"Yes, I was afraid I could not do a single question when I first looked at it," said Elsie. "I made up my mind that I should not even try," said Mary, "for it was so different from what I had made up my mind it would be, that it fairly made my head ache." "I felt like giving it up too," said Elsie. "Well, if you had, I should have done the same, for I looked across to see what you were going to do; and when I saw you writing, I thought, 'Well, if Elsie knows anything about it, I ought; for we have been in the same class all the time;' and so I looked over it more carefully, and found I could do a little bit of one question, and doing that, helped me to remember a bit more; but I don't think I have done as much as they expect us to do." "How much do they expect us to do?" asked Elsie. "Four questions, if you can." The answer came from a tall girl, who was walking in the playground eating her dinner, as they were. "I know all about it, you see; because I sat for this examination last year, and failed. The questions this time are harder than they were last year," she added. "Yes, I think they are," said Mary, "and I am afraid my friend and I will not succeed in passing." "I don't suppose you will, if it is the first time you have tried—both from one school, too," she added. This remark, from one who might be supposed to know so much more about the matter than they did, was not very encouraging. And they looked at each other as if wondering which would have it, if there could be only one scholarship given to each school. The afternoon questions proved to be a little less severe for our two girls, and both sat writing away until the bell rang for them to put down their pens, and put their papers together in the required order. After this they were free to go home; the gentleman telling them to be in their places the next morning by ten minutes to nine. "It will be arithmetic, I expect," said the girl who had gone through this ordeal the previous year. "Are you good at arithmetic?" she asked. "We can do fractions," said Mary, with a little toss of her head, they having been taught this branch quite recently. "I should think you could, or it wouldn't be much good for you to come here. You see, if you do the other questions ever so well, and fail in arithmetic, you fail altogether." "Come, Mary, we must make haste home," said Elsie. For she did not want to stay talking to the girl, who seemed to enjoy piling up the difficulties that were before them. So the two friends bade the other a hasty good-bye, and hurried along the road until they could have a quiet talk to themselves. "I wouldn't let her frighten me," said Elsie, when they were by themselves. "We have made up our minds to go through this examination, and we must do it the best way we can." "But suppose we are sure to fail," said Mary, who was easily disheartened. "Well, my father says that must not make any difference if we have made up our minds to do a thing.