Rose had come out along the walk with Mr. Hagood. As they paused at the gate he glanced around to be sure that no one but her could hear him, then lowering his voice as though fearing it might reach the ears of the departed Mrs. Hagood, he added confidentially, “An’ to tell the truth, Posey, just betwixt you and me, I never was so happy before in my life as I be now.”
CHAPTER XXIV
AND COLLEGE NEXT
It was the third May that Rose had been in Farmdale. The turf on the open green was emerald velvet, the orchards were drifts of pink and white, the lilacs by Mrs. Blossom’s gate were lifting spikes of lavender, and shrubs and roses were heavy with the weight of bud or bloom. In a swift rush Rose came down the walk, the white gate clashed behind her, and she dashed into the house, rosy and breathless with haste, waving a long envelope over her head.
“What do you think that is?” she cried.
Miss Silence glanced up from her sewing machine. “It looks to me like an envelope.”
“And what do you think is inside it?” pursued Rose.
“A letter is usually inside an envelope,” answered Mrs. Patience.
“You won’t guess,” pouted Rose, “so I shall have to tell you, for I couldn’t possibly keep it. This is my certificate that I have passed the teachers’ examination I went to last week, and am duly qualified to teach. Wish me joy!”
“But I thought thee went to the examination simply for the practice,” said Grandmother Sweet.
“So I did. But all the same I wanted to pass, and was so afraid I wouldn’t pass. That’s why I didn’t say more about it. And now that I have a really, truly certificate to teach! I’m sure I’ve grown an inch since I took it out of the post-office.”