“For she’s a jolly good fellow,Who well has earned the prize.”
“For she’s a jolly good fellow,Who well has earned the prize.”
“For she’s a jolly good fellow,Who well has earned the prize.”
“For she’s a jolly good fellow,
Who well has earned the prize.”
Then they linked hands, joining in “Auld Lang Syne,” in compliment to their visitors, this merging at the end into the National Anthem, after which the visitors were to be entertained to tea on the lawn. But Dr. Sedgewick had to hurry away to catch his train.
Dorothy went with him as far as the little gate at the end of the grounds through which she had been carried the previous day.
She had not much to say for herself, but the radiant content of her face was just the reflection of the happiness in her heart. She was thinking how differently she would have felt but for that talk with her father last night.
“It will be good news for your mother, Dorothy. You have made us very happy,” said Dr. Sedgewick in a moved tone as he bade her good-bye at the gate.
“Daddy, it is just lovely, and I am so happy about it all,” she said. “Of course it is hard for Margaret that she did not win; but she is going to stay at Compton another year, so she will have her chance again.”
“It was not Margaret who was next to you, but that rather bold-looking girl, Rhoda Fleming,” her father said, thinking she had made a mistake as to who was next to her.
Dorothy smiled. “Oh, I am not sorry for Rhoda—I did not want her to win,” she said quietly. “Perhaps I should not have worked so hard myself if it had not been because I knew I had to beat her somehow, for the honour of the school.”
“Well, she was your friend if she inspired you to greater effort,” he answered, and dropping another kiss on her forehead hurried down the road to catch his train.
Dorothy went back to the others. She did her part in waiting on the visitors. She was here, she was there—and everywhere it was kindly congratulation she had for her hard work.
Later on, when the visitors were taking leave of the Head, Dorothy, alone for a moment, was pounced upon by Rhoda, who said sharply, “So you did beat me after all—I was afraid you would.”
“I was bound in honour to beat you if I could,” Dorothy answered, looking her straight in the face. “My father says I ought to be grateful to you for making me work so hard. And I am. I am very grateful to you.”
Rhoda went very red in the face. A look of something like shame came into her eyes as she turned away in silence.
THE END
TRANSCRIBER NOTES
Mis-spelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.
Illustrations have been relocated due to using a non-page layout.
When nested quoting was encountered, nested double quotes were changed to single quotes.