Had anything happened here at school to make you so
unhappy that you did not want to stay?"
Sylvia looked up in surprise. Why, Miss Patten seemed to know all about
it, she thought. How easy it would be to tell her the whole story. But
suddenly she resolved that no matter what Miss Patten knew, she, Sylvia,
must not break her word. So she looked down at her desk, and made no
reply.
"I am sure none of the other pupils would mean to hurt your feelings,
Sylvia. But if any of them have carelessly said something that sounded
unkind, I know they will apologize," continued the friendly voice; and
again Sylvia looked up. If she told what Elinor and May had said she was
now sure that Miss Rosalie would make them both say they were sorry; and
Sylvia remembered that she had declared to them that they should do
exactly that.
"Would they really, Miss Patten?" she asked in so serious a voice that
the teacher believed for the moment that she would soon know the exact
reason why Sylvia had fled from the school; and she was right, she was
about to hear it, but not from Sylvia. There was a little silence in the
quiet pleasant room where the scent of jessamine and honey-suckle came
through the open windows, and no sound disturbed the two at Sylvia's
desk. Sylvia was assuring herself that she really ought to tell Miss
Patten; but somehow she could not speak. If she broke a promise, even to
an enemy, as she felt Elinor Mayhew to be, she would despise herself.
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