"I have good news for you, Florence," wrote her mother; "if you succeed in being elected as one of the three who are to compete for Sir John Wallis's Scholarship, I shall certainly contrive to give you a week at Dawlish with me.  Of course, if you fail it will be utterly useless, and I should not dream of wasting the money; so try your very best, my dear child, for there is more in this than meets the eye.  It will make the most immense difference in your life, my dear Florence, if you gain this Scholarship, and also in the life of your affectionate mother.  I may as well add here that your Aunt Susan becomes more intolerable day by day, and it is extremely probable that she will soon cease to pay your school fees at all.  If that is the case, my dear, I really do not know what is to become of you, as I certainly cannot afford to meet them.  Try your best for the Scholarship, dear.  If you win it write to me immediately and I will send you the money to come home."