“Hammel,” said Uncle Charlie, “McKoeghany,” and Uncle Charlie smote his thigh.
“I SING OF HONOR AND THE FAITHFUL HEART”
The Real Teacher was sick. The Third Reader was to begin its duties with a Substitute. The Principal announced it to the class, looking at them coldly and stating the matter curtly. It was as though he considered the Third Reader Class to blame.
Somehow Emmy Lou felt apologetic about it and guilty. And she watched the door. A Substitute might mean anything. Hattie, Emmy Lou’s desk-mate, watched the door, too, but covertly, for Hattie did not like to acknowledge she did not know.
"Hattie peeped out from
behind the shed."
The Substitute came in a little breathlessly. She was pretty—as pretty as Emmy Lou’s Aunt Katie. She seemed a little uncertain as to what to do. Perhaps she felt conscious of forty pairs of eyes waiting to see what she would do.