“I’ll see Miss Mason,” promised Mr. Carter briefly. “The thing for you to do is to forget this and go on as though nothing had happened. You’ll find Miss Mason fair-minded and ready to own a mistake has been made when once she is convinced. As long as you know you didn’t do it you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”
The principal put on his glasses and stood up.
“Next time you come to see me, let’s hope we have something pleasanter to discuss,” he said smilingly, holding out his hand to Bobby. “By 97 the way, didn’t I see a little sister of yours yesterday and two other young people rather anxious to go to school?”
“That was Meg,” Bobby informed him. “She had to take the twins home. They’re crazy to come to school.” Then he backed out of the room.
“He was just as nice!” Bobby kept saying over and over to himself on his way upstairs. “Just as nice! And he doesn’t b’lieve I hurt the book.”
Tim Roon glanced at Bobby curiously as he came quietly into the room and took his seat. The class was having a reading lesson, and Tim could keep his book open and pretend to be very busy while he did several other things. He had not known that Miss Mason would make such a “fuss,” as Tim called it, over the book, and he was mean enough to be glad that Bobby was getting all the punishment. Tim had a wholesome fear of Mr. Carter, having met the principal on several occasions when his bent for mischief had brought Miss Mason’s wrath down on 98 him. He wondered what Mr. Carter had said to Bobby.
The weather was clear and crisp now, and the grammar and high-school boys could talk of nothing but football. The primary grades, of course, were considered too little to have a team, but nevertheless they knew a good deal about the game and secretly thought they had just as fine players among them as the older boys.
“Let’s go round and watch ’em practice,” suggested Palmer Davis to Bobby after school, the afternoon of the day he had seen Mr. Carter. “Meg will tell your mother. Won’t you, Meg?”
“Yes, of course,” agreed Meg sunnily. “Go on, Bobby, she won’t care.”
“I’ll be back by five,” called Bobby after her.