Twice more Rouse tried, and failed.
"Ve-ry well, Mees Rouse. That will do. One half of the boom will be put up last thing at night, as it is now, and you will come een the morning early and practise, until the knack has come back."
"Poor Rouse," Lucy said, as the booms were being reversed for balance exercises, flat side up instead of rounded.
"Yes, such a pity," Henrietta said. "One of our most brilliant students."
"Brilliant?" said Lucy, surprised. It was not an adjective she would have applied to Rouse.
"In physical work, anyhow. Most brilliant. She finds written work a difficulty, but makes up for it by hard work. A model student, and a great credit to Leys. Such a pity about this little nervous development. Over-anxiety, of course. It happens sometimes. Usually over something quite simple, strangely enough."
"What did she mean by 'being like Kenyon'? That is the girl whose place Teresa Desterro took, isn't it?"
"Yes. How clever of you to remember. That was a case in point. Kenyon suddenly decided that she could not balance. She had always had abnormally good balance, and there was no reason why she should lose it. But she began by being wobbly, took to jumping off in the middle of an exercise, and ended by being unable to get up from sitting position on the boom. She sat there and clung to the boom like a frightened child. Sat there and cried."
"Some inner insufficiency."
"Of course. It was not the balance that she was frightened of. But we had to send her home. We are hoping that she will come back to finish her training when she has had a long rest. She was very happy here."