We'll learn
just enough to satisfy her and no more; and if we feel inclined to talk
in school we'll talk!"

CHAPTER XII

The New Teacher

It was very naughty of the girls thus to take advantage of poor Miss
Webb, who was doing her utmost, according to her lights, to fill the gap
occasioned by Miss Bardsley's enforced absence. She had no natural gift
either for imparting knowledge or for keeping control over unruly wills,
and had, indeed, quite mistaken her vocation. Teaching was to her, not a
pleasure, but a weary grind to which she must continually brace her
nerves; she could not help showing how distasteful it was, and her lack
of enthusiasm was reflected in her pupils. Her classes were chaotic. The
girls whispered, laughed, and played tricks upon one another with
impunity; her faint remonstrances had not the slightest effect, and the
more nervous she grew, the more out of hand they became.

Ursula Bramley, who prided herself on her wit, would delight in asking
questions calculated to expose the mistress's ignorance, or to trip her
up in some obscure branch of knowledge. She would come into school well
primed with educational posers, and keenly enjoyed Miss Webb's
discomfiture. She would meet all the unfortunate governess's attempts at
evasion with firm determination, nailing her to the point until poor
Miss Webb seemed more in the position of a candidate undergoing
examination than a teacher conducting her own class.

"Baiting the cobweb," as Ursula called it, was the grand amusement of
the Form, and it was very seldom that the victim emerged triumphant from
the ordeal. Schoolgirls are thoughtless creatures, often very heartless,
and it never struck the Form what pain they were inflicting upon a proud
and sensitive lady, whose misfortunes obliged her to gain her living at
an uncongenial occupation. To them she was simply a tiresome old bore,
an object of mirth or contempt; and the agony that she endured in
private did not enter into their calculations.

Mabel alone took no part in this unseemly state of disorder. Soon after
the advent of Miss Webb she had developed a slight attack of influenza,
and was laid up in the "hospital", a large room at the top of the house
reserved for purposes of isolation. She was not seriously ill, but Miss
Drummond was so afraid of infection being spread through the school that
she kept Mabel away from the others for a longer period than was really
necessary.

The latte