Gerry's heart glowed within her, but Muriel's next words filled her with alarm.
"Now, do you know what I want you to do? We're playing the return match against the Green Dorm on Saturday week, and if you keep on improving, as I think you will, I'm going to put you down to play again for the Pink. No—wait a minute," as Gerry gave a little exclamation of protest. "It won't be back this time. I shall put you on the wing somewhere, or else half-back—I'm not quite sure myself yet. But I specially want you to play, and to play well. I want to give you an opportunity of wiping out last Saturday in the eyes of the school. And if you've got the grit I think you have, you're going to take it."
There was silence for a moment or two. Then Gerry spoke uncertainly:
"But—but suppose I funk again?"
"You won't funk," said Muriel, with a quiet conviction that did more to reassure the nervous girl at her side than any amount of arguing would have done. To some natures the greatest incentive to do well is the knowledge that somebody believes in them implicitly. Gerry, whose first impulse had been to refuse the offer in a panic and beg Muriel at all costs to leave her name out of the team, seemed to catch some of the elder girl's confidence. If only she could—if only she could overcome her nerves sufficiently to do well! If she could distinguish herself in the coming match and show the girls that though she was funky at some things she wasn't a coward all through, how splendid it would be! Oh, she would, she would! She would play and justify Muriel's confidence in her. She wouldn't funk again.
"Are you quite sure you're not afraid to play a coward?" she said, in such a low tone that Muriel could only just catch the obnoxious word. But she did catch it, and stopping suddenly, she laid her hands firmly on the younger girl's shoulders.
"Now, look here, Gerry, don't be absurd!" she said. "Even if some of the girls have called you that, there's no earthly reason why you should imagine that it's true. Just buck up and make up your mind that you won't be a coward. You needn't be, you know. Being brave isn't just a matter of not fearing things. The very bravest people of all are often those who are the most afraid and yet who conquer their fears. You conquered your fear quite a lot this afternoon. You got one quite nasty bang on your ankle—I was watching you and I saw—and you didn't make the least little bit of fuss about it. Well, if you've done that once you can do it again. Now, if I ask you to play in my team for the next dormitory match, will you do it?"
"Yes," said Gerry simply, raising her eyes to the head girl's face. And after a deep look into them, Muriel dropped her hands from her junior's shoulders with a satisfied smile.
"That's all right, then," she said. "And now we'd better both buck up, or we'll be frantically late for tea."