ould like to play with her kitten in the playroom for
an hour, after dinner, she may do so."

"Oh, I am sure she would be glad to see her kitten. She is a queer
child. At recess she stole away all by herself, to play by the
fence."

The children were coming in now, and Mrs. Snow nodded to Miss Rose,
as she went to her chair.

Little Sally had been just behind Miss Rose as she said the last
words to Mrs. Snow. She heard part of the words she said, and began
to whisper to her neighbor.

"She said somebody stole something. It must be that new girl. See
how queer she looks."

Then of course the neighbor had to whisper to the girl next to her.

"Do you know what it was the new girl stole? See how funny she
looks. She'd better not steal anything of mine."

In a minute Clematis knew they were talking about her. She didn't
know what it was, but she knew it was unkind.

They were looking at her, and talking to each other. Her face turned
red. She could not eat. One hand went deep into her apron pocket.

Miss Rose quickly saw that something was wrong. She knew that little
girls often made fun of the strangers, and it vexed her.

"Any little girl who is not polite," she said, "may leave the table
at once."

The girls stopped talking, but they poked each other with their feet
under the table. They were sure Clematis had stolen something, for
she looked just as if she had.

"Come, Clematis, eat your dinner now."

"Yes'm," said Clematis. But it was hard to swallow the bread.

She drank the soup, and left most of the bread by her bowl.

As soon as the bell rang, Miss Rose beckoned to her.

"Would you like to take Deborah to the playroom for a while, and
play with her there?"

Clematis looked very much surprised. She had expected some new
trouble.

"Oh, yes'm," she gasped, and started down to the kitchen, glad to
get away from the other girls, who had been watching.

Then Miss Rose beckoned to Jane.

"Jane, what were the girls saying about Clematis at the table?"

Jane hung her head. She did not like to repeat such awful things
about Clematis, for she really liked her, though it was hard to
teach her to work.

"Tell me, Jane. Miss Rose wants to know."

"The girls were saying she stole something."

"Stole something? Why, what did she steal, Jane?"

"I don't know. I just heard them saying she had stolen something.
She looked just as if she had."

"Very well. Thank you, Jane."

Jane went down to the sc