ted pandemonium for the
teacher. Bud's attitude was comforting. It had a touch of manliness and
gentleness about it quite unwonted for him. It suggested beautiful
possibilities for the future of his character, and Margaret smiled
tenderly.

"Thank you, dear boy!" she said, gently. "You certainly are a comfort.
If every one was as splendid as you are we should have a model school.
But I do wish I could help Rosa. I can't see why she should hate me so!
I must have made some big mistake with her in the first place to
antagonize her."

"Naw!" said Bud, roughly. "No chance! She's just a _nut_, that's all.
She's got a case on that Forsythe guy, the worst kind, and she's afraid
somebody 'll get him away from her, the poor stew, as if anybody would
get a case on a tough guy like that! Gee! You should worry! Come on,
let's take a ride over t' camp!"

With a sigh and a smile Margaret accepted Bud's consolations and went on
her way, trying to find some manner of showing Rosa what a real friend
she was willing to be. But Rosa continued obdurate and hateful,
regarding her teacher with haughty indifference except when she was
called upon to recite, which she did sometimes with scornful
condescension, sometimes with pert perfection, and sometimes with saucy
humor which convulsed the whole room. Margaret's patience was almost
ceasing to be a virtue, and she meditated often whether she ought not to
request that the girl be withdrawn from the school. Yet she reflected
that it was a very short time now until Commencement, and that Rosa had
not openly defied any rules. It was merely a personal antagonism. Then,
too, if Rosa were taken from the school there was really no other good
influence in the girl's life at present. Day by day Margaret prayed
about the matter and hoped that something would develop to make plain
her way.

After much thought in the matter she decided to go on with her plans,
letting Rosa have her place in the Commencement program and her part in
the class-day doings as if nothing were the matter. Certainly there was
nothing laid down in the rules of a public school that proscribed a
scholar who did not love her teacher. Why should the fact that one had
incurred the hate of a pupil unfit that pupil for her place in her class
so long as she did her duties? And Rosa did hers promptly and deftly,
with a certain piquant originality that Margaret could not help but
admire.

Sometimes, as the teacher cast a furtive look