e joy. But when Karsten took it out into the court,
pop! away went the goat over the low fence into the hotel-keeper's
garden, then out by an unlatched gate into the wide, wide world.

"No," said Mother firmly, "you may not go to look for it, nor will I ask
the police to find it. If I haven't suffered and paid enough for that
creature----"

* * * * *

Poor little Billy-goat! It was a sin and a shame that we ever took you
away from the forest at Goodfields!

CHAPTER XVII

IN SCHOOL

Oh, such fun as we had in school that time when Mr. Gorrisen was our
teacher! It was a regular comedy. He was a tiny little man. Antoinette
and I were taller than he, so you can judge for yourself. And I never in
my life saw any one with such round eyes as he had.

You should just have seen those eyes when we were having a little fun at
our desks. With a hard, fixed stare, not letting his gaze wander for an
instant, his eyes bored themselves right into the culprit.

Down from the platform he came, with slow, measured step across the
floor,--his eyes not moving for a second,--came nearer and nearer and
nearer; ugh! then his finger tips grabbed the very tip-end of your ear
and there they held tight like a vise. No one can have the faintest
idea how painful it was. And all without one word; not a syllable came
over Mr. Gorrisen's lips.

I wonder, I really do, that there is anything left of the tips of my
ears since then, considering the many times Mr. Gorrisen took hold of
them!

And he was mighty quick about giving us poor marks! If I didn't know
every single thing in the lesson by heart, so that I could rattle it
off, I got a "4" immediately.

It was at that time, however, that I hit upon the plan of cutting out
the bad marks from my report book, for a "4" or "5" looks perfectly
disgusting in a report. But an innocent little square hole,--that's no
harm, as it were.

"But, Inger Johanne," said Father, "what is that?"

"Oh, well, Father, there was a bad mark there," I answered. "And I
didn't dare come home with such a mark, so I just cut it out."

The first time I did it, Father wasn't so very angry; but when I did it
again and again, he was furious. So I had to give it up. Then when I
really came to think about it, I saw it was wrong, so I would not do it
any more, anyway.

Once we had Mr. Gorrisen on Examination Day. Mrs. White, with her light
kid gloves on, sat in a chair on the plat