Agatha spoke in a dogmatic way that amused Magdalen, and she said,
"Well, I shall be able to judge when we are at the Goyle. Vera, I
think you sing--"

Vera looked shy, and Agatha said, "She has a good voice, and Madame
Lardner thinks it would answer to send her to some superior
Conservatoire in process of time."

Vera did not commit herself as to her wishes, and Mrs. Best returned
to say that if Miss Prescott wished to see the headmistress it was
time to set out for the school; and accordingly the whole party
walked up together to the school, Magdalen with Agatha, who was
chiefly occupied in explaining how entirely it was owing to the one-
sidedness of the examiners that she had not gained the scholarship.
Magdalen had heard of such examiners before from the mothers of her
pupils.

She had to wish her sisters good-bye for the next three months, not
having gathered very much about them, except their personal
appearance. She administered a sovereign to each of them as they
parted. Agatha thanked her in a tone as if afraid to betray what a
boon it was; Vera, with an eager kiss, asking if she could spend it
as she liked; Paulina, with a certain grave propriety; and Thekla, of
course, wanted to know whether it would buy a bicycle, or, if not,
how many rides could be purchased from it.

When they were absorbed in the routine of the day, the interview with
the head mistress disclosed, what Magdalen had expected, that Agatha,
was an industrious, ambitious girl, with very good abilities quite
worth cultivating, though not extraordinary; that Vera had a certain