These Themes were Patty’s special delight. Her more prosaic2 lessons she learned from a sense of duty, and also because of her ambition to achieve the prize which was to be given at Christmas to the pupil with the best general average of marks.
Patty knew she stood high on the list, but Clementine, Adelaide, Hilda, and even Lorraine were also far above most of the other pupils.
The rivalry3 was a good-natured and generous one. Elise stood no chance for the prize, as she had entered school a fortnight later than the others. Her sympathies were entirely4 with Patty, and she strongly hoped that she would win the prize.
The markings of the Themes counted for a great deal, and the uniform excellence5 of Patty’s essays kept her average up in spite of her occasional low marks in mathematics, a study which she detested6.
It was no trouble for Patty to write imaginative compositions. Her fertile fancy and her sense of humour provided ample material, and her natural gift of expression made it easy for her to write excellent Themes.
One Wednesday afternoon in November she sat down to write her paper for Friday.
“Give me a subject, Grandma,” she said gaily7; “I want to get my Theme done in a jiffy to-day.”
Grandma Elliott looked at the pretty girl who sat at her desk with her pen held above her paper. Patty’s sunshiny face, in its frame of curling gold hair, was an ideal vision of youth and happiness.
“Why don’t you write on the ‘Spirit of Happiness?’?” said Grandma, “and then you can put yourself right into your work.”
“I’ll do it!” cried Patty; “I am happy, and I might as well tell it to the world at large.”
She dashed into her subject, and scribbled8 rapidly for some time.
“There!” she said, as she finished the last page, “I do believe, Grandma, that’s the best Theme I’ve written; and if you want to read it, you may. I’m much obliged to you for suggesting the subject.”
Grandma read the merry little composition, and quite agreed that it was among the best of Patty’s efforts at literature.
“Now that’s off my mind, for this week,” she said; “I do like to get it done, and then I can frisk about with a clear conscience. Now I’m going to run up to Adelaide’s for a minute, and see what she’s doing.”
Patty ran upstairs to the next floor of The Wilberforce, and rang the bell of the Harts’ apartment.
She found Adelaide also busy at work on her Theme.
“Oh, then I won’t disturb you,” said Patty; “I’ll go away until you get the old thing done, and then you come down and see me.”
“I’ll never get it done,” said Adelaide, disconsolately9; “I can’t dash things off in a minute like you do; I have to grub over them, and then they’re no good. I wish you’d stay and help me.”
“All right, I will. I won’t help you enough to make it wrong, you know; suppose I just give you a subject, and a sort of an outline of the points, and then you write it all yourself.”
“Do,” cried Adelaide, eagerly; “what a comfort you are, Patty!”
Easily Patty detailed10 the foundation of a theme, and then while Adelaide was writing, she left her to herself and went in search of the rest of the family. She made a new bonnet11 for Jeannette’s doll, and listened to Editha’s new song. Then she helped Mrs. Hart arrange some flowers which had just arrived, and by that time Adelaide’s work was finished, and the two girls went off by themselves for a cosey chat.
“What do you think I heard to-day?” began Adelaide; “Flossy Fisher told me this afternoon when we were in the coat-room, getting our wraps, and I couldn’t tell you on the way home from school because Lorraine was with us. But it’s the most surprising thing I ever heard.”
“Well, what is it? Don’t keep me in suspense12 any longer.”
“Why, it’s just this: Flossy Fisher overheard Miss Oliphant say——”
“Oh, if Flossy was eavesdropping13 I don’t want to hear what she heard.”
“No, she wasn’t eavesdropping; honest, she wasn’t, Patty. But she was just passing through the hall, and she couldn’t help hearing Miss Oliphant say it to Miss Fenton. Miss Oliphant had just come out of her private study, where she had been making up the averages. And she said to Miss Fenton that you and Lorraine were exactly even.”
“What? Lorraine!”
“Yes; I told you it was surprising. But you know Lorraine hasn’t missed a day, and she generally has her lessons perfect. She’s like me; her greatest trouble is with her Themes. But even they have been pretty good lately, and so, you see, her average has crawled up. So I wanted to tell you as soon as I could, because you must work harder and get ahead of Lorraine, somehow. Of course we all want you to have the prize, but unless you’re careful Lorraine will get it.”
“I would like to get the general prize,” said Patty, “but I’d like for Lorraine to get it, too. If we’re just even, perhaps Miss Oliphant will divide it between us.”
“She can’t; it’s always a book; a great big gilt-edged affair, of poems, or something like that.”
“It isn’t the book I care for, it’s the honor. Papa would be so pleased if I won the general prize, and so would Grandma, and so would all my friends—and so would I.”
“So would we all of us; and you must win it. You can do it easily enough, now that you know you have to spur up a little to get ahead of Lorraine. And of course it isn’t likely that you two will stay just even. If you don’t get ahead of Lorraine, she’ll probably get ahead of you. Only your marks happen to be even just now.”
“I hope they stay even till Christmas, for though I want the prize, I don’t want to take it away from Lorraine.”
“Don’t be silly; you’re not taking it away from her any more than you are from the rest of us.”
“I suppose not; but it seems so, when our marks are just even.”
After Patty went home she thought the matter over seriously. It seemed to her that she had so much happiness in her life, and Lorraine had so little, that Lorraine ought to have the prize for that reason. “If I miss a lesson or two,” thought Patty, “that will throw her marks ahead, for I’m sure she won’t miss any. But even then, I’m afraid I’ll get ahead of her on my Themes. I wonder if it would be right for me to lose some marks on purpose that she may get the prize. I don’t know, I’m sure. And I hate to ask papa anything like this, for it sounds so silly, and so as if I thought myself ‘noble,’ like Sentimental14 Tommy. I do hate to pose as a martyr15. And anyway it isn’t that sort of a spirit at all. It’s only just a fair question of proportion. I have so much to make me happy, and Lorraine has so little, that she really ought to have the prize. She’s trying awfully16 hard to be cheery and pleasant, and to get the general prize would help her along a lot. So I think it’s right for me to manage to have her get it, if I can do it without actual deceit.”
