“All right,” agreed Isabelle.
“Thee might speak to Mr. Benjamin on thy way out, about the seven devils that possess thee,” smiled her teacher.
Another influence that was working in the development of the girl was the dependent devotion of Peggy Starr. Her young room-mate worshipped Isabelle. She began by following her through fire, and she would not have stopped at water. What Isabelle did and said and thought was Peggy’s law.
Now Mrs. Benjamin took hold of the situation at once. She disapproved of the school girl “crush.” She had a long talk with Isabelle and urged her to look after the younger girl, to help her forget her “claim” to invalidism, to influence her to normal activity. Isabelle accepted the responsibility and felt it deeply. She restrained herself from this and that because of Peggy. If she did things, Peggy would do them. So again, wise Mrs. Benjamin let her teach herself her first lessons in self-control.
“Isabelle,” Mr. Benjamin said to her, when she had been at the school about two months, “I have a letter from thy father. He says thee does not write home.”
“I’ve been busy,” Isabelle said, frowning.
“But what does thee do on Sunday afternoons, when the other girls write home?”
“I’d rather not tell.”
“But thee writes; I’ve seen thee.”
She nodded.