She did not seem to hear.
"Abby Atkins," said the teacher, sharply, "answer me.

What were you doing ?" Then the little girl answered, with a sulky note, half growl, half whimper, like some helpless but indomitable little trapped animal, "Nothin'." "Ellen," said the teacher, and her voice changed indescribably.
"What was she doing ?" Ellen did not answer.

She looked up in the teacher's face, then cast down her eyes and sat there, her little hands folded in tightly clinched fists in her lap, her mouth a pink line of resistance.

"Ellen," repeated the teacher, and she tried to make her voice sharp, but in spite of herself it was caressing.

Her heart had gone out to the child the moment she had seen her enter the school-room.