"'Yes'm,' I answered, very meekly.
"'Very well, then, we will hear the remark you made, and judge if it was necessary enough to excuse you for breaking the rule.'
"I fairly gasped, for nothing would have made me repeat the remark, and hurt Phœbe's feelings. In spite of her untidiness, we all liked her, for she was always good company. Besides, we really respected her, for she was one of the best scholars in the class.
"'Please excuse me, Miss Abbie,' I said, getting furiously red. 'It was a silly little remark I made, and I had no business to make it.'
"'We will be the best judge of that, Miss Winthrop,' she said, in her severest tones. Just then the class bell rang outside the room. This happened to be the last class of the morning. Some of the girls got up to go, but Miss Abbie motioned them down.
"'If you choose to keep the whole class waiting,' she said to me, 'it will not be pleasant, but we can wait. I hope you enjoy feeling we are all waiting for you.'"
"How perfectly horrid of her!" cried Cricket.
"I really think it was, myself. Well, the girls groaned softly, and frowned at me, and motioned 'tell,' with their lips, but nothing would have induced me to have repeated my silly little speech, and make them all laugh at Phœbe.
"I was ashamed of myself already, for saying a mean thing of one of my classmates, even to one girl, and I certainly did not intend to repeat the remark for the benefit of the whole class.
"'I can't tell you before them all, Miss Abbie,' I said, desperately, 'but I will tell you all by yourself. It was something I had no business to say.'