“Thank you, Mrs. Platt.”

Mrs. Platt returned to the front of the room and faced the class. “I have to say, I was impressed with your test results. It appears as though you learned something this quarter, after all.”

Mary stared at the wooden desk. Her heart sank. She was the only student without a graded paper in front of her.

“Mary Trask?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I’d like to see you after class.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Class dismissed.”

Slowly and with trepidation, Mary gathered her books and trudged to the teacher’s desk. “Mrs. Platt—”

She held up a hand. “I’ll do the talking, young lady.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mary mumbled.

“I have to say, I’m very disappointed in you. I know you read Great Expectations. I saw your mother at bridge club and she told me how diligently you’d been studying. I don’t understand it. This paper,” she waved it in the air between them, “would lead me to believe you’d barely opened the book.”

Mary caught a glimpse of the big red “F” at the top of the paper and gasped. “Mrs. Platt, I did read the book, I swear. It took me forever, but I finished it. Heck, I could tell you everything that happened in that book. I studied and worked hard. I…”

She lowered her head and wrung her hands. “I don’t do well on tests. I don’t know why. The words don’t look right on the page. I have trouble reading the questions. Then, when I think I do understand what you’re asking, I know all the answers in my head, but when I try to write them down, it seems like everything comes out wrong.”

To her mortification, tears formed on her lashes. Without a high school diploma, she’d never amount to anything. She’d have to marry Sam or someone like him.

“What are we going to do about this, Mary? I know you often struggle. But this exam? This one is completely beyond salvaging.”

Mary shook her head. The lump in her throat was so big, she didn’t think she could speak around it. “Please, don’t tell my mother,” she choked out. “I couldn’t bear it.”

“Put your books down and look at me.”

Reluctantly, Mary did as she was told.

“I’m going to ask you the same question that was on this test. I want you to stand right there, without opening the book, and tell me the answer.”

She straightened up. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Who is Pip in love with, and is it a case of requited, or unrequited, love?”