“Would that help you?” asked Winona eagerly.

“Of course it would!  It isn’t my brain that’s wrong, only my eyes.  I asked my cousin to read my prep. to me one evening, but it was beyond her, and we only got into a muddle.  Oh dear, I could cry!  To have worked to within six weeks of the exam., and then to have to slack like this!  I’m the unluckiest girl in the world!”

Winona comforted her poor friend as best she could.  She had an idea at the back of her mind, but she did not venture to confide it to Garnet until she had first consulted Aunt Harriet about it.  It was no less a proposal than that they should do their preparation together, and that by reading the work aloud she could act eyes for her chum.  It. would be difficult, no doubt, but not an utter impossibility, and it was absolutely the only way in which Garnet could receive help.  It would necessitate their spending many hours daily in each other’s company, and to arrange this seemed to be the difficulty.  She explained the situation to Miss Beach, with some diffidence and hesitation.  She was terribly afraid of receiving a snubbing, and being told that her own work was more than sufficient for her, without taking up her friend’s burdens.  To her surprise, however, Aunt Harriet proved sympathetic, and heartily acquiesced in the scheme.  She indeed made the very kind proposal that for the six weeks until the exam.  Garnet should sleep with Winona at Abbey Close, so that they might have both the evening and early morning preparation together.

Winona carried her friend to a quiet corner of the gymnasium to communicate her thrilling news.

“Win!  You don’t really mean it?  Oh, you’re big!  I didn’t think any one in the world would have done that for me.  Do you realize what you’re undertaking?  It’s the one thing that can save me!  And only a girl who’s in my own Form, and going in for the exams. herself, could do it.  Nobody else understands exactly what one wants.  Win!  I’m ready to worship you!”

“Will your cousin let you come to stay with us?”

“I’ve no fear of that.  She’ll be as grateful to you as I am!”

Without any further loss of time, Garnet was installed at Abbey Close, and the friends began their joint preparation.  Garnet, by the doctor’s orders, sat with a black silk handkerchief tied over her eyes, so as to give them all the rest which was possible.  Her brain was very alert, however, and her excellent memory retained most of what Winona read to her.  At first there were many difficulties to be overcome, for each had had her own way of studying, but after a while they grew used to their united method, and began to make headway with the work.  They thoroughly enjoyed being together.  To Winona it was almost like being back at the hostel to have a companion in her bedroom, and her many jokes and bits of fun kept up Garnet’s spirits.  They set their alarm clock for 5.30, and began study promptly at six each morning, after eating the bread and butter and drinking the glasses of milk which, by Aunt Harriet’s orders, were always placed in readiness for them.  These early hours, when the day was cool, and a fresh breeze blew in through the open window, seemed the most valuable of all; their brains felt clearer, and they were often able to grasp problems and difficult points which had eluded them the evening before.