“Go, Ken,” she said, faintly, and Kenneth went.
Silently he took the mail from the carrier, silently he returned with it to the library. There was none of the gay chaffing they had had before, and all because Patty, the moving spirit, was grave and quiet, with a scared, drawn look on her sweet face.
Hastily running over the letters, Kenneth laid aside all but one, and slowly extended that to Patty.
She took it, opened it, and read it with a dazed expression.
The eager ones circled round, with faces tense and waiting.
Again Patty read her letter. Then, still with that dazed look on her face, she glanced from one to another. As her eyes met Mr. Hepworth’s, she suddenly held the paper out to him.
“I’ve won,” she said, simply, and gave him the letter.
Then she drew a short little sigh, almost a sob of relief, and then the colour came back to her face, the light to her eyes, and she smiled naturally.
“I’ve won!” she cried again. “It’s all right!”
Then there was jubilation, indeed! Everybody congratulated everybody else. Everybody had to read the wonderful letter, and see for himself that the prize, the Electric Runabout, had indeed been awarded to Miss Patricia Fairfield, for the best and most complete list of answers to the puzzles in the contest.