As the way which she deals with her knife,
When she grapples the handle in dainty red paw,
And piles in the food for dear life.”
There were evidently more verses, but Mrs. Abbott interrupted the reader, reaching out her hand for the paper, and, turning with surprise to Miss Blake, said:
“Why did you allow a composition of this character to be presented for reading?”
Miss Blake, looking greatly puzzled, declared she had never seen it before. She then took the pile in her hand and counted. There were twenty-one, and twenty was the number she had corrected.
Some of the girls had laughed and shown much amusement as the verses were read, but seeing Mrs. Abbott was really angry they all looked preternaturally sober as she turned from Miss Blake and slowly scanned each face before her. There was a painful silence which Elfie broke by saying in a sorrowful voice:
“Who’s made poor Mary Ann cry?”
“Yes, who?” asked Mrs. Abbott, emphatically.
“It was that naughty song Ellen read,” said Elfie. “But Mary Ann isn’t going to say ‘tickled to kill’ any more, she isn’t.”