g order. Now girls
be quick! Come, Marian, where are you?" For Marian, with a very red
face, had not stepped forward as usual to take her place at the head
of the line.

"I'm top!" said Sylvia, who found it impossible to conceal her
triumph, and she led the way with the feeling of a rival claimant who
has suddenly and unexpectedly been raised to the throne, enjoying
Miss Denby's astonishment as much as Marian's confusion.

After that it was a continual struggle between the two children for
the coveted seat. Sometimes one gained it and sometimes the other, and
one week they were exactly equal, a difficulty which Miss Kaye solved
by deciding that Marian was to be head in the mornings and Sylvia in
the afternoons. No one else in the class seemed able to dispute it
with them, though Hazel Prestbury occasionally won high marks. Linda,
a bright enough child to talk to, and fond of reading, had not a very
good memory, Connie Camden was incorrigibly lazy, Nina only worked by
fits and starts, and both Gwennie Woodhouse and Jessie Ellis were of
course out of the question.

Sylvia certainly did not find school life all plain sailing. Among
other things Miss Arkwright was a totally different person from her
former governess. Miss Holt, anxious to develop her pupil's powers of
general intelligence, had allowed her to ask continual questions, and
would even argue a point with her in order to encourage her to think
clearly upon a subject. Miss Arkwright, on the contrary, did not allow
any girl to have opinions in opposition to her own, and Sylvia got
into sad trouble if she ventured on original ideas. Once in the
geography class she was asked to give the capital of Tuscany.

"Firenze," she replied promptly.

"Next," said Miss Arkwright.

"Florence," answered Marian with a toss of her head.

"Firenze is the proper Italian name for Florence," corrected Sylvia.
"Father and Mother were staying there last Easter, and they said
everybody called it that, and didn't understand what you meant if you
said Florence."

"We are having our geography lesson in English, not Italian, so we
will call the places by the English names which are given in the
book," said Miss Arkwright, glaring at her; and Sylvia lost a mark,
much to her indignation.

Another time the class was reading _Marmion_, and repeating the notes
which were given at the end of the cantos. Now Sylvia had revelled in
so many historical stories that she understood thoroughly