Sir John and the other judges immediately left the hall, and the girls, still standing in that strained and painful position, waited with lowered eyes for the result.  Amongst the three, however, all doubt was over.  Mary Bateman knew that her poor and lame words had not the slightest chance.  Kitty would not have taken the Scholarship even if it had been offered to her.  Could Mary have written that brilliant essay?  Could it by any possibility be the work of Florence?  But whoever had written it deserved the Scholarship, deserved it by every rule which had been laid upon the young competitors.