ch would include graceful conversation, polite manners
and all those things which are more or less neglected in modern
education; and last of all would come the grand educational test.

Thus every idea of the school would be turned more or less topsy-turvy,
for Sir John's scheme was so peculiar and his prize so munificent that
it was worth giving up everything else to try for.

The prize itself was to consist of a free education at Cherry Court
School for the space of three years; accompanying it was a certificate
in parchment, which in itself was to be considered a very high honor;
and thirdly, a locket set with a beautiful ruby to represent a cherry,
which was the badge of the school.

When the great day arrived it was decided that the happy winner of this
great prize would receive the fees for a year's schooling in a purse
presented to her by Sir John himself, also the scroll of merit and the
beautiful ruby locket.

The news of Sir John's bounty and the marvelous prize which was to be
offered to the fortunate girls was the talk of the entire school. Even
Kitty, who little guessed how deeply she was concerned in the matter,
could scarcely think of anything else. It diverted her mind from her
coming sorrow. On the day that the prize was formally announced she
sat down to write to her father to inform him on the subject.

"It is too wonderful," she wrote; "I was the most miserable girl in all
the world when I got your telegram. I scarcely knew what I was doing,
and then Mrs. Clavering took me into her oak parlor and told me still
further bad news. That I--oh, father dear, oh, father--that I was to
go and live with Helen Dartmoor. How could you think of it, father?
But there, she said it had to be, and I felt nearly wild. You don't
know what I was suffering, although I tried so very hard to be brave.
I am suffering still, but not quite so badly, for what do you think
happened in the evening.

"You know, or perhaps you don't know, that at the end of summer there
is always such a glorious day--it is called Cherry Feast Day, and is
given in honor of the school, which is called Cherry Court School. The
whole day is given up to festivities of every sort and description, and
all the neighborhood are invited to a great big Cherry Feast in the
evening.

"The feast is held in the walled-in garden, which is lit with colored
lanterns. In the very centre of the garden is a grass sward, the
greenest grass you ever sa