Helen and Tom were delighted and plainly showed their enjoyment of Ruth’s success.  Now, as the situation became more strained, the audience applauded when one of the spellers overcame a more than ordinarily difficult word.  So that when the girl next to Ruth missed “tergiversation” and it passed to the girl from the Red Mill, who spelled it without hesitation, and correctly, Helen applauded softly, while Tom audibly exclaimed:  “Good for Ruthie!”

This did not make Julia Semple any more pleasant.  She actually looked across at Helen and Tom and scowled at them.  It had already begun to be whispered about the room that the match was easily Julia’s—­ that she was sure to win; and Mr. Semple, the chairman of the trustees, who sat on the platform with the teacher, looked very well satisfied indeed.

But Miss Cramp had come down now to the final words in the speller—­ down to “zenith” and “zoology.”  And still there were three standing.  Miss Cramp looked for a moment as though she would like to announce the match a tie between the trio, for it was plain there would be hard feelings engendered among some of the audience, as well as the pupils, if the match continued.  Her custom had been, however, to go on to the bitter end—­ to spell down the very last one, and she could not easily make a change in her method now.

A general sigh and whispering went around when she was seen to reach for the academic dictionary which was always the foundation of the tower of books upon the northeast corner of Miss Cramp’s desk.  She opened the volume and shot out the word:  “Aperse.”

The girl standing between Ruth and Julia staggered along until they reached “abstinence “; she put an “e” instead of an “i” in the middle syllable, and went down.  But the audience applauded her.  Julia Semple began to hesitate now.  The end was near.  Perhaps she had never taken the time to follow down the rows of words in the dictionary.  At “acalycal” she stumbled, started twice, then stopped and asked to have it repeated.

“‘Acalycal,’” said Miss Cramp, steadily.

“‘A c a l l y c a l,’” stammered Julia.

“Wrong,” said Miss Cramp, dispassionately.

“Next.  ’Acalycal’?”

Ruth spelled it with two ‘l’s’ only and Miss Cramp looked up quickly.

“Right,” she said.  “You may step down, Julia.  It has been our custom to keep on until the winner is spelled down, too.  Next word, Ruth:  ‘acalycine.’”

But there was such a buzz of comment that Miss Cramp looked up again.  Julia Semple had seemed half stunned for the moment.  Then she wheeled on Ruth and said, in a sharp whisper: 

“I saw that Cameron girl spell it for you!  She’s been helping you all the time!  Everybody knows she’s patronizing and helping you.  Why, you’re wearing her old, cast-off clothes.  You’ve got one of her dresses on now!  Pauper!”

Ruth started back, her face turned red, then white, as though she had been struck.  The smarting tears started to her eyes, and blinded her.