the box]

"You may sit here until those twenty lines are finished."

"Very well, Miss Lord."

"I do not wish you to suffer. Here is bread and water."

She motioned Osaki to set down the tray.

Patty waved it aside.

"I am not a convict," she said with dignity. "I refuse to eat until I am
served properly at the dining-room table."

A fleeting grin replaced for a moment Osaki's Oriental calm. Miss Lord
set the bread on a neighboring desk, and the two withdrew.

All through recreation and afternoon study, Patty sat at her desk, the
plate of bread conspicuously untouched at her elbow. Then the
five-o'clock bell rang, and the girls trooped out and dispersed on their
various businesses. The hour between afternoon study and dressing bell,
was the one hour of the day entirely their own. Patty could hear them
romping up the back stairs, and racing through the corridors. Kid McCoy
was conducting a pillow fight in Paradise Alley above her head. Groups
passed the schoolroom window with happy calls and laughter. Pepper and
Tabasco, the two riding horses, were saddled and brought out. She could
see the girls taking turns in galloping around the oval, while Martin,
as ringmaster, waved his whip and urged them on. Martin now was bent
with rheumatism, but in his far-off reckless youth he had been a cowboy,
and when he taught the girls to ride, it was with a disregard of broken
bones that dismayed even the adventurous gymnasium teacher. Patty was
his star pupil; she could stick on Red Pepper's back with nothing but a
blanket to hold her. It was only very occasionally, when Martin was in a
propitious mood, that the horses were saddled for mere public amusement.
Patty's heart was sore as she watched Priscilla and Conny, her two
dearest friends, disport themselves regardless of their incarcerated
mate.

It grew dusk; nobody came to furnish a light, and Patty sat in the
semi-darkness, her head bent wearily on her arms. Finally she heard
footsteps in the hall, and Miss Sallie entered and closed the door
behind her. Patty braced herself anew; one needed keen wits to match the
"Dragonette."

Miss Sallie had been talking with Miss Lord, and she was inclined to
think that Patty needed chastisement of a rare sort; but it was her
practice to hear both sides. She drew up a chair, and commenced with
business-like directness.

"See here, Patty, what is the meaning of all this nonsense?"

Patty raised reproachful eyes.

"Nonsense, Miss