"You boys get on your ponies and go right straight home!" she exclaimed in a burst of temper. "You're very bad, both of you, and I've a good notion to punish you!" She went into the school-house and slammed the door, while the twins lost no time in leaving the premises. Not far away they met old Jim McCullen.
"Where's your teacher?" he asked, stopping his horse in the road.
"She's back there," said the soft-voiced twin, pointing toward the school-house. "But you'd better stay away, for she's got blood in her eye to-day!"
"No wonder, you young devils!" laughed Jim, riding on.
He knocked at the school-house door and, receiving no answer, walked in.
"Oh, Jim!" exclaimed the girl, rising from the small table at the end of the room. "I thought it was some of the children returning. I'm awfully glad to see you! You've been gone an age. Come, sit down here in this chair, I'm afraid those seats aren't large enough for you."
"I'll just sit on this here recitation bench," replied Jim, "that's what you call it, ain't it? I want to see how it feels to be in school again. I reckon it'll hold me all right."
He seated himself with some care, while the teacher sank back at her table.
"You don't seem very pert-lookin', Hopie," he continued, noticing her more carefully. "What's the matter?"
She looked down at her papers, then up at him with something of a smile.