"Stand there, miss," she said, "and move from that spot at your peril."
My own fury was now spent, and in the dead silence which had fallen on
the entire school, I was beginning to feel the shame of my ignominious
position.
"Children," cried the schoolmistress, addressing the whole of the
scholars, "put down your slates and listen."
Then, as soon as she had recovered her breath she said, standing by my
side and pointing down to me:
"This child came to school with the character of a wilful, wicked little
vixen, and she has not belied her character. By gross disobedience she
has brought herself to where you see her. 'Spare the rod, spoil the
child,' is a scriptural maxim, and the foolish parents who ruin their
children by overindulgence deserve all that comes to them. But there is
no reason why other people should suffer, and, small as this child is
she has made the life of her excellent aunt intolerable by her
unlovable, unsociable, and unchildlike disposition. Children, she was
sent to school to be corrected of her faults, and I order you to stop
your lessons while she is publicly punished.
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