Part 21 (2/2)
”Yes, while you were sharpening your pencils. The boys were having fun behind Miss Masterson's back when she was pulling down one window and putting up another for ventilation, though she didn't know I suppose that they're not supposed to do that with the system they've got here.
They were pretendin' to look at each other's papers and grab a few off the desks and Jakey grabbed yours. But he kept them a while, and I saw him sneak them back just before you started for your seat.”
”I didn't notice. But Jakey knows as much about Latin as I do. What would be the point?”
”Keeping you from getting ahead of him,” said Sally, taking a large bite of the apple and being obliged to catch some of the juice in her handkerchief. ”Jakey's not studying so much, I reckon, since he started basketball.”
Betty listened soberly and remembered the remark Jakey had made about not studying for the test. _Could_ it be that he had copied anything from her paper?
It was worth while staying from lunch and sharing with Sally to hear this. Yet could she use the information to help herself out?
”If anything should come up about Jakey, Sally, or anybody, would you be willing to tell Miss Heath what you saw?”
”I sure would. I guess the teacher kept you and Peggy about something like that yesterday, didn't she? I saw her look at Peggy when I heard Peggy snap off the kid that s.n.a.t.c.hed at her paper.”
”Miss Masterson did ask some questions, Sally.”
Betty was deep in her lesson for the next hour when the girls came back from lunch. ”Where _were_ you, Betty?” asked Carolyn.
”Oh, I just decided that I didn't want to go up, and I happened to have some chocolate bars and an apple. I'll fill up when I get home after school.”
”I always do, and eat lunch, too,” said Peggy. ”Miss Heath was upstairs for lunch. I saw her go into the teachers' lunch room. It was funny for her to come in the middle of the day, wasn't it?”
The girls wondered, but Miss Heath, though not feeling equal to a day of teaching, had come over for something else, as she had an idea which she wanted to share with the a.s.sistant princ.i.p.al. When Betty depressed, went into the office of the a.s.sistant princ.i.p.al after school, Miss Heath was there and looked like a fountain in the desert, or the sun s.h.i.+ning through clouds, to Betty.
”Good afternoon, Betty,” she said pleasantly, though with dignity. ”I came over to see about the little matter of the test. As soon as your princ.i.p.al is at liberty, I want to go over the questions with you.”
This was surprisingdid she mean the real _princ.i.p.al_? Evidently not, for when Mr. Franklin came into the office, stopped on the way by several people, both teachers and pupils, she drew out a paper. ”I am ready to go over the questions with Betty, Mr. Franklin,” she said.
”Very well,” said he, closing the door.
”Do you remember the questions, pretty well, Betty?” asked Miss Heath.
”I would know them if I saw them.”
”Have you looked up anything you did not know?”
”YesI wasn't sure about several things that I wrote down; but I have forgotten what they were now.”
”Perhaps you will recall them as I go through the questions. I have your paper here,” and Miss Heath took out what Betty recognized as her own paper.
What was the point of doing all this! Betty felt confused, but she would answer all the questions if that would help establish her innocence of the cheating.
One by one the examination questions, or directions in regard to what was desired, were read. Betty replied slowly, saying in several places, ”I didn't put that all down on my paper, I think, Miss Heath. I thought afterward that I had omitted it, though I went all over it so carefully.”
Later, when they came to the translation, she said, ”I couldn't think of the name of that Dative, so I just put Indirect Object, because you said that in a way all Datives were indirect objects. But I looked it up and I could tell you now.”
<script>