a few verses. Then the little piano
girl played for the hymn they sang, finding the books in racks on the
backs of the seats. Next Miss Wright made them a little speech, in
which she said she hoped they were all rested from the long vacation
and would work hard so that every one might be promoted at the end of
the term.

"She always says that," whispered the girl next to Meg.

"How do you know?" asked Meg, whispering, too.

"Why, I've been to school for most three years," said the other girl
proudly. "You first grade? Do you have Miss Mason or Miss Watts? Miss
Mason! Oh, gee, she's as cross as anything. I had her my first year."

Meg opened her mouth to say that she liked Miss Mason, but the bell
rang again and the children rose and turned toward the aisles. The
small girl at the piano rattled another lively march, and in orderly
lines the children marched back to their classrooms. Assembly was over
for that morning.

"Just a minute, before we begin our writing lesson," announced Miss
Mason when, with some noise and fluttering, her classes had found
their seats. "I believe in trusting my pupils to a great extent; I can
not watch you every minute. Besides, you know as well as I do when you
do wrong. I want to know how many of you whispered in the auditorium
this morning. Raise your hands, please."

Poor Meg's eyes widened in horror. For a moment she was furious at the
girl who had spoken to her and so tempted her to whisper. But if Meg
was only six years old she was an honest little girl and she knew
that in any case she might have whispered. The third-grade girl was
probably trying to be friendly, too.

Meg raised her hand. There were half a dozen other hands in the air.

"Tim Roon and Charlie Black. I might have known you would talk," said
Miss Mason severely. "I remember you last term. You may each stay
after school this afternoon for twenty minutes. You, too, Alice Cray.
I'm surprised at you. And Margaret Blossom--a first-grader, whispering
her very first morning. Don't you know it is against the rules to
whisper in assembly, Margaret?"

Meg hesitated.

"Stand when you speak," said Miss Mason, who certainly was rather
severe in her manner. "Did you or didn't you know you were breaking
the rules?"

"I--I--didn't think about the rules," stammered Meg, rising and
holding on to her desk with both small hands. "But I didn't know you
were going to ask us if we whispered!"

Miss Mason's eyes suddenly crinkle