“I’m glad you did,” returned Miss Parker. “I’m glad you did. It is just possible there may be other little girls who act the lie. I thought I could read faces, but the best of us are liable to mistakes.”
Prudy hurried away, lest she should forget herself so far as to smile. After she had gone, Miss Parker called Dotty to her side.
“Your sister has been telling me all about it,” putting her arm around the child. “I forgive you freely.”
Dotty raised her face joyfully to meet her teacher’s kiss, and this time it did not feel like a coal of fire on her lips.
“But you never will do so again, Dotty?”
“No’m, I don’t think I’ll ever.”
“And you’ll try, like a good little girl, not to whisper?”
Dotty put a corner of her apron in her mouth.
“You want me to love you, dear?”