"Incompatibility,"she gave out,and before the sound of her voice died away the Princess was spelling:"I-n,in,c-o-m,com,in com,p-a-t,pat,incompat,i,incompati,b-i-l,bil,incompatibil,i,incompatibili,t-y,ty,incompatibility."Then Laddie spelled "incomprehensibility,"and they finished up the "bilities"and the "alities"with a rush and changed McGuffey's for Webster,with five on Laddie's side and three on the Princess',and when they quit with it,the Princess was alone,and Laddie and our little May facing her.
From that on you could call it real spelling.They spelled from the grammars,hyperbole,synecdoche,and epizeuxis.They spelled from the physiology,chlorophyll,coccyx,arytenoid,and the names of the bones and nerves,and all the hard words inside you.
They tried the diseases and spelled jaundice,neurasthenia,and tongue-tied.They tried all the occupations and professions,and went through the stores and spelled all sorts of hardware,china and dry goods.Each side kept cheering its own and urging them to do their best,and every few minutes some man in the back of the house said something that was too funny.When Miss Amelia pronounced "bombazine"to Laddie our side cried,"Careful,Laddie,careful!you're out of your element!"And when she gave "swivel-tree"to the Princess,her side whispered,"Go easy!Do you know what it is?Make her define it."They branched over the country.May met her Jonah on the mountains.Katahdin was too much for her,and Laddie and the Princess were left to fight it out alone.I didn't think Laddie liked it.I'm sure he never expected it to turn out that way.
He must have been certain he could beat her,for after he finished English there were two or three other languages he knew,and every one in the district felt that he could win,and expected him to do it.It was an awful place to put him in,Icould see that.He stood a little more erect than usual,with his eyes toward the Princess,and when his side kept crying,"Keep the prize,Laddie!Hold up the glory of the district!"he ground out the words as if he had a spite at them for not being so hard that he would have an excuse for going down.
The Princess was poised lightly on her feet,her thick curls,just touching her shoulders,shining in the light;her eyes like stars,her perfect,dark oval face flushed a rich red,and her deep bosom rising and falling with excitement.Many times in later years I have tried to remember when the Princess was loveliest of all,and that night always stands first.
I was thinking fast.Laddie was a big man.Men were strong on purpose so they could bear things.He loved the Princess so,and he didn't know whether she loved him or not;and every marriageable man in three counties was just aching for the chance to court her,and I didn't feel that he dared risk hurting her feelings.
Laddie said,to be the man who conquered the Princess and to whom she lifted her lips for a first kiss was worth life itself.I made up my mind that night that he knew just exactly what he was talking about.I thought so too.And I seemed to understand why Laddie--Laddie in his youth,strength,and manly beauty,Laddie,who boasted that there was not a nerve in his body--trembled before the Princess.
It looked as if she had set herself against him and was working for the honours,and if she wanted them,I didn't feel that he should chance beating her,and then,too,it was beginning to be plain that it was none too sure he could.Laddie didn't seem to be the only one who had been well drilled in spelling.
I held my jaws set a minute,so that I could speak without Laddie knowing how I was shivering,and then I whispered:"Except her eyes are softer,she looks just like a cardinal."Laddie nodded emphatically and moving a step nearer laid his elbow across my knees.Heavens,how they spelled!They finished all the words I ever heard and spelled like lightning through a lot of others the meaning of which I couldn't imagine.Father never gave them out at home.They spelled epiphany,gaberdine,ichthyology,gewgaw,kaleidoscope,and troubadour.Then Laddie spelled one word two different ways;and the Princess went him one better,for she spelled another three.
They spelled from the Bible,Nebuchadnezzar,Potiphar,Peleg,Belshazzar,Abimelech,and a host of others I never heard the minister preach about.Then they did the most dreadful thing of all."Broom,"pronounced the teacher,and I began mentally,b-r-o-o-m,but Laddie spelled "b-r-o-u-g-h-a-m,"and I stared at him in a daze.A second later Miss Amelia gave out "Beecham"to the Princess,and again I tried it,b-e-e-c-h,but the Princess was spelling "B-e-a-u-c-h-a-m-p,"and I almost fell from the window.
They kept that up until I was nearly crazy with nervousness;I forgot I was half frozen.I pulled Laddie's sleeve and whispered in his ear:"Do you think she'll cry if you beat her?"I was half crying myself,the strain had been awful.I was torn between these dearest loves of mine.
"Seen me have any chance to beat her?"retorted Laddie.
