hat is all, Florence Aylmer. I
have spoken. Don't, I beg of you, say a word of what you have just
said to me to Kitty herself. You have all equal chances. If Kitty
fails she fails. I shall be disappointed, but I shall honor the girl
who wins the great prize all the same."

"Thank you," replied Florence. She entered the hall; a moment later
Mrs. Clavering followed her.

"My dear," she said, "what is wrong with you? I would not know you
with that expression on your face."

"Things seem very hard," said Florence. "At first, when the prize was
mentioned, it seemed quite too delicious, for you know, dear Mrs.
Clavering, that I am poor, too, and if I were to win the prize it would
be only too delightful; but if you do not wish me to take it"--tears
filled her eyes; one of them rolled down her cheeks.

"I do heartily wish you to have it if you really win it, Florence. The
competition is an open one, rest assured of that; and now, my dear,
cease to think unkind thoughts of Kitty, and, above all things, don't
breathe a word of what you have just said to me to her."

"That I promise," said Florence, but she went upstairs feeling
discontented and depressed.

She sat down to write a letter to her mother.

"Dear mother," she wrote, "we are trying for an extraordinary prize
here, quite a valuable Scholarship, such as are given to men at the
Universities, and I am going to have a big try for it, but I should
like to talk things over with you. I wonder if Aunt Susan would rise
to the occasion, and let me have a third-class return ticket to
Dawlish, and if you, Mummy, could secure a tiny room for me next
yourself. I want to spend a week with you during the coming holidays.
I have a good deal to say and am rather anxious and miserable. Try and
arrange it with Aunt Susan. It won't cost very much really, and I
promise to return at the end of a week.

"Your loving daughter,
"FLORENCE."

"P. S.--I shall eat very little and be satisfied with the plainest
food. You might mention that to Aunt Susan when you are writing."

"P. S. 2.--There is a new girl at the school; she came just at the
beginning of term, but I never mentioned her name to you before. She
is called Kitty Sharston, and I think she has a very great chance of
winning the Scholarship. She is rather an awkward kind of girl, but
will be handsome by and by. She is a great friend of Sir John Wallis,
the man who is the patron of the school, and who is giv