Brown to make good her threat of a visit to the principal's office and
consequent suspension, but an outraged sense of personal grievance
clamored for redress. She gained control of herself with perceptible
effort.

"Take out your books," she ordered.

He assembled his belongings on the top of his desk--geography, reader,
arithmetic, composition book and speller--all too new to be as yet
ink-scarred--a manila scratch pad, a ruled block of ink paper with a
cover crudely illustrated during his many bored moments, and a sundry
assortment of teeth-marked pencils and pens, and stood, a smiling,
incorrigible offender, in the aisle, awaiting further orders.

Miss Brown found that smile peculiarly irritating. "The first thing to
happen to you," she told him sternly, "is that you'll have to stay after
school an hour for the rest of the week. As for your back seat, I let
you keep it only on promise of good behavior, and this is the way you've
acted."

The maddening grin reappeared. That seat behind the new little girl was
the only vacant one in the room located at all near Miss Brown's desk.
The prize was all but in his possession. She was going to--she had to--

"And," went on the cold, inexorable voice, "as Louise is such a
well-behaved little girl, I'm going to let her exchange with you.
Louise, will you take out your books?"

He drew one piteous, gasping breath. Every vestige of sunlight seemed to
leave the room. Slowly he fumbled among his belongings as he gathered
them into his arms and, half-way up the aisle, stood aside to let his
divinity pass. Longingly his glance took in every detail of the silken
curls, the curving lashes which half hid the brown eyes the rosy,
petulant lips, and the unmistakably snub hose. Then he walked
uncertainly to the seat which she had just vacated.

A little later, Miss Brown looked up from a stack of composition papers
which had been collected by the monitors, and found John's lower lip
a-quiver. She was greatly puzzled, for boys did not usually take
detentions after school so much to heart. But fifteen minutes before
school ended for the day, she knew that his troubles had vanished, for
he was gazing out of the window with such vacant earnestness that she
felt called upon to reprove him again for daydreaming.

He eluded the watchful eye of authority as the exit bell rang, and filed
down stairs with the long line of pupils. Sid DuPree dashed past him as
he stood in the school yard,