“Papa is the best man!  Never was cross in his life.  I should be cross as fury!  I should shake my boy all to pieces if he should carry off my gold watch and drop it in the sand!”

Monday morning came and the missing article did not appear.  Everybody looked troubled.  Edith walked about, carrying her lame kitten in a basket, and saying:—­

“Zee is getting better all the while, but how can I be happy when papa’s watch is lost!”

“Who knows but I shall be the one to find it?” returned Katharine with a mysterious smile, as she was leaving the house.

“You forgot to tell us, and we forgot to ask you, How do you like your school?” said Aunt Vi.

“Oh, ever so much, auntie.  I’m making it just as old-fashioned as I can.  I’m going to write Grandma Parlin this week and ask her if what I do is old-fashioned enough.  Good-by.”

Jimmy was waiting for her down the path.

“What makes you think you’ll find the watch, Kyzie?”

“Oh, I don’t know, myself, what I meant.  I just said it for fun.”

“Well, do you think Joe Rolfe has got it, or Chicken Little?  That’s what I want to know.”

“Hush, Jimmy!  Papa wouldn’t allow you to speak names in that way.  Somebody stole it, I suppose, but we don’t know who it was.”

Still Kyzie’s face wore a stern look that morning.  It was a thing not to be spoken of, but she had resolved to “keep an eye” on two or three of the boys, and see if there was anything peculiar in their appearance.  Should one of them blush or turn pale when spoken to, it would be a sure sign of guilt, and she should go home and announce with triumph to her father:—­

“Papa, I’ve found out the thief!”

The scholars all appeared pretty much as usual; raising their hands very often to ask, “May I speak?” or, “May I have a drink of water?” The little teacher had always wished they would not do so, but how could she help it?  It was “an old-fashioned school,” perhaps that was why it was so noisy.  Whatever went wrong, Kyzie always said to herself, “Oh, it’s just an old-fashioned school.”

Nate Pollard and Jimmy sat to-day as far apart as possible, almost turning their backs upon each other.  At the bottom of his heart Nate was truly ashamed of himself, though he would not have owned it.  There were five new scholars, and Katharine wrote down their names with much pride.  Best of all, some of the children really seemed to be trying to get their lessons.

She had never known Joe Rolfe to study like this.  “Is it because he is guilty?” thought the little teacher watching him from under her eyebrows.  She walked along toward him so softly that he did not hear her footsteps.

“Joseph!” she exclaimed, suddenly.  Her voice startled him; he looked up in surprise.

“I’m glad to see you studying, Joseph.”

Did he blush?  His face was of a brownish red hue at any time, being much tanned; she could not be quite sure of the blush.  But why did he look so sober?  Children generally smile when they are praised.