Her voice stopped.
There was a general, inarticulate sound of relief throughout the room.
"When you have transcribed the test into longhand," said Miss Marchrose serenely, "please give your papers in at the desk, Classroom I, and for the benefit of those who have not done a speed test before I may add that the students must not assist one another in the transcriptions."
The class gathered up note-books and pencils and left the room, with much scraping of benches and shuffling of feet.
"Oh, Miss Marchrose, I do think you're clever," was the remark made by Iris, rather unnecessarily, to Lady Rossiter's way of thinking.
"Will they all pass that awful test?"
"Oh, no; 'getting it back,' as they call it, is the part they seem to find most difficult. Some of the less intelligent ones seem to have absolutely no sense of the meaning of words. If the shorthand outline isn't clear, they guess at the word and put in almost anything, whether it makes sense or not. Of course, that's where the majority of stenographers do fail."
"But if they make those little scrabbles clearly enough, then it's all right?" said Miss Easter.
"Yes, that's where the younger ones score. The children nearly always learn much faster than the older ones and make the outlines more clearly, and then they can transcribe easily enough, whether they understand the meaning of what they've taken down or not."
"Oh, that awful little boy with the eyes!"