For two days he returned kindness for Jimmy's unkindness, and though the teacher did not once pat him on the head, or say "good boy," he went on doing his own duty, sure, as Kitty said, it would all come out right if he would be patient.
The third day the teacher stopped the school at recess, and told Jimmy Barnard to take his on the platform.
"I want you all," he said, addressing the scholars, "to see a boy who was guilty of playing a foolish, disrespectful trick on his teacher, and then, to hide his guilt, charged an innocent companion with the fault. Last night, I was walking by the creek, partly concealed by the trees, when I heard James Barnard boasting to a school-mate of having hidden the ferrule and of sticking the pins into the seat. He spoke of Maurice Seyton, too, and wondered he bore so patiently the reproach, when he knew nothing of the crime. I have so bad an opinion of a boy who would be so mean and wicked, that I do not wish my scholars to associate with him; and I now expel him from the school. Maurice, as I have said, is entirely innocent; and I here publicly ask his pardon for having ever thought otherwise."
"There, Mamma!" exclaimed the boy, rushing into room. "It's all come out just as you and Kitty said it would. I'm so glad I tried to be patient. Do you think God is pleased with me now?"
"I know he is, my darling; and your mother is pleased, too."
