rse
and worse. He discovered that she was very nervous, and that a sudden
noise made her jump and turn white and put her hand to her heart. He
discovered that she would punish him and then try to please him by
saying he need not finish his punishment. He discovered that she would
lose things, like her spectacles, her handkerchief, or her purse,
and then be afraid to confess that she had lost them and endeavour to
proceed without them. He discovered that she hated to hit him on the
hand with a ruler (he scarcely felt the strokes). He discovered that
when his mother or father was in the room she was terrified lest he
should misbehave.

He discovered that she was despised by the servants, who quite openly
insulted her.

All these things fed his sense of power. He did not consider her a human
being at all; she was simply something upon which he could exercise his
ingenuity and cleverness. Mary followed him in whatever he did; Helen
pretended to be superior, but was not. Yes, Miss Jones was in the hands
of her tormentors, and there was no escape for her.

Surely it must have been some outside power that drove Jeremy on. The
children called it "teasing Miss Jones," and the aboriginal savagery in
their behaviour was as unconscious as their daily speech or fashion of
eating their food--some instinct inherited, perhaps, from the days when
the gentleman with the biggest muscles extracted for his daily amusement
the teeth and nails of his less happily muscular friends.

There were many games to be played with Miss Jones. She always began
her morning with a fine show of authority, accumulated, perhaps, during
hours of Spartan resolution whilst the rest of the household slept.
"To-morrow I'll see that they do what I tell them--"

"Now, children," she would say, "I'm determined to stand no nonsense
this morning. Get out your copy books." Five minutes later would begin:
"Oh, Miss Jones, I can't write with this pencil. May I find a better
one?" Granted permission, Mary's head and large spectacles would
disappear inside the schoolroom cupboard. Soon Jeremy would say very
politely: "Miss Jones, I think I know where it is. May I help her
to find it?" Then Jeremy's head would disappear. There would follow
giggles, whispers, again giggles; then from the cupboard a book tumbles,
then another, then another. Then Miss Jones would say: "Now, Jeremy,
come back to the table. You've had quite enough time--" interrupted by a
perfect avalanche