"Get back to your work. Hurry up!"
Slowly they dispersed and Perrine, like the others, was on her way back to her truck, when Ninepins called to her:
"Here, you new one, there; come here! Come on, quicker than that."
She came back timidly, wondering why she was more guilty than the others who had also left their work. But she found that he did not wish to punish her.
"Take that young fool there to the foreman," he said.
"What do you call me a fool for?" cried Rosalie, raising her voice, for already the machines were in motion. "It wasn't my fault, was it?"
"Sure, it was your fault, clumsy." Then he added in a softer tone:
"Does it hurt?"
"Not so very much," replied Rosalie bravely.
"Well, go on home; be off now."