“Just wait until someone calls you a name and see,” Harry predicted.
By this time the boys had reached the school rooms and conversation between them ceased. Entering the room Miss Pierce had designated, they tendered their slips to the principal, who stood talking to a fair-haired young woman. There were perhaps eighteen boys seated at the desks.
“Which of you is Harry Harding?” she asked, examining the slips, then fixing her pale-blue eyes on the two boys.
“I am he, ma’am,” returned Harry.
“Where did you go to school? What grade were you in? How old are you?” came the rapid questions.
Harry answered them in turn.
“I shall put you in Section I of Company A. If you cannot keep up with the class, you will be demoted.” Then she put Teddy through the same brief catechism, assigning him also to Section I, which was the room on the left.
Obeying her brusque command, “Come with me, boys,” the two lads followed her out of the door and into the left-hand class-room. Their eyes turned involuntarily toward their new teacher. She stood with her back toward them, facing her class. At the sound of the opening door, she turned her head. Teddy drew a long breath of relief. This teacher might be cross, but at least she was pretty. She had big, brown eyes and soft, fluffy, brown hair, and as she nodded good morning to Miss Pierce, her smile disclosed white, even teeth, while two deep dimples appeared in her cheeks.
“Here are two new boys, Miss Leonard.” Miss Pierce indicated Teddy and Harry with a gesture which implied that they were of small consequence. Then she marched majestically out of the room, leaving the newcomers to their fate.