"Harriet, you are the favoured one. Will you please take Ralph to Miss Ford, and get her to set him his lessons, and then will you take him into the third form room, and give him a seat by yourself and attend to his work in the intervals when you can spare some moments from your own? I will arrange later on that you have plenty of time to do this. Now, my dear, attend to your duties. You have been elected in a fair field, and I don't think any favour has been shown, and I congratulate you, and hope you will be the proud possessor of the prize pony on the day when you leave school." The rest of the girls in the form congratulated Harriet also, and she walked out of Mrs Burton's parlour with her head in the air, holding Ralph by the hand. Never had such a moment of intoxicating triumph been given her before. She was trembling from head to foot. "Now we'll have fun, won't we?" whispered Ralph. "Yes, of course," said Harriet back. "But come along at once, Ralph. We must get your lessons. You will be a very good little boy, won't you, and not too troublesome?" She longed to add: "I can't stand troublesome children," but refrained for the time being. Miss Ford gave Ralph some easy lessons, telling Harriet where his weak points lay, and how often he ought to repeat them over to her. "You must be very particular indeed with regard to his sums," she said. "These sums in addition and this little one in subtraction must be done perfectly. I think that is all for to-day." Harriet, still holding Ralph's hand, but holding it rather loosely, marched now in the direction of the third form class-room. As they were going there, Ralph spoke: "I thought--I thought--that--if you were my school-mother, there would _not_ be sums and things." "Oh, nonsense!" replied Harriet, rather tartly. "There must be sums and _things_, as you call them. How are you to be wise if you don't learn?" she continued. Then, seeing that the colour swept over his face, she added hastily, "I won't be hard on you, no fear, and when lessons are over, we'll have great fun." "Yes, great fun," repeated Ralph. "The gipsies, perhaps?" he added, pleadingly. But Harriet, who had not the least idea in her heart of hearts of bothering herself with regard to gipsies, was silent. They entered the school-room, where all eyes followed them to their seats. Ralph's choice was considered too wonderful for words, and more than one girl felt that the thing had been managed by foul play. What had occurred they could not tell, but they were positively certain that Ralph of his own accord would never have chosen Harriet. Meanwhile, lessons went on, and Ralph struggled over tasks which Robina or any other girl in the form would have rendered easy and pleasant for him, but which Harriet did not trouble herself to think about. "Don't bother!" she whispered once quite crossly, when he pulled her sleeve.