"Yes."

"What for?" snapped the teacher.

"Why," drawled Hester, "that pin Dorothy wears in her blouse was on crooked
and it attracted my attention."

That was the second thing about Hester Grimes. She was not alone a dunce
when it came to acting, she was a prevaricator as well.




CHAPTER XXI

AND A THIRD THING


What might have happened following this explosion of bad temper and
ill-feeling, had Mr. Sharp himself not entered the room, nobody will ever
know. Miss Carrington had been led into a most unjust and unkind criticism
of the Lockwood twins. She had been deliberately led into it by Hester
Grimes. She knew Hester had done this.

The other girls knew it, too; and they all, the young folks, believed that
the teacher had been most cruel and unfair.

Mr. Sharp could not have failed to appreciate the fact that there was a
tense feeling in the room that never arose from an ordinary recitation in