Barry Pain

“ It would appear from the pages of history that the favourites of the great all fall from their high estate. The kindly historian assigns the fall to the capriciousness and fickleness of the monarch, but it must be confessed that the favourite has frequently brought it on himself. Because he has held his position for a long time he regards it as an assured position; he has presumed. When we come to consider the celebrated break between Olive and Christina, which created so much talk in the Helmstone school, we find that the first step came from Olive herself. ”

“ The rapidity with which news of importance is obtained and circulated in girls' schools is a problem that still baffles the inquirer. That very afternoon it was whispered in the class-room that the old, almost monumental, friendship between Christina and Olive was quite broken up. The report was brought for confirmation to Christina herself by Minna. Nathan, who was generally active in any pretty work of the kind. "You can't break up what wasn't," said Christina with cold disdain. ”

“ The captious moralist may say that it suggests that the auction knock-out is a feminine invention, but we have no concern with him.
It will be seen, then, that Christina had disregarded the etiquette of the school. Olive, by using the "Bags!" formula, had put in a claim for the history prize. That claim would have been subjected to discussion, and might, or might not, have been established. But it was contrary to all settled principles for another girl to introduce a crude rivalry into the business, and, without any discussion of Olive's claim, to oppose it by sheer work. ”

“ She was commanded to think and to try again. At 9.30 she was allowed to go, Nellie Holmes had written all she knew, and some things that she did not know, a few minutes later. It was a stiff paper, and few there were that could wrestle long with it. When Minna Nathan showed up her paper at 11.15, after surreptitiously tossing a coin to settle the date of Chatham's death, she left only Christina and Olive still writing. The paper suited Christina perfectly. It would have suited Olive equally well, but Olive had received bad news that morning, and could not keep her mind on her work. ”

“ CHRISTINA ARGENT was, officially and otherwise, the leader of the school at Helmstone. Her age and position in the school gave her the official leadership and made her monitor. But official leaders often have but little influence and dominance: Christina had much. If she had been younger and lower on the list, it is probable she would still have led.
There must be a reason for this, and Olive Pastowe would have said that the reason was that Christina was by far the nicest girl in the school and also the prettiest. ”

“ In such men lies the note of dominant personality, and the greatest amount of the highest attainments can never make up for the want of it or take the place of it. Look, for example, at such illustrious failures as—— But you may fill in the names for yourself; you will have no difficulty.
The natural consequence of Christina's pre-eminence was that Olive's principal claim to consideration was that she was the one intimate friend of Christina. ”

“ The school possessed its own playing-fields, and the pupils spent most of their leisure there; but at certain times they were required to take a formal and processional walk through the streets of Helmstone—a thing abhorrent. It is true that the walk gave them a passing glimpse into fascinating shop-windows and enabled them to make notes of the prevalent feminine fashions ”

“ The position of monitor carried with it the very high privilege of acting as occasional errand-girl to Miss Ferdinand. It was always Christina who was deputed to bring the pile of examination papers from the class-room to Miss Ferdinand's study. ”