“I guess I won’t be mean if she doesn’t get the prize,” she said to herself.
She wrote Minnie very plainly, folded it up quickly and dropped it in the hat lest she should change her mind.
Stella got the prize by one vote. Chicken Little held her head high and had her reward. The little girls who had voted for Victoria crowded round her in wrath.
“She’s ever so much prettier than Grace’s doll! It’s just her clothes made them vote for her.”
“Yes, May’s mother said your doll was the prettiest.”
“I don’t think it was fair to vote for the clothes. Mrs. Halford said the prettiest doll!”
These remarks were very consoling but did not comfort her as much as Gertie’s words:
“I’m so sorry Vic didn’t get it, Jane. If you hadn’t voted for Minnie it would have been a tie.”
“How do you know I voted for Minnie?” demanded Chicken Little.
“Oh, just ’cause and I’m real glad. I didn’t expect Minnie to get it, but I’d felt awful bad if she hadn’t had a single vote.”