Patty had told her father that she did not expect the general prize, but was confident that Lorraine would get it. Mr. Fairfield had teased her for her lack of ambition in not winning it herself, but Patty had only smiled, and said she had never professed to be a prize scholar, as her talents lay in other directions.
Lorraine had told her mother that she had no expectation of taking the general prize, but strongly believed that Patty Fairfield would win it; and Mrs. Hamilton had responded that if Lorraine couldn’t have it, she certainly hoped it would be given to Patty.
Grandma Elliott and Mrs. Hamilton attended the exercises at the school, and were almost as excited as the girls themselves over the question of the prize.
After the programme, which was not a long one, the prizes were awarded.
Various small honorariums were given for distinctive studies, and, as everybody had expected, Patty received the one for Themes, and Lorraine for Mathematics.
But the interest reached its height when Miss Oliphant took from the table a large and elaborately bound volume of poems, which, she announced, was the general prize, to be awarded to the pupil who had the highest general average of marks in all departments.
“It gives me pleasure,” she said, in her dignified way, “to bestow this upon Miss Hilda Henderson.”
As Patty told her father afterwards, for a moment you could have heard a pin drop, and then most of the schoolgirls, especially the Grigs, broke into an irrepressible, though stifled, giggle.
“Miss Henderson,” Miss Oliphant went on, “has by far the highest record, and has had for the past few weeks. The next highest records are held by Miss Fairfield and Miss Hamilton, but they are many points below that of Miss Henderson’s, though all show good work.”
As Miss Oliphant made these remarks she looked straight at Lorraine and Patty, and though her grave dignity was literally unsmiling, yet that same amused look was in her eyes, and both girls understood that their solicitude for each other’s success had been entirely unnecessary.