"The way she looks at Teacher--she never takes her eyes off her,
and just jumps to do whatever Teacher says. And then she looks at
everybody so kind o' scared--'s'if she thought she was goin' to be hit
over the head every minute and was so thankful to everybody for not
doing it. Makes me feel just _like_ doin' it!" declared Judith, the
Anglo-Saxon.

Sylvia recognized a scornful version of the appealing expression which
she had found so touching in Camilla.

"Why, I think it's sweet of them to look so! When they're so awfully
pretty, and have such good clothes--and a carriage--and everything!
They might be as stuck-up as anything! I think it's just _nice_ for
them to be so sweet!" persisted Sylvia.

"I don't call it bein' sweet," said Judith, "to watch Teacher every
minute and smile all over your face if she looks at you and hold on to
her hand when she's talkin' to you! It's silly!"

They argued all the way home, and the lunch hour was filled with
appeals to their parents to take sides. Professor and Mrs. Marshall,
always ready, although occasionally somewhat absent, listeners to
school news, professed themselves really interested in these new
scholars and quite perplexed by the phenomenon of two beautiful
dark-eyed children, called Camilla and Cécile Fingál. Judith refused
to twist her tongue to pronounce the last syllable accented, and her
version of the name made it sound Celtic. "Perhaps their father
is Irish and the mother Italian or Spanish," suggested Professor
Marshall.