"Miss Pierson, Do You Recognize This Figure?"
There, hanging by its neck on a coat hook and still wearing its fantastic bonnet and green veil, was the famous effigy.
Anne looked at the absurd thing for a moment in silence. Then her eyes met Miss Thompson's, and both teacher and pupil burst out laughing.
The young girl never knew how far that laugh went to soften her present predicament. As a matter of fact, Miss Thompson had never liked the teacher in mathematics, while the small, shabby pupil appealed strongly to her sympathy.
"Were you not the originator of this outrageous plot, Miss Pierson?"
Anne was silent. She could hardly say she was the originator and still she had participated.
"I will put the question in another form," said the principal. "If you were not the originator, who was?"