“To-day, Mrs Willis.”
“You kept it to yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Will you now repeat in the presence of the school, and in a loud enough voice to be heard by all here, exactly what was done?”
“Pardon me,” answered Cecil, and now her voice was a little less agitated and broken, and she looked full into the face of her teacher, “I cannot do that.”
“You deliberately disobey me, Cecil?” said Mrs Willis.
“Yes, madam.”
Mrs Willis’s face flushed—she did not, however, look angry—she laid her hand on Cecil’s shoulder and looked full into her eyes.
“You are one of my best pupils, Cecil,” she said tenderly. “At such a moment as this honour requires you to stand by your mistress. I must insist on your telling me here and now exactly what has occurred.”
Cecil’s face grew whiter and whiter.