THE YOUNGEST GIRL IN THE FIFTH

CHAPTER I

An Unexpected Remove

"Gwen! Gwen Gascoyne! Gwen! Anybody seen her? I say, have you all gone
deaf? Don't you hear me? Where's Gwen? I--want--Gwen--Gascoyne!"

The speaker--Ida Bridge--a small, perky, spindle-legged Junior, jumped
on to the nearest seat, and raising her shrill voice to its topmost
pitch, twice shouted the "Gwen Gascoyne", with an aggressive energy
calculated to make herself heard above the babel of general chatter
that pervaded the schoolroom. Her effort, though far from musical, at
any rate secured her the notice she desired.

"Hello, there! Stop that noise! It's like a dog howling!" irately
commanded a girl in spectacles who was cleaning the blackboard.

"And get down from my desk this minute! Who said you might climb up
there?"

"Look here, you kid, what are you doing in our classroom?"

"Take yourself off at once! Fly! Scoot!"

The "kid", however, stood her ground.

"Shan't move till you've answered my question," she replied with
aggravating impudence. "I want Gwen Gascoyne."

"Why, there she is all the time!"

"Where?"

"Under your very nose, you stupid baby! Get down from my desk, I tell
you!"

The Junior cast what was intended to be a withering glance before she
descended.

"Gwen Gascoyne, why couldn't you answer when I called you?" she
demanded abruptly.

Gwen paused in the act of sharpening a lead pencil, and eyed the
intruder.

"Who asked you to come in here?" she retorted.

"You babes must keep to your own classrooms! Hey, presto! Vanish! And
be quick about it!" interposed Myra Johnson.

"Shan't! Not till I've spoken to Gwen."

"Cheek!"

"Suppress that kid!"

"But I've got a message!" squeaked the babe, as sundry arms of justice
thrust her summarily in the direction of the door. "Oh, I have
really--a message for Gwen from Miss Roscoe! She's to go to the
library--now!"

"Then why couldn't you say so at first?"

"You never gave me a chance!"

Gwen threw the half-sharpened pencil inside her desk and banged down
the lid.

"What does Miss Roscoe want with me?" she asked in some consternation.
"Are you sure she meant me?"

A summons from the headmistress rarely boded good fortune to the
recipient, and the girls stared at Gwen with interested sympathy.

"What have you been doing?" murmured Eve Dawkins.

"Glad I'm not in your shoes!" proclaimed Daisy Hurst.

"Oh, Gwen, I am sorry for you!" bleated Alma Richard