The upshot of all this whispering and consultation, of all these pros and cons, was, that that evening, immediately after tea, a note was flung into Penelope Carlton's lap. It was written in the cipher employed by the school, and was to the effect that, if she chose to present herself as Helen of Troy, and if Mrs Hazlitt was willing to accept her as a substitute for Honora Beverley, she would receive four five-pound notes within a week from the present day. "Dear old Brenda!" whispered Penelope to herself. She crushed up the note and tore it into a thousand fragments and wrote a reply to it--also in cipher--in which she employed the one word: "Agreed." This note found its way to Mary L'Estrange in the course of afternoon school. In the evening Mrs Hazlitt again entered the arbour in the Elizabethan garden. She had quite given up the idea of Tennyson's "Dream of Fair Women," and had thought out two or three insignificant tableaux for her girls to represent. She was surprised, therefore, when the girls who had been already selected for the principal parts in the piece, namely: Mary, Cara, Annie, and Susanna, entered the arbour. They were accompanied by the fifth girl, who was no other than Penelope Carlton. "Penelope, my dear--what are you doing here?" said Mrs Hazlitt, when she saw her pupil. She did not like this pupil, although she tried to. But she was systematically just in all she did, and said, and thought; and would not for the world be unkind to the girl. "But do listen, please, Mrs Hazlitt," said Mary. "We have found Helen of Troy! Penelope will take the part." "Excuse me," said Mrs Hazlitt. There was a tone of astonishment in her voice. She looked critically at the girl; then, taking her hand, drew her into the light. "You know quite well," she said, after a pause, "that you are not suited to the part, Penelope Carlton, or, failing Honora, I should have asked you to undertake it." Penelope's eyes had been lowered, but now she raised them and gave Mrs Hazlitt a quick glance. There was something beseeching and quite new in the expression of her light eyes. They seemed, just for the minute, to grow almost dark, and there was a passionate longing in them. Mrs Hazlitt had to confess to herself that she never saw Penelope with that expression before. The other girls stood around in an anxious group. "We know she is not quite tall enough," said Mary, then. "Nor--nor quite beautiful enough," said Susanna. "But there is rouge, and powder, and--oh, surely, it can be managed!" "Can you feel within you, even for a minute or two, the true spirit of Helen of Troy?" said Mrs Hazlitt, then--"that divine woman who turned all men's hearts?" Penelope fidgeted and sighed. Mrs Hazlitt returned to the bower. She sat down; she was still holding Penelope's hand, but was unconscious that she was doing so.