pal schoolroom was a deep, narrow closet where
the working supplies were kept. To reach the shelves at the back one
must pass through the pinched little door, an easy matter for a sprite
like Polly, who flitted in and out at any angle; but an occasional
plump pupil was obliged to slip in sideways or be unpleasantly
squeezed.

The afternoon was half through when extra paper was needed, and Miss
Carpenter, an assistant teacher, asked Ilga Barron to fetch some.

"One of those large packages on the third shelf," she explained, as
the girl started.

Strangely enough, Ilga had never been to the closet, and was
unprepared for its cramped dimensions. A bit elated with the
importance of her errand, she went heedlessly forward, bumping
against the mouldings as she entered, and flushing with vexation on
hearing a giggle from one of the boys. In her confusion she grabbed
two packages instead of one, and attempted to make her exit; but to
her dismay she found that with the bulky parcels in her arms the
return passage was to be difficult if not impossible. Scarlet with
mortification, yet holding blindly to her bundles, she twisted this
way and that, while the children, bubbling with suppressed mirth,
watched her breathlessly. To add to her discomfiture, several
distinguished-looking visitors were approaching from the next room,
whither the teacher had gone to meet them, and Polly, throbbing with
sympathy, saw that she was on the verge of tears.

Suddenly, with no thought save of Ilga herself, Polly sprang to her
feet, and running lightly over to the prisoner put out her hands for
the parcels. But Ilga, misinterpreting the motive, drew back in anger,
muttering something about wishing "folks would mind their own
business." Polly, however, loyal to her aim, followed into the closet,
and in an earnest whisper urged the other to give up the paper, that
she might pass out in freedom. Finally, just as Miss Carpenter
appeared, to learn the cause of the commotion, Ilga emerged, red-faced
and sullen.

"What is all this fuss about? Polly, how came you here without
permission?"

"To help Ilga," she faltered.

"I have never known a girl to need assistance in getting a ream of
paper," the teacher replied severely, "especially so big a girl as
Ilga."

A titter ran through the room, and an uncontrollable smile flickered
on Polly's lips.

Nettled by this show of levity, for which she discerned no cause, Miss
Carpenter's sentence upon th