A Pair of Schoolgirls / A Story of School Days

The best plan is to leave her alone till she comes out of them. You ought to know Dorothy Greenfield by this time.

One doesn't know all the difficulties until one tries.

"I can't stand a teacher who pets one girl and snubs another," said Ruth. "It isn't just, and one has a right to expect justice from one's Form mistress."

I wonder why some girls have so much more than others?

She always hoped that when she was grown up she might have a chance of emulating some of her book heroines, and doing a golden deed which the world should remember.

and you don't know what it is to go to a huge school. One can't always be absolutely immaculate; if one could, one would be a saint, not an ordinary girl.

Alison was a pleasant companion at school, quite ready to give up her own way on occasion, and enjoying the sensation of sharing alike with everyone else. She was soon on good terms with her classmates, for she was merry and humorous as well as accommodating.

"What am I to do?" she gasped. "How could I have been so idiotically stupid?"

That's as good as saying: 'Don't make a fuss about nothing'.

We can't always win, can we? Never mind! It's something that your name was on the list of candidates. All the girls who lost will be feeling equally disappointed.