“And for the second time to-day,” drawled Rose Belser, her eyes fixed a little enviously upon Billie’s pretty, flushed face. “Wasn’t it enough to win the prize, without going and getting yourself in the limelight again?”
Laura and Vi flushed angrily, for there was a little malice under the question. But Billie took it all good-naturedly.
“Well, I didn’t do it on purpose—not the last part, anyway,” she said.
“We know you didn’t, honey,” said Connie, ruffling Billie’s dark curls fondly. “You’re just naturally talented.”
“By the way,” asked Laura, after an interval of skylarking, “does anybody know what happened to Amanda?”
“She was suspended,” replied one of the girls.
“And I thought it was a pity she wasn’t expelled,” spoke up another.
“Poor Eliza!” drawled Rose. “I wonder what she will do without her master.”
“Does anybody know who won the second prize?” asked Laura carelessly.
“What a queer question to ask,” said Caroline Brant, who had been dreaming about the thesis she was going to write and had hardly heard a word of the conversation. “You did, of course!”