To her surprise, he said, "Yes, I will, if I don't get well soon." And Mrs. Winn resolved to make him keep his promise.
For the rest of that evening, father, mother, and Elsie sat and talked of what they would do and how they would manage if Elsie won the scholarship, and thus obtained the means of going to the girls' grammar school, little dreaming how different that future would be from what they planned it. Man proposes, God disposes, and cares for all His children as He guides them through life, with a love and wisdom so much greater than their own.
[CHAPTER II.]
THE EXAMINATION.
THE day of the formal examination for the girls' scholarships was looked forward to with some anxiety, and both girls spent every minute of the day, and often late into the night, in working up the subjects they were likely to be examined in; but at last their study came to an end, and they went to a school a little way out of the town, where a number of other girls were assembled from other schools. And Elsie, when she saw how many there were, did not feel so confident that she and Mary would both be successful, or that either of them would, in fact. Some of the other competitors looked far more confident than she did; and her heart sank a little when she saw the paper that was placed before her.
It did not seem that any one of the subjects she had specially learned would be of much use to her. And she knew it would be the same with Mary Nicholls, and then her governess would be so disappointed!
This thought of her governess made her read her paper of questions once more; and she also remembered something her father had said—that whatever was placed before her to do, her duty was to do it as well as she could, and think no more about what result was likely to follow.
So, with this thought in her mind, she read over, once more, the directions that were printed on the paper for the guidance of candidates; and then she saw that she was not expected to answer all the questions that were put down, but could choose and take those she knew most about; and, with this in her mind, she found that there was a history question that she had heard her father talk about to her brother; and so she wrote down all she could remember of that talk, and what she had learned some time before at school.
By the help of the two, she managed to answer this question fairly well; and then she considered another. This she did not know quite so well how to answer; but still, it was less difficult than it had seemed at first, and she did what she could of that, and then took the third.
She knew a little about this too, she found, and so she recalled all she could remember; and before she had quite finished, a bell was rung from a table at which a gentleman was sitting; and they were told to put down their pens, and put their papers together, as he was now about to collect them.