But Winnie, collecting all her mental strength, and remembering her "I'm bound to" of the night before, resolutely drew back, saying, "I can't, girls; for I've a giant to kill."
The girls looked at her in amaze.
"A giant to kill! You look as if you'd kill a dozen, single-handed, you midge!" laughed tall Miriam, for Winnie was the youngest and smallest girl in the class. "Whatever do you mean?"
"I can't stop to tell you now," said Winnie, "for if I do, I'll lose the first blow; but I'll tell you about it at recess."
"All right, since you're determined," said Fannie Allen; "and I say, girls, let's postpone our meeting till then."
"Agreed!" said the others; and each one, as they separated, went to her own seat and busied herself at some study, so quickly does a little leaven leaven the whole.
When recess came, Winnie explained to the three girls, and Miriam Douglass laughed at her and teased her not a little; but somehow no one minded Miriam's teasing, she was so bright and good-natured with it all.
"I suppose," said Miriam, munching her last piece of butterscotch—for be it known that the mysterious initials, about which the other girls of the class were "dancing crazy with curiosity," as Miriam said, signified "Butter Scotch Society"—"you'll be wanting us to give up the B. S. S. with all its sweet delights, and go about the world with drawn swords, and 'front like Jove, to threaten or command,' neither giving nor receiving quarter. I can see myself now, as I exclaim, 'Base spirit, beware, lest with this trusty sword I hew thee in pieces!'" And she flourished her ruler with such spirit that the girls all applauded. Just then, however, the bell rang for the close of recess, and they were obliged to go to their recitations.
Thanks to Winnie's determination, and her vigorous use of the study bells, she received a perfect mark in all her lessons for the day, but she went home in the afternoon tired and jaded from the hard work.
She found her mother in the sitting-room, sewing, and said, as she threw down her books, "Now, mamma, I want to make my confession, and also to thank you for allowing me to work last night. I know you have often spoken to me about my bad habit of putting everything off till the last minute, and it is almost always because I get hold of a story book and cannot lay it down. Yesterday it was 'The Giant Killer,' and I was so interested in Fides' battle with Giant Hate, that I forgot I was neglecting my own faults to watch him conquer his. But now I'm going to begin killing my own giants, and I'll commence with my worst, procrastination; for indeed, as Miss Brownlow is always telling us, it is the thief of time. And I want you to watch me and help me. As to-morrow will be Saturday, I want to get every one of my lessons for Monday, so that I can use the Monday study bells for Tuesday's lessons; then I can always get through in the afternoon."