“What are you going to give her, mother?”
“I am having a workstand put in order for her. It is an old one which belonged to my grandmother. We have another, and I thought I could spare this. I know Miss Jewett wants one, for she has often admired the one in my room. I think she will value such a gift more than anything I could buy for her.”
“I think so, too, for I know she loves old furniture when it is really nice. I am glad it is something for her very own self. May I tell Betsy, mother?”
“If you like. Perhaps I can find something for you to give her. I had not really thought of your making a separate gift, but I can readily understand that you would like to.”
Elizabeth went off much heartened by this, but the question passed out of her mind when she met Betsy and was told that Miss Tyson and Betsy’s uncle both thought it best that she should take the examination. “It will establish your record, if it does nothing more,” said Miss Emily. “Even if you do not win the scholarship, your place in the Academy will be understood. It would gratify me very much, of course, if you were to win, although the money consideration is a small part of it.”
“If anyone wins, I hope it will be Elizabeth,” returned Betsy, “for she really needs it and I don’t.”
“That may be true, but as she has an equal chance with the others, I do not think we should let her opportunity outrank yours.”
So this was what Betsy had to report to her first best, and Elizabeth felt that she must make her very best endeavor to come out ahead of the rest. There would be five girls to compete with and it was going to be a close contest, she feared. The boys would have an equally exciting time, and these last weeks of school promised to be the very busiest ones of the year. It was well that Mr. Kemp was away, for now there was no temptation to go to the studio. Lessons were always the very first consideration, and Elizabeth worked like a beaver over them. Even the gray house did not see her very often. There was less self-denial in this because Miss Darby was still there, and although Elizabeth still believed that she was the one who had offered the scholarships, she had no great wish to come in contact with the lady. With the scholarships, she might win her great-aunt’s approval; if she did not win she felt quite sure that she would be looked upon with even less kindliness than at present. There was much at stake, and these were stirring times for Elizabeth.
The pleasanter subject of the approaching marriage came in with a sort of tranquillizing effect. It was the first wedding in which Elizabeth had ever been personally interested, and every detail was known by heart. Kathie was to be one of the bridesmaids, and Hal one of the ushers. Although the wedding ceremony would take place in the city in which Miss Jewett had been living, it might be possible that Elizabeth could go. Betsy was determined that she should, and had a little scheme of her own which she hoped would work to advantage. She was waiting till she should see her brother Hal before she mentioned it to Elizabeth. She knew Hal would fall in with the scheme and she thought her uncle would, too, but she would bide her time.
So the lovely May days went by, full of so many interests that, long as they were, they were all too short for the things that must be accomplished, and each brought nearer that day of the examinations. Then one morning on the first day of June Elizabeth heard a familiar call and saw Mr. Kemp swinging along past the house. She ran out on the porch to hail him.