There was an hour's recess for dinner, and the girls trooped out—our two friends meeting at the door.
"Wasn't it a dreadful paper?" said Mary, as they took out the sandwiches they had brought with them.
"Yes, I was afraid I could not do a single question when I first looked at it," said Elsie.
"I made up my mind that I should not even try," said Mary, "for it was so different from what I had made up my mind it would be, that it fairly made my head ache."
"I felt like giving it up too," said Elsie.
"Well, if you had, I should have done the same, for I looked across to see what you were going to do; and when I saw you writing, I thought, 'Well, if Elsie knows anything about it, I ought; for we have been in the same class all the time;' and so I looked over it more carefully, and found I could do a little bit of one question, and doing that, helped me to remember a bit more; but I don't think I have done as much as they expect us to do."
"How much do they expect us to do?" asked Elsie.
"Four questions, if you can." The answer came from a tall girl, who was walking in the playground eating her dinner, as they were.
"I know all about it, you see; because I sat for this examination last year, and failed. The questions this time are harder than they were last year," she added.
"Yes, I think they are," said Mary, "and I am afraid my friend and I will not succeed in passing."