HARRY HARDING
—Messenger “45”
[CHAPTER I]
A MENACE TO THE SCHOOL
“I will drown and no one shall help me,” announced Miss Alton defiantly.
The first class in English accepted this remarkable statement in absolute silence, their eyes fixed on their teacher. As she stood high and dry on the platform, facing her class, there seemed little possibility of such a catastrophe overtaking her, therefore, they knitted their wise young brows, not in fear of her demise by drowning, but in puzzled worry over the intricacies of shall and will.
“I will drown,” repeated Miss Alton firmly, “and no one——”
“Oh-h-h!” a piercing shriek rent the grammar-laden air. As though about to prove her declaration, Miss Alton made a sudden dive off the platform that carried her half-way up an aisle toward the immediate vicinity of that anguished voice.
The first class in grammar immediately forgot the uses of shall and will and twisted about on their benches to view their teacher’s hurried progress toward the scene of action.