"
"And now all that love their dear, kind teacher, raise their hands.
Why, there's a little girl over that hasn't her hand up! That's
right, dear, put it up, bless your little heart! Now, we mustn't
say a word to Miss Crutcher, must we? No. And that will be our
secret, won't it? And all be sure to have your money ready by
to-morrow. Now, I wonder if you can be just as still as little
mice. I'm going to give this little girl a pin to drop and see if
I can hear it out in the hall."
Then she tiptoed down the hall clear to her own room and Mary Ellen
Waldo let the pin drop, and Miss Mussell didn't come back to say
whether she heard the pin drop or not. The children sat in
breathless silence. Selma Morgenroth knocked her slate off and
bit her lip with mortification while the others looked at her as
much as to say: "Oh, my! ain't you 'shamed ?" Then Miss Crutchet
came back and smiled at the children, and they smiled back at her
because they knew something she didn't know and couldn't guess at
all. It was a secret.
The next morning Miss Crutchet traded rooms again, and the little
children gave Miss Mussell their money, and she counted it, and it
came to $2.84. The next day she came again because there were three
that hadn't their money, so there was $2.88 at last. Miss Mussell
had three little girls go with her after school to pick out the
present.
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