CHAPTER XIV

PREPARING FOR THE DISPLAY

Dr. Hurst did not call again at the little house in the garden, and
the triumvirate came out of quarantine in due course, very little subdued
by their eight days' imprisonment, and more on the alert than ever for
any piece of excitement that might come their way. The junior playroom,
having passed an exceedingly dull and uneventful week during their
absence, welcomed their return with joy; and it was perhaps fortunate
for the internal affairs of Wootton Beeches that there was going to be
a gymnastic display to absorb the energies of its wilder spirits. As the
days rolled on and the end of the term drew nearer and nearer, the
conversation on both sides of the curtain became almost entirely limited
to the one topic of the Canon's prize; and those who were not among the
chosen competitors for it spent the best part of their time in watching
the others practise in the big gymnasium, and in disputing hotly the
various chances of the claimants. Miss Finlayson had settled that the
six morocco-bound volumes offered by her uncle should be divided into
two prizes, one for the senior and one for the junior division of the
school; and while it was generally agreed that Margaret Hulme would carry
off the first, the discussion in the junior playroom as to the winner of
the second was endless. Most of the girls were agreed that Charlotte
Bigley and the three members of the triumvirate shared equal chances, on
the whole, of being successful; and a great deal would depend, it was
said, on the exercises chosen for competition. For, until a week before
the great day, nobody knew what the exact programme was to be. 'It's
one of Finny's dodges,' Charlotte Bigley declared, 'because she wants
us to be good all round, and not to grind at one or two things just for
the sake of the prize. It's like the prize-giving in the Christmas
term; we never know what the prizes are going to be for, till after the
exams. are over.'

So the excitement was great when Miss Burleigh walked into the gymnasium
on the Saturday before the display, and called for silence so that she
might read out the order of the competition. Even the younger children
forced themselves into a kind of uneasy order, as Hurly-Burly unfolded
her sheet of foolscap paper; for the next few minutes would practically
decide, they thought, who was to be the lucky one among the juniors.

'First of all,' announced the games-mistress, 'the who