By degrees Miss Morris became less stern. Anne ought to be punished and
that severely, she thought; no pupil had ever before dared disobey
Mademoiselle. But Miss Morris hated to see a child so lonely and
miserable. She grew gentler and gentler with Anne, crosser and crosser
with the other girls. It was certainly no affair of theirs to punish a
classmate for--they knew not what.
She saw and approved that sweet-tempered little Elsie Hart smiled and
nodded to Anne at every quiet chance. Elsie would have liked to go on
being friends, but that, she knew, would make the other girls angry and
she prudently preferred to be on bad terms with one rather than with
four. But she always offered her Saturday bonbons to Anne as to the
other girls; she couldn't enjoy them herself if she were so mean and
stingy as not to do that, she declared stoutly.
One afternoon--Anne was looking especially dejected as she took her
lonely walk in the west yard--Miss Morris thrust into Elsie's hands a
bag of candies and whispered hurriedly: "When you go to divide--yonder
is Anne under the grape arbor and I do believe she's crying."
Elsie trotted straight to Anne with her smiles and bonbons.
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