"So am I," said Bessie; "and I know the colonel thinks your composition is splendid, Maggie; and he would rather you should have the prize."
"I was afraid when I heard Gracie read hers," said Maggie. "It sounded so much more grown-up-y than mine. Mamma, did it make you feel sorry, too?"
"No, darling. I will tell you what I felt: that I would rather have my own Maggie as she is, even without the slightest hope of a prize, than to see her vain and forward, and winning the richest of earthly rewards."
CHAPTER XIII.
LOST AND FOUND.
The children were just ready to start for school the next morning, and papa had promised to walk as far as Mrs. Ashton's door with them, when there was a violent ringing at the hell; and, when the front door was opened, in rushed Gracie Howard, flushed and excited, and with her face wearing the marks of a hard fit of crying.
Her father followed her.
"Oh," exclaimed Gracie, without waiting to say "good-morning" herself, or allowing any one else to do so, "have you seen it? have you seen it?"
"Seen what?" asked Maggie and Bessie in a breath.
"There!" said Gracie, bursting into tears again; "I knew it! oh, I just knew it! I told you I was sure I brought it away with me, papa."