"Don't you hear yourself called?" said a voice behind me. "Why don't you go?"
I looked round at Miss Macy, who was my adviser, then doubtfully I looked away from her and caught the eyes of Mlle. Géneviève. She nodded and beckoned me to come forward. I did it hastily then, and found myself curtseying in front of the platform where stood madame.
"The prize is yours, Miss Randolph," she said graciously. "Your paper is approved by all the judges."
"Quite artistic,"—I heard a gentleman say at her elbow.
"And it shows an amount of thorough study and perfect preparation, which I can but hold up as a model to all my young ladies. You deserve this, my dear."
I was confounded; and a low curtsey was only a natural relief to my feelings. But madame unhappily took it otherwise.
"This is yours," she said, putting into my hands an elegant little bronze standish;—"and if I had another prize to bestow for grace of good manners, I am sure I would have the pleasure of giving you that too."
I bent again before madame, and got back to my seat as I could. The great business of the day was over, and we soon scattered to our rooms. And I had not been in mine five minutes before the penalties of being distinguished began to come upon me.
"Well, Daisy!" said Miss Lansing,—"you've got it. How pretty! isn't it, Macy?"