"And so I am. I am about the happiest girl on earth. And now, may I begin to look through my lessons for to-morrow?" The old man arranged the lamp where its light would be most comfortable for the keen young eyes, and Ruth sat down to the table, got out her books, and worked for an hour or two. Mrs. Craven came in, looked at her proudly, wagged her head, and returned to the kitchen. After a time she came to the door and beckoned to the old man to follow her. But the old man had taken up one of Ruth's books and was absorbed in its contents; he was muttering words over under his breath. "Coming, wife--coming presently," he said. Ruth's head was bent over her books. Mr. Craven rose and went on tiptoe into the kitchen. "We mustn't disturb her, Susan," he said. "We must let her have her own way. She must work just as long as she likes. She is going to be a great power in the land, is that child, with her beauty and her talent; there's nothing she can't aspire to." "Now don't you be a silly old man," said Mrs. Craven. "And what on earth were you whispering about to yourself when I came in?" "I am going to work with her. It will be a wonderful stimulation, and a great interest to me. I always was keen for book-learning." Mrs. Craven suppressed a sigh. "If I even had fifty pounds," she said, "I wouldn't let that child spend every hour at school. I'd dress up smart, and take her out, and get her the very best husband I could. Why, old man, what does a woman want with all that learning?" "If a woman has brains she's bound to use them," replied the old man, as he sat down by the kitchen fire. Meanwhile Ruth went on with her lessons. After a time, however, she uttered a sigh. She flung down her books and looked across the room. "If he only knew," she said under her breath--"if he only knew that I was practically sent to Coventry--that none of the nice girls will speak to me. But never mind; I won't tell him. Nothing would induce me to trouble him on the subject." CHAPTER II. HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. Amongst the many girls who attended the Great Shirley School was one who was known by the name of Cassandra Weldon. She was rapidly approaching the proud position of head girl in the school. She had entered the Shirley School when quite a little child, had gone steadily up through the different classes and the various removes, until she found herself nearly at the head of the sixth form. She was about to try for a sixty-pound scholarship, renewable for three years; if she got it she would go to Holloway College, and eventually support herself and her mother. Mrs. Weldon was the widow of a man who in his time had a very successful school for boys, and she herself had been a teacher long ago in the Great Shirley School. Cassandra and her mother, therefore, were from the very first surrounded by scholarship; they belonged, so to speak, to the scholastic world.