Carolyn was writing fast and furiously. “Oh, give us five minutes more, so we can really think on each letter!” she begged.
“Of course a girl will beat,” said Chauncey. “They’re so much better in English!” Chauncey was pretending to scratch his head and think. In reality he was too lazy to bother with a game he did not enjoy, though too polite to beg off. He had sixteen words and that was enough. He bet nobody else had “solo.”
But Chauncey was right on the girls’ having the most words. Several boys had twenty words in the five minutes, but the girls made a business of it and Kathryn Allen had the largest number, though Andy Sanford, who was on the staff of the school paper, came within two of her number, forty-five.
“How did you do it so fast, Kathryn?” asked Mary Emma.
“I just went lickity-cut in any old order till I got through the letters that way. Then I went back again and did a little thinking that time and had the other few minutes to do it in. I took ly and li and lo, and did the same way with all the letters.”
“Did anybody else get solo?” asked Chauncey.
Alas, Kathryn had that, also holy, of which Chauncey had not thought.
A delicious odor of boiling syrup was commented upon by several. Louise, carrying the glass in which she had just tested the candy, came in to inquire who had the most words and how many. “All right, Kathryn gets the prize. Ted, where’s that prize?”
From the kitchen Ted appeared, hunting in his pocket for something.
“Nobody said there was to be any prize. That’s not fair,” said Sim, grinning.