At last she looked up, and smiled to see the little eager faces. "Olive Murdoch, seven votes; Eleanor Dallas, six; Florence Graham, three; Edith West, two; Leila Clark, two; Elsie Vail, one."
"Oh," came a little murmur from the class and Olive's face wore a triumphant and self-satisfied expression, while Eleanor and Florence looked at each other, reading in one another's face the disappointment written there.
Suddenly Miss Reese spoke again: "Why, this is not right; there should be but twenty votes and there are twenty-one. Some one has given two votes. Now, shall we vote over again? Shall I call upon each girl to announce her choice? or, since there seems to be no doubt but that Olive Murdoch and Eleanor Dallas have received the greatest number of votes, shall we consider them the candidates and let the class vote over again for one or the other of these two girls? All in favor of this last plan please raise their right hands." Up went most of the right hands and Miss Reese nodded approvingly.
"Now," she said, "each girl can write her choice on a slip of paper and bring it to me, and then there will be no mistake. Jessie, give out these slips." A little flush arose to Olive's cheeks and she whispered something to the girl next her, who nodded in reply.
The room was so still that the singing of a robin outside in the apple-tree seemed the only sound to be heard. Then one by one the girls came forward with their slips of paper. Miss Reese read each one silently, and as Olive's turn came she looked up with a queer little smile at the girl who dropped her eyes and went back to her seat with a flushed face. Miss Reese again counted the votes. "This time we have just twenty," she said. "There are for Eleanor Dallas twelve votes; for Olive Murdoch, eight." Every girl turned and looked at Eleanor whose face turned a rosy red and in her confusion she said quite loud enough for them all to hear, "Oh, Florence, I wish it had been you."
Miss Reese rapped on her desk. "Now," she said, "I think it will be best to take a different way to choose the maid of honor. Let each girl think of whom she would like and give her reason for it. I think that will make it quite interesting. You may begin, Elsie."
"I think Olive should be the one because she came so near being the queen," said Elsie.
Miss Reese nodded to the next girl who said she thought that some girl who had received no vote should be chosen.
Then came one who said: "I think Florence Graham, because she is a stranger here, and she isn't going to stay very long. I think it would be more polite to choose her." This seemed to strike the most of them favorably, and in the end Florence was made supremely happy by being elected maid of honor, and this important matter being settled, there were other questions to be discussed and the May party in all its ins and outs was talked over.
Although there were some disappointed little souls, as a rule all were well satisfied that the choice of queen had fallen where it did. Eleanor was radiantly happy and yet she could not help feeling sorry for Olive, who had counted upon being the favored one, and who gave Eleanor a look of scorn as she passed her. "She needn't look so," said Florence indignantly. "It was perfectly fair, and every one says so. I haven't a doubt but that she voted for herself," which, if the truth were known, was true, and, indeed, it was also true that the extra vote on the first ballot was cast by Olive. If Miss Reese suspected this she never said so, but she did know that Olive's name was on the slip of paper which she brought up, and that was why she gave Olive the quizzical little smile, for no other girl in the whole school had voted for herself.