any
girl in the school is ever rude to me again, I'll box her ears. Now, I
apologise for coming through your room, but you should keep the door
shut."

When she had spoken, she returned to the big class-room deliberately,
and crossed it to the other door. As she did so, she noticed that a
strange hush had fallen upon the girls, and they were all looking at
her curiously. She went into the hall, and was passing the vestibule
door, when Miss Bey, who was sitting just inside knitting, stopped
her.

"Where are you going, Miss Caldwell?" she asked in her sharp way.

"Upstairs," Beth answered.

"You speak shortly, Miss Caldwell. It would have been more polite to
have mentioned my name."

"I beg your pardon, Miss Bey," Beth rejoined.

Miss Bey bowed with a severe smile in acknowledgment of the apology.
"What do you want upstairs?" she asked.

"To be alone," Beth answered. "I can't stand the noise."

"You must stand the noise," said Miss Bey. "Girls are not allowed to
go upstairs without some very good reason; and they must always ask
permission--politely--from the teacher on duty. I am the teacher on
duty at this moment. If you had gone upstairs without permission, I
should have given you a bad mark."

Beth looked longingly at the hall door, which had glass panels in the
upper part, through which she could see the river and the trees. "What
a prison this is!" she exclaimed.

Miss Bey had had great experience of girls, and her sharp manner,
which was mainly acquired in the effort to maintain discipline,
somewhat belied her kindly nature.

"You can bring a chair from the hall, and sit here beside me, if you
like," she said to Beth.

"Thank you," Beth answered. "This _is_ better," she said when she was
seated. "May I talk to you?"

"Yes, certainly," said Miss Bey.

There was a great conservatory behind them as they sat looking into
the hall; on their left was the third and fourth class-room, on their
right the first and second; the doors of both stood open.

"Did you hear the row I had in there just now?" Beth asked, nodding
towards the first and second.

"I did," said Miss Bey. "But you mustn't say 'row,' it is vulgar."

"Difficulty, then," Beth rejoined. "But what did you think of it?"

Miss Bey reflected. The question as Beth put it was not easy to
answer. "I thought you were both very much in the wrong," she said at
last.

"Well, that is fair, at all events," Beth observed with approval. "I
don't me