jumped every time Miss Pepperill spoke.

Miss Pepperill noted none of this cringing terror on the part of her new
pupils. Or else she was used to it. She marched up and down the aisles,
seating and reseating the pupils until she had them arranged to her
satisfaction, and suddenly she pounced on Tess.

"Ah!" she said, stopping before the Corner House girl's desk. "You are
Theresa Kenway?"

Tess arose before replying. "Yes, ma'am," she said.

"Ah! Didn't I give you a question to answer this first day?"

"Yes, ma'am," replied Tess, trying to speak calmly.

Miss Pepperill evidently expected to find Tess at fault. "What was the
question, Theresa?" she asked.

"You told me to be prepared to recite for you the succession of the
sovereigns of England."

"Well, are you prepared?" snapped Miss Pepperill.

"Yes, ma'am," Tess said waveringly. "I learned them in a rhyme, Miss
Pepperill. It was the only way I could remember them all--and in the
proper succession. May I recite them that way?"

"Let me hear the rhyme," commanded the teacher.

Tess began in a shaking voice, but as she progressed she gained
confidence in the sound of her own voice, and, knowing the rhyme
perfectly, she came through the ordeal well.

"Who taught you that, Theresa?" demanded Miss Pepperill, not unkindly.

"Mrs. Eland wrote it down for me. She said she learned it so when she
was a little girl. At least, all but the last four lines. She said
_they_ were 'riginal."

"Ah! I should say they were," said Miss Pepperill. "And who is Mrs.
Eland?"

"Mrs. Eland is an awfully nice lady," Tess said eagerly, accepting the
opening the teacher unwittingly gave her. "She is matron of the Women's
and Children's Hospital, and do you _know_, they say they are going to
close the hospital because there aren't enough funds, and poor Mrs.
Eland won't have any place to go. We think it's dreadful and, Miss
Pepperill,----"

"Well, well!" interposed Miss Pepperill, with a grim smile, "that will
do now, Theresa. I have heard all about that. I fancy you must be the
little girl who is going around telling everybody about it. I heard Mr.
Marks speak this morning about the needs of the Women's and Children's
Hospital.

"We'll excuse your further remarks on that subject, Theresa. But you
recited the succession of the English sovereigns very well indeed. I,
too, learned that rhyme when I was a little girl."

Tess thought the bespectacled teacher said this last rather