“One of those large packages on the third shelf,” she explained, as the girl started.
Strangely enough, Ilga had never been to the closet, and was unprepared for its cramped dimensions. A bit elated with the importance of her errand, she went heedlessly forward, bumping against the mouldings as she entered, and flushing with vexation on hearing a giggle from one of the boys. In her confusion she grabbed two packages instead of one, and attempted to make her exit; but to her dismay she found that with the bulky parcels in her arms the return passage was to be difficult if not impossible. Scarlet with mortification, yet holding blindly to her bundles, she twisted this way and that, while the children, bubbling with suppressed mirth, watched her breathlessly. To add to her discomfiture, several distinguished-looking visitors were approaching from the next room, whither the teacher had gone to meet them, and Polly, throbbing with sympathy, saw that she was on the verge of tears.
Suddenly, with no thought save of Ilga herself, Polly sprang to her feet, and running lightly over to the prisoner put out her hands for the parcels. But Ilga, misinterpreting the motive, drew back in anger, muttering something about wishing “folks would mind their own business.” Polly, however, loyal to her aim, followed into the closet, and in an earnest whisper urged the other to give up the paper, that she might pass out in freedom. Finally, just as Miss Carpenter appeared, to learn the cause of the commotion, Ilga emerged, red-faced and sullen.
“What is all this fuss about? Polly, how came you here without permission?”
“To help Ilga,” she faltered.
“I have never known a girl to need assistance in getting a ream of paper,” the teacher replied severely, “especially so big a girl as Ilga.”
A titter ran through the room, and an uncontrollable smile flickered on Polly’s lips.
Nettled by this show of levity, for which she discerned no cause, Miss Carpenter’s sentence upon the supposed culprit was instant and merciless.
“Go to your seat, and stay there until six o’clock!”