"Do you hear me?" shouted the master. "Stand upon the form and repeat your words."
Once again Elizabeth clambered into a higher position.
"I said—I said, 'Cheaty, cheaty; go home and tell your mother,'" she said in a clear voice that sounded all over the room.
A shocked expression passed over the face of the class.
"To whom were you addressing yourself?" asked the master.
"The new boy," said the little girl.
"Sit down, and stay in the dinner-hour and write out the sentence fifty times."
Elizabeth sat down, and again her anger against the new boy blazed high.
She put out her foot and kicked the heel of his boot, but this time she eschewed words, for the face of the master was towards her, and an expectant silence hung over the schoolroom.
The clock struck ten, and the boy at the head of the class immediately began passing slates down—one to each pupil, with a piece of pencil upon it.