The more Patty thought it over, the more she felt herself justified17 in purposely losing the prize. It seemed to be a question entirely between Lorraine and herself. She reasoned that if she didn’t win the prize, it must necessarily go to Lorraine, and though she felt sorry to give up her hope of it, yet she knew she would be more truly pleased for Lorraine to have it. Of course she would never tell anybody the truth of the matter, for that would look like a parade of her unselfishness, and Patty was honestly single-minded in her intent.
But as she thought it over further, she realised that it would take a continuous and systematic18 missing of lessons to be sure of reducing her average sufficiently19. This was not a pleasant outlook, and a shorter way to the same end immediately suggested itself.
If she were marked a total failure on her Theme, just for once, it would set back her record farther than many missed lessons. Now, obviously the only way to get a total failure for a Theme was not to have any. For without undue20 egotism, Patty knew well that her Themes were better than the other girls’, and of course were marked accordingly. Purposely to write a poor Theme would be silly, and so the only thing to do would be to have no Theme. To accomplish this, it would be necessary to stay away from school some Friday. For to be there without a Theme would be unprecedented21 and inexplicable22. And, too, an absence of a whole day would mean no marks for the day in any lesson, and thus the end desired would surely be attained23.
As Patty’s Theme on the “Spirit of Happiness” was beyond all doubt the best one she had ever written, she concluded that that Friday was the day to put her plan in operation.
So on Thursday evening she casually24 asked her father if she might not stay at home from school the next day.
“Why, are you ill, child?” said Mr. Fairfield, in sudden alarm at this most unusual request.
“No, papa, I’m perfectly25 well; but I just want you, as a special favour, to let me stay home to-morrow. And another part of the favour is that neither you nor Grandma shall ask why.”
“Why, of course, my dear, if you really want to stay home to-morrow you may. And I promise you that Grandma and myself will never seek to fathom26 the deep and dark mystery of it all.”
“Good for you, papa, you’re a trump27! Perhaps some time I’ll tell you all about it, and perhaps I won’t.”
So on Friday Patty stayed at home.
She busied herself with numberless little occupations, but somehow her plan, now that it was in operation, did not seem quite so attractive as it had done before. She wondered whether, after all, it wasn’t quixotic and ridiculous. But anyway, the deed was done now, and she must abide28 by it. Patty never cried over spilt milk, and having committed herself to her course, she dismissed all doubts from her mind. To strengthen her purpose she took her Theme from her desk and read it over. It was good; and without a doubt she would have been marked very high for it. Her spirits rose as she realised that even though Lorraine’s Theme might not be marked as high, yet whatever its marking, Lorraine would stand that much ahead in her average.
Grandma, though mystified at Patty’s remaining at home, said nothing whatever on the subject, and the morning passed pleasantly away. Grandma asked Patty if she would like to go out with her after luncheon29 and do a little shopping, and Patty readily acquiesced30.
After they were seated at the luncheon table Patty looked across the room to where the Hamiltons usually sat, and there, to her amazement31, sat Mrs. Hamilton and Lorraine.
Patty’s face showed such a bewildered expression that Grandma turned to follow her glance; “Why,” she exclaimed, “Lorraine has also stayed home from school to-day. Did you know she was going to?”
“I certainly did not,” said Patty emphatically, and then the funny side of the situation struck her and she began to laugh.
At the same time, Lorraine caught sight of Patty, and she, too, looked utterly32 blank with consternation33 and dismay, and then she, too, laughed.
After luncheon Patty took possession of Lorraine and carried her up to her own room.
“What in the world are you doing at home to-day?” she demanded.
“First, what are you doing at home to-day?” responded Lorraine.
Had it not been for Lorraine’s peculiar34 expression, and quizzical looks, Patty might have thought she had stayed at home for reasons in no way connected with the general prize. But the girl’s embarrassment35 and flustered36 air made Patty wonder if they weren’t both actuated by the same motive37.
“Look here, Lorraine Hamilton,” she said, going straight to the point; “did you hear what Flossy Fisher overheard Miss Oliphant say?”
“Why, what do you mean?” asked Lorraine, temporising.
“You know very well what I mean. Did you?”
“Why, Flossy told me that she heard Miss Oliphant say that you and I were even in our markings. But what of that?”
“And you stayed home to-day,” said Patty, grabbing Lorraine by the shoulders, and looking her straight in the eyes, “you stayed home to-day so that I might get ahead of you!”
Lorraine’s eyes opened wider. A sudden thought had struck her.
“If you suspect that,” she said, “it’s just because you’re doing the same thing yourself! Otherwise you never would have thought of it. Patty Fairfield, you stayed home to-day so that I might get ahead of you!”
The two girls read confession38 in each other’s eyes, and then they dropped into two chairs and laughed and laughed.
Grandma Elliott, in the next room, heard the shrieks39 of hilarity40, and concluded that some girlish secret was the reason of Patty’s unusual absence from school.
“The idea!” exclaimed Lorraine, as the beauty of Patty’s sacrifice dawned upon her; “how could you do such a thing?”
“The idea!” cried Patty, touched by her sudden realisation of Lorraine’s loyalty41 to herself, “how could you do such a thing?”
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technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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13
eavesdropping
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| n. 偷听 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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trump
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| n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭 | |
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abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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hilarity
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| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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