"Next," said Miss Arkwright.
"Florence," answered Marian with a toss of her head.
"Firenze is the proper Italian name for Florence," corrected Sylvia. "Father and Mother were staying there last Easter, and they said everybody called it that, and didn't understand what you meant if you said Florence."
"We are having our geography lesson in English, not Italian, so we will call the places by the English names which are given in the book," said Miss Arkwright, glaring at her; and Sylvia lost a mark, much to her indignation.
Another time the class was reading Marmion, and repeating the notes which were given at the end of the cantos. Now Sylvia had revelled in so many historical stories that she understood thoroughly all about a portcullis and a drawbridge and a donjon keep, and instead of simply saying the note she volunteered an explanation of her own. It was what Miss Holt would have encouraged, but Miss Arkwright kept strictly to the lesson.
"I did not ask for your opinion, Sylvia," she said. "The notes given in the book are quite sufficient, and you may confine yourself to them."
On the whole Miss Arkwright was fair, but on one occasion Sylvia felt herself really to be the object of a great injustice. A very difficult grammar lesson was in progress, which most of the girls found extremely hard to understand. Miss Arkwright had asked many questions round the class, and now addressed one to Sylvia, who was top. She missed, and the teacher turned to Marian, who sat next. Just at that moment the bell rang, and, without waiting for Marian's reply, Miss Arkwright closed her book and opened the register. Now that last wrong answer had given Sylvia a bad mark, and she felt it was not just that she should have had one more question than any of the other girls.
"I don't believe one of them knew it," she said to herself, "and if the question had gone on they would all have missed too."
"Oh, Miss Arkwright, it's not fair!" she added aloud, getting up with flaming cheeks at the sting of the thought that half a minute had saved Marian's mark and lost her own. "I oughtn't to count that last miss."
"Sylvia, if you speak to me like that again I shall order you to leave the room," said the mistress, who prided herself on her good discipline. "I think you must have forgotten yourself."