"I suppose it's Mr. Jordan's rôle to look quite disinterested and impartial," returned Kitty.
St. Cyprian's was last on the list, and perhaps even Lottie congratulated herself that she had taken Ella's advice and improved the standard of her chorus, for the other schools had sung so well that the College would have to look to its laurels. She hastily whispered a few last directions as they took their places, and perhaps for the first time in her life felt a tremor of nervousness as they broke into the opening bars of "Now Cheerful Spring Returns". Fortunately the girls had remembered their instructions; the second sopranos kept well up to pitch, the time did not drag, and the crescendo passage was rendered with due regard to tone. Lottie breathed more freely when it was over. She cast an enquiring look at Mr. Jordan, but his expression was inscrutable. He merely jotted down some figures, and gave the signal of dismissal.
After this followed the series of ten-minutes' concerts, in which each school exhibited its best stars. It was of course an extremely short limit, but it was wonderful how much was accomplished in the time. The Anglo-German had concentrated all its energies on two brilliant pianoforte pieces, Marston Grove High School boasted a girl with a remarkably rich and strong contralto voice, Templeton had quite a fair violin solo, the High School scored at a piano duet, and Newington Green School had for champion a girl of about fourteen who played the violoncello. St. Cyprian's, with its piano, violin, and vocal solos, was felt to have given a very all-sided performance. Ella played brilliantly, if coldly; Elizabeth Chalmers's nocturne was correct to a note; and Lottie sang the rather sentimental ballad she had chosen with much expression and display of feeling. Her confidence stood her in good stead, for the Marston Grove contralto had been palpably nervous, and had almost broken down at one point.
Mr. Jordan rapidly added up the marks gained by each school, putting chorus and concert scores both together. Then, rising, he announced the results:
Out of a maximum of 280 marks:
| St. Cyprian's College | 230 | marks |
| The Anglo-German School | 220 | " |
| The Templeton School | 195 | " |
| The Kirkton High School | 195 | " |
| The Newington Green School | 180 | " |
| The Marston Grove High School | 165 | " |
The St. Cyprian's girls felt just a little crest-fallen. They had won, to be sure, but it was by a very narrow majority. They had not scored quite the signal success which, considering the amount of time that the College devoted to music study, might reasonably have been anticipated. There were no prizes given for the competition, so as it was now long past four o'clock, the Eisteddfod broke up, and the audience was dismissed. As the girls filed from the hall, the various schools mingled in the corridor. Kitty Fletcher and Bess Harrison happened to be walking behind two Newington Green girls, and overheard an interesting scrap of conversation.
"Well, what did you think of the famous St. Cyprian's?"
"Nothing up to what I'd expected. I'd heard they were so A1."
"So had I, but after all they weren't much better than the rest of us. That fair girl played the piano like a pianola! She put no expression into it."