Chapter 21

Caro sat for her second term exams with the confidence that she was very well prepared and would easily come out on top. And she wasn't proven wrong when the results finally came out, but the only problem was that someone was also on top of her! She came second in the exams. The margin in marks was very slim, but the sight of that '2' brought tears to her eyes. It meant that not only had she failed to keep her own end of the bargain (to come first) in order to continue working, she had also let herself and her generous guardian down. To her, neither of them deserved anything less than 1st position. She folded or rather, squeezed the 'disappointing' report card, stuffed it into her bag and left for home, ignoring calls from her classmates and friends. Caro walked like someone in a trance into the parlour of her guardian's residence. She had not noticed Madam Mary sitting at the shop-front and it was at the second call of her name that made Caro realise that she had been de