had
already fixed the laurel wreath on the head of Hilary. Hilary exhibited
decided literary ability; she had quite a clever knack of writing, and
had composed several short stories. When she read these aloud--in
bed--her thrilled listeners decided that they were worthy of appearing
in print.

"Why don't you send them to a magazine?" urged Peggy, who slept in
Dormitory 4.

"Perhaps I may some day--but please don't tell anybody a word about it,"
said Hilary, putting the cherished stories away again inside her
dispatch-case.

In the ivy room Loveday also wrote and burnt, and wrote and tore up, and
wrote again. Composition was her strong point, and though she knew she
could never rival Hilary in mathematics or languages, she might possibly
match her in the matter of an essay. In imagination Loveday took home
the prize and showed it to her uncle and aunt, who were so overcome with
amazement that they at once decided to send her to college on the
strength of it.

On Wednesday afternoon the school had planned a mountain walk; but the
weather, with its usual northern perversity, turned on the water-tap,
and sent down deluges of rain. July can be quite as wet as February, and
through the steaming window-panes the disappointed girls watched little
rivers racing down the walks, and black clouds driving over the f