little strained face and whispering lips, and little vain heart,
which was being punished for its little vanity.

They stood on the floor until recess. Comfort felt so weak and stiff
that she could scarcely move when Miss Hanks said harshly, "Now you
can go." She cast a piteous glance at Matilda, who immediately put
her arms around her waist and pulled her along to the entry, where
their hoods and cloaks hung. "Don't you cry," she whispered. "She's
awful strict, but she won't hurt you a mite. She brought me a whole
tumbler of currant jelly when I had the measles."

"I sha'n't whisper again as long as I live," half sobbed Comfort,
putting on her hood.

"I sha'n't, either," said Matilda. "I never had to stand out on the
floor before. I don't know what my mother will say when I tell her."

The two little girls went out in the snowy yard, and there was Rosy,
with Charlotte Hutchins and Sarah Allen, and she was showing them her
ring. It was again too much for sensible little Matilda, weary from
her long stand on the floor. "Rosy Stebbins, you are a great ninny,
acting so stuck up over that old brass ring," said she. "Comfort
Pease has a real solid gold one, and she don't even wear it."

Rosy and Charlotte Hutchins and Sarah Allen all stared at Comfort.
"Have you?" asked Charlotte Hutchins, in an awed tone. She was a
doctor's daughter, and had many things that the other little girls
had not; but even she had no gold ring--nothing but a chameleon.

"Yes, I have," replied Comfort, blushing modestly.