t."

Jerry wanted to cry out the truth--it wasn't fair. Miss Lee sat down
next to her.

"If you had to make fun of someone, why _didn't_ you pick out me--anyone
but poor little Miss Gray! I think that if you knew how unhappy and--and
_drab_ poor Miss Gray's life has been, how for years she had to pinch
and save and deny herself all the little pleasures of life in order to
care for her mother who was a helpless invalid, you'd be sorry you had
in the smallest measure added any to her unhappiness."

"I wouldn't hurt her feelings for the world," burst out Jerry. Did she
not know more about poor little Miss Gray than did even Barbara Lee?

"Then _why_----" But at this dangerous moment Dr. Caton walked into the
room.

Jerry's sentence was very simple. She listened with downcast eyes. She
was to lose all school privileges for a week; during that time she must
occupy a desk in the office, she must eat her lunch alone at this desk,
she must not share in any of the school activities until the end of
suspension. She must apologize to Miss Gray.

In Jerry's punishment there was an element of novelty that softened its
sting. It was very easy to apologize to Miss Gray, partly because she
was really innocent and partly because a fresh bunch of violets adorned
Miss Gray's desk toward which Jerry had contributed thirty-four cents.
Then a message from the Ravens was spirited to her.

You're _wonderful_! We're proud of you. Keep up your nerve. Blessed
is the lot of the martyr when for honor he has suffered.

The Ravens.

P. S. Coming out of history I heard Dana King say to another boy
that he didn't believe you did it at _all_--that you are shielding
SOME ONE else!

Your Adoring Gyp.

Too, Jerry found the office a most interesting place. No one glanced
toward her corner and she could quietly watch everything that happened.
And on the second day Uncle Johnny "happened"--in a breezy fashion,
coming over and pinching her cheek. Uncle Johnny did not know of her
disgrace; by tacit agreement not a word of it had been breathed at home.
Dr. Caton, annoyed and disapproving, crisply intimated why Jerry was
there. Uncle Johnny tried to make his lips look serious but his eyes
danced. Over Dr. Caton's bald head he winked at Jerry.

Uncle Johnny had come to Highacres to talk over some plans for an
enclosed hockey rink. For various reasons, of which he was utterly
unconscious, he was enjoying "mixing" sc