“That is how I feel,” said Dorothy blithely. “The Head—bless her—has not been ragging me; she has only been laying down rules for my conduct in future, and that, you know, is why we come to school, to be taught what we do not know.”
“It looks as if you are having us on,” said Margaret, glancing up from her work.
“Never mind, we will go to bed now, and sleep it off,” answered Dorothy, and then would say no more.
CHAPTER XXII
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CUP
Just below the stained-glass window which was at the back of the dais in the lecture hall stood a silver cup of great beauty. Other and lesser cups were ranged on each side of it, and all of them were protected by a glass case of heavy make.
This principal cup had been in the girls’ school for two years now. It had to be fought for on the tennis courts each year at the end of the summer term. Until two years ago the boys had won it for six or seven years in succession, and great had been the jubilation among the girls when at last they had succeeded in winning it for themselves. Having had it for two years, they were preparing to fight for it again with might and main when the time for the struggle should come round again.
Realizing that the best players were not always to be found in the Sixth Form, the contest was fought by the united efforts of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Forms, the finals being fought amid scenes of the wildest enthusiasm.
The struggle was fixed for just one week before the end of term, and was indeed the beginning of the end—the first break of the steady routine of the past three months. Fortunately the weather was all that could be desired, and every one was in wild spirits for the fray.
The Fourth and the Fifth of both schools were early on the ground. The excitement at the courts was tremendous. Exasperated by having lost the cup for two years in succession, the boys had been working hard at tennis this summer, and they were out to win—a fact the girls were quick to realize.