“I would never do for a politician,” Beth confided to Dolly in a whisper. “I am too nervous and excitable; see how cool Constance is, and Margaret, too.”
“Yet Margaret will feel it bitterly, if she is defeated under these circumstances; and as a class we ought to be ashamed of it if she be defeated, for it will be an open acknowledgment of the fact that we care more for dollars and cents, than we do for genuine worth and ability. I shall be ashamed of the sophomores if Margaret is not elected.”
The class had lost some of its members, and had gained several new ones, so that at this time it numbered an even three hundred. Even Margaret, with all her self-control, began to show the strain before the tellers appeared.
The chairman was an enthusiastic admirer of Margaret, and her voice vibrated triumphantly as she tried to announce in a perfectly calm tone, the result of the voting:
| Margaret Hamilton | 153 | votes. |
| Abby Dunbar | 147 | votes. |
There was a moment of utter silence, then Constance started the applause which grew and grew until it became an actual uproar. Even those who had voted against Margaret, now, with few exceptions, joined in the applause, for Constance’s keen eyes were sweeping the room, and not a girl present wished to be ranged in open opposition to her. It was she, and she alone, who had carried the day for Margaret.
Margaret realized the fact, and, while she was grateful, she felt stung and hurt. Constance found her in tears when she went to their room sometime after the meeting had dispersed. Tears, with Margaret, were a rare thing. Constance knew what they meant this time, although she affected not to.
“You see, Margaret, that you were elected, despite your declaration that you would not be. Aren’t you ashamed of the little faith you had in your friends?”
“It was your friends who elected me, Constance, not mine. I am in no danger of making any mistake on that point. Do you suppose that I do not know how you have been working for me?”
“What of that?”