as ever wandering, and she was invariably engaged in some mischief
calculated to distract the rest of the class. She would sometimes give a
wrong answer on purpose to raise a laugh; she could never lift the lid
of her desk without letting it fall with a bang; and the contents of
her pencil-box seemed always ready to disperse themselves over the
floor. One morning the girls were having a lesson in grammar, and were
diligently repeating Latin derivations and Anglo-Saxon suffixes, when
some chance called Patty's attention to Enid. She noticed the latter
open her desk stealthily, and draw out a tiny paper box, which she
placed on her knee, and covered with her pocket handkerchief. Patty
wondered what she was doing. It was evidently something which required
great secrecy, for Enid glanced carefully round to see whether anyone
was watching her; then, as nobody except Patty appeared to be looking,
she drew away a fold of her handkerchief, cautiously opened the little
box, and out hopped a huge grasshopper, which bounded straight on to
Cissie Gardiner's blouse. Patty was so fascinated by gazing at it, and
wondering where its next leap would take it, that she started when Miss
Rowe asked her a question, and for once failed with her answer.

"Ad, ante," she began, but could get no further. Her eyes were glued to
Cissie's blouse, and Cissie, noticing she was the cause of Patty's
hesitation, looked down at her sleeve, and sprang up with a scream.

"Take it off! Somebody take it off!" she entreated. At this point the
grasshopper promptly hopped away, no one could see where. Each girl
naturally thought it might be on herself, and, jumping up, shook her
skirts frantically. The class was instantly in the greatest disorder.
Ella Johnson and May Firth stood on their seats, loudly protesting their
horror of all creeping or crawling insects.

"Don't let it come on me! Oh, don't!" wailed Kitty Harrison.

"It's there!" exclaimed Maud Greening.

"Where?"

"It's hopped on to Doris."

"Oh! It will go down my neck!" shrieked Doris.

"No, it's hopped off again."

"It's on Maggie Woodhall's desk."

"Catch it, Maggie!"

"I daren't! I daren't!"

"Squash it with your ruler."

"I couldn't! I hate squashing things!"

"It's gone again."

"It will be on me next!"

"There it is on Maggie's desk again."

"Girls! Girls! Calm yourselves and keep still!" cried Miss Rowe's
measured voice. "Maggie, sit down at once!"

The teacher strode