"And is there a part in your play for me?" demanded the irrepressible. "I just dote on actin. But no thinking part for mine, young lady! I must at least be important enough in the play to say: 'Me Lord! the carriage waits.'"
"You could play the part of Puck or Ariel, Bobby," declared Nellie Agnew.
"Hah! did you use those characters in 'The Arrow's Flight'?" gibed Bobby. "No wonder it was turned down then. Stealing boldly from Shakespeare!"
"No, I didn't, Miss!" returned Nell, rather sharply. "I hope you noticed that I was one of those who was 'honorably mentioned.'"
"Sure. Mr. Sharp let you all down easy," chortled Bobby.
"I believe the decision in the contest was eminently fair," declared Laura. "Yet I thought I would surely win."
"So did I," cried Nell.
"And I didn't even dare hope for it," said Jess, awe-stricken. "It's just the most wonderful thing that ever happened."
But Mrs. Morse took the success of "The Spring Road" quite as a matter of course.
"There, Josephine!" she exclaimed. "Now you can have the new clothes you are really suffering for"
